By
Rebecca Gibson |
AIDA Cruises’ AIDAcara closed Kiel’s 2015 cruise season on 20 October.
AIDAcara, which departed from the German port’s Ostseekai Terminal for the Canary Islands, has visited the port more than any other cruise ship since summer 2010. In total, more than 350,000 passengers have embarked or disembarked from the ship during 145 Kiel cruises. Next year AIDAcara will be replaced in Kiel by the bigger AIDAvita.
This year, Kiel welcomed 133 calls from 25 ships, as well as 458,771 passengers. This marked a rise of 29.6% from 2014.
“We can look back on a very successful season,” said Dirk Claus, the port’s managing director. “Both passenger figures and overall tonnage totals have set new records for Kiel.”
As usual, the port has served as both an embarkation point and port of call for ships sailing Baltic and Nordic itineraries, as well as by all German cruise operators. Most of the cruises began at the Ostseekai Terminal but the new Berth No. 1 in the Ostuferhafen was also used 19 times. The most frequent visitors were AIDA, Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises and TUI Cruises, which called a total of 90 times. On 12 occasions, Kiel welcomed three, and sometimes four, cruise ships and regular ferries simultaneously.
Highlights of the 2015 season included the christening of TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 4 on 5 June and the Kieler Woche Regatta, which was attended by 12 cruise ships. Cunard Line’s Queen Elizabeth also returned to the port on two occasions. Holland America Line’s Eurodam also brought the majority of the 35,500 transit passengers.
Princess Cruises’ Regal Princess was the biggest ship to call this year.
“Kiel has a first-class terminal infrastructure and is ideally suited as both a starting point and as a destination port during running cruises,” said Claus. “Once again the particular nautical quality of the port has also been in evidence. This summer several big cruise ships changed course and headed for Kiel after storm warnings indicated that other Baltic ports might not be reached with safety.”
Kiel’s 2016 season will open with a call from AIDA Cruises’ AIDAluna on 25 April and is expected to close on 8 October after 120 cruise ship visits. The port will welcome around 400,000 passengers.
Highlights of the season will include inaugural visits from Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam and newbuild Koningsdam, a multi-day visit from The World and the maiden voyage of TUI’s Mein Schiff 5.