Thirty calls are scheduled for the 2017-2018 season for Acapulco. That is a slight dip from last year, because Holland America canceled eight calls when Carnival Corporation did not conduct its destination site inspection, despite being invited by the port, explained Alex Casarrubias, port director. “We are confident that once Carnival, as well as Royal Caribbean, visit our destination, their ships will return,” he said.
“Our top client is Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings with Norwegian, Oceana and Regent,” Casarrubias continued. “Last year we also added the Magellan and Astor of Cruise & Maritime Voyages.
“The Magellan will homeport in Acapulco for three months, starting in February 2019.”
Acapulco was also a homeport in 2010 and 2011 and has since accommodated a number of turnarounds. This season, 90 percent of its traffic is transit calls and 10 percent turnarounds, but those percentages will change next season.
Recent turnarounds for Phoenix Reisen’s Albatros and Artania meant that passengers flew directly to Acapulco from England and Germany.
Casarrubias pointed out that nonstop airlift from Los Angeles started in December and that nonstop flights from Montreal and Toronto are starting in January.
Meanwhile the Acapulco Cruise Committee’s priority continues to be to showcase Acapulco as a safe destination with top-notch infrastructure and services, he said. “We are in constant communication with the cruise lines and our main priority right now is to get Carnival to do its site inspection so they can confidently resume their cruise operation in our port.”
Passengers will find a “renewed” Acapulco. Grupo Autofin’s $1 billon master plan includes renovations of the Pierre Mundo Imperial and Princess Mundo Imperial resorts, as well as a number of new developments – hotels, shops, restaurants, spas, an eco-amusement park, a tennis stadium, a medical center and more, slated to be completed between now and 2022.
This year will also see the inauguration of a new terminal at the airport.
The most obvious attraction is Acapulco’s stunning landscape, according to Casarrubias, with its lush green mountains and sandy white beaches, in addition to its well-developed tourism infrastructure.
Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2017/2018
