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It has been announced today, by their Australian agents, that due to the rising fuel prices Classic International Cruises intend to replace both the ' Funchal ' and ' Princess Daphne ' with the ' Athena ' ( ex Stockholm ) for the series of cruises from Australia in 2008/9.
This will also reduce the number of line voyages each way.
No other use has been stated as yet for the Funchal or Princess Daphne.
Neil ( Bob )
quote:Originally posted by Neil Whitmore ( Bob ):...No other use has been stated as yet for the Funchal or Princess Daphne.Neil ( Bob )
Oh yes, another use is implicitly stated now: recycling at Alang...
Too bad, they've both plenty of charm with an "old marine" charactere and they're two of an extinguishing breed...But sadly, that's unavoidable and understandable of course.
Thanks for the news anyway.
[ 07-08-2008: Message edited by: Vaccaro ]
As Classic International Cruises have been updating their ships to meet the Solas 2010 requirments, I think it unlikly they will yet be heading for Alang to join the ss France and others on the beach !
Tony
Even if Solas 2010 compliant, even with rather recent refit or maintainance, if they're no longer economically operatable, then even their short term future is very dark.
Nobody has said that Classic International Cruises can not afford to operate their ships.
The only change which has been made was to send one ship to Australia instead of two.
Although rising fuel prices were mentioned for the change of ships, no information has been available on how the Australian bookings were going this year.
If the bookings were down, that could also be a reason for sending only one ship to Australia as there has only been one of their ships there in previous years !
' Athena ' can carry more passengers than either of the two ships which were due to cruise from Australia in 2008/9.
The company have always chartered out a number of their ships and in this coming winter months they have one of their ships cruising in the Red Sea.
As most of their ships are diesel engined I would not be surprised to see one of them making short cruises from UK in 2009 or fly cruises around the Canary Islands.
I think either the ' Princess Daphne ' or the ' Princess Danae ' , being originally British built in about 1954, would be ideal for such cruising.
Is there enough room for her to berth on the end of Hythe pier ?
Bet her passengers will find the railway a novelty.
I know the pier well !
I used to live in Cavalier Close, Hythe, when the houses there were still being built by Wimpey .
Just winding you up.
[ 07-17-2008: Message edited by: Neil Whitmore ( Bob ) ]
The Owner of CIC said that Funchal will be in SOLAS 2010, and the ship don't will be stop, in next years, because their hull it's very good and the design of the hull makes it a low consumption of fuel comparing it the same ships (same year and identical designs)..
I think that Alang it's not the way, for Funchal, in next years, because they will invest much money in conversion to SOLAS 2010, but when this ship will be retired I will cry, because it is my favourite ship and it's a pride to have the name of my city (Funchal it's a main city in Madeira island-Portugal), in Australia for example! Funchal it's a ship that never change the name! It´s a real liner ,a ship with many charme, style, beautifull lines!
A fantastic ship, and i don't will said more, because it's my favourite ship, it's the better to me of course!Regards
both "Albatros" and "Maxim Gorkiy" are operated by Phoenix Reisen.
Best,
Raoul
I understand "Funchal" is considerably behind CIC's other ships as far as her compliance with SOLAS 2010 is concerned. Maybe CIC will use the winter months to work on that.
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