news: review: Abu Dhabi boosts cruise credentials
Abu Dhabi boosts cruise credentials
Two major cruise liners had maiden voyages to Abu Dhabi in December boosting the emirate’s hopes for receiving 77 calls from cruise ships during the 2011/2012 season.
The AIDABlu, which belongs to the German cruise line AIDA Cruises and Costa Favolosa, a new addition to the Costa Cruises fleet, both docked at the temporary cruise terminal at Mina Zayed for the first time last month bringing in almost 6,000 passengers to the Emirate.
The new terminal is capable of simultaneously accommodating 1,300 passengers.
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) estimates that upwards of 200,000 cruise passengers will visit Abu Dhabi this season with passenger expenditure substantially boosted by an estimated 50,000-strong cruise liner crew.
The authority has made a strategic commitment to the expansion of cruise tourism in Abu Dhabi and attracting major operators with larger ships is a key facet of this.
Its cruise ambitions were recently given a further boost with news from MSC Cruises, which is currently homeporting its MSC Lirica in Abu Dhabi, that for the 2012/2013 season it will deploy its even larger 867- cabin MSC Opera in Abu Dhabi.
The strategic repositioning of MS Opera, which is due to operate 25 week-long cruises during the season will add a further 13,000 passengers to the 41,000 cruise arrivals MSC Lirica is expected to bring to Abu Dhabi this season.
