As the early morning sun shone on the north-east, the first cruise ship docked in Aberdeen’s new harbour.
AIDAaura arrived at Port of Aberdeen’s South Harbour from Hamburg, offering its guests the opportunity to explore the area for a full day as part of their Scottish cruise.
It berthed on Castlegate Quay where Visit Aberdeenshire volunteers were waiting alongside a fleet of coaches to proudly show off the north-east.
Guests were given a warm welcome by a 50-strong pipe band and Highland dancers from Robert Gordon’s College before they embarked on their day of exploring.
Passengers had the option to pre-book an excursion to Aberdeen or the surrounding Shire, with a range of experiences on offer – including distillery tours, castle visits and much more.
Others were taken by shuttle bus for the short journey to Guild Street, giving them a chance to explore the Granite City.
The AIDAaura is the largest vessel to berth in the city at 665ft long and has the capacity to carry up to 1,200 passengers.
‘A new dawn for tourism’
Bob Sanguinetti, chief executive of Port of Aberdeen, hailed the arrival of the cruise ship as a milestone event for north-east tourism.
He confirmed the Aberdeen South Harbour construction is nearing completion after ground was first broken on the £400 million expansion project in 2017.
He said: “It is fantastic to see the first cruise call arrive at South Harbour today, which marks a new dawn for tourism in the north-east.
“The project itself, the largest marine construction project in the UK, will be completed in seven weeks’ time. Already we’ve played host to a large number of vessels from across a number of sectors, from oil and gas, offshore, wind, general cargo, and today – for the first time – cruise.
“It’s a really exciting time for Port of Aberdeen, it’s a big milestone and we’ve been working with partners across the community, from Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeens Inspired and a number of others to make sure we come together and offer the delights Aberdeenshire has to offer the deserving passengers.”
‘Great start to summer season’
Members from partner organisations were invited to watch the historic moment as the first cruise ship docked in the new harbour.
Chris Foy, chief executive of VisitAberdeenshire hopes the region will benefit from the tourism boost the new harbour expansion will bring.
“It’s a great start to the summer season to see the AIDAaura coming into the harbour,” he said.
“I think this is another piece of the tourism jigsaw for the north-east, after the opening of the P&J Live in recent years, bringing a whole new range of conferences into the city, we’ve seen the airport expand.
“We’ve now got even larger cruise vessels coming in bringing different passengers here, different visitors that perhaps wouldn’t have explored this part of the world before.”
Chance to explore north-east ‘splendour’
Adrian Watson, chief executive from Aberdeen Inspired, hopes the passengers exploring Aberdeen and the surrounding north-east will find it has “plenty to offer”.
“Isn’t it wonderful? It’s been a long time in the making but it’s here now,” he said.
“The cruise market is very important to the city and the wider north-east, and it’s hopefully the first of many to come into the north-east of Scotland.
“That’s bringing people in, not only for the day trips here but hopefully they will come back and see the splendour of the north-east and bring much-needed finance into the economy as well.
“I think the people today will find Aberdeen has plenty to offer, and of course the wider Shire as well.
“Aberdeen has the art gallery, it has museums aplenty, Union Terrace Gardens, and we’re really building the offering in the city. I think when people see that they might not only just visit this one day here, but they may well come back to the city and the wider north-east.”
Could the cruise ships also help struggling Union Street?
First Bus launched its brand-new cruise shuttle service designed to help tourists make the most of their time in Aberdeen.
Offering a quick and easy link between the harbour and city centre, it is expected over 10,000 cruise passengers will use the service between May and the middle of September.
Tickets sold for the First Aberdeen service will also include travel on any of its busses throughout the day – making the city even more accessible to tourists.
The man spearheading the rescue attempt for Aberdeen’s Union Street, Bob Keiller, believes the cruise ships could help “re-energise” the Granite Mile.
He said: “We have started the sifting and sorting exercise on the ideas that were submitted on our website and several describe city centre activities and attractions, just the sort of thing to potentially attract passengers from cruise ships.
“The start of cruise ships coming to Aberdeen is a new opportunity to help re-energise Union Street but it won’t happen automatically – we need to work hard to earn the tourist footfall and make the city centre a really interesting and exciting place to visit.”
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