(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-31 09:55

Luxury liner Crystal Symphony docked at a Shanghai downtown port on Saturday morning, the last of a high number of cruise ships calling at the city this month.

The liner had come from Japan and was carrying 746 passengers and 576 sailors. It left for Dalian late Sunday.

Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal, the city's major port for passenger ships, welcomed 19 international passenger liners with 210,000 visitors on board in March, almost three times the number during March last year.

The 51,000-ton Crystal Symphony was the last liner to visit Shanghai at the downtown port in the north of the Bund this month, immigration police said.

The liner, operated by US-based Crystal Cruises, was visiting Shanghai for the third time.

Just days before it docked, a sushi restaurant featuring the cuisine of Nobu Matsuhisa opened on board. The chef is said to have spent years preparing for the opening of the restaurant.

"Crystal Cruises attaches great importance to the emerging market of the Chinese mainland, now Asia's largest outbound tourist source region," said Karen Mann, director of international sales for Crystal Cruises.

Currently more than 40 percent of Crystal's guests are from Asia Pacific, she said.

"We expect that in the coming years we will welcome more Chinese guests aboard who prefer to have a unique luxury cruise experience," she said.

The next passenger liner to visit the city will be Rhapsody of the Seas, with a capacity of 2,500 people.

It is due to arrive on Thursday and is the largest passenger liner at present operating in Asian waters, according to immigration police.

By Dong Zhen