An article in Seatrade Insider today offers more details about Transocean Tours‘ 2008 UK program with Marco Polo.
According to the article, the program will commence on 10 April and run through 19 August with 14 cruises from Tilbury of six to 12 nights to the British Isles, Norway, Iceland and the Baltic. A later autumn cruise of longer duration is also planned for the British market.
The article also names Global Maritime as the ship’s new owner for the first time. As of yet I have been unable to find any details of this company.
4 Comments
Monday, 16 July 2007 at 10:58 am
Where is Marco Polo from April to August 2008?
It’s last voyage ends at Lisbon in late March. Transocean advises first voyage in August. I and a UK traveling companion are booked Buenos Aires to Lisbon but really wanted to book original itinerary to Athens. (See at end.) Anyone know what happens from April-August?
Post Lisbon original itinerary:
Sat. Lisbon, Portugal 10:00am overnight
Sun. Lisbon, Portugal — overnight
Mon. Lisbon, Portugal — 12:00pm
Tue. Tangier, Morocco 8:00am 5:00pm
Wed. Ceuta, Spanish Morocco 8:00am 5:00pm
Thu. Malaga, Spain 7:00am 6:00pm
Fri. Alicante, Spain 10:00am 8:00pm
Sat. Cruising the Mediterranean Sea
Sun. Tunis, Tunisia 7:00am 5:00pm
Mon. Valletta, Malta 8:00am 5:00pm
Tue. Cruising the Tyrrhenian Sea
Wed. Rome (Civitavecchia), 5:00am 5:00pm
Thu. Cruising the Mediterranean Sea
Fri. Tripoli, Libya 7:00am 7:00pm
Sat. Cruising the Gulf of Sidra
Sun. Benghazi, Libya 7:00am 7:00pm
Mon. Cruising the Mediterranean Sea
Tue. Alexandria, Egypt 7:00am overnight
Wed. Alexandria, Egypt — 6:00pm
Thu. Cruising the Mediterranean Sea
Fri. Iraklion, Crete, Greece 8:00am 5:00pm
Sat. Athens (Piraeus), Greece Disembark —
Post-Cruise Athens
Sat. Athens, Greece (transfer to hotel)
Sun. Athens, Greece (day at leisure)
Mon. Athens, Greece (transfer to airport)
Wednesday, 18 July 2007 at 2:39 pm
I don’t believe Transocean will be continuing Orient Lines’ planned itineraries.
Was that Transocean in Germany or in the UK you spoke to? My understanding was that for most of the summer the ship would operate UK-based cruises and then in August she would begin operating for the German market.
Doug
Thursday, 19 July 2007 at 7:57 am
I have discovered that your June 22d entry is nominally correct — except that the UK operator from April - August, when asked, has not responded to the question as to why its travel agents are receiving cruise info only for June and July. Therefore I’m left still wondering what’s happening April - May and if that final eclipsed itinerary or something equally attractive ex Lisbon might be in the offing and available to Marco Polo passengers arriving there on 23 March 2008.
Dave
Tuesday, 24 July 2007 at 11:24 pm
Dave,
First, apologies for taking so long to reply - somehow your most recent comment got “lost” and I didn’t see it until now.
I have not had the opportunity to see the UK operator’s itineraries at all yet, but I don’t know why they are only marketing June and July now. My guess would be that they haven’t had a chance to finalize the itineraries yet (it can be tricky to set up itineraries at relatively short notice).
I doubt that a cruise will be offered immediately following yours as normally in this sort of situation the new owners will not take delivery until all the passengers are gone (that is, until at least the day after your cruise ends) and then they will probably want to take some time for manning, storing and so on before the ship enters service again.
However your best bet is probably to call Transocean’s UK reservations line and ask them if they have any information on itineraries before June. I would certainly be interested to hear anything you may find out.
Best and Good Luck,
Doug
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