Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV) announced the acquisition of two more cruise ships on Tuesday, revealing plans to expand its ocean fleet to eight vessels by 2021.
CMV is scheduled to take delivery of P&O Australia's Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria in Singapore on March 2, 2021, and May 2, 2021, respectively. The acquisition will increase passenger capacity by 30 percent in 2021.
Both ships will be renamed that summer following minor upgrades and re-livery works during dry-docking in Singapore. Afterward, they'll embark on CMV's maiden positioning voyages via the Suez Canal to Northern Europe.
The 1,400-passenger Pacific Dawn will be deployed in late May 2021, cruising year-round alongside Columbus from London, Tilbury while the 1,100-passenger Pacific Aria will be deployed under the German TransOcean Kreuzfahrten brand cruising alongside Vasco da Gama and replacing the 580-passenger Astor.
"The introduction of two more ships to the global ocean fleet is the next exciting chapter of our strategic growth objectives," said Christian Verhounig, CEO of Cruise and Maritime Voyages, in a statement. "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."
"We are thrilled with the expansion of our fleet as we announce the addition of these two superb vessels. Further, with so many excellent flight options from North America to the U.K., we anticipate that adding Pacific Dawn in particular will usher in the increase of even more travelers from the United States to experience our time-honored cruises that sail from London, Tilbury as we continue to boost awareness about CMV and its distinctive cruise programs throughout this key market," added John Dennis, Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
CMV plans to unveil the new ship names later this month. Meanwhile, 2021 summer programs will go on sale during the first quarter of 2020 with the release of special 2021 launch edition brochures.
"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 U.K. and Germany, which represent 85 percent of our business," said Chris Coates, Group Commercial Director, in a statement.
"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 percent of capacity to be sold by the year-end, in line with expectations," he added. "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."
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