The 2018 cruise season in Catania is announced with important news.
The 69 scheduled calls, with a total number of passengers (over 130,000) almost double compared to 2017 ones, will determine, in fact, a clear turnaround compared to the recent years trend.
Thanks to the return of Costa Cruises, which will make 20 calls, it will also be possible to start the cruise holiday starting from the Catania port not only for guests residing in Sicily and southern Calabria, but also for all cruise passengers coming from remote basins, who will be able to take advantage of the numerous direct air connections available at the nearby Fontanarossa airport and perhaps combine the cruise with a stay in the magnificent South-East of Sicily.
This important result is the tangible fruit of the intense joint work carried out in the last few months by the newly established Port Network Authority of the Eastern Sea of Sicily, by the Catania Municipality and by Catania Cruise Port, which has entered just over a year ago. part of the global network of Global Ports Holding.
Global Ports Holding (GPH) is the most important independent operator of cruise terminals in the world with a consolidated presence in the Mediterranean, in the Atlantic and in the Asia-Pacific regions, including some important commercial ports in Turkey and Montenegro.
GPH manages a portfolio of 14 ports in 8 countries, where more than 3,000 boat calls of all companies take place each year. With over 7.5 million passengers handled in 2016, GPH has gained a 25% market share in the Mediterranean.
From December 2016 GPH has become the majority shareholder of the Catania Terminal and has begun to develop intense and fruitful collaborative relationships with the Authorities, Institutions, Entities and local businesses involved in the supply chain, with the aim of nominating the Etna port as Home-Port (port of beginning and end of cruise) for companies that are owners of medium-sized ships (1500-2000 passengers).
In this perspective it is inserted the hypothesis of creating a new cruise terminal, whose project is currently being discussed with the Port System Authority and whose works could be completed before the start of the 2019 cruise season.
Therefore, 2018 promises to be a turning point and full of news, such as the arrival of numerous companies of the luxury segment, just like Club Med, which will stop in Catania in August with the Club Med II; the Croisi Europe, Variety Cruises and Voyages to Antiquity, along with the usual presence of the Royal Caribbean group (with the Celebrity and TUI brands) and the return of Pullmantur, AIDA and WindStar.
In line with the service quality level of the cruise terminals of the GPH network, the Catania maritime station has been also equipped with a public defibrillator (DAE), thus becoming the first cardioprotected cruise terminal in Sicily.
