Cruise Baltic Director Klaus Bondam presents new strategy to cruise lines

Addressing representatives from Azamara, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Ponant in Karlskrona, Sweden, on October 5, the director explained, ‘No one knows where the Baltics is,’ before revealing the ‘Uncover the secrets of Northern Europe’ labelling during a presentation.

The association’s new focus is on bringing different destinations’ stories to life, while its new 2023-2026 strategy emphasizes the importance of responsible cruising, spanning shore power, waste handling, crew welfare and interaction with local communities.

The director also told the cruise line representatives, who are visiting the region as part of a fam trip running October 3-9, ‘We cannot say it strongly enough: It is completely safe to come here.’ 

A range of experiences

Cruise Baltic covers 32 ports and destinations. 'We have an enormous diversity within ourselves, within our nine countries,’ said Bondam of the Baltic states. Part of the association’s strategy is to allow each destination to share its own story and avoid showcasing what can be found elsewhere in Europe. Bondam is therefore keen for passengers to leave the Baltics, for example, with a greater awareness of design and architecture, while appreciating the simple things. ‘We are moving from sightseeing into society seeing,’ he said, urging that cruise passengers ‘to see and understand…how we live.’

In particular, ‘We want more winter and Christmas [cruise] guests. We do believe we have so much to offer. It’s extremely cosy here [in winter] despite the weather,’ he added.  

New video for 2023

During the presentation, Bondam played a video that encapsulated the delights of the Baltic region. Launched this year, it has been devised as part of the association’s strategy.

‘There’s a lot to see when it comes to gastronomy,’ said Bondam, and ‘a strong architectural tradition’ exists, too. Plus, ‘you can do nature activities in so many different places’ and ‘the adventurous things are well worth checking out,’ including bridge walking.

In addition, ‘every single corner of our inhabited places consists of historical areas,’ viking history, for example, and ‘the whole art scene is significant.’

The advantage of visiting smaller ports

‘There’s no marquee attraction like St. Petersburg, we can’t replicate that’ said Bondam on current cruising in the Baltic region. Instead, it can offer ‘a lot of smaller destinations,’ that are ‘extremely good in working together’ to make each cruise call smooth and detail-focused, and where ‘there’s an underlying respect for anybody.’

Bondam believes it will ‘be some time’ before passengers have a desire to return to St Petersburg once the Russia-Ukraine conflict has ended.

Overnight calls

Bondam and Malin Hagberg Andersson, guide and cruise coordinator at Visit Karlskrona/Municipality of Karlskrona objected to there being a lack of activities taking place during the evening to warrant overnight calls. Hagberg Andersson explained that in Karlskrona, a nighttime tour of the museum is likely to be possible as long as a sufficient amount of time is given in order to make preparations.

Listing further examples, Bondam said ‘There’s a lot of things to do in Malmö during the night and the center is close to the port’ with ‘a lot going on’ in Copenhagen by evening, too, albeit it requires a bus to bring passengers to and from the port.

Despite calls to the Baltic region lacking overall, Denmark is seeing a growing number of cruise calls, in particular from German operators, according to Bondam.