AIDAbella has become the first cruise ship in the AIDA fleet to sail past Shanghai’s high-rise skyline, before the ship docked at the city’s International Cruise Terminal at 0630 on Sunday (2 April 2017).

AIDAbella remained in Shanghai for two nights, performing its turn-around operations in the Chinese city for the first time. This allowed approximately 4,000 passengers to explore Shanghai on shore excursions, taking advantage of the city’s visa waiver facility for short-term cruise visitors.

Having arrived from Thailand, AIDAbella set sail from Shanghai at 8pm on 4 April, heading for Japan and Taiwan. It will then travel south again to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore.

The total number of overseas cruise tourists visiting Chinese ports increased 8% to 277,430 in 2016. AIDA is a German cruise line, and following its season in Asia, AIDAbella will spend the summer in the Nordic region, offering a series of Baltic Sea cruises from the German port of Kiel.