Tag Archives: Zadar

Viking Expands Restart of Cruising with Two More Ships from Valletta

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Viking announced today that it will restart operations in the Mediterranean with new ocean voyages for vaccinated guests beginning this summer, according to a press release 

The Viking Venus and Viking Sea will homeport in Valletta and sail two different 11-day roundtrip itineraries in the Mediterranean

Guests on the new Malta & Adriatic Jewels itinerary will overnight in Valletta and then sail to Montenegro and Croatia, calling in Kotor, Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and Šibenik, before returning to the Maltese archipelago, with a stop in Gozo and finally back to Valletta. Guests on the new Malta & Greek Isles Discovery itinerary will also overnight in Valletta and then sail to Greece, calling in Kalamata, Athens, Santorini, Rhodes and Souda Bay, before returning to Valletta.

The Viking Venus and Viking Sea will sail the itineraries between July and early October 2021. 

“We thank the government of Malta for its support and enthusiasm as we continue restarting operations,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. “Malta is a fantastic destination, with ancient history, rich culture and a central location in the Mediterranean. We began calling in Malta in 2016 and look forward to welcoming guests back to some of the most historically significant and naturally beautiful areas of the Med—in both the Maltese archipelago, as well as along the Croatian coast, and around Greek islands this summer.”

Today’s news follows Viking’s recent announcements of Welcome Back ocean voyages in England, Iceland and Bermuda, beginning in May 2021. The company is actively working on developing additional Welcome Back itineraries in a variety of other destinations, with the goal of announcing further 2021 sailings as soon as government approvals are given.

Also, citing the result of strong demand, Viking also announced today it is adding more sailing dates this summer for its Welcome Back voyages around Iceland and Bermuda.

Croatia’s new Zadar port welcomes first arrival

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While it won’t officially open until this autumn, the Gazenica cruise port in Zadar, Croatia has already welcomed its first visitors.

On Friday last week (July 11th), the Celebrity Equinox became the first ship to dock at the new 12-berth facility, on which construction commenced five years ago.

The government of Croatia has spent a total of €143.8 million (£114 million) on the project, Seatrade Insider reports. This includes construction of motorway links that provide access to Zadar Airport and Zagreb.

When the port becomes active, it will be able to accept vessels of any size – though only five berths will serve cruise ships, with the remaining seven reserved for local ferry traffic.

Zadar itself is currently proving popular with cruise operators, having registered almost 70 calls and 35,000 passengers in 2013 – a 70 per cent increase on 2012. It expects to host as many as 100,000 passengers per year by 2015.

Gazenica is set to enter operation in either late September or early October.