Cruises in Monaco
Since March 2003, Hercules Port has been developing new commercial activity with the docking of cruise ships. Previously such ships had little choice but to lie at anchor off Monaco, which limited the movements of cruise passengers, or alongside Quai des Etats-Unis for craft of less than 100 metres.
The Sea wall
The commissioning of the new semi-floating sea wall enabled the development of this business. 352 metres in length and sheltering the boats perfectly from the turbulence of the sea, the sea wall makes it possible to host cruise ships of up to 300 metres.
Thanks to the sea wall the Port has known a real revolution as shown by the numbers: the stopovers are gone from 101 in 2002 to 165 in 2019, for a total of 183 468 cruise passengers. Over time the cruising business has breathed new life into tourism in the principality, to the benefit of the local economy.
The sea wall has also allowed a turnaround policy (the beginning or the end of the cruise). A cruise Terminal has been built where all the control to passengers and luggage, required by ISPS standards, are carried out (regulation applied since the 2001)
Following the interruption due to the health crisis of COVID-19 in 2020, the Monegasque Government now approved to limit the acceptance of vessels, only luxury and premium category vessels, up to 250 meters and with a capacity up to 1250 passengers. The objective is both to protect the environment by reducing the numbers of the cruise ships on arrival and to improve the « Monaco experience » lived by the cruise passengers which will be willing to come back soon.
Monaco : Port of call
Environnement
Regarding environmental protection, the possibility to get an electrical connection has been evaluated, but not applied yet as the vessels connection’s capacity is too marginal.
