On 18 May 2016, the Port of Gdansk celebrated the beginning of the new summer holiday season, which - apart from calls of luxurious cruise ships - will also bring new, better solutions for passengers, says Port of Gdansk Authority.
Shipowners have registered a total of 29 calls of passenger ships for the entire 2016 summer season. For some of them, this will not be the first visit to the port. However, there are others which will make a maiden voyage to Gdansk's port this season. Among them, it is worth mentioning Aidavita, an over 200-metre long ship which was planned to visit on 19 May, and the Ocean Majesty vessel, which will call at the quays of the Port of Gdansk twice - on 2 June and1 July.
The Portuguese Astoria and the National Geographic Orion sailing under the flag of the Bahamas will also visit the port for the first time, the former on 18 June and the latter twice, on 19 August and 2 September. The smallest ship will bea vessel called Corinthian, which Gdansk will play host to as many as eight times this season.
The largest cruise ship to visit the port will be the 205-metre long MS Albatros, which last called at the port of Gdansk in 2014. Its next visit is planned for 24 June.
As in previous years, the ships will be received at two quays - the Obroncow Westerplatte Quay and the WOC II Quay (Duty Free Zone). A wide package of offers and facilities prepared for tourists arriving by sea on board of luxurious vessels will be a novelty.
This season, the passengers will be able to use free Wi-Fi at both quays to which the ships will be moored, which isa response of the port to market demand. Another convenience will be the possibility to take a walk to the Westerplatte memorial down a path never before available to passengers. This will make it possible for them to walk from the quay directly to the monument without having to take the public road. In this way, the time needed by passengers to get to one of the most important monuments in Gdansk, commemorating the outbreak of World War II, will be shortened to just a few minutes.
This year, the Port of Gdansk also established cooperation with a new taxi company, providing efficient and eco-friendly transportation to selected places in the city and beyond, in modern hybrid vehicles.
Yet another novelty is the offer prepared by the Gdansk Tourist Organization, which oversaw the renovation of the tourist information point at the Obroncow Westerplatte Quay. It has also prepared information brochures presentinga range of offers for passengers who decide to spend their free time in Gdansk individually.
Starting from this season, the Port of Gdansk Authority SA and the Gdansk Tourist Organization have decided to introduce a new attraction for vessels inaugurating the summer holiday season at the Port of Gdansk by calling at the port. From now on, a special artistic show will be prepared annually for those ships and their passengers, introducing tourists to the famous Polish hospitality.
The sea tourism market enjoys growing interest in the Baltic area. Last year, out of more than 22 million passengers served globally, nearly 20% of those were in the Baltic Sea basin, where more than 4 million cruise tourists were transported as part of over 2,100 calls at Baltic ports. Back in 2000, this total was much lower. At that time, around 1,400 calls were recorded. This means there has been an almost 50% increase in less than 15 years. This shows that the potential of the Baltic Sea is quite great.
For several years now, Gdansk has been attracting interest in the tourist appeal of the city and what the port has to offer. The wide range of amenities introduced at the start of this summer holiday season, making passenger visits to Gdansk's port and the city itself more attractive, are the best indicator of that.