Cruise Europe
Cruise Europe
09/21/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/21/2025 06:24
Year-round cruising is on the rise
Sunday, September 21, 2025 - 14:05 by ce-press
On a panel to discuss year-round cruising, Luis de Carvalho, cruise commercial director at Copenhagen Malmo Port (CMP), explained that Copenhagen's "proximity to Germany had been a huge factor in year-round/winter cruising".
He went on to explain how the loss of St Petersburg had forced CMP to look at its value proposition generally but also beyond the summer season. "We wanted cruiselines and guests to see Copenhagen in a different way. We had to look outside the box. We wanted to start creating a product that was authentic. We worked with the city, local stakeholders, guides had to be trained for a winter product, etc. Everybody had to be aligned so that we had something cruiselines could sell during the winter."
The numbers speak for themselves. From October 2018 to April 2019 CMP received 46 calls and 78,000 passengers. This compares with October 2024 to April 2025 when there were 84 calls and 225,000 passengers.
He highlighted one of the benefits to come out of this growth: "This has been good news for many of our suppliers that struggle during the winter months".
Elisabetta De Nardo, vp port development MSC Cruises, pointed out some of the operational challenges that have to be addressed: "Icy roads, cancelling/delaying tours, finding guides in multiple languages, being commercially viable".
While Marcus Puttich, director destinations/incident commander TUI Cruises, explained that winter cruising attracts a different kind of guest when it comes to shore excursion offerings and that relevant airlift can be a challenge.
He went on to explain how the loss of St Petersburg had forced CMP to look at its value proposition generally but also beyond the summer season. "We wanted cruiselines and guests to see Copenhagen in a different way. We had to look outside the box. We wanted to start creating a product that was authentic. We worked with the city, local stakeholders, guides had to be trained for a winter product, etc. Everybody had to be aligned so that we had something cruiselines could sell during the winter."
The numbers speak for themselves. From October 2018 to April 2019 CMP received 46 calls and 78,000 passengers. This compares with October 2024 to April 2025 when there were 84 calls and 225,000 passengers.
He highlighted one of the benefits to come out of this growth: "This has been good news for many of our suppliers that struggle during the winter months".
Elisabetta De Nardo, vp port development MSC Cruises, pointed out some of the operational challenges that have to be addressed: "Icy roads, cancelling/delaying tours, finding guides in multiple languages, being commercially viable".
While Marcus Puttich, director destinations/incident commander TUI Cruises, explained that winter cruising attracts a different kind of guest when it comes to shore excursion offerings and that relevant airlift can be a challenge.
Cruise Europe published this content on September 21, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on September 21, 2025 at 12:24 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]