Cruise ships in the ports of Gdynia and Gdańsk

Cruise ships, known more briefly as cruise liners or cruisers, are huge and impressive giants that can safely be described as floating cities. The reason is that these vessels are completely self-sufficient. The smallest take several hundred people on board, while the largest carry almost 8000 people, of whom 5400 are passengers and the crew numbers around 2100. This very record in 2020 belongs to the largest cruise ship in the world, Symphony of the Seas, whose construction was completed in 2018.

Large cruise ships consist of more than a dozen decks offering a full range of attractions that guarantee relaxation in luxurious conditions. On board you can find restaurants, cafés, bars, sports facilities such as a swimming pool, courts and pitches, and attractions such as a theatre, a cinema, water slides, observation gondolas, climbing walls and many more. Essentially every ship wants to outdo the competition with its offer, so designers are never short of ideas.

There are so many ideas for making guests' stay on board more attractive that you might almost think calling at a port is an unnecessary, extra attraction.

Every time a cruise ship enters port it attracts great interest. Cruise ships do also have opponents, because they are responsible for producing large amounts of pollution and leave a noticeable carbon footprint wherever they appear. Still, you cannot walk past a huge cruiser with indifference. The beautiful hull design, the unusual fittings both outside and inside the ship, the colours and the additional paintwork make watching them a feast for the eyes every time and a magnet for crowds of tourists.

Cruise ships have been calling regularly at the Tri-City for more than a decade. Most recently, in 2019, Gdańsk hosted cruise ships 69 times and Gdynia only 51 times. Of course, this does not mean that this many different cruise ships visited our ports. Several of them called at our ports a few times a season. So, looking not at the number of calls but at the names of the ships, there were 26 and 20 respectively. Those who hunt for cruise ships, the so-called ship spotters, should be ready from the end of April to the end of October. This means that the cruise season coincides with the sailing season :)

These giants visit Gdańsk and Gdynia as part of Baltic cruises, during which the operators invite tourists on excursions to cities such as Helsinki, Saint Petersburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Tallinn and Riga.

Gdynia itself is visited because it offers more comfortable conditions for large cruise ships than the port of Gdańsk. Unfortunately, the city is not a hit among the excursions offered on board. Gdynia provides greater manoeuvring safety and offers a longer quay with free access. In Gdańsk such cruise ships have less space at their disposal and essentially enter the port stern first, negotiating one small bend near the Harbour Master's Office, which nevertheless makes manoeuvring difficult. That is why the longest vessel in Gdańsk was 240m long, while in Gdynia the record is 326m. The length record was set by the beautiful Norwegian Getaway, which was also the youngest vessel of its kind to visit the port of Gdynia, having been launched in 2014.

Every call by such a vessel requires a huge effort from the companies providing logistical support on land. Tourists have to be taken by coach to the destination of their excursion. If we assume that the average cruise ship carries 3000 passengers and that half of them want to go on an optional excursion, 1500 people need to be transported, which translates into 30 coaches. Impressive? Then imagine that sometimes we have 2-3 visits by such giants at the same time. Tri-City transport companies are, however, used to such events, so they handle the logistics very well.

On leaving the ship, tourists go sightseeing in the Old Town in Gdańsk together with museums such as the European Solidarity Centre and the Museum of the Second World War. Slightly further destinations on offer include Malbork, with the largest Teutonic castle, and the Stutthof concentration camp. Of course, it is possible to go ashore on your own and explore Gdynia or Gdańsk on foot with a city map in hand.

The logistics of the cruises are also very well thought out. The operators plan the route so that they spend the day in port, allowing passengers to see further attractions on land, and sail during the night. That way the next day can begin in the next port. So if you plan to admire the floating cities from land, you should be at the port early in the morning or very late in the afternoon.