At 6 am on November 27th, the Celebrity Millennium Cruise Ship of Celebrity Cruise Inc, Malta, took 2,000 cruise passengers and nearly 1,000 crew members to Ha Long International Passenger Port – the first specialized international passenger cruise port in Vietnam. Mr. Nguyen Duc Long, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, the chairman of Quang Ninh People’s Committee and representatives from some of branch and department pick up and welcome the first cruise ship docking at Ha Long International Passenger Port.
Ha Long International Passenger Port was deployed in the public-private partnership and commenced from 4/2017. It is located on Cua Luc Bay with the impressive synchronous project and consisting of harbor bridge with 785 meters long and 11.5 meters wide. The welcome wharf is 524 meters in length, including 130 meters long and 31 meters wide, which is capable to receive two giant-sized passenger cruise ships of up to 225,000GT and capacity of up to 8,400 passengers and crews. The 4,500-square-meter passenger port has 3 floors with the total area of 13,500m2 designed by Bill Bensley – the top 5 worldwide architects. He delicately blended between the cultural and architectural quintessence of Vietnam and Europe. Its outside looks like a corner of ancient Hoi An, but inside seems like the basement of the 13th-century ship with a lot of piers, wooden or steel ceilings, interiors… The unique tourism of Ha Long and excellent services will be introduced, displayed, promoted, and provided.
After more than a year of construction, the project has been completed and put into commercial exploitation. Ha Long International Passenger Port will be a lever to attract international visitors to this heritage city, creating a momentum for the tourism industry. This is also one of the key transport infrastructure projects of Quang Ninh, realizing the will and determination of the province to consider traffic development is one of the three strategic breakthroughs, creating motivation for the next. Continuing to attract investment capital for sustainable socio-economic development. The first ship arrives at the Ha Long International Cruise Port is Celebrity Millennium of the US Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, departs from Hong Kong, bringing more than 2,000 passengers and nearly 1,000 crews from various countries to visit Ha Long Bay and other attractions in Quang Ninh.
Welcoming the first visitors to the port, Mr. Nguyen Duc Long said: the operation of the Ha Long International Passenger Cruise Port is an important mark of the Quang Ninh tourism, not only creates the most favorable conditions for passengers to Ha Long Bay without transshipment but also ensure the tourists’ safety. This is also a highlight for visitors when coming to Ha Long Bay, the good news for the tourism industry of Quang Ninh to open new spaces for cooperation, development of tourism and international economy as well. The president of the provincial People’ Committee also affirmed that he would continue to direct the concerned branches and agencies to create favorable conditions for the shipping companies, overseas tourists to Ha Long, Quang Ninh.
Mr. Nikolas Christodoulakis – the Captain of Celebrity Millennium expressed his appreciation for the friendly and warm welcome of Quang Ninh. This is the second time in four years he has arrived in Halong Bay, in comparison with the first time, Ha Long has changed a lot, more and more beautiful. In particular, the construction of the passenger port creates favorable conditions for the cruise ship when taking visitors to tourist landscapes on the shore. The quick, convenient, and safe docking will firmly leave a great impression on tourists, which is the basic factor to attract more visitors to Ha Long in the future.
Until the end of 2018, expecting 10 international passenger vessels will arrive at Ha Long International Passenger Port. By receiving the myriad of luxurious yachts, Quang Ninh is expected to enter the new growth cycle in the number of tourists, particularly international visitors exceeded the mark of 12 million tourists (with 5.2 million international visitors) in 2018.
