Costa Cruises has cancelled two of the 31 calls booked to Oslo this year due to Costa Magica being repositioned to the Mediterranean to fulfill Costa Concordia’s schedule.
The switch has resulted in Bergen losing eight calls, Geiranger seven, Stavanger five and North Cape two calls.
Nevertheless, Oslo is expecting 177 calls from 53 cruiseships carrying 318,000 passengers this season. Of the total number of calls, 13 are in the low season and for these Oslo Port Authority gives discount.
The average number of passengers per ship is 1,806 and the average gross tonnage 66,000.
AIDA Cruises is sailing short cruises from Kiel to Oslo which brings 33 calls to Oslo, 17 of them overnight. The ships call mostly to the Southern Akershuskai and Vippetangen. In 2011 101,454 German passengers visited.
The British are the second largest national group to visit with 36,000 arriving on cruiseships last year. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines is homeporting just three times in 2012 but Cunard Line and P&O Cruises will each be making more calls.
Princess Cruises is calling 17 times and Holland America Line/Seabourn 16 times this year. Last year about 35,000 US passengers visited.
MSC Cruises has 19 calls scheduled this summer. Although the company carries a mix of nationalities, 27,000 Italians in total visited Oslo in 2011. Royal Caribbean International continues its turnarounds this year with Vision of the Seas at the Filipstad quay, calling seven times.
