Lisbon Sets June Cruise Record as Turnaround Traffic Surges
Lisbon also added eight first-time ship visits in the first half of 2026, including Orient Express Corinthian during its May inaugural cruise.
The Port of Lisbon recorded its strongest June for cruise activity in 2026, handling 81,735 cruise passengers on 37 ship calls. Passenger volume was 53 percent above June 2025, and the call count rose 32 percent year over year. Both figures are new June highs.
The month also showed a sharp expansion in Lisbon’s turnaround activity. Homeport passenger movements rose faster than transit traffic. The Port of Lisbon said the first-half pattern points to lower seasonality and a more even distribution of cruise calls through the year.
Turnaround traffic more than doubles
Transit cruise passengers totaled 54,885 in June, up 32 percent from a year earlier. Transit calls reached 21, surpassing the previous June transit-call record of 19 set in 2023.
The turnaround segment reached 26,850 passengers, up 125 percent year over year and above the former June record of 23,090 set in 2024. Embarkations increased from 6,166 to 13,425 passengers, while disembarkations rose from 5,747 to 13,425 passengers.
Lisbon’s total June passenger count also exceeded the previous June record of 60,922 passengers, set in 2024. The port attributed the monthly result largely to the increase in homeport operations.
First-half activity remains ahead of 2025
For the first half of 2026, Lisbon recorded 165 cruise calls and 302,496 passengers, both up 5 percent from the same period last year. Transit passengers totaled 217,047, a 4 percent increase, while turnaround passengers reached 85,449, up 7 percent.
The first-half performance follows Lisbon’s full-year cruise record in 2024, when the port handled 763,752 passengers and 369 vessel stopovers. That year included 206,226 turnaround passengers across 110 turnaround stops, while the port’s passenger mix was led by the United Kingdom at 41 percent, followed by the United States at 20 percent and Germany at 14 percent.
Lisbon also continued to add first-time ship visits. Eight vessels made maiden calls during the first half of 2026, including the Orient Express Corinthian, which visited in May during its inaugural cruise.
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