A roundup of the 2011 cruise ship season in Øresund

Now when the summer is over here in the Øresund region, maybe it is appropriate to take a quick look back at this year´s cruising season.

Copenhagen is still an extremely popular destination for cruise ships. 2011 was another record season for the city, with call numbers up 15% and passenger numbers up 13% (nearly 750.000 passengers in total). There were altogether over 350 calls by 66 different ocean cruise vessels from 36 international shipping companies to the Port of Copenhagen.

The most popular destinations for cruises that start from Copenhagen are the Baltic Sea and the Norwegian coast. The biggest ship in Copenhagen this summer was the 121.880gt Celebrity Eclipse with a length of 317 meters.


A few of the ships also stopped in Elsinore (Helsingør) and on the Swedish side in Helsingborg and Malmö.


Here are some of my own favourite cruise ships that passed Elsinore (Helsingør) this summer:

The Queen Mary 2 visited Elsinore on 30 May. Here seen with the Pearl Seaways on its way to Oslo

The Rotterdam approaching Elsinore on June 6

The Costa Magica on June 12

The Ryndam - here approaching Elsinore on June 28 - called Copenhagen for the first time last summer

Cunard´s Queen Elizabeth also visited Copenhagen for the first time. This picture is from July 11.

The classic cruise ship Marco Polo - here passing Elsinore on August 8 - is one of my personal favourites

Mein Schiff was another of the first timers in 2011



The Wind Spirit on its first visit in Øresund on August 3

Another picture of Cunard´s Queen Mary 2 

The Aida Sol approaching Elsinore on September 8



A nice autumn day in Viken

Yesterday was probably the last fairly warm and nice autumn day in the Øresund region this year. I biked to the picturesque former fishing and shipping community Viken about 10 km to the north of Helsingborg.

The lighthouse in Viken is wellknown for all seafarers in the Øresund area

On land the old windmill is perhaps the best known landmark in Viken

There are still clear signs of the fishing community in Viken

The beautiful old mill is well preserved

The beach is now empty

Yesterday there were still quite a few boats in the harbour

There is a very nice small public park in Viken



The charming old houses in Viken are extremely well kept



The S.S. Bjørn - a unique coal-fired steamship in Elsinore

The S.S. Bjørn is Denmark´s only coal-fired steamship with a triple steam engine. This wonderful over 100 year old icebreaker and tugboat served the Port of Randers in Jutland for 72 years until it was retired in 1981. During the last few years members of the Dansk Veteranskibsklub S.S. Bjørn in Elsinore (Helsingør) have been working on the restoration of the ship. On 30.9.2011 the ship was open to the general public.

You can read about the restoration project on the club´s own internet page (although most of the information is in Danish). On this page there are some nice pictures about the restoration work.


PS

Here are some of my newer pictures of S.S. Bjørn.

I could not resist adding this picture I shot of a somewhat newer tugboat in action in Elsinore on the same day: