‘Island Sky’ visit to Porto Santo

Tobi Hughes·
Madeira News

One question first. Is it me or is there a huge lack of cruise ships as to what we usually have this time of year, being voted best cruise port, I thought the cruise activity would be high.???

The passenger ship ‘Island Sky’ arrived in Porto Santo this Tuesday morning.

The ship comes from Portimão and arrives with more than 90 tourists on board, who are expected to disembark in the early afternoon to visit some of the most emblematic points of the golden island.

After a few hours in Porto Santo, the cruise should set sail around 9pm.

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Tobi Hughes

8 Responses

  1. Cruise ship Iona will be with you tomorrow she’s a bit bigger than Island Sky 😂

  2. Hi Tobi.
    MS Island Sky is a great size vessel, that was last refurbished in 2019 & can go into many shallow harbours with her 4.3 meters draught. Built in Italy 1992 at Marina di Carrara as the Renaissance VIII for the then Renaissance Cruises 1988 – defunct 2001 – sister to Sea Spirit, Caledonian Sky, Hebridean Sky with her ice-strengthened hull, she weighs 4200 gross tonnage, 90.6m length & 15.3m width and holds 118 berths, 108 passengers to 70 crew.

    Lunches & dinners are a la carte 5 course with complimentary wines. It too carries a fleet of Zodiacs and stand-up paddleboards for accessing remote shores and islands.Based mostly around Antartica for 10 day voyages, these smaller sized vessels have great advantages, compared to their larger sister cruise ships.

    ● More over nights in ports
    ● One open seating
    ● No que’s & delays from ship to port
    ● Complimentary wines
    ● All inclusive package fly & cruise

    From my sea days experiences, this truely is a great way to travel on this great Dame. Lucky those who have travelled on her.

  4. There are many reasons for vessels to dock or not dock in port, and here are some to ponder on.

    ●GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION – the route, how far is it from the next port of call & the speed it needs to maintain it’s arrival (ETA).

    ● FUEL – fuel cost is the biggest contributer in planning any route & ports of call. An average cruise ship can burn well over 90 tons of marine diesel per day, to sustain her route, speed and power onboard. Which is why more vessels head for the cluster of the Canarias, as vessels putt the neighboring islands at minimal speed reducing fuel cost. They also leave port earlier to reduce fuel at slower speed.

    ● E-VAC – most vessels follow coastlines as a safe measure and especially for emergency evacuation via helicopter or fast craft where necessary due to high winds (SANA)

    ● PORT FEES – a vessel is charged depending her schedule, cargo and discharge onboard for a 24h visit. It is the owner of the vessel that decides how long the vessel can stay in port due to its next port of call, speed and fuel cost.Not all vessels can maintain a high speed.

    Per passenger the port fee can vary from €3-€9 and crew at a much, much lower rate..This cost also plays a major role with port selection and Madeira has a modest fee charge. Lets not forget that the warm weather, close destination, safe lush island, great food & people contributes to Madeira being voted the best island destination for EU 2023.Our airport brings in by far more passengers and has extreme high airport taxes as per EU standards.

    ● SEASON REPOSITIONING – a lot of vessels reposition back to the Americas & Caribbean,as the Mediterranean summer comes to an end. Therefore you will see a few arrive like buses, one behind the other or none at all. That has to do with it’s crossing over the Atlantic or along Africa.If it bypasses Madeira it is doing a much southern crossing. The same applies for vessels returning for the spring – summer.

    ● PORT BOOKINGS – vessels book well in advance and many times cannot add Madeira due to no space availability.With exception to New Years Eve they anchor around the harbour basin.

    ● PONTINHA – is a deep harbour and has tremendous strong under water currents and surface winds. We need to build an outer breakwater line to calm these daily currents. And a new pontoon pier by the ‘cidade velha’ for super motoryacht will give a diamond sparkle to the whole port..

    But most importantly we need stability & growth within all areas dependant on such tourism. A saturated port leaves everyone grumpy with salt in their mouths. Salutations Mig

  5. Increase the size of the port? Isn’t Madeira being destroyed enough already with the current developments!!

  6. I am trying to send my message again.
    Funchal Port is one of the (if not the) most expensive passenger tourist docking ports in Europe. And where is the money going ? Yes, probably to the likes of the De Sousa’s. Once again the wealthy oligarchs getting wealthier. The passengers from these Cruise Ships spend relatively little money in Funchal, because all their needs are catered for ‘on board ship’. Most of the cruise ship monstrosities are diesel guzzlers and polluters both the diesel fumes and of course the sewage which is probably simply mashed up and thrown into the sea causing irreversible damage to the sea ecology and environment. The ships themselves are ugly floating ‘apartment buildings’, there is nothing ‘aesthetically’ pleasing about them.

    Melvin

  7. Before we talk of who’s probably getting the money, can anyone tell us, who owns the Port, who pays for the maintenance and any improvements? Is it Government, an individual, a private company, or a publicly quoted company?

    1. The port is owned by the Gouvernment under the APRAM devision. It too contracts to outsiders, such as the Sousa Group which won the contract in 1995 to carry passengets & cargo ‘Lobo Marinho’ ferry (ROPAX) to and from Madeira and Porto Santo island. In 2022 they carried 349 417 passengers and earlier this year she went for a refurbishment.

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