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2                                                          eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
Ceuta, the Key to the Mediterranean - Cruises
eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019   3
Ceuta, the Key to the Mediterranean - Cruises
eCRUISESNEWS / Ceuta, the Key to the Mediterranean

    Ceuta, the
    Key to the
    Mediterranean
4                              eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
Ceuta, the Key to the Mediterranean - Cruises
eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019   5
Ceuta, the Key to the Mediterranean - Cruises
C           euta is strategically locat-
                ed at the entrance of the
                Mediterranean, on one of
                the busiest sea routes in the
    world, the Straits of Gibraltar. Ceuta
    is a remarkable enclave full of attrac-
    tions, starting with the famous Mount
    Hacho, one of the two columns of Her-
    cules, which had to be separated to
    unite the waters of the Mediterranean
    with those of the Atlantic Ocean. This
    characteristic of an entrance between
    two continents makes Ceuta an excep-
    tional city for its situation, for its cli-
    mate, for its cultural miscegenation, for
    the coexistence between the religions
    that live there and for being a piece of
    Europe embedded in Africa.

    The future of the port of Ceuta inexorably
    passes through a piece of evidence; the ex-
    istence of an entire continent that needs a
    range of services, taking advantage of pre-
    cisely that condition of Spanish and Europe-
    an nationality in Africa, not to mention other
    circumstances that drive its traffic, such as
    the tax advantages and its prices, which are
    comparatively cheaper than on the Iberian
    peninsula.
    Although Ceuta is frequently a fleeting
    crossing point for cruise passengers passing
    through the Straits on ships sailing towards
    other consolidated destinations such as the
    Mediterranean, shipowners should consider
    including Ceuta in their itineraries to discover
    it. Its situation between two seas, between
    two continents and the hospitality of its peo-
    ple gives it an added value that enriches any
    itinerary.

    The first cruise calls in Ceuta
    Ceuta has a long tradition as a transit stop-
    over on tourist cruises. Before World War II
    it had illustrious visitors such as the German
    ship Monte Rosa, which called in Ceuta in
    1935, on a cruise that afterwards called at
    Barcelona. Another German ship, the Mil-
    waukee, also visited Ceuta on a cruise from
    Genoa to the Canary Islands. Its British com-
    petitors were also frequent visitors to Ceuta,
    with stopovers by various tourist cruise ships
    such as the Montclare, the Montrose, P&O
    Mongolia or Lamport & Holt Voltaire.
    In another landmark for the port, in August
    1957, Cabo San Roque, the flagship of Ybarra

6                                                      eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
Ceuta, the Key to the Mediterranean - Cruises
eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019   7
Ceuta, the Key to the Mediterranean - Cruises
& Company, called at Ceuta on its inaugural
                               cruise from Bilbao to Barcelona. More re-
                               cently, in 1998, the Atlantic Festival itinerary,
                               departing from Malaga on board the cruise
                               ship Don Juan, of the Royal Hispania shipping
                               company, also called at Ceuta.

         Ceuta has a long
      tradition as a cruise
                               Calls during the 21st century
               port of call.   In the 21st century, references to cruise ship
                               calls are quite extensive: for example, on
                               April 29, 2006, the Wind Surf ship, from the
    In Ceuta, cruise ships     Wind Sail Cruises company, on a cruise be-
    dock just a short five-    tween Cádiz and Malaga. That year her twin
    minute walk from the       ship, Club Med 2 also called, docking in the
               city centre.
                               west berth. That year marked a deep decline
                               in activity, with only nine stops, compared to
                               the thirteen ships that had docked in Ceuta
     The “Dock España” is
                               in 2005. The change in the routes of many
    able to accommodate
            75% of current     cruise lines as well as the emerging econom-
              cruise ships.    ic crisis hit the Ceuta enclave.
                               However, Ceuta’s cruise activity rebound-
                               ed again in 2007 with 20 calls. In October
          Carnival Corp’s      of that year, Norwegian Dream arrived from
     shipping companies        Norwegian Cruise Line. This vessel remained
         are Ceuta’s best      for several years as the largest cruise ship to
              customers.
                               calling at Ceuta.
                               In 2008 there were 25 calls with 32,606 tour-
                               ists. This year there was an important event:
                               after the experience of the cruise ship Mr.
                               Juan, Ceuta was once again included in
                               a round itinerary from Malaga. The British
                               cruise line, Thomson Cruises, included the
                               city of Ceuta in several of its itineraries and its
                               ships Thomson Destiny and Thomson Spirit,
                               made nine calls in the Ceuta port. These two
                               years, 2007 and 2008, constituted one of the
                               most successful stages of Ceuta as a cruise
                               port and became an achievement difficult to
                               better.
                               The trend changed in 2009. During that year
                               Ceuta closed the year with only ten calls,
                               something that had only occurred once in
                               the previous ten years. The season began
                               on March 14 with the arrival of the classic
                               Saga Ruby ship and closed on December
                               28th with Amadea’s arrival, from the German
                               operator Phoenix Reisen, which docked with
                               more than 900 German tourists on board.
                               Between these two there were three more
                               calls in May, three in September and two in
                               October, which involved more than 5,000
                               tourists. Among them, there was the Tahi-
                               tian Princess, which was one of the first ref-
                               erences of the well-known Princess Cruises
                               shipping company, one of the leaders in the
                               Premium sector. These 10 stops were one of
                               the lowest figures since 1998, when 18 ships
                               called at Ceuta.

8                                                                             eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
Ceuta, the Key to the Mediterranean - Cruises
The first decade of the 21st century closed
                                                                  with eight calls, once again a benchmark in
                                                                  the world of cruise ships: the Pacific Princess
                                                                  ship, which docked on December 10, 2010
                                                                  for the first time in the port of Ceuta, hav-
                                                                  ing departed from Barcelona and heading
                                                                  towards Casablanca. Calls from the Portu-
                                                                  guese Funchal ship from Lisbon were also
                                                                  registered. The Arcalia Shipping Company,
                                                                  which afterwards went into bankruptcy due
                                                                  to the economic crisis, had sent its entire
                                                                  fleet to Ceuta. So, the Princess Danae, the
                                                                  Ocean Monarch and Athena had previously
                                                                  called at the Spanish port, demonstrating the
                                                                  attractiveness of Ceuta as destination for the
                                                                  Portuguese outbound tourist market and the
                                                                  viability of an itinerary that includes Lisbon
                                                                  and Ceuta. Given the strength of the Portu-
                                                                  guese capital as a home port, it would be
                                                                  very interesting to promote Ceuta for cruises
                                                                  departing from that port.

eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019                                                     9
Ceuta, the Key to the Mediterranean - Cruises
2011-2015: The effects of the crisis
     The impact of the economic crisis and the ar-
     rival of larger ships in the Mediterranean had
     a negative effect on Ceuta cruise traffic fig-
     ures in the first five years of this decade. Cu-
     riously, this decline coincided with a decline
     also accused of Malaga, which went from
     322 calls in 2010 to 227 in 2015, its historical
     low. Gibraltar, Ceuta’s competitor, also had a
     decrease in traffic. Therefore, we were facing
     not a local but a regional phenomenon that
     affected the ports of the Straits, the result of
     pressure from new destinations such as Cart-
     agena, the decrease of long itineraries from
     the ports of the Gulf of León to the Canary Is-
     lands, and the crisis, which made shipowners
     send their ships to more consolidated desti-
     nations, such as the western Mediterranean
     or the Adriatic / Aegean.
     2011 began with good news as Ceuta was in-
     cluded in a regular itinerary of MSC Cruises.
     MSC Melody offered calls in Ceuta on its 12-
     day cruises with departure from Genoa and
     calls in Alicante, Cartagena, Tangier, Santa
     Cruz de Tenerife, Funchal, Ceuta, Palamós
     and back to Genoa. That year the first cruise
     call of the cruise ship Kristina Regina by the
     Finnish cruise line Kristina Cruises, was also
     registered.
     Another of Ceuta’s historical clients is the
     British cruise line Saga Cruises, which offers
     cruises for the elderly. In 2012 it maintained
     its fidelity to Ceuta with two calls by the
     Ruby Saga, the second of which came from
     Cartagena and continued to Casablanca. Its
     entire historical fleet, with ships such as the
     Saga Pearl II, or the Saga Rose, were regulars
     almost every year in Ceuta. Saga Cruises is
     currently immersed in a process of the com-
     plete renewal of its fleet, which includes the
     incorporation of two new vessels this year
     and in 2020, the Spirit of Discovery and the
     Spirit of Adventure. Several institutions, such
     as the Port Authority and the Ministry of De-
     velopment, are doing a remarkable job to
     make Ceuta an accessible city, without ar-
     chitectural barriers. This goal can be a good
     bet for cruise lines with a high percentage of
     retirees or, as they now say, “senior” passen-
     gers. Customers from Saga, Holland Ameri-
     ca, etc. could visit the city and its museums,
     attractions, etc. without any architectural
     barriers and this would be a very important
     commercial allure.
     In 2013 this sluggish state in cruise traffic
     continued, but past clients, such as Thomson
     Cruises, maintained their activity in the port.
     On May 1, the 243-meter Thompson Dream

10                                                      eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
Ceuta: the column of Hercules
           Centuries of coexistence in harmony between            that have a rectangular shape, which, after their
           its four cultures (Christian, Islamic, Jewish and      restoration, were inaugurated in 2006. There
           Hindu) make Ceuta an exceptional enclave in the        are in addition other examples of the history
           world, together in the same cosmopolitan environ-      of this territory, such as the Merinidian Walls,
           ment. But also, Ceuta is a European city, modern,      the strength of the Hacho, or the three mili-
           clean and without a great expanse, which makes         tary museums, including the one of the Legion.
           it perfectly suitable as a perfect cruise destina-     But Ceuta also provides examples of contempo-
           tion for several hours. It offers multiple attrac-     rary architecture, such as the House of Dragons,
           tions. Perhaps the most demanded is the Mari-          inaugurated at the beginning of the 20th cen-
           time Park of the Mediterranean, a leisure complex      tury as the headquarters of the African Casino
           designed by César Manrique, about 55,000 m² in         and famous for the large mythological sculptures

           Ceuta is a unique example of fusion of four different cultures.

           size, located in front of the port, which offers its   that decorate its roof. Or the new auditorium,
           visitors three artificial salt water lakes, gardens,   the work of the Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza.
           waterfalls, a solarium, a stage and local leisure.     As far as religious architecture is con-
           Ceuta also offers to cultural travellers its most      cerned,    the    16th-century      baroque     ca-
           representative sight, the Royal Walls with its         thedral and the 17th-century baroque
           navigable moat, built over centuries by Romans,        church of Our Lady of Africa are highlights.
           Arabs, Portuguese and Spaniards to protect the         Finally, the great offer of nautical tourism of
           isthmus and the Almina peninsula, where the            Ceuta stands out for the most active passengers.
           old city was located. The complex consists of          The sea is the heart of this Ceuta leisure, with its
           several defensive lines full of battlements, tow-      Mediterranean and Atlantic beaches and a large
           ers, bastions, and the “Plaza de Armas”. Anoth-        marina in the centre of the bay from which it is
           er attraction is its Arab baths dating from the        possible to go sport fishing or scuba diving or
           twelfth century and composed of four rooms             make sea excursions on board tourist boats.

           Ceuta is a shopper’s paradise. Its tax system allows its visitors to buy
           jewellery, eyewear, photography, electronics, pictures, cosmetics
           and clothing at very competitive prices.

eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019                                                          11
arrived and became the largest cruise ship to
     enter the port, but always separated from the
     nine calls in 2008 of its fleet companions, the
     Thomson Destiny and the Thomson Spirit. It
     arrived from Portimao (again a Portuguese
     connection) and departed to Cartagena. But
     it was an unequivocal proof of the interest of
     this cruise line to recover the Port of Ceuta
     within the itineraries of its vessels. Another
     regular, the Kristina Katarina, with about 300
     Finnish passengers, also made a call that
     year in Ceuta before leaving for Malaga.
     2014 started relatively well in Ceuta, with
     four calls by different cruise lines before
     July, almost all of them from regular cus-
     tomers: P&O with the Adonia, Princess with
     the Ocean Princess, Phoenix with the Am-
     adea (which became the first cruise ship to
     refuel in Ceuta) and Peter Deilman with the
     Deutschland. They were all relatively small
     vessels, a fact that demonstrated the exist-
     ing infrastructure deficit in Ceuta at that time.
     However, the trend did not continue the rest
     of the year and there was a decline in traffic
     compared to 2013.
     2015 was a turning point towards the future.
     It was the year when the adaptation work at
     Dock Spain started, the aim being to adapt it
     to the length of the new cruise ships. Those
     responsible declared during the Seatrade
     Cruise Shipping in Miami that year that “Now
     Ceuta is preparing for a totally different out-
     look”. With only four cruise calls and less than
     1,600 passengers, 2015 was Ceuta’s starting
     point as a cruise destination.

     The impact of new facilities.
     The arrival of mega cruise ships
     In 2016, a total of fifteen cruise ships docked
     in Ceuta, with more than 20,000 passengers,
     which meant a new historical record. That
     year Panamax-sized cruise ships began ar-
     riving in Ceuta, such as the Oosterdam, op-
     erated by Holland America Line, or its near
     twin Arcadia, operated by the British P&O,
     both belonging to world’s largest cruise ship
     owner, Carnival Corp, a giant who has never
     hidden its interest in Ceuta. These ships, 290
     meters long and around 2,000 passengers,
     broke all previous records. Holland America
     also sent for the first time its ship, Rotterdam.
     At the same time, Ceuta maintained its his-
     torical customers such as Thomson Cruises
     with seven cruise calls of the Thomson Spirit
     during this year (which represented almost
     half of all cruise calls), which arrived from
     Almeria and departed to Malaga, highlight-
     ing again the dovetailing of Ceuta with other

12                                                       eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
Andalusian ports.
                                                                  The recently completed construction of the
                                                                  Dock España, together with the promotion
                                                                  carried out by the Port Authority, meant that
                                                                  the number of calls tripled that year, and
                                                                  thanks to the increase in the size of the ves-
                                                                  sels, the number of cruise passengers was
                                                                  multiplied by ten.
                                                                  In 2017, the four calls by the TUI Discovery
                                                                  2 stood out, the new flagship of a former
                                                                  client for the port, Thomson Cruises, which
                                                                  sent its largest and most modern ship to the
                                                                  Autonomous City. The Westerdam took over
                                                                  from its twin Oosterdam of Holland America,
                                                                  with three Ceuta calls, which confirmed this
                                                                  American premium shipping company´s in-
                                                                  terest in Ceuta Port within the itineraries of its
                                                                  cruises. And P&O repeated with the Arcadia
                                                                  and the Aurora but had to cancel a cruise call
                                                                  of the Oriana due to bad weather. That year
                                                                  the Ceuta Cruise Forum was also held.
                                                                  In 2018, there was a slight decrease in tour-
                                                                  ist cruise traffic. Ceuta continued to receive
                                                                  ships from its usual customers. Thomson
                                                                  Cruises was renamed Marella Cruises, but its
                                                                  fleet, in this case the Marella Spirit, did not
                                                                  miss its appointment with the Autonomous

eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019                                                        13
14   eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
City with four visits and P&O repeated with
                                                                  the Aurora. But 2018 finished the season with
                                                                  several events: the first one was the call by
                                                                  the Zenith of Pullmantur Cruises on Septem-
                                                                  ber 20, 2018. The second was the first call of
                                                                  a Royal Caribbean group ship, the second
                                                                  largest shipowner of cruise ships globally. Its
                                                                  previous absence had been an unresolved
                                                                  issue for the Port.
                                                                  The second event was the arrival of the Sap-
                                                                  phire Princess on October 2, the first post
                                                                  panamax, and the largest cruise ship that
                                                                  had docked in the history of Ceuta, with its
                                                                  290 meters in length, 8.5 meters of draft
                                                                  and 115,857 tons of registration. And the year
                                                                  ended with the arrival of the flagship Holland
                                                                  America Line on October 11, and the Kon-
                                                                  ingsdam, 100,000 tons, delivered in 2016. It
                                                                  was unequivocal proof of the loyalty of Hol-
                                                                  land America Line.

                                                                  Present and future prospects
                                                                  2019 began on January 22nd with the stop-
                                                                  over in Ceuta of the Saga Pearl II on its last
                                                                  trip for Saga Cruises, one of the historical
                                                                  clients of the Port of the Autonomous City.
                                                                  This ship went to Melilla, one of the few oc-
                                                                  casions when both autonomous cities were
                                                                  included in the same itinerary. P&O repeated
                                                                  again with the Arcadia and the Aurora, Prin-
                                                                  cess with the Sapphire Princess, and Holland
                                                                  America Line included Ceuta in the Prinsen-
                                                                  dam’s itinerary this spring, also on one of its
                                                                  last trips of this ship for the cruise line. The
                                                                  season finishes in October with the Sapphire
                                                                  Saga, another of the Saga Cruises ships,
                                                                  within an itinerary called “Viva España”. In
                                                                  total, seven cruise ships made stopovers at
                                                                  Ceuta Port this year.
                                                                  The Port of Ceuta was present at the tenth
                                                                  edition of “Seatrade Europe Cruise and River
                                                                  Cruise”, the reference trade fair of the Euro-
                                                                  pean cruise industry celebrated in the Ger-
                                                                  man city of Hamburg in September, with the
                                                                  aim of increasing the number of cruise calls
                                                                  in the city. German shipping companies are
                                                                  one of the issues to resolve for the port of
                                                                  the Autonomous City, since to date, neither
                                                                  Aida, nor TUI, the two main German shipping
                                                                  companies, have made calls at their docks,
                                                                  neither have other smaller ones, such as
                                                                  Hapag-Lloyd or Plantours. And nowadays
                                                                  Germany is the number one cruise market in
                                                                  Europe.
                                                                  Saga Cruises has confirmed two cruise calls
                                                                  by its new Spirit of Discovery for next year,
                                                                  the ship delivered last June, and Holland
                                                                  America will return to Ceuta with its Rotter-

eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019                                                      15
dam. Another loyal customer, Princess Cruis-
                  es, will again offer the destination of Ceuta on
                  two cruises: one by the Crown Princess from
                  Southampton and another aboard the Sea
                  Princess, which will call on June 26, during
                  its World Tour cruise from Sydney. That day
                  the streets of Ceuta will be filled with Aus-
                  tralians. By 2021 there are already two reser-
                  vations for two new Princess ships in Ceuta:
                  the Grand Princess and the Island Princess.

                  Facilities for Cruises
                  The Ceuta Port Authority launched in 2015 a
                  project to improve the “Dock España”, which
                  was the regular berth for cruise ships, in or-
                  der to receive vessels of up to 300 meters in
                  length and improve the integration between
                  port and city. The construction work, budg-
                  eted at almost two million euros, was car-
                  ried out in three phases, in order to allocate
                  the infrastructure to cruise ships and mega
                  yachts and to be able to compete with Gi-
                  braltar and Tangier.

16   eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019

The first phase consisted of the transfer of                                        Shore Excursions
the companies that maintained their com-
mercial activity in the dock to other locations.
Thus, Dock España had a unique use, being                         The Port of Ceuta has become the best starting point to
a berth dedicated only to cruise ships, some-                     visit Morocco, since it organizes excursions lasting a few
thing very much appreciated by the cruise                         hours to nearby cities such as Tangier, Tetouan or Chaouen,
lines companies, which also serves as the                         provided by specialized receptive agencies that offer
                                                                  their services and a guarantee at European standards.
gateway for cruise passengers in the city.
                                                                  Tetouan is only 41 kilometres south of Ceuta. It is a city
Subsequently, three of the sheds that occu-
                                                                  declared as a World Heritage Site thanks to its medina,
pied the dock were demolished, resulting in                       considered the most complete medina in Morocco, as
a diaphanous dock. The control tower and                          well as one of the most authentic, almost without external
the headquarters of the Port Authority, a very                    influences. Also very interesting is the so-called Spanish
interesting ship-shaped building, were left                       Ensanche, an area adjacent to the medina, with important
standing. With this action, the possibility of                    examples of Spanish colonial architecture.
separating pedestrian traffic from the road
                                                                  Tangier is located 77 kilometres east of Ceuta. There are
and generating parking for coaches and taxis
                                                                  two different areas included in its historical area: the me-
was achieved.
                                                                  dina with its Kasbah, an old walled enclosure in one of the
The last phase of the project included the                        hills of the city, with a chaotic lattice of narrow streets that
construction of new defences and bitts on                         has integrated the wall and the fortifications built by the
the east side, the one that cruise ships use                      Portuguese as well as the Kasbah museum; and the new
to dock, and made it possible to dock ships                       city, with the old French quarter and the new Spanish dis-
with a tonnage greater than the current one.                      trict.
A tourist information point was also installed,
                                                                  Chaouen, 105 kilometres from Ceuta, is known as the blue
                                                                  town for the striking colour of its medina’s houses. Its souk,
                                                                  its citadel, and the Great Mosque of the fifteenth century
                                                                  with an octagonal tower and the narrow streets of the
                                                                  upper part of the medina, are part of Chaouen’s charm.

                                                                  The Rif mountain range is a mountainous area of landsca-
                                                                                                                   ​​
                                                                  pes always surprisingly green and rugged and is an option
                                                                  for the more adventurous passengers.

eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019                                                                      17
Evolution of port calls in Ceuta in the last decade
     Year                      2011          2012        2013          2014        2015          2016          2017          2018
     • Port calls                10           10            8            8            4            15            11            10
     • Cruise passengers       4.899        6.088        4.607        4.235        1.587        19.456        17.045        15.861

                               which has been reinforced this year with an-            ceive cruise ships. But the growing number
                               other similar one, opened with the arrival of           of cruise ships means providing Ceuta with
                               the Sapphire Princess.                                  guides, interpreters, buses and shore excur-
                               Subsequently, the treatment to the exterior             sions, etc. And all this offer must be public
                               accesses to the Dock España was carried out             knowledge and be prepared in advance for
                               to give continuity to the earlier work, with an         when the cruise passengers arrive.
     The Sapphire Princess     approximate area of 4,200 m2 and located in             It is also necessary to improve Ceuta’s com-
       is the largest cruise   front of the gate of the facilities of the Dock         munication and information on social net-
      ship that has made a     España.                                                 works and the Internet and offer information
       cruise call in Ceuta.
                                                                                       of this destination in several languages. An-
                               The future of Ceuta in cruise traffic                   other need is to improve the information on
                               Ceuta has noteworthy infrastructures to re-             their tax system, one of whose highlights is

18                                                                        eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019   19
that Value Added Tax (VAT) does not apply.
                               Nowadays there are about 350 cruise ships
                               that have a total length of less than 300 me-
                               ters, which is about the maximum length that
                               the port of Ceuta could host, so its infrastruc-
                               ture can accommodate most of the current
                               cruise fleet. It seems unthinkable that larg-
                               er-sized vessels (like the Oasis type of RCI,
                               MSC Meraviglia of MSC or Costa Smeralda),
                               will be able to make stops in Ceuta.
                               In the commercial field, in addition to main-
                               taining its long-term customers such as the
                               “Premium” brands of Carnival Corp, Holland
                               America Line, Princess Cruises, and P&O,
                               and other independent brands such as Saga
                               Holidays, etc., Ceuta must capture cruise
         Ceuta has always      calls from the other three major shipping
     been a port of cruise
                               groups in the cruise industry: Royal Caribbe-
        stopovers, both for
     its charm and for the     an, Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises.
     attractive tax system     Finally, Ceuta is a port that currently does not
            for fuel supply.   receive stopovers by luxury shipping com-
                               panies such as Silversea, Seabourn, Ponant,
                               etc. or “upper Premium”, such as Oceania or
                               Viking Cruises, with medium-sized ships that
                               would not present any problem to dock in
                               the “Dock España” with cruise passengers
                               with high purchasing power. In addition,
                               some of the cruise companies such as Viking
                               Cruises, maintain ships in the Mediterranean
                               throughout the year providing cultural itin-
                               eraries, in which the presence of Ceuta and
                               its area of influence in Morocco could be an
                               interesting novelty. The richness of the fauna
                               of the Straits, together with the beauty of the
                               Rif, also places Ceuta in a good position in

20                                                                         eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
the exploration and adventure cruise market,
                                                                  one of the segments with a greatest devel-
                                                                  opment potential.
                                                                  Ceuta has a privileged position in the west
                                                                  of the Mediterranean, an area frequented by
                                                                  cruise ships especially in spring and autumn,
                                                                  coinciding with the beginning and end of the
                                                                  summer season at Mare Nostrum.
                                                                  When it comes to building itineraries, Ceu-
                                                                  ta is located at an ideal distance from base
                                                                  ports such as Malaga, from which it is sep-
                                                                  arated only by 69 miles (only 5 hours at 15
                                                                  knots), from Alicante by 298 miles (20 hours
                                                                  at 15 knots, ideal for an arrival at noon), from
                                                                  Cartagena by 239 miles (16 hours at 15 knots,
                                                                  ideal to arrive mid-morning). The same goes
                                                                  for Cádiz (84 miles). For example, Lisbon and
                                                                  Ceuta are separated by 313 miles. Thus, a
                                                                  Lisbon-Cádiz-Ceuta itinerary, for example,
                                                                  makes a very attractive combination. It also

eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019                                                      21
offers a lot of potential in the itineraries from         is located 510 miles from Barcelona, while,
                the Canary Islands: 720 miles from Santa                  for instance, Malaga is 460 miles away. The
                Cruz de Tenerife (two days of navigation), or             50-mile difference between Malaga and the
                703 miles from Las Palmas, which with an                  Strait of Gibraltar is perfectly acceptable to
                intermediate stopover in a Moroccan port,                 compete as a port of call. And the same thing
                such as Casablanca, means Ceuta could be                  happens to compete with Gibraltar, a port
                part of a very attractive itinerary.                      that has recently won the port calls of Aida in
                Finally, regarding transatlantic cruises; Ceuta           the Strait, so Ceuta has the necessity to com-
                                                                          pete with promotion, attractive services and
                                                                          affordable rates. 

 www.ceuta.si                                                           Download guide

22                                                           eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019
LOCAL CUISINE                               OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

                  CULTURAL HERITAGE                               PARKS AND BEACHES

                            CEUTA                                      CEUTA SÍ

eCRUISESNEWS CEUTA, THE KEY TO THE MEDITERRANEAN • October 2019                        23
Ceuta, the
 Key to the
Mediterranean
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