The cruise market is once again embracing Hong Kong as a leading cruise hub in Asia, following the extended suspension of cruising as the pandemic unfolded.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board declared on August 10, 2023 that 18 cruise traces are fully commited to traveling to the desired destination this yr, which include Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas, which has currently been welcomed.
Cruise Ship Calls to Attain 166 in 2023
Ships from virtually all of the key cruise lines are now scheduled to both homeport or simply call at the port of Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in 2023, bringing the Asian port nearer to usual operations adhering to the pandemic.
Eighteen cruise strains, representing 166 ship calls, will check out Hong Kong, which include main brand names this kind of as Royal Caribbean, Holland The united states Line, MSC Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Viking Ocean Cruises, Silversea Cruises, Movie star Cruises, and Windstar Cruises, between many others.
The overall ship phone calls this 12 months remains fewer than in 2019, when 218 ships frequented, but is a noteworthy rebound from the pandemic years, when cruising all over the world was either suspended or in gradual-recovery manner.
Hong Kong officers signaled in March 2023 that its cruise sector was headed towards whole recovery. Silversea Cruises in January 2023 experienced turn into the initial intercontinental cruise line to return to Hong Kong’s waters in nearly 3 years.
In its announcement, the Hong Kong Tourism Board mentioned it would manage near ties with cruise traces to attract far more long run port calls and start promotional activities to support the marketplace.
Port Marks Return of Spectrum of the Seas
The Hong Kong Tourism Board marked a unique cruise ship contact on August 4, 2023, when Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas frequented for the 1st time since cruising returned to the desired destination. Royal Caribbean experienced before introduced that the ship would homeport in Hong Kong in 2024, a further reason for the port to celebrate the ship’s arrival.
Port officials staged an elaborate welcome ceremony for the ship’s visitors at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, exactly where a lion dance and drums effectiveness was held. Souvenirs have been handed out to friends as well. Spectrum of the Seas is a Quantum-Ultra-course ship that launched in 2019.
The 168,666-gross ton ship has a potential for 4,900 friends. Among the cruises the ship will sail in 2024 is a 9-night Greatest of Japan Vacation Cruise, roundtrip from Hong Kong on December 20. Port phone calls will incorporate the Japanese ports of Kagoshima, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, and Fukuoka.
Shorter itineraries also will be available aboard Spectrum of the Seas roundtrip from Hong Kong in 2024 and early 2025, these kinds of as the 5-night Okinawa & Ishigaki Cruise, and a 4-night time Chan May perhaps Cruise, calling at Hue/Danang (Chan May possibly), Vietnam.
Diamond Princess Will Call at Hong Kong
Other cruise lines not property-porting in Hong Kong but with planned port phone calls to the spot incorporate Princess Cruises, which will foundation its Diamond Princess in Tokyo and involve Hong Kong in the ship’s itineraries. A December 1, 2023 departure, from Tokyo to Singapore, phone calls at Hong Kong together with Vietnam and Japan, for instance.
Cruise watchers will remember that it was Diamond Princess that recorded the initially main outbreak of the coronavirus in early 2020, necessitating the ship to be quarantined for weeks at the Japanese port of Yokohama (Tokyo).
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In the meantime, Hong Kong officials in January 2023 indicated that the revival of its cruise field could open the door to tapping into the Mainland China current market, a system that experienced been explored but was sidelined by the pandemic.
In pre-Covid Asia, that market place was seeing important growth, and these days Hong Kong is effectively positioned to start off pursuing people chances.
