Cruise ships

Some 18 cruise ships visited Türkiye's ports in January, bringing nearly 20,000 visitors, according to data from the Transport Ministry.

This marked the highest number of cruise ship passengers visiting the country for the month of January since January 2011, when 20,712 passengers arrived in Türkiye on cruise ships.

MSC Cruises announced in Piraeus on Sunday that it is basing a new ship in Greece's main port for this summer season.

MSC Musica will for the first time homeport in Greece and operate 26 seven-night voyages between May and October from Piraeus to Santorini, Kusadasi, Haifa, Limassol, Cyprus and Mykonos.

Leading Greek cruise line operator Celestyal Cruises this week announced the introduction of a new vessel, the Celestyal Journey, in its itineraries as of September 2, 2023, undertaking the schedules of Celestyal Crystal.

Celestyal's newest cruise liner will begin with the "Idyllic Aegean" route, the company's popular seven-night cruise.

Royal Caribbean confirmed this week it has selected Greece for homeporting, with its 11-deck Enchantment of the Seas cruise liner departing from Piraeus from May to September this year for seven-night cruises to Greek ports such as Mykonos, Santorini, Hania, Corfu etc, and Adriatic ports such as Kotor in Montenegro and Split in Croatia, before disembarking at Ravenna in Italy.

The province of Trabzon, on Türkiye's Black Sea coast, has welcomed this year's first cruise ship.

The 195-meters long "Astoria Grande" arrived at the city's port with 505 Russians on board.

The number of cruise ships visiting Türkiye and cruise passengers increased significantly in 2022 from the previous month, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu has announced.

From October 29 to the end of March, it will conduct only 10 of its 29 itineraries in Athens

The Celebrity Beyond cruise ship arrived in Piraeus on Wednesday morning. The ship is 327 meters long and 39 meters wide, has 21 decks, and can carry 1,416 crew members and up to 3,937 passengers.

Celebrity Cruises' newest ship is captained by Kate McCue, who was one of the first women and the first American woman to head a cruise ship.

Arrival in Piraeus

The first cruise ship since the pandemic wended its way on June 5 through the heart of Venice, escorted by triumphant water-spouting tugboats and elated port workers as it traveled down the Giudecca Canal but also protested by hundreds on land and a small armada of wooden boats waving "No Big Boats" flags.

Greek cruise lines hope a swifter vaccination rollout and the government's proposed vaccine certificates scheme can help get ships out of the docks where they have been idling empty for the past year and back to sea for the vital summer season.