Astor, the first cruise ship of the season, visits Tallinn

Photo: Andres Haabu / Postimees

On Tuesday, the moorage of the Astor cruise ship in the Old City Harbor of Tallinn will officially start the summer cruise season. During the season that lasts until late September, Tallinn will see up to 9,000 cruise passengers a day on the busiest days. 

“The number of cruise ships to moor in the Old City Harbor almost every day during the summer season that is about to start will range between one and six, and on the busiest days in the middle of summer up to 9,000 cruise passengers a day will come ashore to see Tallinn,” says Ms. Sirle Arro, head of Marketing and Communication Department of the Port of Tallinn.

Ten cruise ships will visit Tallinn for the first time this season.  Additionally, also this year the Spanish cruise company Pullmantur will have five so-called turnaround cruises with Tallinn as the origin and destination port of its Baltic Sea cruises. “In addition there will be one partial turnaround with some passengers starting from Tallinn and others finishing their cruise here,” notes Arro.

Cruise ship Astor of the Transocean Tours, the first one of the season, carrying 323 passengers, will arrive to Tallinn at 13:00 on Tuesday, the 30^th of April, from Saint Petersburg. The majority of Astor’s passengers are from Germany, but there are also nationals of Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, the USA and Argentina.  

Astor’s 12-day cruise departed from Kiel, stopping in Karlskrona, Visby, Stockholm, Helsinki and Saint Petersburg. In Tallinn, almost half of the passengers will go on excursions organized by Estonian Holidays, and the rest will have an opportunity to explore the city on their own. From Tallinn, Astor will make for Sassnitz and then for Bremerhaven, the final destination of the cruise.

The longest ship to visit Tallinn this year will be the 317-metre long Celebrity Eclipse, carrying over 2,800 passengers. The largest number of tourists, 3,000 in all, will arrive to Tallinn on board of the 311-metre long vessel Adventure of the Seas. The smallest ship will be Serenissima, built in 1960 and completely overhauled last year. Serenissima is 87.5 meters long and carries up to 100 passengers, it attracts tourists with its private atmosphere inspired by the maritime travel experiences of the good old days.

According to Sirle Arro, the cruise ship area of the Old City Harbor renovated last year has become even more attractive this season. “The interior of the main building has been changed, and we have added benches and greenery outside,” she notes.

According to Ms. Arro, the development of a special cruise tourism related smartphone application ordered by the Port of Tallinn will also be completed this year. All the companies and people that specialize in services for cruise ships and their passengers will be able to use it to receive information about the cruise ships visiting Tallinn.

The summer cruise season will last until 26 September, but cruise passengers are also expected in Tallinn in October, November and December. A total of 328 cruise ships and about 485,000 passengers will visit Tallinn this year, which is the highest number ever.