Mystic Invest Holding, the Portuguese company that has foothold in river and expedition cruising and the construction of these vessels, has bought the 1993 built Vasco da Gama at an auction in the UK, Tradewindsnews.com reports on its website.

The ship, which had started life as Statendam of Holland America Line, was the first of five ships formerly operated by Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), a UK based destination focused cruise operator, which went out of business in the aftermath of the Covid 19 pandemic.

The report said that Mystic Invest would look at the British and German cruise markets to employ the 55,451 gross ton vessel. It is by far the largest vessel the company owns. CMV was also active in both markets and Vasco da Gama sailed from German ports during the summer.

Mystic Investment last year sold a 40% stake in its cruise unit to Certares, a New York based hospitality focused investor, for €250 million. The unit includes Mystic Cruises expedition cruises operator and two river cruise companies, Nicko Tours that has presence on 12 rivers and which is based in Germany, plus Douro Azul that operates on Portuguese waterways. In the U.S. Mystic owns Atlas Ocean Voyages.

Mystic Invest owns in full the WestSEA shipyard in Portugal, where it is building its expedition ships.

The remaining four ships that CMV chartered from the same Greek principal would be auctioned later, one at a time.