First passengers of an around-the-islands-cruise depart from Naha Port

First passengers of an around-the-islands-cruise depart from Naha Port

On February 16 at the Wakasa Berth in Naha, passengers were given a warm send off with an eisa dance at the departure ceremony for the islands cruise.


February 17, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On February 16, the first group on the Fly-Cruise Okinawa, a Naha-based cruise tour around the islands off Okinawa, departed from the Wakasa Berth in Naha. At the departure ceremony, the passengers were given a warm send-off with an eisa dance. About 300 passengers from all over Japan will visit Iriomote Island and Zamami Island for four days.

It is a new-style tour called Fly-and-Cruise in which tourists gather at a departure location by airplane then go around sightseeing spots by cruise ship. This is the second tour following on from that of last year.

There are four courses running until the end of February, with the tourists basing themselves out of Naha Port and traveling around Yonaguni Island, Miyako Island and Taiwan on the sightseeing vessel Nippon-maru of the Mitsui O.S.K. Passenger Line. Approximately 1200 people are taking part in the tour, which is about 100 people more than last year.

Yoshiaki Kikuchi, president of JTB Okinawa, which is offering the tour, said, “Similar to the around-islands-cruises in the Caribbean Sea, I hope to open up new sea-routes using Naha Port more and more as the home-port.”

(English translation by T&CT, Lima Tokumori and Mark Ealey)

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