Odesa’s Cruise Triumph: The Season That Made History
As part of the project “Incredible Port”
The year 2013 became a real breakthrough for Odesa in the field of maritime tourism. The city confidently established itself as a base cruise port of the Black Sea, and during peak months the Passenger terminal was welcoming white cruise liners almost every day.
On September 19, 2013, the cruise liner AZURA (maximum length – 289 meters, flag – Bermuda) arrived at the Port of Odesa with 3,035 passengers on board. In the entire history of the port, this was the largest number of tourists ever delivered by a single vessel.
To serve the passengers of the AZURA, the tour operator in Odesa ordered 38 sightseeing buses and 5 shuttle buses that operated between the Marine station of Odesa port and Deribasivska Street.
Overall, in 2013 Odesa residents clearly saw that their city was becoming a base cruise port of the Black Sea. During the peak periods of passenger navigation – April-May and September-October there were very few days when the Passenger terminal did not host a white passenger ship. On several occasions the port even operated at full capacity. For example, on September 13 six cruise ships were in the port at the same time – four ocean liners and two river–sea vessels. The total length of these ships reached almost one kilometer – 949 meters.
A day earlier, Odesa welcomed the world’s first “floating home” – The World, a ship designed on the principle of a multi-apartment residential building. On its 11 passenger decks there are 110 apartments, each with a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and balcony. Apartment owners pay a maintenance fee in advance, which is used to support the vessel and its crew.
The apartment cabins can also be rented out.
Another notable event of the season was the two visits of the liner Azamara Journey (maximum length – 180 meters, flag – Malta). The vessel was owned by Royal Caribbean, one of the world’s largest cruise companies, which became the first global cruise operator to offer its clients a circular cruise along the Black Sea coast.
The results of the 2013 passenger navigation in the Port of Odesa became record-breaking for the entire period of Ukraine’s independence: 106 calls of cruise ships under foreign flags and 81,300 tourists. A year earlier, these figures were 78 ship calls and 61,200 tourists respectively.
The achievements of this “record” season were the natural result of the consistent and dedicated work of the Odesa Branch of the SE «Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority», which seven years earlier had initiated a program aimed at globalizing the Black Sea cruise market. The active participation of Odesa representatives in the International Association of Mediterranean and Adjoining Seas Cruise Ports «MEDCRUISE», organizing of three international Black Sea Cruise conferences in Odesa, the development of the Cruise Black Sea brand, and a number of other initiatives helped to increase the popularity of the Black Sea region among the world’s leading cruise operators and strengthened the image of the Port of Odesa as a center of maritime tourism in the Black Sea basin.
Unfortunately, at that time Odesa remained the only seaport in Ukraine capable of receiving and servicing cruise vessels up to 300 meters long in accordance with international standards.
At the same time, the economic feasibility of cruise ships entering the Black Sea requires at least two of such ports. For this reason, the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority” planned to begin the modernization of the berth infrastructure of the Port of Yalta in 2014. Ukrainian legislation allowed the company to invest its own funds in this project.
However, the implementation of these ambitious plans had to be postponed indefinitely. In 2014, russia annexed Crimea…
