Seemingly unfazed by the bombings, assassinations and political turmoil which are threatening to wreck Lebanon’s summer tourism season, Lebanese entrepreneur Merhi Abou Merhi chose June to launch Orient Queen, the world’s only cruise on a Lebanese-owned ship.
The ship-owning company Abou Merhi Lines SAL, which owns 17, primarily car-carrying vessels, purchased the roughly 16,000 tonne, 900-passenger “Bolero” cruise ship from Greek-owned Festival Cruises for $9.5 million, according to an annual report on the Website of the Paris-based shipbrokers Barry Rogliano Salles.
The Lebanese company has invested, “more than 10 million dollars” refurbishing the vessel, according to Abou Merhi Lines media manager Karim Gemayel. It was then renamed Orient Queen.
For just over a month now, Abou Merhi Lines has been offering a seven-day cruise aboard the five-star vessel around the Mediterranean – Egypt, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey – at a starting price of $1,050. The price climbs as high as $7,000 for passengers who go for the royal suite, five meals a day, private butler and the constant companionship of “two ladies,” Gemayel said.
As soon as Lebanon’s summer tourist season is over, the Orient Queen will begin offering cruises out of Dubai, before returning again to Beirut again the following summer.
Gemayel said that the weekly cruise had attracted “hundreds” of passengers in its first month, a figure he acknowledged was not particularly high for a ship which can accommodate around 900 people per cruise.
“Promoting the cruise has been difficult,” he admitted. Asked if launching the cruise in the midst of political turbulence and a months-long spate of violence might have been unwise, he said: “The people who conducted the feasibility and profitability studies all suggested we rent the boat out to any European country. We had some very good offers. But we are not in this for pecuniary gain. Our slogan is ‘For Lebanon.’ We are trying to rebuild tourism in Lebanon.”
Salvation, though, may lie in Dubai. “There is a lot of demand in Dubai,” said Elie Nakhal, head of Nakhal Travel, which is selling Orient Queen cruises. “Dubai will compensate for any losses in Lebanon.”
Around 60% of the passengers thus far have been Arabs – roughly half of them Lebanese, 30% have been Turks and around 6%-7% Europeans, mostly from Greece and Cyprus, Gemayel said.
