Cruise & Maritime Voyages, the UK based destinational cruise operator that activities in several countries, has acquired two ships from P&O Cruises Australia, one for the UK and the other for Germany. Both will be introduced in 2021.
The 1991 built present day Pacific Dawn of 70,285 gross tons will be renamed before entry into service on the UK market in the spring of 2021. It was built for Princess Cruises as Regal Princess and is fairly similar to the former Star Princess of 1989 (not to be confused with the present ship of the same name) that operates under the CMV house flag as Columbus on the UK market as well.
The 55,819 gross ton Pacific Aria will be introduced under a yet to be decided name on the German market, also in 2021, flying the house flag of CMV’s TransOcean Kreuzfahrten unit. It is a sister ship of Vasco da Gama that CMV acquired from the Australian company last year. Both ships were built in the early 1990s for Holland America Line.
“CMV will take delivery of P&O Australia's Pacific Dawn (tbr) and Pacific Aria (tbr) in Singapore on the 2nd March and 2nd May 2021 respectively, increasing lower bed fleet capacity to 9000 berths and passenger capacity by 30% in 2021,” the company said in a statement.
The duo will be officially re-named in summer 2021 following dry docking, some minor upgrade and re-livery works in Singapore before embarking on CMV maiden positioning voyages via the Suez Canal to Northern Europe.
Pacific Dawn with 798 passenger cabins and carrying about 1400 passengers will be deployed on the UK market in late May 2021 bolstering much needed capacity and cruising year- round alongside Columbus ex-London Tilbury.
Pacific Aria with 630 passenger cabins and carrying about 1100 passengers will be deployed on the German market under the TransOcean Kreuzfahrten brand with a much-needed increase in capacity cruising alongside Vasco da Gama and replacing the 580 passenger Astor. She is being re-named Jules Verne and will be re-deployed to the French market in May 2021.
Christian Verhounig, CEO commented, "The introduction of two more ships to the global ocean fleet is the next exciting chapter of our strategic growth objectives. This will enable us to service increasing market demand for our traditional brand of cruising generated by our expanding international network of in-house sales offices and developing source markets. We have now acquired five cruise ships in just five years and are firmly on course in carrying 200,000 passengers in 2021".
The new ship names will be unveiled later in December 2019 under CMV's explorer theme providing a more traditional scenic cruise experience.
Chris Coates, Group Commercial Director added, "As the CMV brand continues to evolve, the growing popularity of our traditional product, classic ships and destination focused cruise programs has encouraged us to accelerate plans to add capacity to the two top European cruise markets in the UK and Germany, which represent 85% of our business.
These two fine cruise ships perfectly complement our existing fleet providing trade partners and consumers alike with much needed extra capacity. For 2020, we expect close to 70% of capacity to be sold by the year end, in line with expectations. This provides an ideal platform for the early introduction of new tonnage and opportunities for summer 2021 with the focus very much on higher yield business".
The 2021 summer programs will go on sale via the travel trade and CMV's international sales offices and websites during Q1-2020 with special 2021 launch edition brochures being released offering some enticing early booking incentives and great new opportunities.
