Russia has been planning to offer cruises in the east of the country for some time. A former Aida ship may soon be deployed there.
The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East intends to subsidize the purchase of several cruise ships for tour operators seeking to expand cruise tourism in the Russian Far East of Vladivostok, where few cruise calls have been registered so far. According to the Russian news channel RBC Primorye, the upcoming Pacific Cruise project aims to attract over 50,000 guests a year to the Far East region of Russia. The new company will initially acquire a ship to offer a series of ten- to twelve-day cruises from Vladivostok to destinations in Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka.
“The idea of creating such a line has been circulating for about ten years and is now slowly taking shape,” Oleg Kozhemyako, Chairman of the State Council’s Tourism Commission and Governor of Primorye Region, was quoted as saying.
Vladimir Solodov, Governor of the Kamchatka region, added that the project was an “important step in the economic development of the Russian Far East region”. “We are deliberately pursuing the path of creating a tourism industry that is currently the fastest growing in terms of both the number of professionals involved and the pace of development,” he explained. In addition to Russians, the shipping company would also like to attract international guests, who should bring additional economic benefits.
In addition to Rosmorport, the Sovcomflot shipping company is also to be involved in the project, in which JSC KS-Strategic Alliance will be one of the main investors. According to the news channel RBC, the authorities are “ready to provide the company with maximum support in overcoming all problems, from finance and logistics to advertising.”
References to the former “Aidavita”
The cruises are to be operated with a “modern diesel-electric” ship. On board there will be a theater and a concert hall with 1,000 seats, eight themed bars and restaurants, a spa and a fitness center. This information could refer to the deployment of the Chinese “Blue Dream Melody”, which will be indefinitely decommissioned from service in Chinese waters at the end of 2025. The reason given for the decommissioning is maintenance work and hardware updates. However, insiders report that the company is said to have had problems with the ship’s capacity utilization in the past.
The “Blue Dream Melody” is the former “Aidavita”, which was built in Wismar in 2004. As part of the coronavirus pandemic, the ship was decommissioned at the beginning of 2020 and later laid up in the Estonian port of Tallinn for an extended period. In 2022, Aida was able to sell the ship to a Turkish shipowner and in early 2024 to the Chinese Blue Dream Cruises. According to another Russian news channel OTV Prime, the planned ship with a capacity of 1,400 guests is to be renamed “Astoria Nova” before its first planned departure in Russia in spring 2026.
Another Russian company, Aquillon Shipping, has already been using a former Aida ship, the “Astoria Grande”, for 2022; this is the former “AIDAcara”, which operates cruises on the Russian Black Sea coast, among other things.
