MedCruise participants included representatives from the member ports of Barcelona, Cartagena, Corfu, Cyprus, Dubrovnik, French Riviera, Heraklion, Livorno, Odessa, Palamos, Piraeus, Sete, Souda/Chania and Venice.
Over thirty-five MedCruise port representatives met with the cruise lines in Heraklion in a workshop organized by MedCruise in collaboration with the Association’s member Port of Heraklion. Michel Nestour (Carnival Corporation & Plc.) and Adam Sharp (RCCL) spoke on behalf of CLIA Europe and Vassilios Gazikas represented Louis Cruises.
MedCruise participants included representatives from the member ports of Barcelona, Cartagena, Corfu, Cyprus, Dubrovnik, French Riviera, Heraklion, Livorno, Odessa, Palamos, Piraeus, Sete, Souda/Chania and Venice, and associate members Donomis Cruise Services, Navigator and Intercruises from Greece, and Karpaten Turism from Constantza.
The workshop took place on January 24 and 25 and was moderated by Luis de Carvalho. The first day’s session focused on the issue of the benchmark of port fees in MedCruise ports, and cruise lines, port agents and port representatives, moderated by consultant Luis de Carvalho, shared their views in search of a common understanding of each side’s challenges. MedCruise presented its study “The Benchmark of MedCruise Port Fees”, a comparative study on cruise port fees in the Association’s region.
During the second session, the participants discussed the good practices at ports. The participants spent most of the time on the issue of the berth allocation, using the MedCruise Berth Allocation Guidelines document, but also other issues such as passenger rights and waste management were discussed.
Complementing the work sessions, the group visited the Port of Heraklion and the vessel Costa Magica, and enjoyed the Cretan hospitality at the Raki factory, where they had the opportunity to taste the local gastronomy and to learn about the region’s culture.
Cruise lines, port representatives and port agents were all very satisfied with the whole meeting and left with a better understanding of the issues discussed and each stake holder position and point of view. They all express the feeling of having achieved a new level of dialog that will continue for the sake of the whole industry’s benefit.
Stavros Hatzakos, MedCruise President, was convinced of the success: “It was very positive having all members and cruise lines contributing to the discussion and learning from each other while focusing on several key topics. The berth allocation procedure is a priority for our members and we will continue providing the industry with new ideas for best practices among us. There is more to follow”.
MedCruise’s Director of Professional Development, Maria Cano, from Port of Palamos, expressed her satisfaction: “This second edition of MedCruise’s Day Workshop was a total success, with a number of participants much higher than we had expected for a day workshop.“
