Three Cruise Passengers Taken to Hospital in Madeira – 14 October 2026

Three cruise passengers were transferred to hospital in Madeira on the morning of 14 October 2026 after medical emergencies during cruise calls at the Port of Funchal.

Emergency services responded at about 7:00 a.m. as the ships were arriving. The Madeiran Volunteer Firefighters and Funchal Municipal Firefighters sent two ambulances to assist with the transfers from the port.

Celebrity Apex and Spirit of Adventure were scheduled to call at Funchal that morning. Celebrity Apex had arrived from Tenerife during an 11-night round-trip sailing from Southampton. Its itinerary included Leixões, Lisbon, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Vigo before returning to Southampton.

Spirit of Adventure was on Saga Cruises’ 15-night Contrasts of the Canaries itinerary from Portsmouth. Funchal was its first scheduled port call after three days at sea, with later calls planned at La Palma, Tenerife, La Gomera, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Lisbon.

The transfers took place while the vessels were alongside at the Port of Funchal. Available reporting did not establish whether the three passengers were travelling on the same ship or whether both vessels were involved.

No further details were released about the passengers’ ages, medical conditions, treatment or the hospitals to which they were taken. The report did not identify any change to either vessel’s schedule as a result of the medical emergencies.

The passenger identities, the reason for the medical emergencies and their later outcomes were not publicly reported. While the scheduled ships provide the voyage context, they do not establish which vessel or vessels the passengers had boarded. This account therefore records the port response without attributing the transfers to a particular cruise line or ship.