Tallinn eyeing 339 cruise ship visits this season

  • 2019-03-25
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – The listed Estonian port company Tallinna Sadam is expecting altogether 339 visits by cruise vessels that are to bring approximately 600,000 cruise tourists to the Estonian capital during this year's cruise season to begin at the end of April.

According to the port company, this year's cruise season will be relatively similar to that of last year. The season will begin on April 27 and the final vessel is to visit Estonia on October 19.

The largest ship this year in terms of total capacity is Norwegian Getaway, which will visit Tallinn on 14 occasions. Largest in terms of length is the 330-meter-long Regal Princess, which will visit Estonia 13 times. The cruise ship with the largest possible number of passengers to arrive in Tallinn this year is the MSC Meraviglia, which is able to carry 5,000 passengers and will be visiting the Estonian capital on 11 occasions over the summer.

The smallest vessel this year is Variety Voyager with a length of 66 meters and a passenger capacity of up to 70 people.

Estonia's largest island, Saaremaa, is to be visited by seven cruise ships this summer that will bring altogether 4,700 cruise passengers to the island. The largest vessel to arrive in Saaremaa will be the 219-meter-long Vasco da Gama. Saaremaa's cruise season is to begin on June 28 and the last vessel is to visit the island on September 12. 

Altogether 17 vessels will be visiting Tallinna Sadam for the first time. Some of them are vessels that have changed owners and names, while some are completely new in the region.

A few visits this year will also be the kind where vessels stay the night in Tallinn.

The busiest day in terms of the number of ships will be July 11 when there will six cruise ships in Tallinn at once with a total of 8,000 cruise tourists arriving in the capital. There are significantly more days with five cruise ships in Tallinn at once and on a few days, the number of cruise passengers visiting the Estonian capital may reach some 10,000 tourists a day.