11 AUG 2017: They’ve built it and now the ships are coming. With security and baggage facilities to handle well over 10,000 people, Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal has been able to handle arrivals and departures of up to four mega-sized cruise ships in a single day in recent months.
It’s a contrast to just two years ago, when The Cruisington Times visited the terminal and found it eerily quiet. The vast customs halls, baggage facilities, taxi queues and bus bays were empty.
Criticism had been mounting about the decision to invest $7-billion Hong Kong dollars (over $1-billion US) to build a state-of-the-art terminal on the site of the former Kai Tak airport. When it opened, most cruise ships continued to prefer the docks at Ocean Terminal, near the Star Ferry port in downtown Kowloon.