By
Rebecca Gibson |
Star Cruises’ SuperStar Gemini sailed its inaugural cruise from its new Xiamen homeport on 11 October carrying 1,051 passengers to Taiwan.
The deployment is part of Fujian Provincial Tourism Bureau’s new initiative to boost cross-strait international cruising and was commemorated by various traditional performances both onboard the vessel and onshore.
Kang Tao, the vice mayor of Xiamen’s municipal government joined Zheng Weirong, deputy director of Fujian Provincial Tourism Bureau and various other representatives from Xiamen Tourism Bureau and Star Cruises to tour the ship before it left the port.
“The friendship of Star Cruises and Xiamen dates back to 1994 when Star Cruises first began to call at Chinese ports including Xiamen. We were the first international cruise line to enter the market and have since brought more than 1.2 million travellers to China from all over the world by cruise,” said Ang Moo Lim, the line’s senior vice president of operations. “What really excites us today is for SuperStar Gemini to be able to take Chinese travellers to Keelung, Penghu, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Hong Kong, Boracay and Manila for the first time with Xiamen being the homeport. We’d like to further develop these Xiamen-based itineraries and strengthen tourism in Xiamen so as to contribute to the development of Xiamen as a cruise homeport.”
SuperStar Gemini will also sail a seven-day cruise from Xiamen to Borcay and Mainla on 14 October, as well as a six-day itinerary from Xiamen to Penghu, Keelung, Taichung, and Kaohsiung on 20 October.