Madeira Shortlisted for Two 2026 World Cruise Awards
Madeira Ports Administration said this is the archipelago’s fifth consecutive year in the program, after cruise-destination wins in 2022, 2023 and 2025.
Madeira has been shortlisted in two World Cruise Awards categories for 2026, with the destination nominated for Europe’s Best Cruise Destination and the Port of Funchal in contention for World’s Best Cruise Terminal for Sustainability. Madeira Ports Administration, APRAM, S.A., said the selection gives the archipelago a fifth consecutive year in the international awards program.
The nominations follow recent wins for Madeira as Europe’s Best Cruise Destination in 2022, 2023 and 2025, and a 2024 award for Funchal as World’s Best Cruise Terminal for Sustainability.
Jose Manuel Rodrigues, regional secretary for economy and the official overseeing APRAM, said the nominations are “an important international recognition” of Madeira’s work to build “an increasingly sustainable, high-quality and competitive cruise tourism sector.”
Paula Cabaco, APRAM president, credited APRAM employees and the broader Madeira cruise tourism workforce. “More than an institutional recognition, these nominations are an honor for Madeira and for the Madeiran people,” Cabaco said.
Who Madeira is up against
In the Europe’s Best Cruise Destination category, Madeira is listed with Athens, Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Lisbon, Monte Carlo, Nice, Oslo, Rome and Southampton. For World’s Best Cruise Terminal for Sustainability, Funchal is competing alongside the cruise terminals of Steinwerder, Flam, Kai Tak, Montreal, Copenhagen, Kiel, Valletta and Victoria.
Madeira also said it has been named Europe’s Leading Island Destination 12 times.
Cruise traffic has been setting records
Madeira Ports handled 728,604 cruise passengers, 271,974 crew members and 316 ship calls in 2024, with passenger traffic up 16.68 percent and crew traffic up 12.3 percent year over year.
The 2024/25 cruise season reached 743,699 passengers and 335 calls, both record levels for the archipelago. Full-year 2025 traffic reached 746,257 passengers and 278,185 crew members, or 1,024,442 passenger-and-crew visits combined, with 331 stopovers.
Funchal’s cruise terminal continued to post higher first-quarter volume in 2026, handling 335,748 passengers and 129 cruise ships, compared with 266,964 passengers and 105 calls in the first quarter of 2025.
Inside the Funchal terminal
Funchal is a dock call. Ships normally berth at Gare Marítima da Madeira on the Pontinha breakwater, and passengers can walk ashore directly. The terminal, inaugurated in 2010 with about 3,000 square meters of building space, handles turnarounds and multiple-ship days, with up to three vessels on the main breakwater and quays.
Passenger-facing services at or near the terminal include tourist information, free Wi-Fi, cafés, souvenir outlets, ATM and money exchange services, taxis, shuttle buses, hop-on hop-off buses, tuk-tuks and small electric cars. The city center is generally within walking distance of the port.
Voting closes in August
Voting for the World Cruise Awards is free and open to the public through the program’s website until August 21. The 2026 winners are scheduled to be announced October 14 at the annual gala in Jamaica.
