Vladivostok Resumes Cruise Calls After Six-Year Pause
The former Pacific Venus had called regularly at Vladivostok before 2019, and the itinerary also included Sokcho in South Korea and Sakaiminato in Japan.
Vladivostok has restarted cruise operations after a six-year interruption, receiving Eastern Cruise’s Eastern Venus on June 4, 2026, during a roundtrip sailing from Busan. The call brought South Korean passengers to the Russian Far Eastern port on an itinerary that also visited Sokcho in South Korea and Sakaiminato in Japan.
Vladivostok was the most visited cruise destination in Russia’s Far East before the pandemic. Vladivostok’s last full pre-shutdown cruise season had 16 ships booked and roughly 30,000 cruise passengers expected in 2019, compared with six calls listed in 2016 and 13 in 2017.
Eastern Venus returns a familiar ship under a Korean operator
Eastern Venus is the former Pacific Venus, which called regularly at Vladivostok before 2019 while sailing for Japan-based Venus Cruises with Japanese passengers. The ship now sails for South Korea’s Eastern Cruise, an affiliate of DuWon Shipping, which acquired the vessel in 2023.
Eastern Cruise currently operates a one-ship fleet built around the 720-passenger Eastern Venus, which began regular cruise service from Busan after a maiden sailing in December 2024. On the Vladivostok call, guests were offered shore excursions to city attractions and sites tied to Korean history in the region.
Call ceremony brings port and operator officials together
Officials from the Primorsky Territory government, Vladivostok city administration and Vladivostok International Marine Passenger Terminal attended a traditional call ceremony onboard with the shipowner, the master and crew representatives. The ceremony included an exchange of plaques and keys.
The onboard discussions turned to future cooperation between the port and the operator, including the possibility of increasing the number of Vladivostok calls and sourcing passengers locally.
