By
Rebecca Gibson |
Azores, on charter to Ambiente Kreuzfahrten, celebrated her maiden visit at the German Port of Kiel on 15 May.
Arriving after a 12-day cruise around England, Scotland and the Norwegian fjords, the vessel marked her first call at the port sailing under the name Azores. The ship was greeted with a water fountain escort by tugs through the Kiel Fiord to the port’s Norwegenkai berth.
During an onboard reception, the mayor of Kiel, Ulf Kämpfer, and Dirk Claus, the port’s managing director, presented Azores captain with a commemorative first-call plaque. Designed by artist Patrick Schlosser, the new first-call plaque is similar to the Port of Kiel Prize and has been hand-crafted in the shape of a two-dimensional bollard.
“A first call is always something special here in the port,” said Dirk Claus, managing director of the port. “We are very pleased that Kiel enjoys such a firm place in planning the routes of cruise ships – not only in the case of the very big cruise ships, but also with the traditional ones like Azores. The new first-call plaque is a unique artistic item which expressively symbolises the ties between ship and port.”
This year, Azores will offer six departures from Kiel, transporting guests to various Baltic cities, the Norwegian Fjords and the North Cape. On 10 July, the ship will make its final departure from the city and head to Greenland.
“Azores is a good example of why Kiel is such an ideal location for starting or ending very attractive and also very different cruises in northern Europe,” said Claus.
Azores is the first of five cruise ships making inaugural visits to Kiel this year. Saga Cruises’ Saga Pearl 2 will call on 19 May, while Hapag-Lloyd’s Europa 2 and P&O Cruises’ Adonia will berth in Kiel on 11 and 28 June, respectively. In addition, Kiel will be the first German port to welcome TUI Cruises’ latest newbuild Mein Schiff 3, which will berth at the port on 26 May after sailing from STX Finland’s yard. This year also marks the first time all three of TUI Cruises’ ships have visited Kiel.
In total, Kiel will handle 125 visits from 22 cruise vessels during the 2014 season, which ends in mid-October. These include twelve calls from Costa Cruises’ Costa Pacifica – which will be the largest vessel to berth at the port – and return calls from Phoenix Reisen’s Amadea and Artania, Cruise & Maritime Voyages’ Astor and Vishal Cruises’ Delphin. Hapag-Lloyd’s Hamburg and Europa will also return to Kiel.
Kiel is currently constructing a passenger pavilion at Berth 1 in Ostuferhafen. Scheduled for completion in May, the pavilion will enable the port to simultaneously process passengers on three large cruise ships for the first time. The new passenger area at Berth 1 will be opened on 2 June to coincide with the arrival of Costa Pacifica.