“Triton” will be used in the Greek market, making cruises from Piraeus.

“Triton” is of 14,155 tones and was constructed in 1971. It is 150 meters long and has a capacity of 945 passengers and 378 cabins.

Louis Public Company Ltd announces the refinancing of Sunbird cruise ship with the sale and leaseback method. The ship has been sold against the sum of $90 million to the Norwegian company MED CRUISE AS, which was established for this reason, and will be bought back in a period of ten years.

The refinancing will lead to an influx of $30 million and will boost the Company’s abilities for further development.

No profit or loss is expected to result.

Sunbird has changed its name to Thomson Destiny and will be chartered to Thomson Cruises, subsidiary of TUI the largest tour operator, from May 2005 to November 2011. Thomson Destiny will sail on a positioning cruise from Limassol on April 20, giving the opportunity to Cypriots to experience a 9-day cruise to Palma.

What exacly the above means...I have no idea but I guess it aims to minimise the risk imposed on the mother company.

[ 04-07-2005: Message edited by: Pan ]

quote:

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Originally posted by gpcruisedude:
Triton is an excellent addition to Louis Cruise Lines, she should do very well with them, I think it was expected that at least one of the ROC ships would go to Louis!

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I would suspect yes since after the "Princessa" era, Louis ships names are not similar any more.

the former "Olympia Countess" has been owned by Majestic International Cruises, a Greek company which charters its ships to various operators, since January, 2004.

Currently named "Ocean Countess", I understand the ship will end its current charter with Travelplan of Spain in October, after which she will very likely be chartered by German operator Holiday Kreuzfahrten as a running mate for the "Mona Lisa" (ex "Kungsholm"). Her new name is expected to be "Lili Marleen".

"World Renaissance" has been acquired by Ravenscroft Shipping, and she might end up as "Ocean Countess'" replacemebt at Travelplan, as the Spanish operator also charters Ravenscroft's "New Flamenco".

"Odysseus" has been bought by a Chinese company, but it appears that fears she might be scrapped might not be correct, after all. There have been reports that she will probably end up as a gambling ship for the local Chinese market.

Best,

quote:

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Originally posted by NicholasK:
As far as i know, Ausonia is not going to be renamed to Ithaca because she is not going to operate from Greece. Triton got her place, so it is possible to see Triton be renamed to Ithaca..

Nikolas

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During the last 2-3 years Louis have always been announcing the deployement of Ausonia but she was always remaining laid up in Greece.

I wonder why this happens.

[ 04-10-2005: Message edited by: Pan ]

That is the reason they bit on World Renaissance, but they found her too old and small to enter the fleet.

I heart that from my uncle who works in Louis.

Nikolas

[ 04-10-2005: Message edited by: NicholasK ]

[ 04-10-2005: Message edited by: NicholasK ]

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Originally posted by Noordam:
The press release states that the ship will remain under the name TRITON, which is a very good name. But that she will probably be rebranded, which I would assume is into Louis Livery... Does anyone know if there is a new livery for Louis Hellenic? And would anyone want to photoshop a new photo of the TRITON in all white... She was quite a pretty little ship as the Sunward II in all white!

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Yes indeed TRITON is a very good name and reminds me of Greece.
Louis have recently changed their funnel livery from the old "L" with the red symbol above it to just a big red "Louis symbol" (the one that appears above the letter "I" of the word Louis in their webpage).
This was visible last year on the Princessa Marissa but no photos of the new livery appear in Louis website yet, except from a photoshop picture of Perla (ex Seawing).

Nicholas,
substituting Ausonia means that she will be heading for the breakers as I do not think anybody else would like to operate a steam ship.

quote:

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Originally posted by Pan:

This was visible last year on the Princessa Marissa but no photos of the new livery appear in Louis website yet, except from a photoshop picture of Perla (ex Seawing).

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Noordam, Serenade has 2 B+W 5,300 BHP diesels.

Louis started paiting his ships to the new livery since last year. Now the only ship remaining to be painted is Serenade.

Pan, I am affraid that soon we will see another classic liner from Louis going for scrappers. By the 1st chance, Ausonia will leave Louis Fleet.

This is one of the factors really hindering the growth of their Cyprus fleet because I think we have to admit that the ships "serving" local market this summer are not considered to be the best ones within the fleet.

I hope that in the future Louis look into arranging air-cruises from Cyprus with newer and bigger ships.

quote:

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Pan wrote:
If air-cruises work for Mallorca, why shouldn't they work for Cyprus?

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I agree. How is Cyprus marketing its product? Maybe many out there are not aware of Cyprus as a tourist destination, many probably still think there is turmoil (between Cypriots and Turks).

Cyprus has a lot of potential as a cruise hub of the Eastern Med. You have some great destinations: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Greece. Plenty of culture in this part of the world!

Louis should bank on this.

******

quote:

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Originally posted by bulbousbow:

Cyprus has a lot of potential as a cruise hub of the Eastern Med. You have some great destinations: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Greece. Plenty of culture in this part of the world!

Louis should bank on this.

******

Cheers

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Indeed.

I think that the main problem comes down to providing basic infrastructure for cruise liners.

The existing Passenger Terminal at Limassol used to be a Warehouse and the terminals at the two main airports are in a very bad state.

This year (2005) will see the commencement of works to build brand new terminals at both Larnaca and Pafos Airports and also a brand new Passenger Terminal at Limassol port.

Sapphire and Aquamarine will be operating from Italy.

Thomson Destiny, Thomson Spirit and Emerald will be operating for Thomson.

And finally,

Princesa Marissa, Ausonia and Serenade will be operating from Cyprus.

quote:

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Originally posted by NicholasK:
Sapphire and Aquamarine will be operating from Italy.

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There are itineraries

here showing Aquamarine sailing ex Barcelona... I assume the Genoa call is her main embark/disembark port?

quote:

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Originally posted by Noordam:
Have plans been locked yet for Triton? When does she enter drydock? When is her first sailing date? What will she be sailing?

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No plans have been released for her as far as I am aware. This is quite expected as she was only acquired last week.