Ports & destinations
Left: The view of the Black Sea from one of its most revered natural monuments, Kiselev rock in Tuapse, Russia.
Opposite:
The historic Kemere Bridge in Amasra, Turkey.
potential – even if the current unrest seems increasingly likely to postpone its success.
A black mood
Few people are better placed to appreciate the potential of cruising the Black Sea than Christopher Prelog. President at Windstar Cruises – one of the few international operators to venture east of the Bosphorus – Prelog fully appreciates how much potential the region has. “When Windstar visited the Black Sea in the past – pre-Covid – it was very vibrant,” he explains, “The countries all have a very different feeling with their own traditions, and this is what makes the Black Sea cruises so interesting.” It is a point echoed by Natalia Ilyina, the managing partner at Cruise Black Sea, a port agency and excursion firm. She says the region offers “interesting itineraries for repeat travellers who’ve already travelled round the world”. These arguments can readily be understood by geography and history. Like the Mediterranean, the Black Sea has always been a cauldron, replenished down the centuries by different groups. Bulgarians, Russians, Georgians and Turks are just some of the people to grow roots here, which makes it an ideal location for tourists eager to taste a variety of food and sip a broad selection of wine. This is just as true architecturally. Fans of the neoclassical, for instance, can visit Odessa in Ukraine, lined with elegant cobbled avenues. Sail south and they will reach Trabzon, its decaying Byzantine churches long since framed by minarets.
This cultural diversity is matched in the natural world. On its northern shores, the Black Sea offers snow-white beaches and orchards filled with apples and grapes. To the south and east are mountains, rocky peaks and pine trees tumbling to a sapphire-
World Cruise Industry Review /
www.worldcruiseindustryreview.com
blue sea. With all this to seduce travellers, it should come as no surprise that the Black Sea has long honed its cruising reputation. Already reasonably popular among Soviet tourists, the market really took off after the fall of communism. The years before the Russian annexation of Crimea, in 2014, are particularly striking. As reported by Medcruise, from 2009, passenger numbers to the Black Sea increased by 110%, finally peaking at over 200,000 in 2013. Particular harbours witnessed growth too, with Sinop, Constanta and Batumi all enjoying increased call figures. No wonder Karina Melikjanyan, a cruise expert at Batumi State Maritime Academy, says that, before 2014, the “growing popularity of the region was undeniable”.
This expansion is hindered significantly by conflict. Following the Russian incursion, the Crimean ports of Yalta and Sebastopol became cruising pariahs. Odessa was being shelled by Russian artillery in early March. Even worse, tourists began conflating the unrest in the peninsula with the Black Sea generally, wrecking trust and discouraging operators from venturing past Istanbul. The statistics speak for themselves. In 2015, for instance, the Black Sea received a mere 76 calls, down 343 from two years prior, as stated in Medcruise’s report. And, though confidence has rebounded slightly since then, Ilyina notes that these days demand mostly comes from local tourists, often with shallower pockets than their richer western neighbours. As Ilyina says, crews and tour operators “just survive”, even as another increasingly deadly war rages.
Local pride Board the Star Pride, due to set off from Istanbul in May, and you will embark on a nine-day odyssey
59
Regissercom/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65
