Ventura opens Madeira’s 2026/2027 cruise season
The P&O ship began the season with an 11-hour call at Funchal during a round-trip voyage from Southampton.
Ventura opened Madeira’s 2026/2027 cruise season on Wednesday. The ship had also made the final call at Funchal during the previous season.
The P&O ship arrived in the morning for an 11-hour stop with 4,246 people aboard, comprising 3,076 passengers and 1,170 crew members. Funchal was the first destination on Ventura’s 14-night round-trip voyage from Southampton.
After Madeira, the scheduled itinerary included La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Cádiz and Lisbon before the ship’s return to Southampton.
Madeira was expected to receive three more cruise ships later in the month: Disney Dream on Saturday, Celebrity Xcel on the 26th and Celebrity Apex on the 30th.
Between September 2025 and May 2026, the region’s ports recorded 344 cruise calls, 791,707 passengers and 295,180 crew members. Passenger traffic rose by almost 50,000 compared with the previous season.