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Cruise season begins on October 18

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The new cruise season in Muscat will begin with the arrival of the first ship at Port Sultan Qaboos on October 18. The 99,800-tonne, 2,534-passenger Mein Schiff 5 will be the first ship to call on Oman this season


Several cruise ships have been scheduled to call at Muscat, Suhar, and Salalah.


As per the details available with the Observer, five cruise liners are expected to call on Muscat during this period - Mein Schiff 5 on October 18, AIDAvita on October 25, Costa Victoria on October 28, AIDAvita on October 31 and Mein Schiff 5 and October 31.


Similarly, around 25 cruise ships are expected to call on Port Sultan Qaboos in November, which will include AIDAbella, Seabourn Encore, Seabourn Encore, Mein Schiff 6, Silver Spirit, Seven Seas Voyager, Costa Diadema, Azamara Quest, and MS Europa.


In the following months, 30 ships will arrive in December, 23 ships in January, 23 ships in February, 29 ships in March and 22 ships in April.


The Port of Salalah will receive four in October 2019, 8 in November, three in December, two in January, one in February, 11 in March, nine in April.


The Port of Khasab will recieve two ships in October, nine in November, nine in December, 12 in January, 14 in February, 9 in March and four in April.


The number of cruise ships visiting different ports in the Sultanate witnessed a significant rise during the 2018-2019 tourism season.


According to the Ministry of Tourism, a total of 298 ships (which is more 106 than the 2017-18 period), were anchored at Port Sultan Qaboos, which received the highest number at 147, followed by 79 by Salalah Port and 72 by Khasab Port.


The ministry expects that the number of cruise ships visiting the Sultanate would reach to 360 during the 2019-2020 season.


While the number of tourists who came onboard cruise ships in 2018 stood at 193,467, the number is expected to reach 220,000 in 2019.


The 99,800-tonne, 2,534-passenger Mein Schiff 5 will be the first ship to call on Oman.


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