HAMBURG, Germany, August 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The second day of this year’s Hamburg Cruise Days has once again closed with a record attendance: the event drew approximately 350,000 people to the port of Hamburg.
Locals and tourists happily celebrated the second day of the Hamburg Cruise Days on the event boulevard between the Cruise Center Altona and the HafenCity Hamburg district – a stretch of more than four kilometres along the River Elbe. At almost tropical temperatures, the twelve themed islands invited visitors to browse, marvel and enjoy, while the Globetrotter cruise liner trade fair in the historic Fischauktionshalle provided information on the diverse world of cruise tourism.
In the early morning hours, the cruise ship AIDAstella docked at the HafenCity Hamburg. This was followed by MSC Magnifica (at the Cruise Center Altona), and MS Deutschland (at the HafenCity Hamburg) – the much-loved cruise liner from the television series Das Traumschiff. Having arrived on Friday, MS Europa was towed from Altona to Überseebrücke early on Saturday.
At 9.30 on Saturday evening the moment finally came: hundreds of thousands of cheering visitors were gathered on the banks of the Elbe for a close-up view of the spectacular Hamburg Cruise Days Parade. Escorted by countless barges, sailing vessels and passenger ships, the cruise liners MS Europa, AIDAstella, MSC Magnifica, MS Deutschland and the Cap San Diego museum ship made their way down the River Elbe – against the beautiful backdrop of the port, which was bathed in magical blue light as part of the BLUE PORT HAMBURG project.
Each of the ships was welcomed with a dedicated fireworks display and was waved off with an individual announcement regarding its future voyage.
The second day of the Hamburg Cruise Days concluded successfully, despite the fact that a number of major streets had to be temporarily closed off due to the high number of visitors to the event.
“We are very satisfied with the way the first two days of the event have worked out,” say organisers Katja Derow and Uwe Bergmann. “The Hamburg Cruise Days Parade is the ultimate highlight of this event and once again showed Hamburg from its most beautiful side.”
“This evening has once again demonstrated the immense passion for cruise liners felt by Hamburg’s residents,” adds Thorsten Kausch, managing director of the Hamburg Convention Bureau, which issues the licence for the Hamburg Cruise Days. “It is for a good reason that Hamburg is at the very top of the shipping companies’ ranking of European destinations. We are very pleased with the amazing footage of this event being broadcast all over the world.”
Finally, Sunday will bring yet another highlight of the Hamburg Cruise Days: at 8:00 am, AIDAluna will be arriving in Altona and will be anchored there until 9:00 pm. MS Deutschland has arrived back in the port following the parade and can also be viewed until 9:00 pm on Sunday. With the twelve themed islands back on land, visitors can continue to enjoy the full cruise liner experience in the port of Hamburg.
