Cruise operators remove calls to S. Korean ports amid THAAD row
Several major cruise travel companies operating business in China, including Italian Costa Cruises, are removing calls to South Korean ports, amid a standoff between China and South Korea over Seoul’s determination to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense ( THAAD) system.
“[ Costa] is working closely with their trade partners to make appropriate adjustments, which include removal of calls to South Korean ports from their recent cruises home ported out of China, and replacing them with cruising at sea or calls to destinations in Japan, including ports of Fukuoka and Kagoshima,” Costa Cruises said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.
And the adjustments will be put into effect from mid- March and will last at least till the end of June, said a public relations employee surnamed Li at the Italian company.
The statement came after reports that a total of 3,400 Chinese tourists on the Costa Serena cruise ship decided against disembarking for a local tour at the port in South Korea’s Jeju Island on Saturday during the company’s planned route of “Shanghai- Jeju- Fukuoka- Shanghai” from March 10 to 14, leaving about 80 tour buses and some tour guides shocked.
Besides Costa Cruises, leading cruise travel franchises like US- based Royal Caribbean Cruises, also issued a statement on Tuesday for similar adjustments till December 2017, on its official website, saying that the adjustments made is due to the “situation in South Korea.”
The US cruise company said that as long as its tourists have informed the company of the cancellation of their bookings by 5 pm Wednesday, they can get a full refund.
Another US firm Princess Cruises also said on its website that it has decided to adjust its routes involving South Korean destinations without providing details of the adjustments.
According to data provided by Shanghai- based Securities Daily, 1,053 cruise trips will be made in 2017 in China, a year- on- year increase of 27.6 percent.