Royal Caribbean International’s Legend of the Seas liner called at the Japanese port of Beppu for the first time yesterday. The ship was welcomed by Mayor of Beppu, Hiroshi Hamada as well as officials of Kyushu Transportation Bureau, Beppu City Council and Beppu Chamber of Commerce, with an official ceremony and traditional dance and music performances.
The 11-deck, 2,074-passenger Legend of the Seas arrived in Beppu early Wednesday morning as part of its seven-night ‘China and Japan Cruise’ which started from Busan and will also call at Tianjin, Fukuoka and Kagoshima.
A ceremony held onboard the ship was attended by VIPs and officials from Japan as well as Royal Caribbean representatives. Traditional plaque exchanges were conducted between Captain Yngvar Knutsen of Legend of the Seas and Mr Hamada.
Kelvin Tan, Royal Caribbean’s Regional Director for Asia Pacific, said at the ceremony; “We are proud to have Beppu as the newest addition to our wide array of Japanese destinations for Royal Caribbean International. Beppu’s unique attractions will let our guests from other parts of the world experience more of the interesting culture and heritage of Japan.”
Beppu is located in Oita prefecture on the island of Kyushu. It is home to 2,000 hot springs – the second-largest volume in the world – as well as mud, sand and steam baths.
Legend of the Seas returned to Japan for the first time on 2 August, with its first call at Nagasaki following its Hong Kong summer season. The ship is operating more than 10 sailings including a number of charters to various Japanese ports-of-call such as Beppu, Okinawa, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Otaru and Osaka, out of Hong Kong, Tianjin and Shanghai, from late July to early October.
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