Sirena sailed into Rijeka under the command of a captain from Kostrena
The luxury cruise ship Sirena of the company Oceania Cruises sailed into the Port of Rijeka on June 1, 2026, and its arrival had a pronounced local and maritime dimension. According to the sailing list of the Rijeka Port Authority, the ship was recorded that morning among the arrivals in the Rijeka port basin, while local media announced the arrival in the morning hours. The special feature of the arrival is not only the fact that this is a ship from the premium segment of cruise travel, but also that Sirena is commanded by long-distance captain Dražen Tijan from Kostrena. According to information published by Fiuman.hr, Tijan has 38 years of experience at sea, and Croatian seafarers also work on board. The demanding maneuver of entering the Port of Rijeka was carried out by Rijeka pilot Boren Lupi, also from Kostrena, which gave this arrival additional symbolism in a city and region strongly marked by seafaring.
The arrival of Sirena can therefore be viewed on two levels. On the one hand, it is another international arrival in a cruise season that brings more than 30 announced arrivals to Rijeka in 2026. On the other hand, this arrival is locally recognizable because it connects the global cruise industry with the maritime families of the Rijeka ring. Kostrena is often mentioned in the public sphere as a place of captains and seafarers, and in this case that tradition appears not only as part of local memory, but also as a concrete professional presence on the command bridge of an international passenger ship. According to the post reported by Fiuman.hr, Captain Tijan comes from a maritime family, and his late father Stanislav Tijan was also a long-distance captain.
A smaller ship in the premium segment of cruise travel
Sirena belongs to the fleet of Oceania Cruises, a company that presents itself on the market through a smaller and more intimate type of ship compared with large mass-market cruise ships. According to official data from Oceania Cruises, Sirena was built in 1999, has 30,277 gross tons, and its capacity is 670 passengers at double occupancy. The ship is 593.7 feet long, or approximately 181 meters, which places it among smaller ocean cruise ships compared with large ships that can accommodate several thousand passengers. Precisely that size is important for ports such as Rijeka because it enables a different form of passenger reception, with less pressure on urban infrastructure than in the case of the largest cruise ships, but also with an emphasis on a specific guest profile.
On its official pages, Oceania Cruises describes Sirena as a ship with a renewed interior and a classic hotel atmosphere, emphasizing refurbished cabins, public spaces and the gastronomic segment. Such a description should be read as the company’s own communication, but it is relevant for understanding the ship’s market position. Sirena is not a ship that brings a mass number of passengers to a port, but part of an offer in which the emphasis is placed on destinations, longer itineraries and premium service. For Rijeka, this means that the ship’s arrival is important not only because of the number of passengers, but also because the city is included in the schedules of companies that choose Mediterranean and Adriatic ports for higher-price-range itineraries.
According to local information, Croatian seafarers work on board alongside Captain Tijan, which further highlights the role of domestic personnel in international shipping. In the cruise industry, which is highly international and operationally demanding, the command staff must combine safe navigation, crew coordination, communication with ports and the implementation of schedules that often include several countries in a short period. The arrival in Rijeka is therefore not only a ceremonial sight on the breakwater, but also the result of coordinated work by the command, pilotage service, port services, the agent, the crew and the competent institutions. When people from the local maritime environment are visibly present in that chain, the event gains a broader meaning than an ordinary tourist arrival.
Rijeka in 2026 records one of its strongest cruise seasons
According to a City of Rijeka announcement from April 28, 2026, the Rijeka port expects more than 30 cruise ship arrivals by renowned global companies during the year. The announcements mention Explora Journeys, Silversea, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Marella Cruises, Ponant Cruises and Saga Cruises. The portal Brodovi u Rijeci, citing data from the Rijeka Port Authority, published that a total of 36 cruise ship arrivals are expected in 2026, scheduled from February to December. If that schedule is realized without major changes, it will be one of the most visible confirmations that Rijeka is gradually strengthening its position on the Adriatic cruising map.
In the same announcement, the City of Rijeka states that the season is also marked by six first arrivals of ships in the Rijeka port. Spirit of Discovery, Explora, Le Dumont d’Urville, World Traveler, Seven Seas Navigator and Insignia were highlighted as inaugural arrivals. Such arrivals are important for every port because they show that companies are testing or expanding their itineraries toward new destinations. In the cruise industry, a ship’s first arrival is often also a form of destination assessment: port reception, excursion quality, traffic flow, passenger reaction, supply logistics and the possibility of repeating the arrival in future seasons are all monitored. For Rijeka, it is therefore important not only to attract an individual ship, but to create conditions for arrivals to be repeated and expanded over a longer period of the year.
Sirena should be viewed in the same context. It is not the largest ship in the announced schedule, but its arrival carries weight because it comes from a fleet that includes Rijeka in Mediterranean itineraries intended for passengers seeking a combination of major well-known ports and smaller or less burdened destinations. On Oceania Cruises’ official website, Rijeka is presented as a Croatian Mediterranean port with emphasis on Trsat, Korzo, Austro-Hungarian architecture and the Cathedral of St. Vitus. Such a description shows which city points are offered to passengers arriving in Rijeka by ship, but also how the city is positioned in the international sale of cruise travel.
Year-round potential, not only summer arrivals
One of the more important elements of Rijeka’s 2026 schedule is its duration. According to data published by the portal Brodovi u Rijeci, the season began on February 7 with the arrival of the smaller expedition ship Artemis of Grand Circle Cruise Line, and the final arrival in the schedule is listed for December 16. Such a range changes the perception of cruise tourism as traffic tied exclusively to the summer months. This brings Rijeka closer to the model of a port that can receive ships outside the peak tourist season as well, especially when it comes to smaller ships, thematic voyages and itineraries that rely on cultural, historical and gastronomic content.
For the city, this opens the possibility of more evenly distributed tourist traffic. Arrivals outside July and August can be important for hospitality businesses, guides, carriers, museums and other facilities that depend on visitors. At the same time, cruise traffic requires good planning in order to coordinate ship arrivals, traffic in the city center, passenger needs and the everyday life of residents. In Rijeka’s case, an additional circumstance is that the passenger port is located close to the city center, which means that some passengers can relatively quickly enter the urban space. This is an advantage for the destination, but also an obligation for the system that must ensure clear information, safe movement and a quality first impression.
Cruise ships such as Sirena are especially interesting in that sense because they do not bring an extremely large number of passengers, but can have a strong promotional effect. Passengers on such ships often choose organized excursions, shorter city tours or individual exploration of the destination, while the city gets the opportunity to present itself as a port that is not merely a transit point. For visitors who follow cruise ship arrivals as part of a shorter stay in Kvarner, accommodation offers in Rijeka may also be practical, especially when cruise arrivals are connected with city events, weekend programs or tours of the wider region.
Maritime tradition as part of a contemporary story
Rijeka and Kostrena are connected in this arrival in a way that goes beyond classic tourism statistics. Over generations, Kostrena has produced a large number of seafarers, officers and captains, and local identity is strongly tied to the sea. When a ship of an international company is commanded by a captain from Kostrena, and it is guided into port by a pilot from the same place, it is an event that symbolically connects tradition and today’s global shipping. This does not mean that Sirena’s arrival is an exception in a professional sense, because Croatian seafarers have worked on ships around the world for years, but it is exceptionally visible when such a career briefly returns to the home port.
According to the report carried by Fiuman.hr, Captain Dražen Tijan has many years of experience at sea, and his family is also connected with commanding ranks. Such details give a human dimension to news that might otherwise remain merely an item from the port schedule. In the local community, the arrival of a ship under the command of a man from the region has emotional value, but in a journalistic sense it is also important because it recalls the professional capital that Croatian seafarers carry in international navigation. The cruise industry depends on highly qualified personnel, and the ship’s commander bears responsibility for the safety of passengers, crew, the vessel and the sailing plan.
The arrival is also a reminder of the role of pilots in ports. Pilotage is a professional service without which the entries and departures of large ships in many ports are unimaginable or prescribed as mandatory. A pilot knows the local conditions, port traffic, depths, meteorological specifics and operational restrictions of berths. In Rijeka’s case, Sirena’s maneuver attracted additional attention because it was performed by Boren Lupi, also from Kostrena. That detail publicly emphasized that behind the attractive images of cruise ships stands a series of maritime professions that usually remain outside the focus of the wider public.
What Sirena’s arrival means for the Port of Rijeka
The arrival of Sirena confirms that Rijeka is increasingly entering the schedules of ships sailing the eastern Adriatic and the Mediterranean, but also that its position is not tied only to large cruise ships. The successful development of cruise traffic is not measured exclusively by ship capacity, but also by the diversity of companies, repeated arrivals, the length of the season and the destination’s ability to offer passengers content within a short stay. In the season announcement, the City of Rijeka highlights the arrivals of several well-known companies, which points to the expansion of the port’s market visibility. At the same time, it is important that cruise traffic develops sustainably, in a measure suited to the city, port capacities and the interests of the local community.
Rijeka has several advantages that can be well used in cruise itineraries. The port is close to the city center, Korzo is accessible on foot, Trsat offers a recognizable historical point with a view of the city, and the wider surroundings include Opatija, the island of Krk and other excursion routes. In its description of Rijeka, Oceania Cruises emphasizes precisely the city’s cultural and historical elements, which shows that the destination is not sold only as an entry point for tours of the surroundings, but also as a city with its own content. For further growth, it will be important for such an offer to be communicated clearly and for ship arrivals to be coordinated with local services.
Sirena is one of the arrivals in that story, but because of Captain Dražen Tijan, Croatian crew members and pilot Boren Lupi, it occupies a special place in the season. The arrival of the Oceania Cruises ship brought together international tourism, Rijeka’s port operations and Kostrena’s maritime tradition. As the 2026 arrivals calendar continues until December, this event remains recorded as an example of how the statistics of a cruise season can turn into a story about people, experience and the maritime identity of a region.
Sources:
- City of Rijeka – announcement about more than 30 planned cruise ship arrivals in Rijeka during 2026 and the list of companies included in the season (link)
- Rijeka Port Authority – sailing list of ship arrivals and departures in the Rijeka port area (link)
- Oceania Cruises – official data on the cruise ship Sirena, capacity, year of construction, tonnage and ship length (link)
- Oceania Cruises – official description of Rijeka as a port in the company’s Mediterranean itineraries (link)
- Fiuman.hr – local report on the arrival of Sirena, Captain Dražen Tijan, Croatian seafarers on board and pilot Boren Lupi (link)
- Brodovi u Rijeci – overview of the 2026 cruise season with a note on 36 arrivals and the schedule running from February to December (link)