2023 cruise season has started at the Port of Leixões and in the first days of April, three ships visited the port for the first time.
On April 13, the Lindblad’s National Geographic Resolution made the inaugural call at Leixões during her 5 days voyage from Lisbon to Bordeaux with around 120 passengers on board.
This itinerary also included visits to Vilagarcia de Arousa, Coruña, Bilbau, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and San Sebastian de la Gomera.
The 2021-built cruise ship is the second Lindblad-National Geographic cruise line’s vessel of the “Ulstein X-Bow” series, designed to explore polar and temperate regions. Among other amenities, the ship has a dedicated expedition staff, including undersea specialist, NatGeo photographer, NatGeo certified photo instructor and a video chronicler so that its passengers enjoy incredible experiences whether on board or ashore.
On April 20, our Porto Cruise Terminal welcomed the AIDAperla cruise ship and almost 3.300 passengers, of which 1.300 were children or young people up to 18 years old. This is a family-friendly cruise and the on-board activities are aimed particularly at families with children.
AIDAperla arrived at the Porto Cruise Terminal as part of her 26-day journey themed as “Easter” from La Romana, in the Dominican Republic to Hamburg, in Germany. This itinerary also includes several ports in the Caribbean, the Canary Islands, Funchal, Vigo and Le Havre.
AIDAperla was launched in 2017 with 300m in length for Aida Cruises and is the second of two in the Hyperion-Class series, together with the sister-ship AIDAprima.
On the same day, our port welcomed the Hurtigruten’s expedition ship FRIDTJOF NANSEN. The ship was on a 12-day trip from Lisbon to Hamburg with around 400 passengers on board.
The MS Fridtjof Nansen is the second cruise ship in the world with hybrid propulsion and designed for polar expedition voyages. This cruise vessel class was purposefully designed for Norwegian coastal and Polar expedition cruises (Arctic and Antarctica itineraries).
Among other amazing amenities, the MS Fridtjof Nansen features the Nansen Science Centre, which is a large “scientific lounge” (research lab) packed with high-tech gadgets, including microscopes and touch screens, and latest digital technology equipment for passengers.
Almost 140 cruise ship calls are announced to visit the port in 2023, including 16 new ships, which will bring to Porto and to the North of Portugal Region nearly 180.000 passengers.
