Estonia’s Port of Tallinn is seeing an increase in cruise passengers, and expects a number of new callers this year. After a 28 percent jump in 2008, the port is slated to climb 10 percent in 2009, for 415,000 passengers, according to Sirle Arro, Cruise and Ferry Manager for Tallinn, who added that for 2010, even more are expected.
New callers this year include P&O Cruises’ 3,100-passenger Ventura, the AIDAluna (which will be making 10 calls) and TUI’s Mein Schiff. In 2010, the Disney Magic will be calling in Tallinn as part of her 12-night “Northern European Capitals” cruises out of Dover.
Arro said that Costa and MSC are two of the port’s more frequent callers, “but there are a number of North American lines that come here as well, including Royal Caribbean, with two ships. And looking ahead, I hope Carnival will return someday, too.”
Tallinn is also looking to add a new pier sometime in the future, Arro said. Currently, it has six cruise-ship berths in Old City Harbour at a total length of 4,540 feet. In addition, there are two cruise-ship berths in Saaremaa Harbour – one, 655 feet in length, and the second, 590 feet.
