More than 35 MedCruise port representatives met with cruise lines in Heraklion in a workshop organized by MedCruise in collaboration with the member Port of Heraklion.

Michel Nestour (Carnival Corporation) and Adam Sharp (Royal Caribbean Cruises) spoke on behalf of CLIA Europe and Vassilios Gazikas represented Louis Cruises.

MedCruise participants included representatives from the member ports of Barcelona, Cartagena, Corfu, Cyprus, Dubrovnik, French Riviera, Heraklion, Livorno, Odessa, Palamos, Piraeus, Sete, Souda/Chania and Venice, and associate members Donomis Cruise Services, Navigator and Intercruises from Greece, and Karpaten Turism from Constantza.

Taking place on January 24 and 24, the first day’s session focused on the issue of the benchmark of port fees in MedCruise ports, and cruise lines, port agents and port representatives.

MedCruise presented its study “The Benchmark of MedCruise Port Fees,” a comparative study on cruise port fees in the region.

During the second session, the participants discussed best practices at the ports. The participants spent most of the time on the issue of the berth allocation, using the MedCruise Berth Allocation Guidelines document, but also other issues such as passenger rights and waste management were discussed.

Stavros Hatzakos, MedCruise President, commented: “It was very positive having members and cruise lines contributing to the discussion and learning from each other while focusing on several key topics. The berth allocation procedure is a priority for our members and we will continue providing the industry with new ideas for best practices among us.”