German cruise port to host more than 450,000 passengers and 144 cruise ship calls in 2016
By
Rebecca Gibson |
AIDA Cruises’ AIDAluna opened the Port of Kiel’s 2016 cruise season on 25 April.
AIDAluna, which berthed at the Ostseekai Terminal, will be based at the German port alongside AIDAvita and AIDAlaura throughout the summer, marking the first time three AIDA ships have homeported in Kiel at the same time.
Kiel is currently scheduled to host more than 450,000 passengers and 144 cruise ship calls in 2016, an increase from the record 137 calls it handled in 2012. The total tonnage of cruise ships calling at Kiel will rise by about 8% to pass the nine million mark for the first time.
In total, AIDA’s ships will offer 51 departures from Kiel, while TUI Cruises will offer 29 and MSC Cruises’ MSC Musica will sail 20 itineraries from the port. The biggest ship of the season will be Costa Cruises’ Costa Pacifica.
Other highlights of the season will include maiden calls from Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam on 14 May and its newbuild Koningsdam on 30 June, as well as P&O Cruises’ Arcadia on 22 June. TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 5 will make Kiel its first German port of call on 23 June.
“The Port of Kiel faces a first-rate cruise shipping season,” said Dirk Claus, the port’s managing director. “We have made all the preparations for it and we are delighted that AIDA Cruises will be represented here with three ships for the very first time.”
On 12 occasions, the port will host three or four cruise ships and its regular Baltic ferry visitors simultaneously, and handle its first seven-ship visit on 18 June, the day of its annual Kiel Woche regatta.
“This is a unique get together of cruise ships that has never been equalled before,” said Claus. “Increasingly, the Kieler Woche is growing into a big draw for cruise ships.”