Cruise ship docks in Bohol

CEBU, Philippines - For the first time after a powerful earthquake damaged major tourist spots in the province, an international luxury cruise ship made a port of call in Bohol.

MS Europa of Hapag Lloyd shipping brought 280 passengers in its

voyage around the world, which includes Asia and the Philippines. Of the 280 guests, 180 took the excursion option and went around the island province.

Shore excursion officer Martina Greif said they would have offered kayaking to guests but had to drop it due to unpleasant weather.

Despite the downpour, cruise guests, 90 percent of whom were Germans while the rest were British, enjoyed their visit to the Chocolate Hills, cruise of the Loboc and Abatan rivers.

Bohol Governor Edgardo Chatto saw the visit as a great jumpstart for their tourism industry, which was greatly affected by the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that left thousands homeless and over 200 dead.

“We are very happy. This signals a robust tourism industry for Bohol,” he said.

The governor, along with local port and tourism officers, personally welcomed the luxury cruise guests at the port of Tagbilaran City, the provincial capital.

Another Hapag Lloyd cruise ship was supposed to make a port of call in Tagbilaran two days after the Oct. 15 earthquake but had to cancel.

Local travel management operator Raul Austria said that instead of Bohol, that ship brought its guests to Palawan.

“The earthquake was a concern for them. But things are going back to normal now. Its (MS Europa 2) sister ship, still with Hapag Lloyd, was upposed to be here October 17. But we had to offer Coron and Puerto Princesa in Palawan as alternatives since we had to cancel since they could not make a port of call here due to the earthquake,” said Austria, Sharp Travel Services Philippines, Inc. president.

A Sumeet Sehgal, who owns German travel agency Designer Tours, and his family were among those who boarded the luxury cruise and tried the Loboc River cruise.

“We’ve been traveling the Philippines for five days already and it’s a very good experience. People are very welcoming and we are having a good time. While we would have hoped for a better weather condition, the experience is very good,” Sehgal remarked.

The Indian, married to a German, said he hoped to bring clients to the Philippines whose natural wonders and the Filipinos’ hospitality being the “big attraction”.

Tagbilaran was MS Europa’s last Philippine destination (following Hundred Islands, Boracay and Manila) before it proceeds to Brunei Darussalam.

The cruise ship also travels to other parts of Asia, Arabia, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Canary Islands, Dubai and Emirates, Eastern Caribbean, Eastern Mediterranean, Panama Canal, South America, Transatlantic, Western Caribbean, Western Europe, Western Mediterranean.

The same cruise ship is set to return to Tagbilaran City in February.

MS Europa 2, on the other hand, is a high-end market luxury cruise ship with a maximum capacity of 460 passengers and mostly European crew members.  Its  Filipino crew members, though, number over a hundred.—/RHM  (FREEMAN)