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Thomson Cruises to Rebrand to Marella Cruises and Asia Cruises Confirmed


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Oh, Asia itineraries will be very tempting, always wanted to tour SE Asia on a ship and now we will be able to with our favourite cruise line.

 

As for the name change, well that's a bit weird if I'm honest. I'd rather say we cruise with Tui than "Marella", which according to Google is already a women's clothes company in the UK (which also sells through John Lewis): https://gb.marella.com/. Someone at marketing didn't do their homework!

If Discovery does her repositioning cruise from Southampton starting 18th Oct 2018 to Lankawi how long will the cruise be, stopping of for fuel food and general bunkering and probably six or seven port,s of call, and how long is the flight back any thought,s anybody i was thinking of three week,s if you cast your mind back it was six week,s to Aussie for the £10 pom many moon,s ago.

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No mention of the Dream in the press release, her days with Thomson/TUI/Marella must now surely be numbered.

 

 

 

We were on Dream last week when the new name was announced and Captain Harris said she will be with the company till about 2024.

 

She'll need a wee upgrade before then!

 

I thought her lease was up in 2020. Have they extended it?

 

 

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If Discovery does her repositioning cruise from Southampton starting 18th Oct 2018 to Lankawi how long will the cruise be, stopping of for fuel food and general bunkering and probably six or seven port,s of call, and how long is the flight back any thought,s anybody i was thinking of three week,s if you cast your mind back it was six week,s to Aussie for the £10 pom many moon,s ago.

Check out the schedules for P&O world cruise sectors, that should give you some idea. I think someone said about 15 hours flight time.

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If Discovery does her repositioning cruise from Southampton starting 18th Oct 2018 to Lankawi how long will the cruise be, stopping of for fuel food and general bunkering and probably six or seven port,s of call, and how long is the flight back any thought,s anybody i was thinking of three week,s if you cast your mind back it was six week,s to Aussie for the £10 pom many moon,s ago.

I get the impression that the repositioning will take several weeks and it will be offered in sectors, e.g. Southampton to Eastern Med, Eastern Med to Dubai, Dubai to India, India to Malaysia, and something similar on return.

In 1999 we did the Straits of Malacca through Thomson sailing on the Superstar Gemini. That looped from Phuket to Singapore calling at Langkawi, Penang, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.

A lot of Aussies joined the cruise in Singapore. I think that will again be one of the itineraries, coupled with one to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand etc.

I see that they propose that pax can join the ship in Bankok so the itineraries will be open to international clientele.

The flight duration makes a Caribbean flight look like a short haul. I think it was around 15 hours including a refuel stop at Abu Dhabi, plus the time difference of about 7 hours.

I think the new brochure is due out soon so it will be interesting to see the actual proposals.

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Our High Street Thomson has massive window posters about the change to TUI but nothing either inside or out about the ships changing name. Strange, you would think they would "break all the eggs" at the one time.

 

I don't see what they have to gain from the change as they have a loyal following of cruisers and a known brand.

 

The only thing I can think of is that once the new name is established other things will change, perhaps "Marella" will have a loyalty scheme for example or perhaps they will bring in silly thinks like dozens of cabin categories in each room type so they can charge more, as some other lines do.

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Our High Street Thomson has massive window posters about the change to TUI but nothing either inside or out about the ships changing name. Strange, you would think they would "break all the eggs" at the one time.

 

I don't see what they have to gain from the change as they have a loyal following of cruisers and a known brand.

 

The only thing I can think of is that once the new name is established other things will change, perhaps "Marella" will have a loyalty scheme for example or perhaps they will bring in silly thinks like dozens of cabin categories in each room type so they can charge more, as some other lines do.

I agree, 'marketing changes' usually come at a cost to the consumer.

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I get the impression that the repositioning will take several weeks and it will be offered in sectors, e.g. Southampton to Eastern Med, Eastern Med to Dubai, Dubai to India, India to Malaysia, and something similar on return.

In 1999 we did the Straits of Malacca through Thomson sailing on the Superstar Gemini. That looped from Phuket to Singapore calling at Langkawi, Penang, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.

A lot of Aussies joined the cruise in Singapore. I think that will again be one of the itineraries, coupled with one to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand etc.

I see that they propose that pax can join the ship in Bankok so the itineraries will be open to international clientele.

The flight duration makes a Caribbean flight look like a short haul. I think it was around 15 hours including a refuel stop at Abu Dhabi, plus the time difference of about 7 hours.

I think the new brochure is due out soon so it will be interesting to see the actual proposals.

I think your right Jake, i have seen these short sectors advertised in the local echo.

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http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/289189/thomson-cruises-to-be-rebranded-as-marella-cruises

 

Thomson Cruises is to be rebranded as Marella Cruises, at the same time that Thomson changes to Tui later this month.

Marella, meaning ‘shining sea’ in Celtic, was selected to give the cruise line ‘stand out in the cruise market’ and to give it its own identity from the company’s European cruise brand, Tui Cruises.

Distribution and cruise director Helen Caron said: “We don’t want British guests to be confused with the group’s cruise business in Europe. Marella Cruises will still have the Tui smile logo, but a new Marella Cruises logo in a blue box, similar to the way we would market Sensatory as part of the world of Tui. The name was chosen to reflect the spirit of exploration and discovery across the seas.”

Confirming Marella cruises would still offer its fully-integrated fly-cruise programme, from 22 regional UK airports, across its fleet of six ships once Marella Explorer enters service in May 2018, Caron added: “Marella Cruises takes us to a cruise brand from a tour operator brand. We expect the new name to open us up to a whole new market of customers who haven’t considered a Thomson cruise before. It’s very exciting and come at the perfect time as we modernise our fleet and add more and more destinations.”

News of the rebrand came as Tui also announced a new homeport in Asia for winter 2018. The newly named Marella Discovery will sail from Lankawi to 18 new ports of call on 14 new adult-only itineraries, with customers also able to join from Bangkok. Ports of call include Ho Chi Minh City, Cambodia and Kuala Lumpur, and also to Mumbai, Mangalore, Cochin and Colombo.

Caron said: “Asia is an incredibly diverse part of the world and I have no doubt that our customers are going to love their adventures across countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, India and Oman to name a few.”

For the first time in the company’s history, Tui is also going to base two ships in Barbados in winter 2018. Marella Explorer will be joined by Marella Celebration.

 

There is also an article about the rebrand on Cruise Critic: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=8127

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From my sources i will reveal more when i know it but the Secrets Of Asia Intiniery departing on the 21st March 2019 from Bangkok is as follows:

 

Bangkok - Thailand

Sihanoukvile - Cambodia

Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam

Malacca - Maylasia

Langkawi - Malaysia

Port Blair - India

Columbo - India

Kerala - India

Bangkok - Thailand

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A lot of stuff Thomson do seems knee jerk.

 

When I first got into cruising I recall them ditching Destiny and replacing with Majesty out of nowhere. I think there's even a chance Destiny was all over the 'new' brochure, such was the last minute nature of it all.

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From my sources i will reveal more when i know it but the Secrets Of Asia Intiniery departing on the 21st March 2019 from Bangkok is as follows:

 

Bangkok - Thailand

Sihanoukvile - Cambodia

Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam

Malacca - Maylasia

Langkawi - Malaysia

Port Blair - India

Columbo - India

Kerala - India

Bangkok - Thailand

That is an amazing itinerary. I'm a bit surprised that Singapore is not included as the route passes it.

Incidentally Port Blair is not actually in India, it's an Indian territory in the Andaman Sea west of Thailand.

Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka, on the southern tip of India.

At least 3 sea days from Kerala back to Bankok.

Visas for India are a bit of a challenge.

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A lot of stuff Thomson do seems knee jerk.

 

 

 

When I first got into cruising I recall them ditching Destiny and replacing with Majesty out of nowhere. I think there's even a chance Destiny was all over the 'new' brochure, such was the last minute nature of it all.

 

 

 

Yes, we were booked on Destiny and it was changed to Majesty at fairly short notice.

 

 

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Those who didn't know, most ports in Asia are about 2 hours away from their intended destinations.

 

Examples are

Ho Chi Minh = Phu My

Bangkok = Laem Chabang

Kuala Lumpur = Port Klang

 

 

 

Other than that, its interesting that it didn't call Singapore as a homeport because Langkawi if you ever been there on a cruise, does not depicts itself as a homeport. Homeporting in Bangkok will require paying for ship transfers, because not many taxis will do the 2 hour journey to the port and return empty handed.

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Those who didn't know, most ports in Asia are about 2 hours away from their intended destinations.

 

Examples are

Ho Chi Minh = Phu My

Bangkok = Laem Chabang

Kuala Lumpur = Port Klang

 

 

 

Other than that, its interesting that it didn't call Singapore as a homeport because Langkawi if you ever been there on a cruise, does not depicts itself as a homeport. Homeporting in Bangkok will require paying for ship transfers, because not many taxis will do the 2 hour journey to the port and return empty handed.

I would think that Thomson will factor in the transfer cost from Bangkok airport as they do in the Caribbean and Tenerife etc.

I agree on Langkawi, it was very small and quiet last time we were there. Perhaps there has been investment since then.

However Port Klang was similar but that was used as a homeport for Star Cruises of Asia.

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That is an amazing itinerary. I'm a bit surprised that Singapore is not included as the route passes it.

Incidentally Port Blair is not actually in India, it's an Indian territory in the Andaman Sea west of Thailand.

Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka, on the southern tip of India.

At least 3 sea days from Kerala back to Bankok.

Visas for India are a bit of a challenge.

 

Sorry about this it was a typo and yeah this might not be the exact way round

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For anyone booking cruises that include Chinese or Indian ports, I strongly advise you check out Visa application processes and costs before parting with non refundable deposits etc. The roll calls for Celebrity Constellation this December have a lot of Information for India in particular, where many people who thought an EVisa was okay have found that not to be the case. Just a heads up.

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Hi All my sources have revelled some more cruises so will post them here

 

Mesmerising Mediterranean 1 - Departing Malaga on the 8th November 2018

Day 1 : Malaga - Spain (Depart at 22:00)

Day 2 : Cartagena - Spain (10:00 - 17:00)

Day 3 : Palma - Majorca (08:00 - 20:00)

Day 4 : Barcelona - Spain (08:00 - 20:00)

Day 5 : Day At Sea

Day 6 : La Spezia (For Portofino & Florence) - Italy (07:00 - 20:00)

Day 7 : Civitavecchia (For Rome) - Italy (07:00-20:00)

Day 8 : Naples (For Pompeii & Capri) - Italy (06:00 - 18:00)

Day 9 : Day At Sea

Day 10: Heraklion - Crete (08:00 - 18:00)

Day 11 : Suez Canal - Egypt (Sail Threw) (22:30-23:59)

Day 12 : Suez Canal - Egypt (Sail Threw (00:01 - 15:00)

Day 13 : Day At Sea

Day 14 : Aqaba (For Petra) - Jordan (06:00 - 23:59)

Day 15 : Aqaba (For Petra) - Jordan (Disembark)

 

Mesmerising Mediterranean 2 - Departing Malaga on the 8th November 2018

 

Day 1 : Malaga - Spain (Depart at 22:00)

Day 2 : Cartagena - Spain (10:00 - 17:00)

Day 3 : Palma - Majorca (08:00 - 20:00)

Day 4 : Barcelona - Spain (08:00 - 20:00)

Day 5 : Day At Sea

Day 6 : La Spezia (For Portofino & Florence) - Italy (07:00 - 20:00)

Day 7 : Civitavecchia (For Rome) - Italy (07:00-20:00)

Day 8 : Naples (For Pompeii & Capri) - Italy (06:00 - 18:00)

Day 9 : Day At Sea

Day 10: Heraklion - Crete (08:00 - 18:00)

Day 11 : Suez Canal - Egypt (Sail Threw) (22:30-23:59)

Day 12 : Suez Canal - Egypt (Sail Threw (00:01 - 15:00)

Day 13 : Day At Sea

Day 14 : Aqaba (For Petra) - Jordan (06:00 - 23:59)

Day 15 : Aqaba (For Petra) - Jordan (00.01 - 23:59)

Day 16: Aqaba (For Petra) - Jordan (Disembark)

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