Hamburg. Hamburg Cruise Center e.V. is pleased to welcome the 222,222nd cruise guest of the 2010 season. To mark the event the InterContinental Hotel Hamburg has sponsored a hotel voucher for two.
Last Saturday, the 11th of September, saw the 222,222nd cruise passenger welcomed to Hamburg’s cruise terminal in the HafenCity district by Gerd Drossel, Managing Director of Hamburg Cruise Center e.V. In September of last year the 100,000th guest was greeted. This represents growth of over 100 percent.
Thomas Fries, 43 years young and from Bochum in the west of Germany, was surprised by Larissa Beuleke, Sales Director at the Hotel InterContinental Hamburg, AIDAaura captain Nico Berg and a shower of confetti just as he passed through the check-in. “Hamburg is the perfect port for embarking and disembarking – it has allowed me to combine my cruise with a stop-over in the city and a visit to a musical,” said a happy Fries. And it won’t be long before he’ll be back in the Hanseatic city again. The lucky winner received a voucher for two people to stay in a double room at the InterContinental Hotel Hamburg for two nights, including breakfast. To round off the short break the package also included a Hamburg Card, entitling the holder to free travel on public transport in the entire metropolitan region and to numerous discounts on entrance to Hamburg attractions, provided by Hamburg Tourismus GmbH.
This cruise marks the end of AIDAaura’s summer schedule in Northern Europe. Following a tour of the Mediterranean the liner will be sailing to South-East Asia for the winter. AIDA Cruises ships visited the Port of Hamburg 45 times during the 2010 season, bringing over 90,000 cruise passengers to the city on the Elbe. The AIDAaura alone called at her home port of Hamburg 14 times during the course of cruises around the North and Baltic Seas.
AIDA Cruises President Michael Thamm views the coming season very positively: As a result of the popularity of North and Baltic Sea cruises departing from North German ports the shipping line is considering offering cruises leaving from, among other ports, Hamburg over the entire winter. The construction of the new cruise terminal in Altona will be a great advantage in this regard. The terminal is scheduled for completion in time for the beginning of the 2011 cruise season. For 2011 AIDA Cruises is planning some 50 calls in Altona. The temporary centre in Altona has already hosted over 100 ships’ calls in Hamburg. The inauguration of the new terminal will see the Hanseatic city perfectly prepared for an even more successful cruise season in 2011.
