Cruise ship season has begun

With the visit of the large cruise liner 'Mein Schiff 1' the cruise ship season has begun in La Gomera. While a few cruise ships visit La Gomera all year round, the winter months are the busiest time for La Gomera's main port San Sebastian and five cruise ships will dock here this week alone. A good few smaller  cruise ships and sail training vessels  also visit the southwestern port of Valle Gran Rey and even the very large 'Thomson Majesty' is scheduled to dock there four times this winter.

Cruises are becoming an increasingly popular form of holidaying and there's a further 65 large cruise ships under construction at various shipyards all over Europe at the moment.

La Gomera has rated very highly with passengers, who are very impressed with the island's beauty and atmosphere, praising the quality of the shore excursions. Many passengers have voted the visit to La Gomera the highlight of their cruise.

This is good news, as even though most passengers do not spend all that much time and money here, some will return for longer stays and many more will recommend La Gomera as a holiday destination to family and friends. As we all know, word of mouth endorsements are the perfect publicity, of the type that money can't buy.

Some of the many buses awaiting passengers booked on shore excursions

Goliath and David

The 100.000 ton 2800 passenger cruise ship Mein Schiff 4 and the three-masted sail training barque Picton Castle in the harbour of San Sebastian de La Gomera on Saturday morning. The latter was leaving La Gomera for Dakar in Senegal after a longer stay in La Gomera while the brand new cruise ship was on her fortnightly 11hr call.

Two very different ships

In the port of Valle Gran Rey yesterday

Two very different ships were in the harbour of Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera yesterday. First the tall ship Picton Castle arrived the night before and the the large yacht Harmony V berthed the following morning. The latter is 165ft long and offers 25 spacious cabins. This Greek-registered yacht is currently cruising the Canary Islands and has left Valle Gran Rey by now. The tall sailing ship Picton Castle is a 180ft former Welsh trawler (MFV) built in 1928, now converted to sail (STS), and registered in the Cook Islands. She is based in Nova Scotia and has just completed an Atlantic crossing from Canada. The sail-training three masted barque arrived here with forty adventure-seeking trainees of many nationalities besides her 12 professional crew. The Picton Castle is a true working tall ship and she will remain in Valle Gran Rey until Dec. 30th 2015.

Adventure... 

...and luxury

Large sailing cruise ship visits La Gomera

The 'Wind Surf' approaching San Sebastian de La Gomera

One of the largest sailing cruise ships in the world, the 'Wind Surf' owned and operated by Seattle based Windstar Cruises, visited San Sebastian de La Gomera yesterday. The impressive ship can carry up to 310 passengers in a total of 154 staterooms, including 31 ocean-view rooms and 122 deluxe ocean view staterooms, along with a crew of 214. 

The 5-masted cruise liner which was launched in 1989 in Le Havre, France,  made her maiden voyage in 1990 and is now registered in the Bahamas. The ship boasts bour diesel-electric engines and computer-operated sails with a sail plan of ca. 2,400 m2 (26,000 sq ft) in seven triangular Dacron self-furled sails on five masts which can produce a speed of 10–15 knots .

The American and international passengers really enjoyed their stay on La Gomera and I must say that in the exceptionally good weather yesterday La Gomera really impressed the visitors when they explored the island.

The 'Wind Surf' berthing in La Gomera

Cruise ship season 2015-16 has begun

The huge 'Mein Schiff 4' in San Sebastian de La Gomera yesterday morning.
The 2.500 passengers were welcomed with Canarian folk music (on left)

This winter's cruise ship season began yesterday with the arrival of the TUI-owned 'Mein Schiff 4' in the port of San Sebastian de La Gomera. Many more will be calling over the next few months, among them the similarly large 'Thomson Majesty' and the sailing vessel 'Sea Cloud'. The former is also scheduled to berth in the harbour of Valle Gran Rey a few times this winter.

Cruise ship season has begun

Cruise ship in the port of San Sebastian last season

Over the past few years La Gomera has been steadily gaining in popularity as a destination for cruise ships during the winter season. The pier of the island's capital San Sebastian has been extended once again during the summer, this time by a further 115 feet, to accommodate even larger cruise liners. This November alone the harbour will welcome nearly 14.000 cruise ship passengers in total. The largest cruise liner to call will be TUI-owned Mein Schiff 3 with 2500 guests aboard.

While the economic benefits of cruise ship calls are doubted by many locals, as they often see cruise ship passengers just buying a few postcards and stamps before they retire for lunch on their swimming all-inclusive hotels, the promotional value of the visits is often under-estimated. La Gomera has always scored  top marks in cruise passenger satisfaction ratings and when these passengers go back home most will recommend La Gomera for a longer holiday to their friends, relatives and neighbours and some will plan a return for a longer stay themselves. The shore excursions have also proven very popular and give direct employment for drivers and guides and additional business for restaurants and shops. Having worked as a tour guide in the past let me tell you that the tips are mostly generous anyway.

Tour buses awaiting guests one morning last winter