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Eastern Venus was the first cruise ship to arrive in Vladivostok since 2019 (Ministry of Tourism)
Published Jun 22, 2026 9:26 AM by The Maritime Executive
The war in Ukraine, economic challenges, and the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic closed down Russia's involvement with international cruising, but officials in the Far East are hopeful after a port call by their first cruise ship in seven years. Vladivostok was attracting major cruise lines before the pandemic, and it has also been proposed as the home for a new Russian cruise line.
The South Korean cruise ship Eastern Venus docked in Vladivostok on June 4 on what its operators called a test voyage. The ship, which was built in 1998 and sailed until 2023 in the Japanese market. Now operated by an affiliate of South Korea's Duwon Shipping, it is 26,594 gross tons and designed to carry up to 700 passengers. It is registered in Panama.
Eastern Venus was met by officials of the Primorsky Krai Ministry of Tourism who emphasized that it could be the beginning of a recovery for the passenger industry in the Far East. There were just 150 passengers aboard the cruise ship, but they were treated to tours of the city. The ship was on a cruise with stops in three South Korean ports and in Japan. The cruise line said it was exploring the addition of Vladivostok to its itineraries for 2027.
The ministry emphasized that new attractions, hotels, and excursions have been developed in the city and region since the pandemic. It said the port has the infrastructure to serve cruise ships, but with a slow rebound in the Asian cruise market, it has so far failed to attract cruise ships.
Before the pandemic, large cruise ships were calling in the Russian Far East (VL Terminals)
Vladivostok had more than a decade of history with the cruise industry before the pandemic, attracting 14 cruise calls in 2017 and 17 in 2019 with a record 34,620 passengers. Major lines, including Costa, MSC Cruises, Holland America, Princess, and Royal Caribbean, all had port calls. The Spectrum of the Seas (169,379 gross tons) cruise ship set a record on September 9, 2019, becoming the largest cruise ship to call at Vladivostok. In another first, the ship embarked more than 200 Russian passengers as the first to sail from the port with the cruise visiting Japan and China.
Government officials highlight that Russia's internal river cruise business is growing. It saw 20 percent growth in 2024, reaching 500,000 passengers, according to the Russian Union of Hospitality Industry, and was expecting strong growth to 610,000 passengers in 2025. Russia's only international cruises are in the Black Sea aboard a former AIDA cruise ship, which sails from Sochi as the Astoria Grande.
The State Council on Tourism and Far Eastern officials are anxious to build the industry and have launched a plan for a Russian cruise line sailing with calls at Vladivostok and Korsakov, with cruising in the Kuril Islands and homeporting in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The regional tourism ministry announced it would provide financial support to launch the operation, noting that the only service currently available in the region is aboard the research vessel Professor Khromov.
FSUE Rosmorport and JSC KS-Strategic Alliance were planning to launch the new cruise service, saying it could handle 40,000 passengers per year. They were negotiating with the China Development Bank Financial Leasing unit to acquire another former AIDA cruise ship, AIDAvita (42,289 gross tons), which had been built in 2002 and retired during the pandemic. It was to be launched as the Astoria Nova in May 2026 with an initial route of 10-day cruises from Primorye to Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, Vladivostok, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and Korsakov, an entirely internally Russian itinerary.
The bankruptcy of the Chinese cruise line Blue Dream Cruises saw the ship, which was operating as Blue Dream Melody, arrested for fuel bills at the beginning of 2026, and complicated the planned acquisition. In addition, the investors are now citing problems in arranging the financing for the operation. They suspended the plans to launch the cruise line, reporting that at the beginning of May, there were discussions for the Russian state development corporation to possibly finance the acquisition of an alternate cruise ship.
The Primorsky Krai Ministry of Tourism is working to support the planned cruise line. Meanwhile, they are hopeful that the port call by the Eastern Venus will help to restore the Far East's cruise trade and attract more international cruise lines back to the Far East.
Fuente: The Maritime Executive
