Thomson Cruises, which is part of the London based TUI Travel PLC group, is replacing one of the four ships in its fleet this summer as part of the line’s modernisation plans, Travel Weekly reports in a newsletter.
The 1990 built 41,000 gross ton Thomson Majesty is coming in this summer in place of the 1982 built Thomson Destiny, which is of 38,000 gross tons. Thomson Majesty will operate four itineraries originally scheduled for Thomson Destiny from May 4 calling at ports such as Corfu Town, Venice, Santorini, Dubrovnik and Split in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as Atlantic islands sailings to Santa Cruz, Funchal, Las Palmas and Agadir in Morocco.Managing director Fraser Ellacott said a “significant” number of passengers who had booked Thomson Destiny were being contacted about the switch of ships. But he said Thomson Majesty, which offers 12 additional berths, had a range of facilities which would appeal to those transferring vessels including more modern cabins, an a la carte restaurant and a couples’ massage room, the report said.
Thomson Majesty was ordered by Birka Cruises, a Finnish company, for short cruise service in the Baltic from Stockholm. However, the shipyard that was building the vessel went bankrupt and Birka did not accept the higher price the restructured shipbuilder wanted for the vessel. Instead, it was sold to Majesty Cruise Line and operated in the Caribbean as Royal Majesty. The ship was later sold to Norwegian Cruise Line who renamed it Norwegian Majesty and lengthened the ship sop that its gross tonnage increased by about 8,000. It let the Norwegian fleet a few years ago as part of their fleet renewal programme and was bought by Louis Cruise Lines, the Cypriot company, which has chartered it to Thomson Cruises..