More ships and more passengers, but Kai Tak Cruise Terminal is still finding it hard to shake off ‘ghost town’ image
- Almost six years after opening, HK$6.6 billion cruise terminal in East Kowloon is still criticised for lack of buzz, transport links
- Visitors disappointed by lack of shops, food choices and public transport, but operator says terminal is mainly for cruise passengers
Clerk Heidi Lee, 59, was at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in December, waiting to board her ship for a six-day trip to the Philippines, when she felt thirsty and tried to buy herself a drink.
There was no convenience store to be found. “It was like a ghost town,” she recalls.
Almost six years after opening, the East Kowloon terminal remains largely deserted at times, drawing criticism for its poor public transport connections and dismal retail and restaurant scene.
Built on the runway of Hong Kong’s former Kai Tak Airport, the HK$6.6 billion three-storey cruise terminal has a total floor area of almost 190,000 square metres, almost six times the size of the seven-storey K11 Art Mall in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Its two berths can hold two mega cruise ships of up to 220,000 tonnes while its rooftop garden, the city’s largest, allows passengers to take in views of high-rises on both Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon peninsula.
A 5,600-square-metre commercial area inside the building has five places to eat, including a kids’ cafe and dim sum restaurant, but most close by 9pm. A banquet restaurant stays open until 11pm. The shopping area is vacant.