Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA) - A jumbo cruise ship — measuring 317 meters in length and 37 meters in width — carrying 3,944 foreign passengers, including crew, docked at the Benoa Harbor in Denpasar, Bali.
"The arrival of this cruise ship is an important step to make Benoa Harbor an international cruise ship base," deputy for maritime sovereignty and energy coordination at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Kemenkomarves), Jodi Mahardi, said on the sidelines of welcoming the cruise ship's arrival in Denpasar on Monday.
The Celebrity Solstice ship bearing the flag of Malta, a country located in south Italy, arrived in Bali after visiting Sydney, Australia, with a plan to dock in the Island of Gods for two days and one night, or until October 31, 2023.
The ship led by Captain Theodoros Zakkas, with 2,776 passengers and 1,168 crew members on board, was welcomed with a Balinese Cendrawasih dance.
Foreign tourists exited through the Benoa Harbor's international arrival after completing the immigration process digitally via a barcode-based application.
Accompanied by travel agents, the high-class foreign tourists visited a number of tourist destinations using tour buses and luxury vehicles.
Head of the Bali Provincial Tourism Office, Tjokorda Bagus Pemayun, informed that foreign tourists bought tour packages, including for Ubud, Kintamani, Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK), Taman Ayun, Kintamani, and several other destinations.
After touring a number of tourist destinations, they then returned to the ship.
"We hope this will have a positive impact because their spending is high, especially since they are classified as rich tourists, so we hope this will have an extraordinary impact and tourism players must quickly seize this opportunity," he said.
Expenditure or spending by cruise ship tourists, he said, is estimated to exceed the expenditure of foreign tourists in general, which reaches US$1,200 per visit per person per day.
Meanwhile, director of strategy at PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo), Prasetyo, informed that his party provided a 46-meter-long special lane or gangway to support the disembarkation and embarkation of passengers.
"This is history for us serving the process of berthing ships measuring more than 300 meters long at Benoa Harbor. Our pier is also quite long, a total of 500 meters so that it is able to serve the berth of jumbo-sized cruise ships," he added.
With a weight of 121,878 gross tonnage (GT), the floating hotel is the largest ship that has ever halted at Benoa Harbor.
In 2023, as many as 50 cruise ships are expected to register to dock at Benoa, with the number of passengers reaching 75 thousand, and in 2024, as many as 52 ships are expected to register, with the number of passengers estimated to reach 89,400.
After visiting Bali, the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship is planning to continue with its final journey to Singapore on Tuesday (October 31).
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