The inauguration of the new tender location in Loen last year has been a most welcome addition to the destination, Sølve Oldeide operating manager Nordfjord Port Authority told Seatrade Cruise News.
'It has given us the possibility to increase the capacity substancially, in addition to ensuring VIP treatment for the visitors, regardless of the number of vessels in port at the same time. It also prompted a name change for the cruise port of Olden, which now markets itself as OldenLoen.
The new tender location also ensures that the area close to the town and that around the dedicated cruise berth is not crowded and logistics are more spread out as as all three berthing locations have separate parking areas.
In 2017, six cruise ships chose to use the Loen tender pier and the feedback from these is very positive, says Oldeide.
22 cruise ships will tender at OldenLoen in 2018
This year the port is expecting 98 calls in total of which 22 will be tendering. This represents around 170,000 cruise guests.
'Some of the smaller, luxury ship operators, such as Seabourn and Lindblad Expeditions, have chosen the new tender jetty as their priority location in port, even if the cruise berth is available.'
Other ships tendering this year are National Geographic Explorer, Zenith, Costa Mediterranea, Marella Discovery, Le Boreal, Silver Spirit, Columbus, Seabourn Ovation, Magellan, MSC Orchestra, AIDAluna, Black Watch, Balmoral, Sapphire Princess, Island Sky and AIDAsol.
The area around the Loen tender pier is well accommodated with good parking space for buses to take tours to the nearby glaciers - in particular the Briksdal Glacier which welcomed 300,000 visitors last year, as well as the Kjenndal glacier.
The pier is also located within walking distance of the Loen Skylift, inaugurated in May 2017, which takes visitors in cable car to 1,000mtr above Nordfjord in five minutes for stunning views over the Nordfjord and the Jostedal Glacier cap.
In 2017, the lift welcomed 94,000 visitors.
Seatrade Cruise Award finalist 2017
Olden-Nordfjord was a finalist in the Port of the Year category in the Seatrade Cruise Awards 2017.
In 2018, Nordfjord Port Authority is planning investments of Nkr15-20m in cruise infrastructure at OldenLoen, including the second tender facility and further extension of the existing facility, more bus parking spaces at the cruise berth in Olden which can accommodate any size vessel.
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