The Regional Secretariat for Tourism and Transport in Madeira announced that the arrival of two cruise ships in Funchal was canceled due to the situation with the wildfires that occurred last week on the island. The cruise ship operated by AIDA cruises, AIDACara scheduled to arrive on 15 of August, and the Italian cruise ship Costa Magica scheduled to stop on 16 of August are canceled. First to divert the cruise schedule was the British cruise ship P&O Azura on August 11, when the wildfires were most intense. Instead the arrival in Funchal, Azura spend a day at sea.
Madeira was hit last week by a series of fires that affected mainly the municipalities of Funchal, Calheta and Ponta do Sol. Three people died, and thousand people were evacuated from homes, hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. More than 200 evacuees lost their homes damaged by the fire, and serious material damage, make up the balance so far in Madeira. As we mentioned last week, when P&O Azura canceled the arrival in Funchal, the chances for canceling the arrival of AidaCara and Costa Magica were high.