Passenger liner MS AMERA moored to Odesa port yesterday (30.10.2019) at 7.30 am. This is the first call to the city of a foreign cruise ship since June 2017.
The previous call of a foreign liner to Odesa port took place 29 months ago, in June 2017. It was a small expeditionary vessel ISLAND SKY.
During these two years Odesa welcomed sea-river vessels: 17 calls in 2018 and 15 calls in 2019.
The motor vessel arrived from Constanta. It has 750 tourists on board mainly from Germany, as well as the United States and EU countries. At the berth, 11 comfortable buses were waited for the foreign guests and provided an extensive excursion program around the city.
AMERA makes a large cruise on the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, which includes Nice, Syracuse, Piraeus, Nessebar, Constanta, Odesa, Istanbul, Chesmu, Santorini, Durres, Split and will end in Trieste.
This call is for sure a solemn occasion for the inhabitants of Odesa, who have been deprived of observing the silhouettes of large familiar to the city passenger ships at the berths of the passenger terminal for more than two years. This is also a significant moment for us since the arrival of the vessel was the result of the constant and systematic efforts of port Authority towards the restoring of cruise shipping in the Black Sea after the events in Ukraine and Turkey in 2014-2016. Despite unfavorable circumstances, Odesa port has not stopped coordinating with its cruise business partners a single day, took part in international tourism forums and has been an active member in the framework of the Medcruise Association. During negotiations with our partners, we reasonably proved that Odesa, being called the sea capital of Ukraine, is still hospitable and safe for foreign tourists. I hope you have made sure of that today.
It is very important to emphasize the symbolism of MS AMERA’s call: the “first swallow” of the white ships` return to the Black Sea has the logo of the shipowner Phoenix Reisen on its pipe, a white seagull against the Sun. Others will follow the first seagull: the port expects 11 cruise liners with a foreign flag (and 26 sea-river calls) next year and 16 applications were received for 2021.
