This year, the official close of the 2009 Hamburg cruise season will again be marked by the visits of a number of ships during the Christmas time. These include the arrival today of the Cunard “Queen Victoria” and, tomorrow, the first call of P&O Cruises’ “Arcadia”. The Christmassy Hamburg offers passengers a total of eight themed Christmas markets to visit, all of which are within walking distance of the Cruise Center.
In December a total of five cruise ships will call the Port of Hamburg. The “Balmoral” from Fred.Olsen Cruise Lines will be calling at the port on 16th December and on 20th December Phönix Reisen will be bidding farewell to two ships at once, the “Amadea” and the “Albatros”, both embarking on round-the-world cruises from Hamburg. Passengers on board both ships will be visiting over 70 ports in almost 40 countries on all five continents – and all within the space of some 140 days. Prior to this the “Amadea” and the “Albatross” will be berthing at the shipyard “Blohm+Voss” to be made ready for the long journey.
“Hamburg is a diverse port. On the one side we do trust in the solid and professional team work between shipyard, suppliers and operator. On the other side we do value Hamburg as an outstanding homeport for our cruises. Touristic attractions, infrastructure and easy reachability for our guests, travelling to Hamburg from all over the country, are a special plus”, Michael Schulze, managing cruise director from Phönix Reisen commenting the cruise destination Hamburg.
The “Amadea” and the “Albatros” will be travelling the high seas until mid-May. The Hamburg Cruise Center e.V. wishes them ‘Bon Voyage’ and hopes to welcome both ships back to Hamburg in the near future.
With 87 calls, including five maiden visits and numerous days with two ships simultaneously, plus one day with four ships in port at the same time and a ship’s christening, the 2009 season has been the most successful to date for the Hamburg Cruise Center.
The cruise industry expects further significant annual increases in traffic. Hamburg will benefit from this to an above average extent. This development again underlines the necessity of creating additional capacity for the handling of cruise ships in Hamburg. The new terminal in Altona, whose berth was inaugurated in August 2009 and comes into service in summer 2010, will be thus entering service at just the right time.
110 calls in total are forecast for 2010, the first time ever over a hundred, and numerous highlights are planned. The season officially begins on 5th February with the arrival of AIDA Cruises’ newest club ship, the “AIDAblu”, who will be christened just four days later (09.02.) at Hamburg’s Fischmarkt. Hamburg will for the first time be the base port for three ships in the AIDA fleet. The “AIDAblu”, “AIDAluna” and the “AIDAaura” will leave from, and return to, Hamburg on a total of 43 cruises. Just one month later, on 6th March, follows the christening of the “MSC Magnifica” from MSC Cruises, with her ‘godmother’ Sophia Loren. During the 2010 season Hamburg will be welcoming a total of seven maiden calls to its port.
Another highlight of the cruise season takes place in May, with a total of 29 calls that month. A total of five ships alone are expected during the 821st Hamburg Port Festival (the “Hafengeburtstag’), including the “Queen Mary 2” on 8th May. The ‘QM2 will be visiting the Port of Hamburg a total of four times in 2010.
The second Hamburg Cruise Days take place from 30th July to 1st August. To date six cruise ships are scheduled to be in the port for the event. As previously in 2008 there will be a unique accompanying programme. The season is crowned by the official opening of the terminal building in Altona.
For the fourth year running the Port of Hamburg cruise season will last until well into December. A number of Christmas cruises will again be calling at Hamburg.
In 2010 the Hamburg Cruise Center e.V. expects a total of 110 calls and 220 000 passengers.
