The arrival of the Amadea in Hamburg on December 20 to start a 144-day world cruise also provided an opportunity for Atlantic Alliance to present Phoenix Reisen with its Triple A Award.
Atlantic Alliance is a marketing project set up by 15 ports along Europe’s Atlantic coast between Hamburg and Lisbon, initiated in 2008. The project shows to cruise companies that there is in Europe also another attractive alternative beside the Mediterranean and Baltic.
The award pays homage to a significant contribution to the cruise region.
As such, this year the award goes to a cruise company that has called at the most Atlantic Alliance ports in the past twelve months; in fact, 11 of the 15 ports, thereby demonstrating extremely broad variety.
Veit Hürdler of Atlantic Alliance member Columbus Cruise Center Bremerhaven and on behalf of all 15 member ports presented the award to Michael Schulze, Phoenix Reisen.
Schulze commented that “Phoenix Reisen is well-known for the high individual and personal cruise style with special and diversified itineraries compared to the normal mainstream. With this range of destinations, we like to surprise our guests every single time. As a German operator we are especially motivated in showing our guests the region along the Atlantic west coast, Hence, it is a great pleasure today to receive the Triple A-Award by the ports of the Atlantic Alliance”
The 2012 cruising season was again a record year for the member ports of the Atlantic Alliance. A total passenger volume of 2.2 million throughout the 15 ports equated to a 10 percent increase compared to the previous year (2011: 2 million passengers). At the same time, the number of port calls rose from 1,120 in 2011 to 1,215 in 2012, an increase of 8.5 percent. More than 50 cruise companies position their ships along the west coast of Europe, including at the English ports of Portland and Dover.
Also extremely positive is the outlook for the future, which again promises further growth for the 2013 season. The general conditions are excellent: high potential source markets, such as Germany, the UK, France and Holland are located on the according coasts.
This combined with the trend towards “home-to-home” cruises favors the development of additional cruises within the region.
The Atlantic Alliance region also offers short cruise distances between one port and the next, a fact, which meets the interest of cruise lines, because this helps to create fuel saving itineraries. Not least the multifaceted character and diversity of the destinations offer a versatile portfolio of cruise content for the cruise companies – one example being the Christmas cruises.
