Hamburg Cruise Center welcomes 50th vessel of the season

The 26th July saw a cruise ship docking at the Port of Hamburg for the 50th time this season. The vessel concerned was AIDA Cruises’ “AIDAcara”.

Following a week-long cruise with calls at Copenhagen, Oslo and Bergen, AIDA Cruises’ “AIDAcara” returned to Hamburg, its home port, on 26th July. The arrival of the “AIDAcara” was accompanied with a special event to mark the 50th vessel call at the Cruise Center, including live music at the pier.

The first half of this year has already been characterised by diverse maritime highlights, such as the christening of TUI Cruises’ “Mein Schiff”. The second half also holds a number of top cruise events in store. These include the first week-long cruise to be offered by the “Queen Mary 2” from/to Hamburg (07. + 15.08); the official opening of the large ships’ berth in Altona (15.08.); the 10th anniversary of the “Europa” (21.09.); the simultaneous visit of four ships on 22nd September and the Christmas cruises in December.

Overall in 2009 the Port of Hamburg expects to welcome cruise ships on a total of 86 days, and thus in turn greet some 130,000 passengers. This represents an increase in passenger numbers of 45% over the previous year. Over a 100 calls and approx. 220,000 passengers are predicted for 2010.