Chervona Ruta - cruise company

The Ukrainian Chervona Ruta Cruise Company operated river cruises on the Dnipro, connecting Kyiv with Odesa and the Black Sea. A study published in 2022 describes its clientele through 2013 as international, listing guests from Germany, France, Spain, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Russia and Ukraine. Since the 1990s, the study has also counted Ukrainian Danube Shipping JSC among Ukraine’s cruise operators, with voyages on the Danube rather than the Dnipro.

Ships and routes

According to the study, Chervona Ruta signed long-term charter agreements for motor ships to organize Dnipro cruises with access to Black Sea ports. For 2003, it reports that the company owned most of Ukrrichflot’s passenger fleet. At the time, voyages featured the Princess of Dnipro, the Zirka Dnipra and the General Vatutin: one route ran from Kyiv via Kaniv, Kremenchuk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Sevastopol to Odesa; other services went to Mykolaiv or from Yalta to Kyiv. Several ships underwent major restoration in 2006 and 2007; for some, this increased capacity from 280 to 321 berths.

In 2012, the four-deck Fidelio, with 146 berths, joined the fleet. The study dates its construction to 1995 and names a German partner involved in its acquisition. That same year, the three-deck Rosa Victoria was added for day trips around Kyiv. Alongside both ships, the study mentions the Princess of Dnipro. The company offered different types of trips: a 13-day round trip from Kyiv to Odesa and back, and an eight-day voyage from Kyiv to Odesa via the Dnipro and the Black Sea. These itineraries combined river cruises with stretches at sea.

Voyages in 2018 and 2019

Following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Chervona Ruta canceled planned cruises because of booking cancellations. Since 2015, the Fidelio has operated on the Danube under a charter for a German cruise company. For later years, the study gives specific figures: Chervona Ruta organized one cruise in 2018 and five in 2019. Looking back, the study published in 2022 reports guests from a total of 41 countries.