Kieler Woche draws cruise ships
The Kieler Woche sailing regatta - the biggest maritime folk festival and sail sport event in northern Europe – is a big draw for cruise ships as well as many other vessels. Between the 17th and the 25th of June Kiel expects visits by a total of fifteen different luxury liners.
One particularly special sight for thousands of onlookers was this Wednesday (June 21st.) when Cunard’s “Queen Elizabeth” and P&O’s “Arcadia” berthed side by side at the Ostseekai Cruise Terminal.
The “Queen Elizabeth” arrived in the Kiel Fiord in the morning from St Petersburg (Russia) while the “Arcadia” arrived at the same time from Skagen in Denmark. Well over 3,000 English-speaking passengers used the occasion to see Kiel from its most beautiful side. “Arcadia” was leaving for the Swedish capital Stockholm in the evening while the “Queen Elizabeth” was also casting off in the evening around 1830 and heading for Southampton.
The port’s berths were well occupied as early as the first Saturday of the Kieler Woche when two ocean-going cruise ships and three river cruise ships arrived – along with the big ferry ships of the Color Line, DFDS and the Stena Line.
To date during this year’s Kieler Woche, visitors to the Kiel Fiord have included TUI Cruises’ latest addition ”Mein Schiff 6”, as well as three ships from AIDA Cruises – the “AIDAvita”, the “AIDAcara” and the “AIDAbella”. On Friday June 23rd there will be a seldom-seen encounter in Kiel between two sister ships. Phoenix Seereisen’s “Albatros” and Fred. Olsen’s Cruise Line’s “Black Watch” will meet at the Ostseekai Terminal. On Saturday the port is expecting the “MSC Fantasia” and on Sunday, the closing day of the Kieler Woche, the fourth AIDA ship of the season – the “AIDAluna” – will arrive. As well as the big ocean-going cruise liners, four river cruise ships were visiting Kiel this year and all of them were spending several days in the port.
Overall 28 different cruise ships are this year scheduled to visit the port a total of 142 times. In close proximity to the City centre Kiel has three modern and high-capacity terminal facilities available for ferry and cruise ships. In addition cruise ships can exchange passengers at Berth 1 in the Ostuferhafen. This year, more than two million passengers are again expected to board or leave a ferry or cruise ship and about half a million of them will be cruise ship passengers. The total tonnage of cruise ships calling at Kiel will rise by a good 7 % to more than 10 million GT for the first time. The shipping company with the most visits to Kiel this year is AIDA Cruises which is offering 50 trips from the port. It is followed by TUI Cruises with 26 calls by “Mein Schiff 3” and “Mein Schiff 6” and MSC with 21 visits by the “MSC Fantasia”. On no fewer than seven days during the season, three or sometimes even four cruise ships will berth in addition to the Baltic ferries and dominate the port scene.
