ARCHIVED - Aida cruises includes Cartagena in Spanish coastal cruise itinerary

This gives Cartagena eight additional stop-offs to add to the two confirmed by TUI

German cruise company AIDA has included the port of Cartagena in the Murcia region, as one of the stop-offs in its post-covid cruising programme around the Spanish coastline, which tentatively eases passengers back into cruising.

As companies begin to prepare for an influx of international tourists following the introduction of Covid certificates, a rise in vaccinations and dropping infection rates, Aida Cruises has announced a new route around the Spanish coastline which includes a stop-off in Cartagena.

The route, which will be offered this summer and autumn, with a bi-weekly programme, will depart from Palma de Mallorca before stopping in Cadiz, Malaga, Cartagena and Barcelona.

The cruise is scheduled to last a week and passengers will also be offered the option of extending their trip with a further week visiting Alicante, Ibiza and Valencia.

The first stop-off will be on July 14, with seven further visits during August, September and October.

AIDA will be using the AIDAperla on this route, a hybrid vessel, partially run by lithium batteries, a design which reduces its emissions to zero when moored in a port and saves fuel when cruising out at sea.

This is a major step forward for the cruise sector which has been devastated by the Covid pandemic and is a vital first run of cruises in the resumption of the multi-billion euro cruising sector.

Routes this year are expected to only visit Spanish ports with safety as top priority.

This shipping company, which principally caters for the German market, is offering a "bubble" cruise experience, allowing only excursions organized by the shipping company itself which will only visit specific selected venues and guaranteeing anti-covid-19 security measures for passengers and their crew, as well as for the populations of the destinations they visit.

In practice, this means that the body running the local cultural attractions in Cartagena will benefit, but not shops and businesses, as passengers will be kept within their controlled “bubble “ during port stops.

Hopefully, the onward march of the vaccine programme will help to gradually reduce the numbers of new cases and the industry will once again be able to return to the type of “open visits” which have enabled businesses in Cartagena to benefit from the cruise ship traffic which has been such an important element of the international tourism visits within the region in previous years.

Cartagena will welcome the return of its first cruise ship since the Covid lockdown on June 19 and then again on July 3 when TUI resumes cruising, following a similar itinerary as AIDA.