Five ways into this guide
Go straight to the question you came with. Each card jumps to its answer.
Who sails from here
TUI Cruises and AIDA most of the season; MSC and Costa in summer — and the American lines that only call.
Jump to lines →Round the Baltic
Eight ports on one 12-night Mein Schiff round trip, four of them capitals.
Jump to destinations →Two terminals, one fjord
Ostseekai in town, Ostuferhafen on the east bank — and the ferry berths that aren’t either.
Jump to the terminals →Port Parking, by line
One lot for TUI, one for MSC and Costa, a shuttle lot for AIDA, all booked online.
See parking →Flying into Hamburg
The Kielius bus or the train via Hamburg Hbf, about an hour and a half either way.
Jump to getting here →In brief
Kiel is a German-market homeport first. TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff ships sail from here from May into December, and AIDA boards at the same terminal. MSC and Costa run summer round trips. The American lines show up too — only as port calls. If you’re booked on a US-based line, you’re probably visiting Kiel for a day, not starting here.
The Port of Kiel describes its terminals as in the city centre, within walking distance of the station — true of Ostseekai, not of Ostuferhafen across the water.
So the first job is the terminal on your booking. Get that right and the rest is short: a walk from Kiel Hbf to Ostseekai, or a bus, shuttle or taxi to Ostuferhafen. For the wider region these ships sail, see our Northern Europe cruise guide; this page is for starting a cruise here, not a port day.
Cruise lines sailing from here
Deployments change every season, so this roster is dated and sourced, and it lives only here.
TUI and AIDA sail from Ostseekai. MSC and Costa use Ostuferhafen. Checked October 3, 2026.
TUI Cruises lists Mein Schiff departures from Ostseekai on its “Kreuzfahrten ab Kiel” page: Relax, Flow and 3 in 2026, and Mein Schiff 1, 6 and 7 in 2027. Ships swap between seasons, so open the page for your date. AIDA sells cruises from Hamburg, Kiel and Warnemünde, and the port’s 2026 list shows AIDAprima, AIDAnova and AIDAbella at Ostseekai. MSC says its “ships dock at the Ostuferhafen Terminal”; the port lists MSC Euribia from May 14 to October 3, 2026. We couldn’t confirm MSC’s 2027 Kiel sailings on MSC’s own pages. Costa sailed Costa Diadema here in summer 2026 (the port’s list has her from May 15 to September 11); Costa’s pages didn’t load for us, so we have no confirmed 2027 Costa departure.
Sources, read October 3, 2026: meinschiff.com (Kreuzfahrten ab Kiel), aida.de, msccruisesusa.com and msccruises.fi, ncl.com and the Port of Kiel’s 2026 cruise list (dated September 28, 2026). The port’s list doesn’t say which visits are turnarounds, and its per-ship counts are our reading of a long table. Confirm your own ship and date before you book around it.
Seasons, kept apart. On the port’s 2026 list, TUI’s ships run from May to December: Mein Schiff Relax from May 17 to October 4, Mein Schiff 7 from June 15 to September 29, Mein Schiff Flow from October 26, then Mein Schiff 3 in December. MSC Euribia sailed from May to early October, and Costa Diadema from May 15 to September 11. TUI and AIDA sell cruises from Kiel on their own pages; MSC and Costa did in 2026. The calls are another list — Norwegian Sun several times between June and September, Holland America’s Rotterdam twice, and one visit each from Sapphire Princess, Cunard’s Queen Anne, P&O’s Britannia and Carnival Legend, plus Regent and Oceania ships. German premium lines use Kiel too, among them Hapag-Lloyd’s Europa and Europa 2 and nicko’s Vasco da Gama. The list doesn’t say whether they start here.
Where you can go
The lines’ own pages show Baltic and Norway round trips from Kiel. Itineraries vary by ship. The cleanest port list we could read is one 12-night Mein Schiff round trip from Kiel. The stops below are that voyage’s, as TUI lists them — a real itinerary, not a pattern for every line.
Five have port-day pages of their own: Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Gdańsk. Read your own itinerary, not this list, before you plan a day ashore.
Destinations
8 stops on one Kiel round trip
The ports TUI lists for a 12-night Mein Schiff Baltic round trip from Kiel. Other lines and sailings will differ.
Showing all 8
Capitals
4Four capital cities, each with a page of its own on this site.
Copenhagen
Denmark · also an embarkation port we cover
Denmark's capital, and a cruise homeport in its own right.
Baltic coast
4Four smaller ports in Denmark, Poland, Lithuania and on Gotland.
Aarhus
Jutland, Denmark
First on TUI's list for this voyage; we don't have a page for it yet.
Klaipėda
Lithuania
Lithuania's stop on this voyage; no page of ours yet.
Visby
Gotland, Sweden
TUI calls it Visby on Gotland; we haven't covered it yet.
No destination matches that. Clear the filter to see all 8 again.
Before or after the ship: the Marine-Ehrenmal and the U 995 submarine at Laboe open 10:00 to 17:30 from April to October, per the Deutscher Marinebund. A combined adult ticket is €14.00 (about US$16) from April 1, 2026. The SFK’s F1 ferry runs there from the Bahnhofbrücke; in the autumn timetable, valid September 7 to October 25, 2026, the 08:05 reaches Laboe at 09:15. Closer in, the Schifffahrtsmuseum in the old Fischhalle lists free entry on museum.de (check its opening hours), and the Holtenau lock platform lets you watch ships enter the Kiel Canal.
Two terminals on opposite banks
The Port of Kiel (Seehafen Kiel) runs both. They sit on opposite banks of the fjord. Ostseekai is on the west shore by the Altstadt and the Kiellinie. Terminal 27 opened in 2007 and Terminal 28 in March 2020. Ostuferhafen berth 1, at Ostuferhafen 15, 24149 Kiel, has been Kiel’s largest cruise berth since 2013, with 395 m of quay and a passenger pavilion opened in June 2014. It’s about 8 km east of central Kiel, per MSC.
Then there are the ferry berths. The Norwegenkai is Color Line’s Oslo ferry, and the Schwedenkai is Stena Line’s for Gothenburg. Several hotels by the station measure to them. Neither is where TUI, AIDA, MSC or Costa boards.
| Place | Where | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Ostseekai, berths 27 and 28 | By the Altstadt; about 15 minutes on foot from Kiel Hbf, per AIDA | TUI Cruises (Mein Schiff) and AIDA |
| Ostuferhafen, berth 1 | Ostuferhafen 15, east bank; about 5.0 road miles from Kiel Hbf, our routing | MSC and Costa; the port’s list also shows AIDAbella here at times |
| Norwegenkai and Schwedenkai | By the station | Color Line and Stena ferries, not cruise ships |
Sources: portofkiel.com, Port Parking, msccruisesusa.com and msccruises.fi, aida.de and de.wikipedia, read October 3, 2026. Ostseekai has short-stay spaces for dropping off guests and bags — tell the staff at the entrance, per Port Parking. Check-in times are in your boarding documents; MSC asks for web check-in up to 2 days before. We found no published accessibility details or luggage storage for either terminal. Confirm with your line — especially on AIDA, whose ships sometimes use berth 1. Staying the night before? See the seventeen hotels.
Parking, in short
Port Parking, run by the port, sells the official spaces online only — split by line. TUI Cruises guests park at Ostseekai, €174 (about US$195) for 7–8 days. MSC and Costa guests park at Ostuferhafen for €149 (about US$165), and AIDA guests at a shuttle car park at Airport Kiel from €110 (about US$125). AIDA sells its own Ostseekai spaces in myAIDA, unpriced on its page. Those were the prices on October 3, 2026 — per stay, not per day. The parking page has the bands and the lot for your line.
MSC names a private partner, Parken & Meer, and one hotel, the Kieler Kaufmann, sells parking for the trip inside its own package. The full comparison is on the parking page.
Where should I park for a Kiel cruise?
Port Parking’s three lots by line, the private option and the hotel package.
Compare your options →Getting here
Hamburg Airport is the gateway, about an hour south. No line we read names another. From there it’s the Kielius bus straight to Kiel, or the S1 into Hamburg and a train. Once you’re at Kiel Hbf, Ostseekai is a walk — Ostuferhafen is a ride. Check which before you land.
| From | How | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| HAM — Hamburg Airport | Kielius bus to Kiel ZOB, beside Kiel Hbf | About 1 hour 35 minutes; €26 (about US$30) online or €27 (about US$30) on the bus from March 1, 2026. The Deutschlandticket isn’t valid on it. |
| HAM — Hamburg Airport | S1 to Hamburg Hbf, then a train to Kiel Hbf | 25 minutes on the S1, every 10 minutes, then the fastest train in 1 hour 7 minutes, per Deutsche Bahn. |
| HAM — Hamburg Airport | Drive or taxi | About 58.7 miles (94.5 km) to Ostseekai by our routing; taxis agree fixed prices for trips outside Hamburg, and none is published. |
| Kiel Hbf to Ostseekai | On foot | About 15 minutes, per AIDA, or about 1.3 road miles by our routing. |
| Kiel Hbf to Ostuferhafen | MSC’s shuttle, bus 11 or 60S, or a taxi | MSC’s shuttle runs until 4 hours before departure, at €15 (about US$17) a person or €25 (about US$30) return on its international and US pages (its Finnish page still says €10 (about US$11)). The bus stops at Grenzstraße, 200 m from the terminal, at €3.00 (about US$3) a ticket. A taxi takes about 15 minutes and costs €20 to €25 (about US$20–30), per MSC’s US page. |
From hamburg-airport.de, Kielius, bahn.de, NAH.SH, msccruises.fi, msccruisesusa.com and aida.de, read October 3, 2026; distances are our routing with no traffic. AIDA guests with a Rail&Cruise ticket ride a free shuttle from Hamburg, Kiel or Bremerhaven Hbf, and TUI sells Rail&Cruise from any German station.
The night before, ranked: we’ve scored seventeen hotels for the night before a Kiel cruise, from across the road at Ostseekai to the east bank and Hamburg, on what each one publishes. Four worth knowing:
| Hotel | Where | One thing to know |
|---|---|---|
| Kieler Kaufmann | Düsternbrook, above the Kiellinie | Its own Park, Sleep & Cruise package: a night, breakfast and free parking for the trip, from €299 (about US$335) for two, printed October 3, 2026. |
| Hotel am Kieler Schloss | Schloßstraße, by the castle | The only hotel that prints a walk to the cruise terminal, 4 minutes; our routing to Ostseekai is about 0.2 miles. |
| Steigenberger Conti Hansa | Schloßgarten, facing Ostseekai | Across the road from Ostseekai, per H Rewards, and the shortest walk we measured, about 0.2 miles. |
| Dietrichsdorfer Hof | Neumühlen-Dietrichsdorf, by Ostuferhafen | The one pick on the east bank, about 0.5 road miles from Ostuferhafen — known to us only from third-party listings. |
For a grander night, see the splurge list, from the Kiellinie to Hamburg’s Alster. Flying in? Hamburg Airport to the ship has the bus, the train and the drive.
Planning a Kiel cruise?
Tell us your line and date, and we’ll confirm your terminal.
Most Kiel questions come down to which bank of the fjord you board on. Send the ship and the date and we’ll sort out the terminal, the ride from Hamburg and the night before.
Answers verified against current pricing and itineraries before you book.
Kiel FAQ
Which terminal does my Kiel cruise leave from?
It depends on the line. TUI Cruises' Mein Schiff ships and AIDA board at Ostseekai, berths 27 and 28, by the Altstadt. MSC and Costa board at Ostuferhafen, berth 1, at Ostuferhafen 15 on the east bank. The Norwegenkai and Schwedenkai near the station are ferry berths, not cruise terminals.
Do American cruise lines start cruises in Kiel?
Not on anything we read. Norwegian's Kiel page says the ship "will DOCK at this port", and the port's 2026 list shows Norwegian Sun, Holland America, Princess, Regent, Oceania, Cunard and Carnival as calls. TUI Cruises and AIDA sail from Kiel most of the season; MSC and Costa have run summer sailings. Check your line's page for 2027.
How far is Hamburg Airport from the Kiel cruise terminals?
About 58.7 miles (94.5 km) to Ostseekai and 61.9 miles (99.6 km) to Ostuferhafen by our routing, roughly 66 and 72 minutes with no traffic. The Kielius bus takes about 1 hour 35 minutes to Kiel ZOB, €26 online.
How do I get from Kiel Hbf to Ostuferhafen?
Three ways. MSC runs a paid shuttle from the station on embarkation day, until 4 hours before departure. It's €15 a person or €25 return on MSC's international, US and Irish pages; its Finnish page still says €10. Plan on €15. Bus 11 toward Dietrichsdorf, or the 60S, stops at Grenzstraße, 200 m from the terminal, per MSC. Or take a taxi — about 15 minutes and €20–25, MSC's US page estimates.
When does check-in open at Kiel's cruise terminals?
The port doesn't publish a time, and neither terminal page we read gives one. Check-in times are in your boarding documents; MSC asks for web check-in up to 2 days before, and all three German lines assign arrival slots. We found no luggage storage at either terminal, so keep bags at the hotel until you leave.
Does Kiel charge a tourist tax?
Yes, from October 1, 2026: 5% of the net room price, per the city's information sheet; a stay booked January 1 to September 30, 2026 and ending by June 30, 2027 is exempt. Stays booked between January 1 and September 30, 2026 that end by June 30, 2027 are exempt, so the booking date matters. Booking sites may show the room price without it; ask the hotel at check-in what it adds.
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