Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV) has announced that it will acquire two more cruise ships, expanding its oceangoing fleet to eight ships in 2021.
CMV will take delivery of P&O Australia’s Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria in Singapore on March 2 and May 2, 2021, respectively. The move will increase its lower bed fleet capacity to 9,000 berths and the line’s passenger capacity by 30 percent.
In a written statement CMV CEO Christian Verhounig said that the acquisition will enable the cruise line to service increasing demand. The line has acquired five cruise ships in five years and is on course to carry 200,000 passengers in 2021.
The duo will be officially renamed in summer 2021 following dry docking to complete some minor upgrade and re-livery works in Singapore before embarking on CMV’s inaugural positioning voyages via the Suez Canal to Northern Europe.
John Dennis, CMV’s vice president of sales and marketing, said that the line expects that the addition of Pacific Dawn in particular will drive increased business from the United States due to increased flight options and the cruise line’s efforts to promote itself in the North American market.
The Pacific Dawn, which has a capacity of approximately 1,400 passengers, will be deployed in late May 2021, cruising year-round alongside Columbus from London, Tilbury. Pacific Aria, which has a capacity of approximately 1,100 passengers, will be deployed under the German TransOcean Kreuzfahrten brand, cruising alongside Vasco da Gama and replacing the 580-passenger Astor.
CMV said that it will announce new names for the two ships later in December 2019.
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