In Kiel the cruise shipping season 2011 ended with a call of »Aida Cara« in October. The port was visited[ds_preview] 120 times last year by 19 different ocean-going cruise liners. In total some 375,000 passengers embarked or disembarked in the port. Compared to 2010, this is another 10 % increase. »The trend towards ever bigger cruise ships in the Baltic continues to grow«, underlined Dr. Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel.
The average size of cruise ships calling at Kiel in the 2011 season was 65,000 GT for the first time – five times more than the average cruise ship size ten years ago. »We will have a third berth ready for big cruise ships in Kiel by the 2013 season«, said Claus. The most frequent guests in 2011 were the ships of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which berthed at the Ostseekai 36 times. The biggest ship visited Kiel was the »Costa Pacifica« (114,500 GT), while the »Vistamar« (7,500 GT) was the smallest. In addition, a cruise ship visited Kiel in December 2011 for the first time ever as part of an Advent cruise.
The 2012 season opens on 31 March 2012 and will run until mid-October. 131 calls by 24 different cruise ships have been registered for 2012 so far.
