Cruise and Maritime Voyages, the traditional British cruise line which folded during COVID, has auctioned off its five ships. And one even sold for $1.7 million – around the price of an inner Sydney house.
The vessels were sold for between $1.7 and $10.1 million and are either being held by private companies or meeting their watery endings at scrap yards.
Here is a list of where they ended up:
Vasco Da Gama
Built in 1992, Vasco Da Gama was the most expensive sell in the CMV fleet. Sailing off to Mystic Invest, a family-owned financial holding for just over $10 million. The 28-year-old ship was initially built to sail with Holland America Line as Statendam, which is where she stayed until 2015.
The ship was then transferred to P&O where she was named Pacific Eden by Kate Ritchie sailed Australian voyages around the Australian coast until 2019.
In 2019, she was moved under the CMV umbrella and be renamed Vasco Da Gama, ready to be operated for TransOcean brand in the German market.
Columbus
Marios Iliopolous of Seajets, a Greek fast ferry company has snapped up Columbus from CMV for $5.3 million. While he has not openly shared his plans for the ship, the businessman seems to be collecting cruise ships for re-sale.
Columbus was originally ordered by Sitmar Cruises as the Fair Majesty but while still under construction, Sitmar was purchased by Princess Cruises and the ship was renamed the Star Princess. She sailed for almost 10 years with Princess before being transferred to P&O UK as the Arcadia in 1997. She then spent 20 years cruising with both Ocean Village, a former brand of Carnival Corporation, and P&O Australia before joining CMV as Columbus in 2017.
Astor
Heartbreakingly, all 20,704 tonnes of 1987 built Astor is currently en route to the ship scrap yards of Aliaga, Turkey. The 650-passenger ship sold for $1.7 million, the least in the fleet.
Astor, built to offer five-star luxury to the UK market held her name for most of her 33 years of service. There was a brief period where she was bought by Soviet owners and became Fedor Dostoyevskiy. However, after years of sailing chartered European tours, the ship was acquired by TransOcean tours and once again named Astor.
Magellan
The 35-year-old Magellan has also been added to the growing Seajets collection. The 1452 passenger ship was sold to Mr Iliopolous for $3.4 million. In service since 1985, the Magellan was originally built for Carnival Cruise Line as the Carnival Holiday.
Following a major refit in 2009, the ship was transferred to IberoCruceros to sail in the Spanish market as the Grand Holiday. With the collapse of the Ibero brand in 2014 the ship was sold to CMV.
Marco Polo
At 55, Marco Polo is the oldest ship in the CMV fleet and sold for $2.7 million and is projected to be scrapped.
Not always a cruise ship, Marco Polo was built as an ocean liner in 1965 as the Aleksandr Pushkin for the Leningrad/Montreal route. Sailing this route until the 1970s, the ship started to sail as a cruise ship under charter agreements. In 1991, she was sold to Orient Lines and renamed Marco Polo. In Greece, the vessel was rebuilt as a true cruise ship and continued to sail until earlier this year.
I had just contemplated another Cruise with them to Greenland in 2021when it was announced that this Cruise would no longer be available – due to the collapse. What a Pity, as I had been a Platinum Member and sailed on 3 of their Ships. Absolutely “loved” the Astor and did 2 trips on her – from London to Adelaide and later from Perth to London – only as recent as March/April 2019. I think, they should have stayed SMALL ….. and not got too big too quick, trying to play with the BIG Boys?? Would they have been able to survive as a smaller Company with only 3 Ships? They had a very loyal following!!??
Nothing left – but good Memories……