Hamburg. In the space of one week, two spectacular cruise events took place at the Port of Hamburg. Six luxury liners in all completed the programme for the celebration of the 820th Port’s birthday, while the christening of ‘Mein Schiff’ transformed Hamburg’s fish market into a gigantic show stage.

Managing Director of the Hamburg Cruise Center Gerd Drossel is convinced that ‘the metropolis and port of Hamburg offer a unique setting for maritime events’. He is delighted that ‘these cruise-related occasions give us the opportunity of putting the queens of the seas on view for the general public.’

The Port’s 820th birthday celebrations started with the arrival of the ‘Delphin Voyager’, belonging to Delphin Cruises, on 8 May. Other cruise ships have been welcomed at the terminals of the Hamburg Cruise Center on 9 and 10 May. These included the ‘Deutschland’, onboard of which a television programme was simultaneously being recorded live, the ‘Amadea’ of Hansakreuzfahrten and the ‘Fram’, belonging to Hurtigruten. The cruise vessels took part in the final ship parade, so contributing to the maritime atmosphere.

Just four days later the first ship of the TUI Cruises shipping company was welcomed to the Port of Hamburg. The christening of ‘Mein Schiff’ took place the day following, on 15 May. Godmother Ina Müller, a familiar figure from television and radio, introduced the christening and the accompanying show programme on the stage that had been specially constructed at the Hamburg fish market. In the early evening a total of 140.000 spectators according to the media watched the performances of artistes including Udo Lindenberg and Jan Delay. The invited guests celebrated on board the ship into the next morning.