European cruise ports report strong homeport traffic in 2025
Southampton, Barcelona, Civitavecchia, Hamburg, Kiel and Piraeus posted substantial passenger totals, while Barcelona advanced plans to reduce terminal capacity.
British government statistics recorded 2.6 million international cruise passenger movements through Southampton in 2025, excluding visitors arriving on port calls. The port’s five cruise terminals serve P&O Cruises, Cunard, Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line.
In Barcelona, passengers beginning or ending cruises represented 58% of total cruise traffic during 2025. The city and port have agreed to cut the number of cruise terminals from seven to five by 2030.
Civitavecchia registered a record 3.56 million cruise passenger movements, with embarkations and disembarkations accounting for 1.73 million. Hamburg, meanwhile, had more than 1.4 million embarking cruise passengers in 2025, compared with about 1.3 million a year earlier.
Kiel completed its busiest season by passenger volume, handling 1.11 million cruise passengers across 187 ship calls. Piraeus also reached an all-time high, recording 1.86 million passenger movements. About 1.09 million of those were homeport passengers, up from just over one million in 2024.