Tag Archives: London

New Seabourn expedition ship to be christened in London

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Seabourn’s first expedition ship Seabourn Venture will be christened in Greenwich before its maiden voyage.

The 132-suite ship will call into the London port in June 2021 before sailing on to Oslo.

It will visit more than 150 destinations through to April 2022.

Seabourn Venture will operate a pre-inaugural sailing to London from Lisbon after it has been delivered by shipyard T.Marriotti in Italy.

UK managing director Lynn Narraway revealed the christening location to Travel Weekly at an event in London on Friday.

More:  New details of expedition ship revealed by Seabourn

Senior vice president, global sales and marketing, Chris Austin, also gave more details about the line’s second expedition ship due in 2022.

He revealed that the vessel’s debut programme would go on sale in “four to six weeks” and that the name would be announced in February.

“We are trying to get our itineraries out much earlier,” Austin said, adding that the line had recruited a second member of staff to its itinerary planning team.

He added that the US ban on cruises to Cuba had got “in the way” of deployment planning.

“We had planned five [Cuba] itineraries so we had to plan five more,” Austin said.

“[Cuba cruise ban] was probably the biggest obstacle we have ever had.”

Funchal Poised to Become Hotel Ship in London

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Funchal

The much-loved classic Funchal is set for a new life as a hotel ship in London.

On Wednesday, Dec. 5 the ship was sold at auction for 3.9 million euro to Signature Living, which was represented by John Hanbidge of QPS Marine Ships/Cruise Ventures.

Four bidders got things going at the bank auction, with two ultimately dropping out in front of a crowd of around 60 people.

“Signature Living and QPS Marine Ships have been negotiating for almost two years with the bankruptcy administrator and the main creditor for the purchase of the vessel,” QPS said, in a statement sent to Cruise Industry News.

As for the vessel, plans call for it to move from Lisbon to Central London where it will be berthed permanently as a hotel vessel.

QPS will act as a consultant in repositioning the ship and management functions as the ship is converted to a hotel.

Council approves new cruise terminal for London

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 If you live in or near London and you feel the city is not getting its fair share of the cruise market, you will undoubtedly be delighted to hear that a brand new passenger cruise terminal has been approved for the city. 

Boris Johnson, London’s mayor, made this announcement recently. The planned terminal was first mentioned in the press about six months ago; however, a group of local residents voiced opposition to the plan, saying that fumes from the ships’ fuel will negatively affect air quality in the area. 

Sir Edward Lister, the city’s deputy mayor for planning, said: “We have worked with the local authority and the developer to ensure the new terminal and surrounding infrastructure will meet the needs of thousands of tourists coming to the city each year.” The terminal will be near the iconic Cutty Sark and the historic Old Royal Navy College, right in the centre of London.

 It is scheduled to open in 2017 and will be able to accommodate cruise ships up to 850 feet in length. Initial projections are that around 55 ships per year will make use of the facilities. 

New retail outlets, restaurants and residential housing are also planned for the surrounding area. Councillor Danny Thorpe, Greenwich Council’s cabinet member for transport and regeneration, said the council realised that the effect on air quality concerned many locals, but the measures proposed by the council to address this issue were independently scrutinised and found to be adequate