Taras Shevchenko

Image: AI-generated.

The river cruise ship with IMO number 8925036 was completed in 1991 at the Elbewerft Boizenburg shipyard. It initially sailed as Taras Shevchenko, was renamed T. G. Shevchenko in 1992, and has been named Aleksandra since September 2021. During its time in Ukraine, the four-deck vessel sailed on the Dnieper River and the Black Sea.

Routes and changes of operator

From 2007, Orthodox Cruise Company, later Doninturflot, operated the ship on a river-and-sea route from Kyiv to Nessebar. The journey crossed the Dnieper River and the Black Sea; documented stops include Constanța, followed by a bus transfer from Nessebar to Istanbul. In 2012, the ship was reportedly used to accommodate workers at an oil field on the Caspian Sea; it had already been registered in Aktau in November 2010. Doninturflot acquired the vessel in 2018 and had it refitted.

Aleksandra: documented river cruises in 2023

Rostov-on-Don is listed as the vessel’s port of registry. A report from June 2023 documents a 13-day trip from Rostov to Moscow: the ship departed on June 2 and was scheduled to arrive at Moscow’s Northern River Terminal on June 14. Cruises on the Volga and Kama rivers, as well as routes between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, were also described for the 2023 season.

Ship and capacity

Following its refit, the ship was reported in 2023 to carry 192 passengers, with 96 double cabins and 98 crew members. Aleksandra has four decks and is listed in ship registers as 129.10 metres long, 16.70 metres wide, and 5,475 gross register tons. In 2023, its facilities were reported to include a restaurant with 200 seats, two bars, and a solarium area.