On August 21 1991 Mermoz called Le Havre. A year later the Port Authority was looking at dedicating an area to cruiseships, La Pointe de Floride, where they still call today. It was seen as a good position because the cruiseships could be viewed from the city centre and the passengers could see the city.
In June 1994 when the 50th anniversary of D-Day was celebrated, there were 27 calls to Normandy which was a large number in those days: eight to Le Havre, seven to Rouen, 10 to Cherbourg and two to Honfleur. Ships to Le Havre included Henrico Costa, QE2, Artania and Clipper Pacific.
In 1996 Norway (ex France built in St Nazaire and based in Le Havre) returned to the port for the first time in her new colours (see above).
In 2001 Renaissance Cruises scheduled 35 calls at Le Havre bringing the total that year to 71. Valerie Dubuc, cruise director Cruise Le Havre, says that after September 2011, the port lost of a lot of traffic and it took 10 years to reach the same level again. She adds however that “within this period the average number of passengers per ship calling at Le Havre have increased from 660 to 1,950 passenger per ship”.
September 5 2011 saw Costa Cruises’ Costa Magica calling the new terminal for the eleventh time this year on partial turnarounds. Next year the French port is expecting 116 calls and 220,000 passengers.
