Peace Boat makes one-day call

by Gerard P Williams
02 March 2003

The arrival of Russian tourist ship, Peace Boat, in Apia Harbour yesterday saw the town crawling with Japanese tourists. This is the second cruise liner to visit Apia over the week.

Shipping manager for Betham Brothers Enterprises Limited who are the boat's local agents, Aleni Penina, said good benefits were being derived from these cruise ships.

The government not only gets a cut on port charges which for Peace Boat would be between $18,000 and $20,000, but foreign exchange from tourists as well.

"These visits are always a plus for the economy because tourists always spend foreign currency," he explained.

Some 600 tourists came on Peace Boat which has a predominantly Ukrainian crew working out of Tokyo. This was the ship's fourth trip to Samoa under the command of the Russian captain, Sergey Ztepanov.

Although the passengers were of all ages, Mr Penina said the majority were young adults.

Passengers yesterday were given two sight-seeing options. They could walk through Apia or take a cross-island excursion with Island Hopper Vacations.

One of the features of the tourists coming ashore was that they wanted to taste Samoa's world acclaimed brew, Vailima.

Mr Penina said it was common for tourists to come ashore just to sit at a local watering hole to taste-test a few bottles of Vailma rather than go sightseeing or shopping.

As agents, their main function was to provide the ship with services it might request such as fresh water supplies, local banking services and so forth.

Arrived at 5:00am, the Peace Boat was scheduled to leave at 8:00pm.

Mr Penina could not confirm whether the Peace Boat would be making another trip to Samoa.

He did say, however, that BBE was expecting another cruise liner later this month.

Crystal Symphony is expected to arrive on 13 March from the United States for a one-day visit.