On May 20, cruise ship Azores, owned by the Portuguese company «Portuscale Cruises», called for the first time at Passenger Port of Saint-Petersburg, press center of Marine Façade says. As part of the cruise, the ship has already visited the ports of Kiel, Gdynia, Klaipeda, Riga, Tallinn. In St. Petersburg she will spend two days and then will go to Helsinki and Stockholm. On board arrived 131 passengers.
It is noteworthy that the vessel prior to the acquisition by the «Portuscale Cruises» bore the name of Athena and had already called the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg in 2010-2012. In 2014 it passed the renovation at a shipyard in Marseilles and received a new name - Azores. The vessel is 160 meters long, maximum capacity - 556 passengers.
Company «Portuscale Cruises» was founded in 2013 with a total fleet of 4 vessels: Funchal, Lisboa, Azores, Porto.
Azores is one of the oldest ships operated by the cruise lines. Year built - 1948 at a shipyard in Gothenburg, Sweden. During her more than 60 - year history she has changed 10 names, 11 operators and passed around under the ports of registry of Sweden, Germany, Panama and Italy. Currently the ship is registered in Portugal.
JSC Passenger Port of St. Petersburg "Marine Façade" is in the ownership of the city of St. Petersburg and is the largest passenger seaport in Russia. Construction of Marine Façade began in 2006. The port can accommodate cruise and ferry ships of up to 311 m long and with a draft of up to 9 m. The length and depth of new access channels - 10 km and 11 m, accordingly. The port operates seven piers. The quay wall length – 2,171.06 m.