Christian Verhounig, CEO and Chairman of CMV, commented:
"We are committed to developing our international market presence and are delighted to have forged a business partnership with one of France’s most established and respected travel companies. We believe that by changing the name to Astoria the product presentation will be simpler and more in line with our smaller ship offering alongside the similarly named 600 passenger Astor in contrast to our larger mid-sized vessels; the Marco Polo and Magellan, adopting the explorer theme."
"We have been experiencing strong demand for Azores 2015 ex-UK regional summer programme. The introduction of Magellan to the fleet, which in 2016, will be operating year round, will enable Marco Polo to also be deployed regionally for part of the 2016 programme bolstering capacity and supporting Astoria’s spring season. This will increase year on year UK market capacity close to 70,000 annual carryings."