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VIVA Cruises Launches VIVA TIARA

Viva Cruises is expanding its range in 2021 by resuming Baltic sailings following the restart of European itineraries post lockdown.

Revamped 123-passenger ship Swiss Diamond joins the fleet next year to resume the cruises along the Baltic coast.

Two itineraries from the German Baltic city of Stralsund will run from May to October 2021, with prices starting at €1,395 per person for seven nights all-inclusive in a two-bed cabin.

The German river cruise specialist will deploy MS Treasures and MS Inspire on four-night sailings along with the Main and Rhine next summer.

Other itineraries include Danube and Moselle river sailings and six-night departures over the Christmas period between Dusseldorf and Strasbourg.

The year-round sailings by the two ships start in March with cruise-only rates for four-nights starting at €495, rising to €2,695 for a 17-day Danube tour.

Chief operating officer Andrea Kruse said: “As the new four-night cruises introduced this summer worked out so well, we are very pleased to present these new 2021 itineraries onboard MS Treasures and MS Inspire.

“Featuring spacious suites of up to 30 square metres and Viva’s checklist – the health and safety measures introduced in light of Covid-19 – we are really looking forward to welcoming more of our beloved UK guests again.”

A cruise ship under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland. Photo: Meyer Turku

HELSINKI, April 28 (Reuters) – German shipyard Meyer Werft’s Finnish subsidiary on Tuesday started statutory talks to lay off up to 450 of its roughly 2,000 employees because of a hit to business from the coronavirus pandemic.

The shipyard, in Turku on Finland’s west coast, had initially started talks over temporary layoffs but said the market situation had now forced it to look for permanent cuts.

“These negotiations will include the permanent layoff of 450 people and another 900 are affected by other measures. These include temporary layoffs of different length, work time adjustments and other arrangements,” the company said in a statement.

Instead of ramping-up from one to two large ships delivered per year until 2023, the assumption is now that the Turku yard will build just one large cruise ship per year, it added.

“The corona pandemic has changed the situation unexpectedly and totally. We are facing the fact that the corona-caused pause in cruising requires to stretch the order book,” said Meyer Turku Chief Executive Jan Meyer. (Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Mark Potter)