'Rotterdam' to become biggest cruise ship to call at Gozo
The Rotterdam in Grand Harbour today.
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.
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Isabella Debattista
Oct 28th 2009, 00:58
The cruise line passenger gets to see the Country the ship berths in for a few hours, hopefully making the choice to revisit on a longer stay on future holidays. For a number of years, there has been requests to the Authorities for assistance in enticing cruise liners to berth in St.Paul's Bay. What better way to promote the North of the Island with it's beautiful beaches, historical sites, diving just to name a few..excursions could be organized in the area as far as Mdina, Cirkewwa, Comino and surrounding areas. If this can be done with Valletta and Gozo, why not St.Paul's Bay..Maybe one day ??
M.Debono
Oct 27th 2009, 22:05
Very good idea. A berthing place could be built on the outer side of the present breakwater, depth of sea permitting. At least this could be used in good weather - possibly throughout summer. Unfortunately if no breakwater is built, it is probable that such a berthing place gets destroyed by bad weather within a couple of years - would this be worthed the intitial investment?
A. Schembri
Oct 27th 2009, 17:12
Has the idea of possibly a berthing place for such ships been considered for Gozo as an extension to the current Mgarr harbour?
I think if ships had to berth rather than stay offshore will be beneficial to Gozo. Hope I am not going to open a whole can of worms by askign such question!
Joseph Ellis
Oct 27th 2009, 16:44
Great news and congratulations to Mifsud Brothers, the Gozo Ministry and MTA for making this event possible. It is wonderful that this will happen tomorrow which marks Gozo Day.
The Ministry responsible for Ports and MMA do not seem to have been involved in the planning of this event. It is pertinent to ask what has happened to the buoy that was supposed to have been installed off Xlendi months ago. If I am not mistaken, this is the responsibility of this ministry and MMA and whereas they have bulldozed their way in the rehabiltation of Boiler Wharf and even without a MEPA permit, this blessed buoy which will, in any case, allow the berthing of a very limited number of cruise-liners, is still not on the horizon. It is legitimate to ask what is the agenda of this ministry and the MMA and why double-standards are adopted when it comes to Gozo.