Cruise & Maritime Voyages to enter the French cruise market

British cruise operator Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) has sub-chartered its 550-passenger cruise ship Azores to Paris-based cruise and tour operator Rivages du Monde.

The 16,144gt ship will be renamed Astoria when she completes her summer 2015 season in the UK and will operate a two-month ex-UK spring season before beginning her summer 2016 season with Rivages du Monde.

“We are committed to developing our international market presence and are delighted to have forged a business partnership with one of France’s most established and respected travel companies,” said Christian Verhounig, CEO and chairman of CMV. “We believe that by changing the name to Astoria the product presentation will be simpler and more in line with our smaller ship offering alongside the similarly named 600-passenger Astor in contrast to our larger mid-sized vessels, Marco Polo and Magellan, adopting the explorer theme.”

Astoria will sail her first cruise under the Rivages du Monde brand on 11 May 2016. She will sail 14 North European, Greenland, Adriatic and Mediterranean sailings from Le Havre, Dunkirk, Bordeaux and Marseille in France and Ostend in Belgium.

“We have been experiencing strong demand for Azores 2015 ex-UK regional summer programme,” said Chris Coates, commercial director of CMV. “The introduction of Magellan to the fleet, which in 2016, will operate year-round, will enable Marco Polo to be deployed regionally for part of the 2016 programme bolstering capacity and supporting Astoria’s spring season. This will increase year-on-year UK market capacity close to 70,000 annual carryings.”