Swan Hellenic sold
Carnival Corporation has announced that it has reached an agreement with Jeffrey Sterling, former chairman of The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company , for the sale of the assets of Swan Hellenic including its trademarks and marketing database.
Terms were not disclosed.
Lord Sterling said, “Through P&O I have been involved with Swan Hellenic for some 25 years and it will give me great pleasure to enable this famous and unique brand of some 50 years to continue”.
The sale is in line with Carnival’s strategy of moving away from smaller niche brands, said David Dingle, MD of Carnival UK, with Lord Sterling having been rumoured as a possible contender for Swan Hellenic for many months.
Sadly, no ship comes with the sale, as Carnival has transferred Minerva II (one of the former Renaissance ships and thus a sister to Pacific Princess and Tahitian Princess) to Princess Cruises, to be renamed Royal Princess.
For many ‘Swannies’ (Swan Hellenic’s regular passengers) the 700-passenger Minerva II was thought too large for such clubbable cruises, with earlier Swan ships smaller.
The first Minerva, which carried just 360 pax, now operates at Explorer II for Abercrombie & Kent and, in March 2008, will commence a long-term charter with Voyages of Discovery/Discovery World Cruises
As Lord Sterling conducts his search for a replacement ship,several senior industry sources have commented on the difficulty of finding a relatively new vessel with an optimum 400 pax capacity, which he is targeting.
Report by Philip Thorniley, TravelMole’s Cruise Industry Correspondent
John Alwyn-Jones
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025