# After Decades of Legal Wrangling, the Caspian Sea Opens Up for Tourism > We explain how the new Pyotr Velikiy cruise ship will open the Caspian Sea to tourists and the one-of-a-kind routes it will offer across five countries. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/novyi-kruiznyi-lainer-petro-velykyi-vidkryie-kaspiiske-more-dlia-turystiv-proponuiuchy-unikalni-marshruty-po-piaty-krainakh/ - Language: en - Published: 2024-04-17 - Categories: Culture, Historic Sites, Tours, Azerbaijan, Seas & Oceans --- Tired of the Caribbean? Visited every port in the Mediterranean? Fed up with Alaska's fjords and the capitals of the Baltic? An entirely new body of water may soon open up for fearless cruise lovers in search of fresh horizons. The only catch: it's an inland sea, ringed by some of the most closed-off countries on the planet. But for many adventurers, that's precisely part of the appeal. Beyond its fame as the main source of prized black caviar, the Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world. In fact, for a long time even the five countries that share it, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran, couldn't agree on whether it was a lake or a sea. But with a decades-long dispute over its legal status finally resolved, the sea is now open for luxury cruises. ## Sea or lake? The question of whether the Caspian is a lake or a sea comes down to more than just semantics. Before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, only two countries bordered the Caspian Sea: Iran and the USSR. Over the following 27 years, the five countries that now laid claim to these resource-rich waters were drawn into a dispute over its status. There was a lot at stake: this is home to the caviar-producing sturgeon (though a fishing ban is currently in place for conservation reasons), along with estimated reserves of around 50 billion barrels of oil and 290 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. If the Caspian is a sea, then under international law the seabed must be divided according to each country's coastline. That would benefit Kazakhstan, which has the longest coastline, but shortchange Iran, whose coastline is the shortest. If, however, it's a lake, then the seabed should be split evenly. In August 2018, the leaders of the five countries met in the Kazakh coastal city of Aktau to sign a landmark agreement granting each country 15 miles of sovereign waters, another 10 nautical miles of fishing zone, and then shared waters beyond that. The Caspian now holds a special legal status, so it still hasn't been declared either a lake or a sea. The question of how to divide up the underground territory has been shelved for now, but this means the waters are now open to new tourism opportunities, including cruises. ## A versatile ship The brand-new cruise ship "Pyotr Velikiy" is currently being built in Astrakhan, a Russian port city at the mouth of the Volga River. The ship will have 155 cabins and a capacity of 310 passengers, with its launch expected this summer, though specific dates haven't been announced and routes have yet to go on sale. Its operator, the Moscow River Shipping Company, is reportedly planning one- and two-week itineraries across the Caspian Sea, calling at ports in Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran. The dimensions and design of this ship, which is 141 meters long and 16.8 meters wide, will also let it travel along Russia's network of inland waterways. That means it won't be confined to the Caspian and could eventually reach the Baltic and Black seas. Although an official sailing schedule hasn't been announced, reports in the Azerbaijani and Russian media suggest the ship will alternate between Caspian cruises in winter and river routes along the Volga and between Moscow and St. Petersburg in summer. It could also run Black Sea cruises, along the Russian coast and on to Georgia and the Turkish city of Trabzon. This is likely to be the first of several new cruise offerings, though there's still work to be done on the region's tourism infrastructure as a whole. ## Russian rivers River cruising is a fairly well-established business in Russia, with several local operators sailing the country's major rivers. Russia's rivers even gave rise to a global cruise brand. Viking Cruises, now a major player in the luxury cruise industry, traces its roots back to a small four-boat river operation launched by a Norwegian entrepreneur in Russia in the 1990s. Viking continues to have a strong presence in the country, carrying around 12,000 visitors along Russia's waterways in 2018. Reaching the Caspian could open up a new area of growth for the Russian cruise industry. While they're not as common as cruises on the open seas, cruises on inland "seas" (or, more precisely, lakes) already have something of a tradition in more mature markets, such as North America. "We're seeing growing interest in the Great Lakes and their associated ports from people visiting our site. It's a great fit for those looking for something a little different," says Colleen McDaniel, senior executive editor at Cruise Critic. "The ships sailing these routes tend to be a bit smaller, and the emphasis on board leans heavily toward enrichment, since the big draw of these itineraries is the history. The ships are comfortable and offer excellent cuisine, often with local flavors, but don't expect water slides or climbing walls. The ports are the real stars." ## What's in store for passengers? ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-124-1-2024.jpg) Covering more than 370,000 square kilometers (143,000 square miles), the Caspian is far larger than all of North America's Great Lakes combined, and you can add to that the diversity of natural ecosystems and civilizations that have flourished along its shores. Passengers on the "Pyotr Velikiy" won't be short of sights and landmarks to explore. They'll be able to soak up the charm of Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, the largest city on the Caspian coast and its likely home port, but also ancient cities like Derbent on Russia's southern edge, the deserts along the sea's eastern shore, and Iran's subtropical riviera. But before you get too excited, you'd better check the visa requirements for each of these countries. In the case of Iran, for example, the U.S. State Department has a travel advisory recommending that American citizens not visit the country at all. Even if you're not a U.S. citizen, a recent trip to Iran can complicate future travel to the United States. For instance, you'd be denied access to the ESTA program and would then need to apply for a visa at the nearest U.S. embassy, plus you might face additional screening at the border (as former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana discovered last year). Azerbaijan has eased its visa restrictions in recent years, introducing fast access to an e-visa for which around 100 countries are eligible. ## A game changer Either way, most passengers on this new cruise are likely to be Russian citizens, followed by nationals of the other Caspian countries. "We're confident about the prospects for these cruises and are eagerly awaiting the launch of the "Pyotr Velikiy." We expect strong demand and interest in this product," says Denis Kreutzberg, managing director of Kruiz.online, a Russian cruise marketplace. These developments also align with the ongoing growth of the Russian cruise market. "We're seeing annual growth rates of 15-20% in the number of Russians heading out on ocean cruises. Most of them travel abroad to take their cruise," says Fyodor Yegorov, managing director of Dreamlines Russia, the local branch of the international cruise portal of the same name. It's perhaps fitting that this new ship is named after the tsar who, in the early 18th century, campaigned actively across the Caspian region, conquering vast territories along the way. Will this Pyotr Velikiy of our era manage to conquer the Caspian Sea for the fast-growing international cruise industry?