With the arrival of the MS Fridtjof Nansen, belonging to the HX Expeditions line, Puerto Valparaíso began its 2026-2027 cruise season this Saturday, October 17, which includes 30 scheduled arrivals until April of next year, representing a 25% increase over the previous cycle.
During its stay in the port, the passenger ship was visited by the mayors of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, Camila Nieto and Macarena Ripamonti, respectively; along with the President of the Board of Directors of Puerto Valparaíso, Gonzalo Le Dantec, the regional secretary of Economy, Cristian Mella, and the director of Sernatur, Carolina Carrasco, an opportunity in which they shared with the cruise captain, Jorn Bowitzy, and were able to tour the ship's various facilities.
The President of the Board of Directors of Puerto Valparaíso, Gonzalo Le Dantec, stated that the "25% increase in the number of cruises we will receive is very good news, not only for the port but also for the city, and we are very committed as a port to precisely betting on tourism activity, on betting on cruise activity, and, in that sense, the work we are doing together with the mayor of Valparaíso, the mayor of Viña del Mar, and also the mayor of Concón to showcase the city, to invite cruise passengers who arrive to visit Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, and Concón is part of the efforts we understand are necessary to boost the economy, to promote tourism, and to show the benefits and beauty of our entire area."
The mayor of Valparaíso, Camila Nieto, pointed out that "for the Municipality of Valparaíso and for our city, it is essential to maintain the arrival of cruises, due to what this implies for the City of Valparaíso, what it implies for our tourism and also in the generation of employment and for one of the main vocations that the city has, which is the heritage tourism vocation and also the port vocation."
The communal head of Valparaíso added that "we are happy to have a higher percentage of calls than last year, but we also know that the challenges in terms of cruises are quite important. We need to move quickly in the creation and construction of the exclusive priority pier for cruises, because we know that we need to give certainty to the industry. And, of course, while that happens, from the municipality, we continue to strengthen our network and our city's tourism ecosystem and also taking care of basic elements to activate tourism, such as the cleanliness and security of the city of Valparaíso and, of course, the strengthening of the city brand and the gastronomic and tourist offer we have in our commune of Valparaíso."
For her part, the mayor of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti, highlighted that "in Viña del Mar we are very happy and we are willing in this activity that inaugurates a very fantastic season of cruises and their calls in the commune of Valparaíso, our sister commune. We are also very happy, along with Concón, about the arrival of new tourists and the opportunity that also boosts and reactivates the economic development of all communes and, above all, also of Valparaíso. We work very closely and we hope that all the communes of the Valparaíso region do very well, especially in contexts where we need reactivation and economic dynamism. We are happy with the work that the Port of Valparaíso does and also happy with the work that the commune of Valparaíso does."
The regional secretary of Economy, Cristian Mella, stressed that "this certainly positions Valparaíso as a great international tourist destination and boosts the local economy, both of the adjacent communes and of the neighboring communes. Certainly, it is a very important opportunity for tour operators, hoteliers, obviously for restaurants, and, clearly, it is a very important support at a time when employment is very complex, but it certainly generates many opportunities for entrepreneurs and for micro and small businesses.
Finally, Carolina Carrasco, regional director of Sernatur, noted that "from tourism we are very happy with this new increase in cruise calls, mainly because we have just received the Best Travel Awards for tourism, the best cruise destination, and we want to maintain and reinforce that. But above all, we are preparing so that those who visit us have an excellent experience and come back."
This first passenger ship, which comes from the port of Callao, Peru, and has Niebla, in the Los Ríos region, as its next destination, is an adventure tourism type that uses ecological batteries to protect the environment while sailing through the coldest places on the planet. With a capacity for 500 passengers, this Norwegian ship is prepared to navigate safely among ice floes.
