Πέμπτη 28.03.2024 ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑ

11 cruise ships scheduled to arrive in December this year

cruises
03 Μαρτίου 2023 / 10:52

CORFU. Schedules have been almost finalised for 10 out of the 12 months. The top month will be October with 68 ships.

Cruise schedules have been almost finalised for 10 out of the 12 months this year with the end of the season coming right at the end of the year - 11 cruise ships are scheduled to arrive in Corfu in December, with the last being on the 31st.

The first arrival at Corfu Port this year will be the small cruise ship Arethusa at 21:30 on Tuesday 21 March. The ship is 60 metres in length and will come to Corfu from Saranda before departing for Patras at midnight. On the following day the Viking Sky will arrive at 08:00 and remain in Corfu until 17:00.

397 cruise ships this year

According to Corfu Port Authority's schedule, 397 cruise ships are expected this year, including those that use Corfu as a home port every Friday (Marella Explorer from TUI Cruises) and Sunday (AIDA Blu from AIDA Cruises). There may, however, be changes to the schedule during the season.

Busiest months

The highest number of arrivals is expected in October, with 68 cruise ships, followed by August with 62, June with 56, July with 55 and September with 52. Five cruises are scheduled for March, 23 for April, 45 for May and 20 for November.

In December 11 arrivals are scheduled with the Arethusa and Costa Deliziosa and the last of the season being the Ocean Odyssey on the 31st, arriving from Malta at 09:00 and departing for Patras at 17:00.

"The companies have announced their schedules and have requested specific dates," Corfu Port Authority Managing Director Spyros Zervopoulos told Enimerosi. "It is positive news that we have arrivals in December, as we didn't have any last year."

Will the arrivals happen?

According to travel agent Vassilis Kaloudis, the scheduled arrivals in the last month of the year is good news for winter cruises but we need to wait and see if they will go ahead or whether they will be cancelled. Another factor is that everything will not be open in the town with some businesses closing for winter.

Recent years

2022 was a positive year for cruises coming to Corfu. According to data from the Hellenic Ports Association (ELIME) for the period up to 30 September, was in fourth position nationally with 392 arrivals and a total of 527,609 passengers.

In 2021 200 cruise ships arrived at Corfu Port with 234,699 passengers. The record year was 2019 with 420 arrivals and 767,673 passengers.