Following the problems encountered by Funchal (1961/9,563gt) in Gothenburg (see SM, Nov, p.13), she eventually completed her autumn schedule without any more serious problems, although her call at Tilbury was cancelled due to bad weather in the North Sea.
The company’s vessel Azores (1948/16,144gt) completed her refit in Marseille and has now been chartered to Germany’s Ambiente Kreuzfahrten for a 2014 programme of cruises starting in Lisbon on 10 March and finishing in Genoa on 20 November. The ship will spend much of the summer in Northern Europe. The company had previously used both Princess Daphne and Athena (now Azores) and had intended to use the former ship for its 2013 programme, but was unable to do so following the collapse of Classic International Cruises, the ship’s owner.
There is currently no word on the possible deployment of Portuscale’s Porto (formerly Arion), but Lisboa (formerly Princess Danae) will operate for her owners in the French market in 2014 and Funchal will again spend time with her Swedish charterer and operate for Portuscale Cruises.
