Swan Hellenic

Swan Hellenic is a British cruise line specialising in tours of historical or cultural interest aimed at the upper end of the cruise market.

History

It began in the 1950s when the Swan travel agency, operated by two brothers by the name of Swan, was asked to organise a tour for visitors interested in the antiquities of Greece. The archaeologist, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, was employed as guest lecturer.

From this developed a full programme of cruises, in which well known academics, writers and clergymen were regularly featured as guest lecturers, both on board ship and on site. The company prided itself on never repeating, exactly, any itinerary, but it concentrated, as the name suggests, on classical sites in the Aegean sea, around the coats and islands of modern Greece and Turkey. It also, however, visited classical and other ancient sites in north Africa (including Egypt) and the eastern Mediterranean. Unlike most commercial cruises, in which the on board entertainment is as important as the destinations visited, Swan Hellenic cruises landed almost every day in order to visit historic sites, and travel between sites was undertaken by the ship overnight. The operation was characterised by an English ethos of high culture, although it had an international following.

Recent History

Swan Hellenic was acquired from the Swan family by P&O. More recently, it became a subsidiary of the world's largest cruise operator, the British-American Carnival Corporation & plc. Under Carnival, the characteristically small 300-passenger ship "Minerva", was replaced in 2003 by the 600-passenger "Minerva II". This led to criticism that the intimacy of the original cruise concept had been compromised. In April 2007, Carnival ended its operation of Swan Hellenic, and transferred "Minerva II" to the Princess fleet, with the new name "Royal Princess". This was reported at the time as the end of Swan Hellenic.

However, on 15th March, 2007, Lord Sterling, the former chairman of P&O, announced that he was buying the Swan Hellenic brand and intended to relaunch the cruise line as soon as a suitable vessel could be located.The Cruise Ship Report, 15th March, 2007 "Swan Hellenic, Despite Losing Its Only Cruise Ship, Gets New Life" Retrieved from [http://www.cruise-ship-report.com/News/031507.htm "The Cruise Ship Report"] on 18th March, 2007] . Swan Hellenic was subsequently acquired by the All Leisure Holidays Group Plc, who also own Voyages of Discovery who ran the ship Explorer II (previously Minerva).

The company [http://www.swanhellenic.com/ website] states that Swan Hellenic cruises will start up again in 2008.

Current fleet

Former Ships

References