The Port of Gdańsk inaugurates another cruise season
This year’s first luxury passenger ship called at the Port of Gdańsk on 22 April. It was Le Bellot, a French-flagged ship. The ship is 131.4 m long and 18 m wide, and can take 184 passengers on board. The ship moored at the Obrońców Westerplatte Quay to the sounds of the ‘Begama’ Youth Brass Band. A number of passengers boarded the ship in Copenhagen. The cruise will end in Stockholm.
Le Bellot is a relatively new vessel, as it entered service in 2020. It features 92 cabins along with suites having spacious balconies. The ship boasts the Le Nautilus restaurant, theatre, dance hall, library, shop, sun deck with outdoor pool and bar, spa and fitness centre with massage rooms and Finnish sauna, observation lounge, art gallery and kids club.
Le Commandant Charcot for Christmas
Last year’s season was very successful in terms of visits by people sailing around Europe and the world on luxury ships. The Port of Gdańsk saw a total of 79 visits by cruise ships between May and September, and carried a total of 29,500 passengers. The largest cruise ship to visit was the ‘Marina’, at over 239 m long.
What should we expect this season? It promises to be very good – a cruise ships are due to visit the Port of Gdańsk as many as 62 times. The longest ship to call at the port will be Crystal Symphony, sailing under the Bahamian flag. It is 238 metres long, and will dock at Oliwskie Quay on 5 August. The largest ship in terms of the number of passengers will be the Balmoral – it can take 1390 passengers on board. It is planned to call at the Port of Gdańsk twice – on 18 July and 11 September.
The end of the season is scheduled to take place just before Christmas. The Port of Gdańsk will host Le Commandant Charcot, a French-flagged ship, in a winter setting on 15 December. It is what is known as an expedition cruise ship, designed to visit the Arctic regions. It is 150 metres long.
Attractive tourist offer
The Port of Gdańsk can theoretically accommodate up to 120 cruise ships a year. How do you attract cruise ship operators to Gdańsk?
‘The development of cruise shipping is influenced by many factors, such as the geopolitical situation in the region, but also the involvement of local authorities and tourism organisations. Cruise ship operators must be convinced that the Baltic Sea basin is a safe area. We also need to be active in such organisations as Cruise Baltic or Cruise Europe, and present our commercial offer at various international industry events. Last week we returned from the Seatrade Cruise Global trade fair. It was first held in New York in 1985 before moving to Miami, the cruise capital of the world, in 1992. For the past seven years we have been present at this trade fair. This year we prepared an exhibition together involving the following ports: Helsinki, Kotka, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Tallinn and Stockholm – under the banner of the Cruise Europe organisation. Together with the Baltic Gateway Group, the largest tour operator of cruise ships in the Port of Gdańsk, we presented our commercial offer and the most interesting tourist attractions of the port city and region. And we have a lot to be proud of’, said Michał Stupak, customer manager at the Port of Gdańsk.
The cruise ship notices are available on the Port of Gdańsk website. They are available at
https://www.portgdansk.pl/port/cruise-to-gdansk/awizacje-wycieczkowcow-2024/
