MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Punta Arenas expects some 170 cruise calls this season, beginning 14 September

One of the main vessels expected is Majestic Princess, 330 meters long, has a passenger capacity of 3.600, plus 1.340 crew, and is sailing since 2017

Some 170 cruise calls and an estimated 100,000 visitors are what the Punta Arenas, Austral Ports Enterprise, Epaiustral, is expecting for the coming 2024/25 season. Of these 128 are internationally flagged vessels, while the remaining fifty belong to local Chilean cruise companies, the Ventus and the Stella Australis.

The season is expected to begin September 14 with Venturs Australis arriving at Punta Arenas. During the full season, the Majestic Princess belonging to Prince Cruises is expected to sail across the Magellan Strait. The Majestic is some 330 meters long, has a passenger capacity of 3.600, plus 1.340 crew, and is sailing since 2017,

“Numbers we are managing for the 2024/25 season are significant, showing a growing interest in the cruise industry, which is relevant not only for our company and services, but also for the local population and businesses. We expect a strong demand for goods and services,” said Marcela Mansilla, manager of Epaustral

Regionally of the over 170 vessels some 121 have confirmed they will be calling at Punta Arenas, while another 57 will be distributed among Puerto Williams, Puerto Natales and Puerto Edén, all of them with harbors and wharfs managed by Epaustral.

Ms. Mansilla added that this coming season Punta Arenas will be acting as “home port”, meaning the embarking and disembarking of passengers and crew members, particularly for Antarctica cruises, while Puerto Williams will be working with Silver Wind, Silver Cloud, Silver Endeavour, belonging to Silversea.

As to new international visitors to Punta Arenas, Ms Mansilla mentioned besides Majestic Pince, Colette from Olsen Cruises, SH Vega from Swan Hellenic Cruise, Villa Vie Odyssey from Villa Vie Residences and Mitsui Ocean Fuji, from Moi Cruises. Villa Vie Residences and Moi Cruises are operating in southern Chile for the first time.