On Saturday, there were four cruise ships in Palma with a combined maximum capacity of more than 15,000 passengers. The 2022 agreement on cruise-ship limits between the Balearic Government and the CLIA cruise lines association stipulated 8,000. This agreement also set a limit of one 'mega' cruise ship per day. There were two of this category on Saturday; their absolute capacities are in excess of 6,000 passengers.
The CLIA acknowledged that the limit had been exceeded "for the first time" since the agreement was signed, but argued that the average daily passenger count had not been breached. The average for the week has been just over 4,000. One of the mega ships, the AIDAcosma, operates from Palma, as does one of the two smaller ships, the Marella Voyager.
Joana Maria Adrover, a former tourism councillor at Palma Town Hall and now tourism secretary for the main opposition party in Mallorca and the Balearics, PSOE, has criticised the Prohens Partido Popular government for having allowed the "historic agreement to die".
The agreement was "an international example of sustainability and common sense". It limited the number of large ships in Palma, protecting "residents, the environment, and coexistence with tourism".
The government (and Vox) "have done nothing to renew" the agreement, which expires at the end of 2026. This is despite the government's talk of tourism containment. Cruise operators, she argued, are already finalising itineraries for 2027, "two years in advance without any limits and without any action from the current government".
Setting limits, she continued, "is not about being against tourism or cruises". "It is a matter of planning to ensure that growth is not infinite in a territory that is finite, that does have limits, and that is as delicate as the Balearic Islands."