Port of Gdansk launched the cruise season on 25th and 27th May with this season's first passenger ships. Two vessels called at the port during these days: the "SERENISSIMA" berthed on 25 th May at the WOC II Quay and the "OCEAN DREAM" called in at the Westerplatte Quay on 27th May, says press center of
the Port of Gdansk Authority.
The "SERENISSIMA" is a passenger ship that could be considered a regular at the Port of Gdansk having visited our port many times in recent years. Currently, the owner of the vessel is the Premier Cruises shipping company and cruises on board this ship can accommodate up to 110 passengers. In this opening-of-the-season call to Gdansk, the vessel carried 85 passengers on board who were the first this season to have this opportunity to visit our city. After a stopover of more than 9 hours at the Port of Gdansk, the ship headed off to its next port of call - the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda.
The "OCEAN DREAM" is also a well-known ship at the Port of Gdansk and after a five-year break once again called in at the Gdansk port and is one of the largest scheduled passenger ships at our port this year.
Cruises on the "OCEAN DREAM" promote very worthy causes - on board this ship, the global non-governmental organisation "Peace Boat" has for 7 years organised a world cruise against the use of nuclear weapons. In addition to the typical tourist character of the cruise, there are also a number of primarily educational and historical events taking place on board while docked, for example at the Port of Gdansk, including educational meetings with the younger generation. The "OCEAN DREAM" carried about 900 passengers to the Port of Gdansk, among them survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings of 6th and 9th August 1945. As part of the programme to promote peace and prevent nuclear war, this year's 70th anniversary of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an appropriate moment to educate the younger generations in this area, particularly as there are eyewitnesses of these tragic events in the history of the world who can tell their own stories.
This year's cruise began on 12th April from the port of Yokohama in Japan and the Port of Gdansk was the first Baltic port which the ship visited in its scheduled 105-day voyage. During the entire cruise, which ends on 26th July, the vessel will visit 30 port cities around the world. After leaving the Port of Gdansk, the "OCEAN DREAM" headed off in the direction of Stockholm.