La Spezia’s Great Cruise Ship Success

La Spezia - Caught in the middle of Genoa and Livorno; disliked by the concession holders at the Marina del Canaletto; bogged down in appeals to the Regional Court, Lorenzo Forcieri is moving forward, and seemingly he’s not worried, even though there is more than one reason for concern. But the president of the Port Authority exudes confidence (“We’re calm, the legal battle doesn’t scare us, and we’ll go ahead with the port’s strategic plan”) and is ready to play his strongest card, namely the cruise lines. Moreover, he takes pride in the fact that ships from the most important international companies now moor at the Garibaldi wharf, and considers it a personal victory. The numbers achieved up till now have seen him proved right, and future numbers - he predicts - will be even better. He repeated when he presented the cruise ship season for 2014, which included 183 stops in La Spezia from January to December for a total of over 493,000 passengers. And for 2015 La Spezia is expecting the Allure of the Seas, the largest ship in the world along with its sister ship, the Oasis.

“Our bay has proven to be one of the most beautiful and attractive in the Mediterranean and we are working to make the port of La Spezia even more welcoming”, Forcieri remarked. “The cruise ship sector is bringing more and more value to the city and the province as a whole. We must work hard to ensure that the positive effects multiply and that the economy linked to cruise ship tourism grows throughout our territory. To do this, we must get out of this transitional phase as quickly as possible by completing the improvements called for in our strategic plan, which include the new pier at the Paita wharf and the new cruise ship terminal. Along with the president of the Port Authority, also present were the commander of the “Giacomo Cirillo”, representing the harbour master’s office; Ottaviano Macciantelli of the Customs Agency; and the city executive for maritime policy, Jacopo Tartarini.

2013 marked La Spezia’s inclusion in the itineraries of the most important international cruise ship lines, thanks to the inauguration of the new passenger pier at the Garibaldi wharf and the restructuring of the former customs house to receive passengers. This year will confirm the commitment of well known companies like Royal Caribbean, Costa Crociere, Ibero Cruises, Disney Cruise and additionally, Pullmantur, Radisson Cruises and MSC Cruises, which are making stops here for the first time.

MSC will use La Spezia, as Costa and Ibero already do, for “interporting”, in other words, as a stop for passenger embarking and disembarking. Pullmantur’s voyages are especially significant. The important Spanish company is owned by the Royal Caribbean group, and starting in April will bring the Sovereign of the Seas to La Spezia for 19 calls, the Zenith for 7 calls and the Horizon for one. Royal will also bring its flagship, Costa Diadema to La Spezia for seven calls from November to December 2014. After its launch on the 8th of November, Costa Diadema will sail three inaugural week-long cruises in the Western Mediterranean. The itinerary includes Genoa (only for the first cruise), Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Naples, La Spezia and Savona.