During October, 87 cruise ships will dock in Palma, five more than in 2019. A record number for an October, there are seven days this month when there will be four ships in port and one day, the 20th, when there will be five.
Beatriz Orejudo of the association of maritime businesses explains that this number is partly due to cruise operators' logistics, with many ships coming to the end of their Mediterranean season before heading for the Canaries and the Caribbean for the winter. Among the ships scheduled for Palma in October are Britannia and the Queen Elizabeth.
Under the agreement between the Balearic government and the CLIA association of cruise lines, a maximum of three ships (including one 'mega' cruise ship) are permitted to be in port on the same day. However, this agreement allowed for exceptional days with four or five ships; hence why there will be a record number this month. A further factor is the number of ships that use Palma as a base port.
Orejudo adds that operators need time to schedule ship movement, which was why exceptional days were agreed for this year. In 2023, there will be no more than three ships on any given day.