With the arrival of the second vessel of the year, the Marella Discovery 2, scheduled for tomorrow, the cruise season in the port of Piombino is now getting into full swing. It kicked off in mid-May with the exceptional call of the Sea Cloud II. According to Port Authority forecasts, this season will see a record number of visitors.
The town’s port is a major attraction for Marella Cruise, as its consolidated approval rates show. The British shipping company will make 11 calls from June 2nd to October 17th. Two vessels in particular, will be calling at Piombino: the Discovery 2, a 1804-passenger ship with over 900 cabins, which will call at the port twice (on 2nd June and 25th August), and the 2669-passenger Marella Voyager, which Piombino locals will see nine times.
The Tuscan port’s infrastructure and services will guarantee a safe berthing for ships of this tonnage. Both the Discovery II and the Explorer are notably large, being both 264 metres long and over 30 metres wide. In addition to passengers, they accommodate over 700 crewmembers (726 the former, 909 the latter).
There will be a number of services available for passengers, including toilets, SOS intercoms, defibrillators and, from June 1st, a first aid and emergency response facility set up on the basis of an agreement that the Port Network Authority signed a few days ago with the Piombino branches of the Italian Red Cross, the Misericordia and the Public Assistance.
“For Piombino port the current cruise season is a first step towards a development that we hope will grow over time. Together with the other institutions and operators, we will strive to make this happen,” said Port Network Authority president, Luciano Guerrieri, highlighting, among other things, the added value of the Authority’s strategic collaboration with Risposte Turismo (RT) to make the area more attractive and improve the quality of services on offer.
In fact, with RT and the operators in the ports involved, the Port Network Authority has set up a path to be followed over the next few years to improve the quality of passenger reception services.
The Institutions, first of all the local councils, and the Val di Cornia Park network are a key part of this work-project, which aims to support the relaunch Piombino and the Elban ports with a series of activities focusing on welcoming tourists to the area.
“The cruise segment confirms that it has interesting growth potential and is undoubtedly one of the sectors that can contribute to the development of tourism in Piombino,” says Councillor for Tourism & Economic Development, Sabrina Nigro.”One of our administration’s goals is to improve the quality of our tourism sector, through developing the variety of services on offer. This is why it is essential to work in close synergy both between institutions and with tourist and commercial operators,” she adds.
“Thanks to this teamwork, we are now in a position to welcome visitors to our town in the best possible way, by focusing on aspects of historical, tourist, and commercial interest.
We have prepared something special for visitors arriving on June 2nd. While visiting our spectacular Piazza Bovio, they will be able to discover a preview of the ‘Piombino Souvenir’ projects by visiting the exhibition dedicated to the project ideas, open in Palazzo Appiani on the 1st and 2nd of June.”
Translation by Giles Foster
