Grand Harbour yesterday welcomed for the first time the Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Cruise Line's final entrant in a class of Freestyle ships.
"After 12 years of negotiations with NCL to include Malta as one of their ports of call this is probably one of the biggest successes we achieved.
"These aren't people you convince easily. They were a hard nut to crack but we finally managed to convince them that Malta has a lot of things to offer to their passengers," Michael Abele, chief operating officer of Cruises International, NCL's sole agency in Malta, said. "The ship will be calling at Grand Harbour every week until November and we will probably be seeing her tied to one of the berths at the Waterfront again next year. With the help of the Malta Tourism Authority and Air Malta, we are trying to establish the port of Valletta as an international cruise hub by bringing over foreigners to start and end their cruises in Malta.
"Thanks to SMS Travel and Mondial, our preferred travel agency partners to promote NCL cruises in Malta and Gozo, we already managed to sell 80 per cent of the cabins allocated to us," Mr Abele explained.
Cruising figures are on the increase and the trend is expected to continue this year. Norwegian Gem is expected to bring to Malta about 70,000 passengers.
Three per cent of the Maltese population will go on a cruise this year, thus matching the market penetration rate of the United States, which is the country with the highest number of cruisers per capita.
"Our company is investing heavily to promote the so-called fly-cruise concept for Malta. We have contacts with leading tour operators in Europe and the Middle East and are already attracting foreigners to fly to Malta to take their cruise on board the Gem," Mr Abele said.
Besides Malta, the seven-night itinerary includes stops in Naples, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Villefranche and Barcelona, her homeport.
So what is so special about the Norwegian Gem?
She is the latest ship of NCL's Jewel class of ships, sister of the Jewel, the Pearl and the Jade. With a gross tonnage of 93,502 tonnes, she is definitely big, but sheer size is not what makes a ship great!
Within her well-fitted hull and superstructure are no fewer than 10 restaurants, 11 bars and lounges, three pools, a "ship within a ship" complex of deluxe suites with their own courtyard and pool area, a huge spa with a fitness centre, a sports court with tiered seating, child and teen centres, a bowling alley and on and on.