Weatherproof’ German cruise ship weekly in Cruise Port Rotterdam
The AIDAprima’s maiden voyage brings her to the Wilhelminapier at Cruise Port Rotterdam on 19 April. In May, this German ship will start sailing every week between Hamburg, Southampton (London), Le Havre (Paris) and Zeebrugge (Brussels). Cruises are booming in Germany. The number of German cruise holidays has grown from 700,000 to 1,800,000 over the past ten years (figures from sector organisation CLIA).
Mai Elmar, managing director of Cruise Port Rotterdam, has high expectations of the weekly sailings of the AIDAprima: “Geographically speaking, we are the closest cruise terminal for North Rhine-Westphalia and South Germany. It only takes two and a half hours for German people to get to Rotterdam. We provide car parking facilities close to the motorway. They can use a shuttle bus service to go to the terminal. We certainly expect the weekly sailings to signify a huge impulse for tourism in the town.”
Beach and skating rink
With a length of 300 metres, the AIDAprima can accommodate 3250 passengers. The ship is equipped to provide fantastic entertainment for bad-weather destinations. The ship includes a covered beach, a skating rink, slides and a climbing course. “The AIDAprima is a destination in itself. The passengers don’t necessarily have to leave the ship at all to enjoy excellent entertainment,” according to Elmar.
Environmentally friendly
The AIDAprima is one of the greenest cruise ships in the world. The ship - built at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki - uses air lubrication, for example. It produces a kind of carpet of air between the hull and the water. This reduces the friction, so that fuel consumption drops. The ship has a vertical bow to sail more efficiently. The ship can also sail on liquefied natural gas (LNG).
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