'Rotterdam' to become biggest cruise ship to call at Gozo

The Holland America Line cruise ship Rotterdam is to anchor off Gozo tomorrow, with many of its 1,500 passengers on board planning shore excursions.

The vessel, which is currently in Grand Harbour, will be the biggest cruise ship to ever drop anchor off the sister island.

"A lot of planning has gone behind the scenes in collaboration with the Ministry for Gozo and the Malta Tourism Organisation to make this work. If everything goes as planned, we could use this call for marketing purposes to push the idea of more cruise ships overnighting in Valletta and calling in Gozo next day," said Ivan Mifsud, a director of Mifsud Brothers Ltd, the local agents.

"There are a lot of good reasons for cruise ships to do this, such as low fuel consumption, great passage and negligible port costs in Gozo, and many benefits for the Maltese Islands because they passengers spend more time in Valletta and Gozo gets some incremental cruise business."

The Rotterdam will be overnighting in Valletta today and setting sail tomorrow morning at 7am. It is expected to anchor off Mgarr, Gozo, at around 11am. Several tours will be operated giving the cruise passengers a taste of Gozo by coach and also by 4 x 4's.

Some passengers will also enjoy a yacht tour to the Blue Lagoon and nearby creeks.