Back-to-back Atlantic storms have knocked six cruise calls off Madeira’s schedule in the space of a few days. According to APRAM, the island’s port authority, the cancelled visits to Funchal were Cunard’s Queen Anne on November 8, P&O’s Azura and TUI’s Mein Schiff Relax on November 9, and P&O’s Iona, Ponant’s Le Dumont-d’Urville and Vasco da Gama around November 10 and 11. Funchal’s port closed to traffic at 8pm on November 10 as conditions worsened.
Cruise Hive estimates the five larger ships alone would have brought around 17,000 passengers ashore, roughly a tenth of all the cruise calls Funchal expected this November. Those are visitors who would have spent the day in the old town, riding the cable car up to Monte or taking tours into the mountains, so the cancellations land hard on local businesses that rely on cruise days.
Air travel suffered too. Storm Bruna caused at least 53 flight cancellations at Madeira Airport on November 8. Storm Charles followed with a red warning for the mountains, where gusts of up to 140 km/h were forecast, and gusts of up to 100 km/h in Funchal. On November 11, 22 of the 80 flights planned at the airport were cancelled. Civil protection teams logged 328 incidents, including 88 landslides, and the ferry to Porto Santo was cancelled that day.
All 41 of Madeira’s signposted walking trails, including the famous levada routes, were closed through November 12. If you are visiting in the coming days, check the regional government’s trail status before setting out, because landslides can keep individual paths shut long after the weather clears. Cruise passengers should expect lines to substitute other ports, usually in the Canary Islands, when Funchal is unreachable.
Sources: Rus Tourism News, Cruise Hive
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