TUI Discovery 2 - May 2017

I see TUI have announced that RCL Legend of the Seas will join the fleet as TUI Discovery 2 next year in May.

Source: Street Insider.com

MIAMI, June 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell its cruise ship Legend of the Seas to Thomson Cruises in the spring of 2017.

"Since its inaugural sailing, Legend of the Seas has created many wonderful memories for hundreds of thousands of guests, and we expect this successful history to continue as she transitions to Thomson Cruises," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "While she will be missed, her transition supports Double-Double and our objective of moderate capacity growth."

Legend of the Seas' final sailing will commence on March 13, 2017, and all officers and crew will remain with the company and will be transferred to other vessels worldwide after the ship leaves the Royal Caribbean International fleet. This transaction will result in an immaterial gain which will be recognized upon delivery of the ship.

Legend of the Seas joined the Royal Caribbean International fleet in 1995, and was built by Chantier's de L'Atlantique, now STX France, in St. Nazaire, France. The 69,130-gross-registered-tons ship carries 1,832 guests (double occupancy) and 726 crew.

Source: Street Insider.com

 

MIAMI, June 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell its cruise ship Legend of the Seas to Thomson Cruises in the spring of 2017.

 

"Since its inaugural sailing, Legend of the Seas has created many wonderful memories for hundreds of thousands of guests, and we expect this successful history to continue as she transitions to Thomson Cruises," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "While she will be missed, her transition supports Double-Double and our objective of moderate capacity growth."

 

Legend of the Seas' final sailing will commence on March 13, 2017, and all officers and crew will remain with the company and will be transferred to other vessels worldwide after the ship leaves the Royal Caribbean International fleet. This transaction will result in an immaterial gain which will be recognized upon delivery of the ship.

 

Legend of the Seas joined the Royal Caribbean International fleet in 1995, and was built by Chantier's de L'Atlantique, now STX France, in St. Nazaire, France. The 69,130-gross-registered-tons ship carries 1,832 guests (double occupancy) and 726 crew.

Well spotted Jules sister to splendour another good buy, as some one said there,s going to be a twist in the tail,after spotting three ship,s in the Caribbean 2017 - 18 it all make,s sense , she would be cruising the Canary,s for that winter, I Wonder if they will transfer Harmony over as well :D

Press Release from Thomson

June 2nd 2016: The Thomson Cruises fleet will be expanded and modernised with the acquisition of the Legend of the Seas from Royal Caribbean International (RCI).

The vessel, to be renamed TUI Discovery 2, is the sister to the soon-to-be launched TUI Discovery and will increase the fleet to six ships. The acquisition marks four ships in the next four years for Thomson customers as the previously announced Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 will be acquired from TUI Cruises for the Thomson Cruises fleet in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The purchase by TUI UK Limited from RCI will see Thomson Cruises operate the vessel from May 2017, sailing from her homeport in the Mediterranean, which will be announced in due course.

Holidays on board the ship will go on sale in July 2016, with her exciting destinations to be announced soon. The 1,832 capacity ship (double occupancy) has 915 cabins, nearly 40 per cent of which have balconies. Customers will enjoy the all-inclusive dining options, eight bars as well as new activities and entertainment offering something for everyone including an outdoor poolside movie screen, a rock-climbing wall, a mini-golf course and an indoor swimming pool and spa.

Helen Caron, Managing Director of Thomson Cruises, said: “It’s an exciting time at Thomson Cruises as we bring to life our modernisation and transformation strategy to benefit UK cruise customers. This investment is another sign of our cruise business being a focus for driving growth in TUI UK and the wider TUI Group.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming TUI Discovery 2 to our growing fleet in 2017. This new ship will offer something for everyone, helping to attract a broad and new customer base. At the same time, we will ensure our cruise holidays maintain their friendly intimate feel, delivered by the friendliest crew at sea, not forgetting the focus we place on sailing to unique destinations that Thomson Cruises are well known for.”

TUI Discovery, the latest ship in the Thomson Cruises fleet, has its maiden voyage is on 11th June 2016. Thomson Cruises recently announced its summer 2017 holidays, which sees the fleet visit incredible destinations across the Eastern Mediterranean; Western Mediterranean; Baltics; Fjords, Iceland and Arctic; and Northern Europe and UK.

Maybe Mein Schiffs 1 and 2 will be called Discovery 3 and 4. This would tie in with the 'TUIism' of Thomson.

With a 6 ship fleet what are they going to do with the ships in the winter season? The state of the world at the moment suggests that there is little more than the Caribbean and Canaries for safe winter cruising.

I'd love to know what sort of money it went for

Maybe Mein Schiffs 1 and 2 will be called Discovery 3 and 4. This would tie in with the 'TUIism' of Thomson.

 

With a 6 ship fleet what are they going to do with the ships in the winter season? The state of the world at the moment suggests that there is little more than the Caribbean and Canaries for safe winter cruising.

Perhaps some more exotic fly cruises to the Far East or Indian Ocean. Fred Olsen recently sold out within days, of fly cruises to the Indian Ocean.

Well how about a world cruise ex uk during the winter. Am sure many of Thomson fans would love it

Well how about a world cruise ex uk during the winter. Am sure many of Thomson fans would love it

110 Night,s with the drink,s package :p :eek: :D

110 Night,s with the drink,s package :p :eek: :D

Plus free liver transplant

Ha ha. Not sure which would be worse the drink or the pirates. It would be good though. Would probably need a lottery win first.

Taken from Cruise Critic on FB (3:15 p.m. BST) -- Thomson Cruises could base a ship in the UK year-round from 2018 following the acquisition of Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas.

Thomson Cruises' managing director Helen Caron said the extra capacity afforded by a sixth ship -- which will be renamed TUI Discovery 2 -- joining the fleet in 2017 will allow her "more flexibility" when deciding deployment.

"With Legend joining the fleet, it does give me more flexibility in terms of deployment and potentially we could look at basing a ship in the UK in 2018."

Earlier this year, Thomson announced Thomson Celebration would be based in Newcastle throughout summer 2017.

The news comes the day before the launch of the line's newest -- and biggest -- addition to the fleet: TUI Discovery, which will be christened in Palma tomorrow (Thursday June 9).

The ship will sail to Barcelona, before beginning a series of week-long Mediterranean cruises throughout the summer.

The 1,832-passenger ship is the largest in the Thomson fleet and will have the most features, including a rock climbing wall, extensive kids' facilities and a number of speciality restaurants.

Caron told Cruise Critic that she hoped the new ship would attract a lot more families to the line: "The family market is showing huge growth and we are catering for that on the new ship. We have a dedicated kids' facility, a teen hideout and a baby room."

TUI Discovery -- the former Splendour of the Seas and sister ship to Legend of the Seas -- has just come out of an extensive dry dock and refit.

A number of the new features, including Gallery 47, an Italian restaurant on the upper deck of the main dining room, were suggested by past passengers.

Its two godmothers will be two of the "most popular" Thomson crew; and the crew onboard will be a mix of crew from the line's former ship, Island Escape, as well as from Thomson Dream.

Thomson Cruises will take delivery of four new ships in four years: Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 will join the fleet in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Thomson Majesty and Thomson Spirit will leave the Thomson Cruises fleet at the end of 2017.

Caron said no names had yet been decided for the two Mein Schiffs ships, but she confirmed they would not be called "My Ship 1" and "My Ship 2", nor would they be renamed TUI Discovery 3 and 4: "We only gave TUI Discovery 2 that name because it is a sister ship to TUI Discovery, so it made sense as it is virtually the same," Caron explained.

She also ruled out changing the name of Thomson Cruises to TUI Cruises, until at least the end of next year when an announcement will be made about branding.

Though new to Thomson Cruises, none of the ships are new builds. However, Caron said there were no plans for any new ships for the foreseeable future: "We've got four ships coming in the next four years and so we are not considering new builds at this time, it's not part of our fleet strategy."

She also said she was confident that the demand was there from the U.K. market to fill the ships: "The piece that gives me confidence is the control we have of our distribution channels, owning our own shops and having such a strong online presence. Yes it is a lot of new capacity, but we are confident we can fill these ships."

Cruise Critic will be onboard TUI Discovery tomorrow on its one-day sailing, reporting from the ship.

--By Adam Coulter, U.K. Editor

This all sounds great. Would have loved to have been in Palma tomorrow to have seen her. Will be there on Tuesday but she will have been well on her cruise by then. To all who are sailing next week have a wonderful cruise and report back. We are waiting.

Well how about a world cruise ex uk during the winter. Am sure many of Thomson fans would love it

To be honest i think any one of the four ship,s coming on tap, could compete with the rest in Southampton and they would have a good following, the size of Oriana and oceana they could do canary,s in winter , round trip,s Caribbean, and part,s of the Baltic, with hamburg for xmas market,s in winter, you always see Aidia and Tui here right through the season, any taker,s :)

Am sure there wil be plenty, just as long as the ambience is kept and standards are good. Thomsons have a very loyal following and now the ships are improving there should be nothing to stop them. Fingers crossed.

Any further ideas on destinations?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Any further ideas on destinations?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Just back from discovery :)

How about;

summer cruises to the or in the Canaries.

winter cruises based on Thailand ;););)

Looks like Discovery 2 has gone on sale today:D for May next year

Looks like Discovery 2 has gone on sale today:D for May next year

The two disappearing cruises that Celebration was due to sail on 7th and 14th May ?

Correct!

Only had a quick squint at the email I received from Thomson on the sale of Discovery 2 but doesn,t seem to be any flights from Scotland

Definitely flights from Glasgow on the 14th May on Discovery 2 on the web😁

Thanks PC.Had a better look online today and found the packages with flights from Gods country :D

They do look better value at the moment than Discovery 1 don't understand why???

They do look better value at the moment than Discovery 1 don't understand why???

Palma cruises usually sell better due to Italy being included in the cruises, so put the prices up.

I like they've put Discovery 2 though from Malaga and not just done the usual type cruises with their new ship.