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Torstein Hagen’s new cruise line, Viking Ocean
Cruises, will use Bergen as a homeport with first ship, Viking Star, being
baptised in Bergen on May 17. She will make four calls at Skoltegrunnskaien in
town.
Total numbers though are down. Helen Hovland, marketing manager cruise Port of
Bergen, commented: “For 2015 it looks like the Port of Bergen, together with the
rest of Norway, will have a decrease. The reason for that is likely the new ECA
directive that was established in January. Until now we have 272 calls for 2015,
and 202 for 2016. The trend is larger cruise ships, and we don’t think it will
influence on the number of cruise passengers.”
The season however is getting longer with last year’s starting February 27 with
the arrival of Saga Sapphire and ending on November 8 with Marco Polo. Hovland
said: “The cruise season has really been stretched, and the 2015 season started
already on the January 2 with Black Watch”.
Last year there were 323 calls and 442,749 cruise passengers. Germans and
British still dominate but the latter fell in numbers from 129,014 to 96,678
while the Germans increased to 161,916. In addition the number of French
passengers almost doubled those in 2013 to 30,000. Bergen had 11 first call
arrivals/maiden voyages this year. |
