First cruise guests in almost two years visit Copenhagen

The cruise ship Vasco da Gama calls Copenhagen today with 350 fully vaccinated passengers, who will therefore have the opportunity to disembark and visit Copenhagen as the first cruise guests since 2019.

2020 marked a complete low point for cruise tourism, as the extensive travel restrictions from the corona pandemic resulted in the port in Copenhagen being empty of cruise ships and thus for guests ashore. Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP) welcomed almost 935,000 cruise guests in Copenhagen in 2019, but that figure was reset last year. This year Copenhagen has been visited by blue cruises, where passengers have only been able to visit the city from the seaside – and thus without actually going ashore.

Therefore, it is very exciting that Vasco da Gama from the Mystic Cruises cruise line will be docking today at Langelinie, with its fully vaccinated passengers on-board, which makes it possible for the guests to disembark. The ship is arriving from Kiel in Germany and travels further on tomorrow, 15 July. The Danish Police conduct checks on-board the ship for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the applicable guidelines, including the requirement of being completely vaccinated.

“We have waited a very long time for this day to arrive. Even though this is a somewhat smaller ship with a limited number of passengers compared to the summer calls we ordinarily see, I am very happy that the first cruise guests will have the opportunity to disembark at Langelinie again. We are very well prepared and, in close cooperation with the Danish Police and the cruise industry, we will ensure a safe cruise call. Hopefully, Vasco da Gama will be the first of many ships where passengers can disembark – for the benefit of tourism in Copenhagen”, comments Henrik Ahlqvist, Sales Director Cruise at Copenhagen Malmö Port.

It is somewhat difficult for CMP to estimate how many cruise ships will call Copenhagen this season, especially due to the restrictions that the cruise industry continues to be subject to. However, it will be a long time before the numbers approach the levels before the pandemic, where a record number of cruise guests visited Copenhagen. On the Swedish side, the regulatory requirements are different, and at for example CMP’s cruise terminal in Visby, approximately 130 calls have been booked for this summer.

For further information, please contact:
Ulrika Prytz Rugfelt, PR & Corporate Communications Manager, Copenhagen Malmö Port AB 
E-mail: ulrika.prytz@cmport.com, telephone: +46 (0)70 252 00 98.