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Kiel Welcomes P&O’s Arcadia on Maiden Call

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

June 23, 2016

  • Arcadia (Port of Kiel)
  • Arcadia (Port of Kiel)
  • Arcadia (Port of Kiel) Arcadia (Port of Kiel)
  • Arcadia (Port of Kiel) Arcadia (Port of Kiel)
P&O Cruises’ Arcadia berthed June 22, for her first visit ever to the Port of Kiel, arriving just as the prestigious Kieler Woche sailing regatta marked its half-way point. More than 2,000, mainly British, passengers used the opportunity to visit northern Europe’s biggest maritime sailing event.
 
Following her early morning arrival and to mark the occasion, a port tug provided “Arcadia” with a water fountain escort to her berth at the Ostseekai Cruise Terminal. During a reception later on board, Kiel’s First Deputy City President Robert Vollborn cordially welcomed the ship’s captain to the state capital of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein and presented him with a plaque marking the ship’s maiden visit. “The Kieler Woche is a traditional meeting-place for people from all over the world”, Robert Vollborn said. “We are very happy that travellers have chosen to visit us within the framework of this particularly special event”, he added.  The Kieler Woche offers high-end sailing activities and is a maritime summer festival and a major attraction for large and traditional sailing vessels as well as for historic steam ships and maritime craft from different countries.
  
“Arcadia” is on a 15-day Baltic cruise which began in Southampton on June 18th and has taken the English cruise ship to Copenhagen before her visit to Kiel. During her stay in Kiel the ship berthed at a cruise terminal which is right in the middle of the action. The large-scale summer festival with its entertainment, cultural, scientific and sport events is within sight of the cruise terminal. Ship passengers can check out the Kieler Woche goings-on in the City Centre itself and by foot along the Kiel promenade while the sailing ships themselves make their way on parallel courses along the inner Fiord. In addition of course, English-speaking tourists can also take advantage of the classical land excursions, which cover the whole of north Germany. Those attractions range from guided tours of the Kiel Fiord, visits to the UNESCO World Heritage site Lübeck and variously themed excursions to the metropolis of Hamburg as well as to panorama trips to the beach resort of Laboe and the region known as Holstein Switzerland with its state garden show. Robert Vollborn said: “Kiel has a lot to offer its visitors, not just during the Kieler Woche, and is an ideal jumping off point for excursions in Schleswig-Holstein and to Hamburg”. The “Arcadia” casts off from the Ostseekai Terminal at around 20 Hours and heads for the Swedish capital Stockholm. Her destinations after that are Tallinn, St Petersburg and Helsinki before she sails back via Zeebrugge to Southampton. The P&O Cruises shipping company is part of the Carnival Cruises concern. “Arcadia” was completed in 2005 at Fincantieri in Italy. She is of 84,342 GT and is 285 m long and more than 32 m wide. The Vista Class cruise ship has 1,010 cabins for 2,016 passengers.
 
 

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