The city is expecting the arrival of two cruise ships on February 9 following the arrival of MV Europa on Saturday with 333 passengers.
City Tourism Office (CTO) senior operations, promotions, and marketing division chief Michie Meneses said Monday that cruise ships AIDAvita and MV Seabourn Sojourn are expected to arrive at 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., respectively.
AIDAvita belongs to the first AIDA series that started operating in 2002 and “modernized” in 2017. It can accommodate up to 1,266 passengers.
MV Seabourn Sojourn, on the other hand, is operated by the Seabourn Cruise Line with a port of registry from Nassau, Bahamas and has a capacity to accommodate 450 passengers.
“Next arrival will be on February 9. For the second time, we will be having two arrivals of vessels on that date — Ang AIDAvita at ang Seabourn Sojourn,” she said.
On Saturday, MV Europa arrived at 6:30 a.m. and departed at 8:30 p.m.
Meneses said passengers went in groups to major destinations in the city such as the underground river.
“Pagdating nila pumunta ang mga turista sa mga major destinations natin, the usual na pinupuntahan. Supposedly 4 p.m. aalis na sila pero na-delayed ng kaunti kasi may hinihintay pa,” she said.
Reports available online said that MV Europa is a German-owned and operated cruise ship.
Previous data released by the office showed that they are expecting a number of cruise ships to arrive this year until 2021.
In 2020, cruise ships expected to visit aside from the MV Europa are MV Seaborne, MV Explorer Dream, AIDAvita, Seabourn Sojourn, Star Breeze, MS Noordam, and Celebrity Millenium.
In 2021, MV Noordam, Celebrity Millennium, Silver Spirit, Maasdam, Arcadia, Star Breeze, MS Queen Elizabeth, MV Seabourn Ovation will also visit.
Assistant city tourism officer Demetrio Alvior recently said that the increasing number of cruise ships visiting Puerto Princesa City, including unexpected visits, is in line with the aim of the city government to make it a destination for ships.
“It only shows that our city is considered as a cruise ship destination sa buong Pilipinas at isa rin itong sign na talagang gusto nila ang ating lugar. May iba rin kasi na biglaan lang na pupunta sa atin [hindi kasama doon sa talagang ini-expect natin na dumating],” he said.
