The cruises return to Puerto de Santa Cruz. Yesterday there was the first positioning stop of a brand new ship, the Celebrity Apex, a ship that made its last stop in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in a European city before continuing to Florida. There were 1,211 passengers on board, who remained in the Port of Santa Cruz from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Some cruise passengers who, however, could not enjoy the bus and tourist train service in the city, still waiting for them to be activated with the return of tourists. And it is that, as confirmed to DIARIO DE AVISOS the councilor delegate of the Development Society, Alfonso Cabello, right now they are waiting for the legal services of the City Council to clarify the formula to re-tender it. “We had already started the procedures to get the concession for both the tourist bus and the train again, once the Alsa company resigned from the contract in 2020, due to the impossibility of starting the service due to the pandemic. The surprise that we have had is that an association of companies in the sector has sent us a communication from Brussels, in which they indicate that they understand that this service must be provided through licenses and not by concession, ”explains Cabello.
According to the also party councilor, “the association affirms that the administrative support that supports this type of services,“ is more similar to a taxi license than to a concession of a route. If so, for us it is good news, because we give a license, we charge for it, and we can have two different companies providing service, but it has generated a question that we must resolve before resuming it ”. “This is a purely legal issue – continued the mayor – is a service that is essential for us, but now we depend on what the legal services of the City Council tell us, which we hope will answer us as soon as possible.”
Apparently, this association has been directed in a generalized way to all the Spanish city councils. “There are cities like Barcelona that follow this licensing system, with several companies, and others that, like us, opt for the concession,” explained Cabello. While that service starts up, the mayor pointed out, “this week we have been talking with the Port Authority and the concessionaire of the attention to cruise passengers in the Port of Santa Cruz to carry out an awareness campaign about Santa Cruz as a safe destination, among cruise passengers to encourage them to get off the ship and interact. We had the first of the conversations, and it is something that I face with money from next year’s budget ”.
Scale
The Celebrity Apex ladder was set to positioning, and it lasted for nine hours. The Celebrity Apex, consigned in Tenerife by Bergé Marítima, displaces 130,818 gross register tons and its length reaches 306 meters in length. In compliance with COVID control measures, it does not come with a full ticket, whose total capacity is 3,000 passengers, although the 1,211 tourists who travel on board have an exquisite treatment thanks to the 1,029 crew.
