Next year, the company will locate two ships in the port of Valencia, MSC Divina, from March to September, and MSC Meraviglia during the months of October and November.
Valencia, November the 27th 2017. – The MSC Magnifica has today made its first cruise call in the port of Valencia. The cruise call is part of a repositioning cruise that will take the ship to the South American continent where the winter season will remain. To commemorate this cruise call, the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV) has given a commemorative metope to the captain of the ship, Francesco Saverio. This ceremony has been attended by the president of MSC Cruises, Emiliano González; and the president of the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV), Aurelio Martínez.
During the act, the president of MSC Cruises has indicated that the MSC Magnifica is the fourth ship of the music class company, has 1,250 cabins and, usually, covers the routes of Northern Europe and South America. Emilio González has also highlighted the firm commitment that the company has made for Valencia. “We have been operating continuously for twelve seasons in the port of Valencia and we intend to increase it in the coming years. In 2018, two ships will regularly visit this port, the MSC Divina, which will cover the campaign from March to September, and the company’s flagship, MSC Meraviglia, which has 2,200 cabins and will make port calls during the months of October and November. “, he has indicated. He also stressed that “this commitment will allow us to exceed 40 port calls in the port of Valencia in 2018 and increase the number of passengers by 20%. We believe that the possibilities of Valencia as a cruise port are endless and, therefore, we want to continue increasing our presence in this port”.
On the other hand, the president of the PAV, Aurelio Martínez, thanked the decisive bet that MSC Cruises has made for Valencia, “a bet that has materialized in facts. The plans he has for the coming years are good not only for the port but especially for the city“. Likewise, the president of the PAV has emphasized the main assets of Valencia as a cruise destination “is a perfectly competitive city for many factors, among we can highlight, safety, since you can visit freely walking, or cycling which is very appreciated by tourists; It is not congested since the historical center is wide and there are many points of interest, and also, the tourist offer is really wide, very diverse and authentically Mediterranean.”
Traffic and cruise offer
At the end of 2016, the port of Valencia was visited by 403,264 passengers from 181 different cruise calls, up 7.66% over the previous year. In 2017, in the accumulated until October, more than 350,000 passengers have landed in our city, 2.17% more than in the same period of 2016.
The port of Valencia has two quays that allow berthing of ships of up to 300 meters in length and two other quays alignments located in the northern extension of 430 and 440 meters in length respectively and a draft of 14 meters.
The city’s cruise offer, developed jointly by the Port Authority of Valencia and Turismo Valencia, is wide and varied. This year, as a novelty, in addition to the traditional routes through the Albufera, the historic center or the City of Arts and Sciences, new routes have been incorporated. These include the Religious Art Route, which includes a visit to the Cathedral and other churches such as the recently restored San Nicolás or San Juan del Hospital; the Silk Road to know the historical legacy of this industry in Valencia with visits to the Lonja de la Seda, the newly restored Silk Museum and the Velluters neighborhood; or the Valencia and Fallas Route that allows tourists to enter the main points of these festivals declared World Heritage.