In addition to a ship parade, a 'Blue Port' light installation will bathe the port in what's described as a 'magical light.'
The four kilometer portside event area will extend from the HafenCity district to Altona. Twelve thematic ‘islands’ will provide live music stages, food, sport and spa facilities, maritime shopping offers and cruise line promotion areas. The heart of the event will be the Cruise Village in HafenCity.
For the first time, the event will be linked to Vienna, as Hamburg stages 'Ahoy Vienna! Hamburg is coming' in the Austrian capital. This revolves around a super-sized paper ship to arrive on the Danube Canal in Vienna’s city center Aug. 1.
Large sheets aboard the ship will be transported to three central locations, where they will be folded into people-sized paper ships in front of passersby. Each of these 'daughter ships' will present different aspects of Hamburg.
In the evenings the mother ship on the Danube Canal will become the projection screen for scenes from the Hanseatic city with the Hamburg Cruise Days parade broadcast live on Aug. 2.
