The outlook for the port of Thessaloniki regarding the performance of the cruise sector in 2026 appears cloudy.
An executive of “Cosmatos”, which is the agent of Celestyal Cruises’ ships, pointed out that the exclusion of the Thessaloniki port from Celestyal Cruises’ itineraries constitutes a strong blow and sounded the alarm that 2026 is predicted to be a difficult year, estimating that he does not see more than 40 cruise ship approaches to the city for the next year.
No data on the expected cruise ship approaches for 2026 has yet been posted on the website of the Thessaloniki Port Authority.
According to “N” sources, the declared cruise ship arrivals for 2026 have reached 60 so far and are expected to increase somewhat. In any case, however, the trend is clearly downward, as 71 arrivals from 20 different cruise ships have been planned for 2025, of which nine are calling at the Port of Thrace for the first time, compared to 81 arrivals in 2024 and 68 in 2023.
The nine cruise ships, which are calling at the port of Thessaloniki for the first time this year, come from cruise companies that have had Thessaloniki on their schedule for years, as well as from three companies that are coming this year for the first time – namely, the companies Astoria Grande, Emerald Cruises and Ritz Carlton.
Meanwhile, the “Celestyal Infinity”, which carried 2,369 passengers from the USA, Canada and Britain, will call at the ThPA again on August 31, September 6 and 25, and October 4 and 23, and its last visit will be on November 1, while the “Celestyal Journey” is expected on October 5, 12 and 19, and November 2 and 16.
The curtain on this year’s cruise season will fall for the ThPA on December 10 with the “Astoria Grande.”
