Cruise Ship is Largest Ever to Visit Scottish Port in Its 888-Year History

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The Scottish Port of Aberdeen celebrated a major milestone when it welcomed the largest ship ever to call at the remote destination in its 888-year history, the 3,800-guest Costa Favolosa.

The port, previously called Aberdeen Harbour, was created in 1136 by King David I of Scotland.ย The facility is even in the Guinness Book of Business Records as the oldest existing business in Great Britain.

The Costa Cruises ship, at 951 feet long (290 meters) called at the portโ€™s year-old South Harbour, which can accommodate ships up to 985 feet long, enhancing Aberdeenโ€™s appeal to cruise lines operating large vessels.

Costa Favolosa Docked in Aberdeen, Scotland
Costa Favolosa Docked in Aberdeen, Scotland (Credit: Port of Aberdeen)

Before South Harbour opened in spring 2023, Aberdeenโ€™s existing North Harbour facility could accommodate ships up to just 558 feet long.

The 113,216-gross ton ship visited the port on July 26, 2024 as one of the 60 cruise ship calls Aberdeen will enjoy during the current season, which runs from May to October. The number represents a 150% increase from calls in 2022.

Costa Favolosaโ€™s guests received a warm welcome from the local population, including performances by the Robert Gordon College Pipe Band and the Alba Bagpipes, along with VisitAberdeenshire’s โ€œWelcome to Aberdeenshireโ€ volunteers, who greeted the cruise arrivals.

โ€œHer arrival is testament to the hard work of many – the port team who delivered the transformational South Harbour, which enables us to welcome ships of this stature, our marine and operational teams, and all our CruiseAberdeenshire partners who have been focused on raising the profile of our amazing region and all it has to offer,โ€ said Marlene Mitchell, Commercial Manager at Port of Aberdeen.

Other tourism officials were on hand to mark the arrival of the mega-ship, and to tout the portโ€™s prospects for continued growth after receiving record cruise calls in 2023 and 2024.

โ€œIt’s thrilling to see Port of Aberdeen welcome Costa Favolosa, the largest cruise ship ever to call. The Port’s development of South Harbour is playing a key role in bringing more ships and more planned tourism benefit to the city and to Aberdeenshire as a whole,โ€ said Ian McQuade, chairman of Cruise Britain.

The Port of Aberdeen, located at the mouth of the River Dee with easy access to the North Sea, issued a cruise status report in February 2024 that predicted more than 100 cruise ships will call at the destination by 2027. 

Such an increase in calls would mean a major financial windfall for the region since each port call represents ยฃ134 ($170) in local spending per cruise guest. That translates into ยฃ4.5 million ($5.7 million) for 2024 and would exceed ยฃ20 million ($25 million) in 2027, the report indicated.

Other cruise ships that made maiden calls to Aberdeen in July 2024 included Ambassador Cruisesโ€™ 1,400-guest Ambience and AIDA Cruisesโ€™ 2,000-guest AIDAsol.

Cruise guests arriving in Aberdeen can take advantage of shore excursions that visit key landmarks and focus on local culture. Sightseeing tours features Dunnattar Castle and Castle Fraser, plus Old Town Aberdeen. Walking tours and other activities are offered.

Costa Favolosa Sailing Northern Europe Until September

Costa Favolosa, which entered service in 2010, was at the tail-end of a 22-day Northern Europe cruise sailing roundtrip from Hamburg when she called at Aberdeen. The voyage had already called at four destinations in Iceland, two ports in Greenland, and the Orkney Islands before visiting Aberdeen. 

Read Also: What to Pack for a Cruise Vacation

The shipโ€™s final call following Aberdeen was to Leith-Edinburgh before the cruise returned to Hamburg, where the ship will be based until mid-September.

On September 26, 2024, the ship sails a 12-day cruise to Savona, Italy, and begins a series of 2- to 12-day Mediterranean voyages sailing between Savona, Barcelona, and Marseille through mid-November. 

Several longer voyages are planned from the Mediterranean ports to South America, and starting in early December 2024, the ship will offer 3- to 8-day sailings between Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Montevideo, Uruguay, through March 2025. Costa Favolosa will return to the Mediterranean for summer 2025.

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Donna Tunney
Donna Tunney
Donna Tunney is a travel news/feature writer and editor with 20-plus years covering cruise news, luxury travel, and Europe and UK destinations. A former staffer at Travel Weekly and at the USAToday Network, she also was a luxury travel columnist at Travel Market Report, and a cruise columnist at Sherman's Travel.

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