Barcelona champions again

The port of Barcelona is bracing itself for a record week, with eight cruise ships bringing almost 35,000 passengers into the Catalonian capital tomorrow – just a week after there were unexpected crowds when ships diverted because of strikes in Mallorca.
Due in tomorrow for turnarounds – with passengers leaving at the end of one cruise and more arriving to embark – are Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas (4,000 passengers), Ruby Princess (3,500), Disney Magic (3,000), Sovereign (2,500), Holland America’s Noordam (2,200), Silver Wind (300) and SeaDream I (110). Also in port in transit will be Nieuw Amsterdam (2,500).
Next Friday nine ships will be in port: Carnival Magic (4,000), MSC Splendida (3,600), Costa Serena (3,500) and Crystal Serenity (1,100) on turnarounds, plus Independence of the Seas (4,000), Thomson Dream (1,600), AIDAvita (1,400), Orient Queen (850), and Corinthian II (112) in transit.
By the end of July, the port had handled a total of 451 cruise ship calls this year, an increase of 21 on last year, bringing 1.3 million passengers (up 16 per cent). While some of the increase is due to the continuing growth in the popularity of cruise holidays, some is also a result of ships being diverted from calls originally scheduled on North African ports such as Tunis.