New cruise ship offers breathtaking perspective of Huangpu River
The Crystal Princess cruise ship docks at the No. 3 Cruise Dock of Shiliupu Pier.
A new dock and a new cruise ship for sightseeing on the Huangpu River made a debut on Monday, the city's latest efforts to make the iconic Huangpu River cruise a world-class attraction.
More than 300 people enjoyed the first river cruise tour on the ship named "Crystal Princess" from the renovated No. 3 Cruise Dock of Shiliupu Pier in Huangpu District, experiencing the beautiful view along the river and the glamour of the city.
"The tour reminds me of the bygone era when I dated with my wife four decades ago because we often visited many attractions along the river at that time," said Shanghainese retiree Liu Guiyun.
With a capacity of 380 people and a cost of about 50 million yuan (US$7.28 million), the 60-meter-long "Crystal" installed with 35 projectors, acoustics and electric lifting stages has the best installations among all sightseeing ships on the river.
The high-end ship will start trial operation from the No. 3 Cruise Dock of Shiliupu every night from mid October, and the two-hour tour will pass Yangpu, Nanpu and Lupu bridges. Chinese and western-style meals will be served. Admission fee is 400 yuan (US$58.24) to 500 yuan for each passenger.
The renovated No. 3 Cruise Dock of Shiliupu Pier.
The renovated dock between Waima Road, Dongmen Road and Fuxing Road E. has five berths, five boarding entrances and a parking lot. The waiting area on the ground floor covering nearly 3,000 square meters has a maximum capacity of about 2,200 people, and it has WiFi, barrier-free corridors, lockers and medical facilities. Tourist information service is available.
The No. 1 Cruise Dock of Shiliupu mainly serves independent travelers and most chartered liners at present, while the No. 2 Cruise Dock of Shiliupu receives group tourists.
The two docks are located on the trunk of Zhongshan Road E2, making it inconvenient for tourists to get on and off and leading to traffic congestion frequently, the Shanghai Tourism Administration said, adding that it poses severe pressure on the area's traffic management.
The increasing number of independent tourists for the Huangpu River sightseeing, rising 21 percent last year from the previous two years, has exceeded the capacity of the No. 1 dock, according to the administration.
The No. 3 dock will mainly serve group tourists after it opens, and the Waima Road area will be the new parking spot of tourist group buses, which will lift the capacity of the other two docks in receiving individual travelers and ease traffic congestion on the Bund, the administration said.
The city's first batch of starred sightseeing ships on the river was announced during the event.
