Aberdeen’s first cruise liner of the season arrived this morning, but could not berth in the South Harbour due to weather conditions.
Thousands of tourists arrived in the Granite City earlier today as the AIDAsol German-flagged liner travelled all the way from Germany.
However, due to unsuitable weather, the vessel anchored in the bay – one nautical mile from Aberdeen beach – and anchor boats took guests into Duthies Quay at North Harbour on York Place.
The delay meant that some passengers lost nearly two hours of their stay in the north-east, with the first expected to disembark between 8.30am-9am, however, the first guests did not get ashore until around 10.15am.
Carrying 1,998 guests and 629 crew, the ship has arrived from Hamburg in Germany for a day-long stopover before setting sail in the evening for Kirkwall in Orkney.
It will then head to Reykjavik and two other destinations in Iceland, before going to Alesund and Bergen in Norway, prior to returning to Germany.
Guests shuttled to shore by small boats
As the ship – which will be in Sydney, Australia later this year – could not land at South Harbour, guests were shuttled to shore by small boats, where they were welcomed by a piper, Highland dancers and VisitAberdeenshire volunteers.
The port currently has 59 cruise calls scheduled for 2024, including 22 maiden calls, which highlights Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire’s growing appeal as a cruise destination.
If the ship had berthed at South Harbour, passengers would have had the opportunity to go on the First Bus shuttle route CS1 from the port to the beach, city centre and Old Aberdeen.
Read more about what the cruise ship visitors got up to during their brief visit to Aberdeen here:
‘Shame we didn’t see more’: First cruise ship visitors’ trip to Aberdeen cut short by weather chaos
