French port to welcome 90 ships, 40,000 passengers and 23,000 crew members this year
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Saint-Tropez hosted five simultaneous cruise calls on 27 May, marking a first for the French port.
First to arrive at 7am was Windstar Cruises’ Star Breeze with 212 passengers, which departed for Monaco late that night. SeaDream Yacht Club’s SeaDream I and SeaDream II anchored off the coast of Saint-Tropez at around 8am, followed by Azamara Club Cruises’ Azamara Quest, which docked at 11am with 702 passengers and 408 crew members as part of her trip to Cannes, France. Star Clippers’ four-masted Star Flyer joined the other four ships in the afternoon.
This year, Saint-Tropez expects to host 90 cruise ships – a rise of 28% since 2015 – and a total of 40,000 passengers and 23,000 crew members. The port will handle a further 11 double calls.
“Since the Var Provence Cruise Club launched in 2008, the number of calls in the department increased 80% and the number of cruise passengers has grown by 276%,” said Jacques Bianchi, president of the Var Chamber of Commerce. “Small but beautiful ports such as Sanary-sur-Mer grew in a spectacular way (73% more scheduled calls compared to 2015), while Frejus and Cavalaire will accommodate their first cruise ships next year.”