Maiden cruise calls at Harwich, Santander, Leixões

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From left, Maud and Sir David Attenborough at Harwich, Santander's welcome for Spirit of Adventure and the ship's maiden call plaque at Leixões
Hurtigruten Expeditions' Maud made its maiden call at Hutchison Ports Harwich International, while Saga Cruises' Spirit of Adventure visited Santander and Leixões for the first time.

Maud, returning from a 14-night Norway cruise that crossed the Arctic Circle, was in Harwich at the same time as the British Antarctic Survey’s new vessel, RRS Sir David Attenborough.

'We are delighted to welcome the MS Maud on its first call to Harwich International and we look forward to many future visits. Having the RSS Sir David Attenborough in port at the same time provides a nice moment of symmetry — one regular Arctic visitor and one ship about to sail on its first voyage to the Antarctic,' Hutchison Ports UK CEO Chris Lewis said. 'Both are extraordinary vessels that will have the privilege to visit some of the remotest parts of the planet.'

Spirit of Adventure

Meanwhile, Spirit of of Adventure was welcomed with ceremonies at Leixões' Porto Cruise Terminal and at Santander as part of a 14-day voyage from Dover to Southampton that also called Brest, Saint-Nazaire, La Rochelle, Huelva and Vigo.

At Leixões a plaque exchange ceremony was held on the quay. Thirteen buses were deployed for excursions to Porto and the north Portugal region for the 768 passengers on board.

Earlier, when Spirit of Adventure was at Santander, Port Authority Director Santiago Díaz Fraile and Miriam Díaz, the city's councillor for tourism, presented a first-call plaque to Capt. Franko Papic along with a collection of books about Santander for the ship's library.