MSC Explora 1 cruise arrives in Arrecife

The MSC Explora 1 luxury cruise ship arrived at the port in Arrecife yesterday. The ship was greeted by Arrecife Ayuntamiento and Cabildo members.

The MSC Explora 1 is a luxury cruise ship that holds a total of 922 passengers who, this week, arrived at the port in Arrecife to enjoy the capital and the rest of the island during its stopover. Additionally, the ship needs a crew of 640 people to meet the needs of the onboard passengers.

Across 14 decks, the Explora 1 features 461 Ocean-front suites, 9 restaurants, 3 outdoor pools, 1 indoor pool, spas, shopping experiences and entertainment

Upon arrival, the luxury cruise ship was greeted by Arrecife Ayuntamiento and Cabildo members who swapped plaques in a presentation between the island authorities and cruise captains on the 2,500 square metre ship.

Arrecife Mayor, Yonathan de León, greeted captain Diego Michelozzi as the two swapped plaques.

After the meeting, de León wrote in a post on Facebook: “Arrecife enters the projects of one of the European cruise companies. Today, from Miami, our city received the luxurious Explora 1, of MSC, on its maiden voyage to Europe.

The company has created this cruise line specialized for tourism of high purchasing power, where our island is scheduled to be the port of embarkation or disembarkation.

We have had these days in hotels on the island to 250 passengers who have paid 7,000 euros for each of the suite. They have combined stays in hotels in Arrecife and the 5-night circuit.

The company has another 7 new ships under construction, several of which will be propelled (in the next few years) by hydrogen, the cleanest energy, opening a great future for our port by betting on this propulsion system.

Today I have been able to talk with the general manager of MSC for Spain. He confirms that Arrecife has a great future. We can be a base port, with the projects that are underway in our port area.”

Cabildo Vice President, Jacobo Medina, was also in attendance and afterwards wrote in a post on Facebook: “This demonstrates the interest of large shipping companies in the port of our capital, which has an impact on the local economy.”