This article was first published in the Spring/Summer 2016 issue of International Cruise & Ferry Review. All information was correct at the time of printing, but may since have changed.
The global cruise industry is sailing towards 24 million cruise passengers in 2016 and we will see a new ship being launched every 41 days from now through to 2022. The two ‘C’ words are becoming increasingly popular, as China’s middle class get the taste for cruising and Cuba eventually will open up to cruising from the US. In other words, we shall see a strong focus on these new cruise markets, which is fully understandable.
The traditional cruise destinations, however, are still the bread and butter for the cruise lines but the new markets are forcing the traditional destinations to be even more innovative and to offer something special.
Cruise Baltic is striving continuously to innovate and to make life as easy and as attractive as possible for the cruise lines, when they are coordinating their itinerary planning.
Cruise Baltic chose the Seatrade Cruise Global event in March as the occasion to launch a number of reports and new initiatives, including a couple of ‘industry firsts’, reflecting our ambition to be the most innovative cruise network in the world.
Based on a survey carried out in 2015, we have seen that cruise guests’ satisfaction levels in the Baltic Sea region are still among the highest in the world. Guest experience is among the most important criteria when selecting cruise itineraries and we are extremely proud of these high levels achieved.
The cruise lines have often requested public and transparent berthing policies, which each port follows. We are extremely proud to have introduced open and transparent berthing policies for all our partner ports, which the cruise lines can find online at cruisebaltic.com.
In addition to the berthing policies, Cruise Baltic also lists online the standard fees for every port in the association. It is now possible for cruise line itinerary planners or port operation staff to go to the Cruise Baltic website and view the standard port fees across the entire Baltic region.
Due to the new environmental regulations taking effect in 2019 and 2021, we have also launched an extensive overview of the port reception facilities at every pier in the Cruise Baltic network.
Additionally, Cruise Baltic supports the cruise lines by educating travel agents and international tour operators in selling the Baltic region. In early 2015, Cruise Baltic launched cruisebaltictraining.com, a website dedicated to travel agents and tour operators promoting cruises in the Baltic Sea. Almost 1,000 travel agents have now completed the training and have become Baltic Cruise Certified Experts.
We are looking forward to bringing more ‘industry firsts’ to the market in order to match the competition from the new cruise destinations and I am convinced that the Baltic cruise product will remain very strong and become even more appealing to both cruise guests and cruise lines.