With the Russian navy laying mines and blockading Ukrainian ports, the Black Sea may seem unlikely cruising grounds right now, but that is not stopping one Russian company from launching a new cruise service in these hotly contested waters.
The 38,500-gt Astoria Grande (built 1996) will set sail from the Russian port of Sochi on 16 July on its first cruise since being sold in August 2021 by Carnival subsidiary AIDA Cruises as Aidacara to a Cyprus-registered ship management company.
The ship, which has the capacity to carry 1,230 passengers, will operate cruises from Sochi to a variety of Turkish ports for Moscow-based Aquilon Shipping. Weekly cruises have been scheduled until mid-October.
The cruise operation is being managed by Turkish cruise ship manager and operator Miray Cruises, although booking conditions posted on the Astoria Grande website reveal that the passage contract which passengers agree to when purchasing a ticket is directly with Aquilon.
Turkey is a popular vacation destination for Russian tourists. The country, which straddles the European and Asian continents, has not imposed any restrictions on Russia or Russian shipping, nor have Turkish companies been ordered to stop doing business with Russian entities — no pesky sanctions for Russian tourists there.
Sochi, the Astoria Grande’s departure port, is located in the southern section of the Black Sea close to Turkey, which should keep the ship well away from the war zone in its northern section.
The exact ownership of the Panamanian-flagged Astoria Grande is difficult to pin down. The IHS Ships Register shows it to have been acquired from Carnival Corp by Mester Commercial, a Limassol-based shipowner and manager.
IHS Markit lists Aquilon as having become the registered owner of ship since September 2021. However, Aquilon refers to itself as a tour operator that acts only in the capacity of general sales agent for the ship.
DNV, the Astoria Grande's classification society, lists Seychelles-registered Goodwin Shipping as the vessel's owner.
Goodwin has no listed contact details and therefore could not be reached for comment.
Industry sources familiar with the Astoria Grande say there are no discernable Russian ownership links to Goodwin, which acquired the ship in early 2022.
Therefore the vessel and the cruise operation are believed to fall outside the scope of current international sanctions.
