Thursday, June 1, 2017 - 10:10 by ce-press
In early May, Hamburg once again confirmed its position when seven cruiseships - Amadea, Astor, MSC Preziosa, AIDAprima, AIDAvita, AIDAluna and AIDAsol - transformed the River Elbe into one big stage for the four-day Hamburg Port Anniversary festival celebrating 828 years. More than one million turned out to join in the party.
AIDAprima was celebrating one year in operation having departed Hamburg 52 times as part of its Western Europe itinerary. AIDA Cruises is a major contributor bringing six cruiseships on 81 calls this year.
Three days previously, 4,345-passsenger MSC Preziosa called for the first time at the start of a season which sees a number of first-time arrivals including Norwegian Jade, Independence of the Seas and Silver Wind, the christening of Mein Schiff 6 on June 1 at the Elbphilharmonie as well as the Hamburg Cruise Days in September.
A record number of 10 cruiseships is scheduled to take part including Plantours’ Sans Souci which will be the first appearance of a river cruiseship at the event. On the night of September 9, six vessels will jointly leave the port of Hamburg and make their way down the River Elbe, accompanied by 24 escort ships and a large fireworks display. Overall, 1,575m of ship, with a total of 502,946gt and 17,140 passengers, will be joining the maritime catwalk.
During the ship parade, the port will be illuminated as part of the Blue Port Hamburg light installation. More than one hundred objects will be lit up by light artist Michael Batz, including buildings, terminals, port vehicles, quay sections, cranes, jetties, and ships.
With more than 171 ship arrivals and 710,000 passengers in the course of 2016, Hamburg broke all previous records and confirmed its position as Germany‘s number one cruise destination. And this trend continues: for the 2017 season, Cruise Gate Hamburg is expecting some 200 calls with about 800,000 passengers, an increase of 12% compared with 2016.
