PHUKET: The cruise liner ‘Mein Schiff 5’, operated by TUI Cruises, arrived in Phuket yesterday (May 15), bringing more than 2,000 tourists to the island.
The ship, stretching 295 metres long and some 36 metres across, anchored in Ao Makham, off Cape Panwa.
Present in person to welcome the ship and all the guests arriving on the island was Phuket Marine Chief Natchapong Pranit and a team of Marine Office officials.
Mr Natchapong said that Phuket welcomed the first post-pandemic cruise liner visit in October last year.
Since then, Phuket has welcomed some 160,000 tourists arriving by cruise liner, bringing a welcome boost to the island’s economy.
“The cruise liners usually drop anchor at Ao Makham and Patong, and are considered a good sign for the Phuket tourism industry,” he said.
Launched in 2016, the Mein Schiff 5 can carry a full complement of 2,534 passengers and 1,030 crew.
The ship arrived in Phuket from Langkawi as it is currently serving a 60-day transit from Hong Kong to Heraklion on the island of Crete, in Greece.
The Mein Schiff 5 stopped off at Samui earlier this month.
The ship has already departed Phuket. As of late this afternoon (May 16) the ship was rounding the northern tip of Sumatra as it headed back to the Mediterranean.
According to Phuket Immigration, Phuket welcomed 12 cruise liners in March. However, as Phuket starts to enter its rainy season, Phuket welcomed only six cruise liners in April, Phuket Immigration reported.
