Sea Tourism Festival And P&O Call Off Merger Talks by GTP editing team 1 August 2000 written by GTP editing team 1 August 2000 0 comments Share 0FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail 9 The proposed merger between Festival Cruises and Norway’s P&O fell through last month. Both companies said the low prices of cruise companies on international stock markets did not warrant any merger moves at the present time. They did not, however, exclude a merger sometime in the future when the markets are less volatile. Georgos Poulides, chairman of Festival said that just because the merger fell through with P&O’s chairman, Lord Sterling, this did not mean there was animosity between us, on the contrary, “we remain friends.” Lord Sterling simply said that “under present market conditions…this is not the best time to merge our two powers.” Meanwhile, Festival Cruises has decided to promote its vessels under two separate brand names. It intends to promote its vessels Bolero, Azur and Flamengo as part of its Discovery fleet, while the new Mistral vessel that was presented to the Greek market recently, and the soon-to-be-delivered European Vision ship will form its Premium group. The European Vision will set sail in July next year, beginning at Genoa, and will visit Greece and Turkey. It will carry 1,500 passengers and has 132 suites, each with their own balcony. The Mistral carries 1,200 passengers and has 80 suites. It is also equipped with its own English-style pub, a conference center for 200, a golf practice range and a rock-climbing wall. The Mistral was delivered in July last year by France’s Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyards. During its visit to Piraeus, Festival’s director in Greece, Michalis Benakis, announced that new offices will be established in order to meet a rising demand for cruises by the Greek market. The Mistral will be visiting the Greek islands until October 28 and docking at Piraeus every Thursday and depart for Venice. Follow GTP Headlines on Google News to keep up to date with all the latest on tourism and travel in Greece. Share 0 FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail GTP editing team This is the team byline for GTP. The copyrights for these articles are owned by GTP. They may not be redistributed without the permission of the owner. previous post Cavo Tagoo Picks Up Yet Another Award next post Avionic Introduces Flights To Smyrna You may also like ELIME and HELMEPA Join Forces for Safer, More Sustainable Greek Ports 5 February 2025 Celestyal Celebrates Valentine’s Day with Free Cabin Upgrades 5 February 2025 Cruise Season Begins in Thessaloniki with Arrival of Celebrity’s ‘Infinity’ Ship 4 February 2025 Poros: €6 Million Upgrade for Tourist Port to Enhance Infrastructure 28 January 2025 Greek Government Eyes EU Funding to Improve Remote Island Ferry Connections 21 January 2025 Attica Governor Promotes Yachting Tourism at boot Düsseldorf Fair 20 January 2025 Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ