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CLASSIC INTERNATIONAL CRUISES

Classic International Cruises owns and manages four traditional style cruise liners FUNCHAL, ATHENA, PRINCESS DANAE and ARION.

FUNCHAL which has been home porting in Fremantle Western Australia during the Australian summer since 2004 has a proud maritime heritage having previously served as Presidential yacht for the Portuguese royal family.

Carrying no more than 500 passengers she has a wide selection of well-appointed public lounges and comfortable cabin accommodation.

FUNCHAL’s third season in Australia will commence from Piraeus, the port of Athens Greece, 12 November 2006 with the traditional southbound liner voyage to Fremantle via the Suez Canal arriving 15 December 2006.
The 33-night voyage is excellent value, cruise only fares for an inside twin share cabin start at $4495 per person.

FUNCHAL’s Christmas cruise to Bali, Lombok, Exmouth and Geraldton sails 18 December before FUNCHAL returns to Fremantle to sail a series of 2, 3 and 4-night short break cruises to Albany and Bunbury.

On the 22 January 2007 FUNCHAL sails on a 9-night cruise from Fremantle to Singapore.
A highlight of the 2006/07 season is the 23-night ‘Bay of Bengal’ cruise sailing from Singapore 13 March 2007. This cruise has been split into Singapore/Maldives and Maldives/Singapore fly cruises sectors. In addition clients can by sailing from Singapore to Fremantle on the Easter cruise 5 April 2006 extended this cruise to 33-nights.

FUNCHAL’s very popular 36-night Voyage to England sails 14 April 2007 arriving in England 20 May just in time for summer.

Classic International Cruises has recently announced that the 2007/08 33-nights Southbound voyage will commence 11 November 2007 in Piraeus (Greece) sailing to Iraklion (Greece), Rhodes (Greece), Port Said (Egypt), transit Suez Canal, Aqaba (Jordan) Safaga (Egypt), Male (Maldives), Colombo (Sri-Lanka), Phuket (Thailand) Langkawi & Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Singapore and arriving Fremantle 14 December 2007.

The Classic International Cruises fleet provides a relaxing and informal style of cruising for discerning clients looking for excellent food, good old fashioned service stands and a more tradition maritime experience at a value for money price.

Classic International Cruises

Further details of FUNCHAL’s 2006/07 Australia season can be obtained from your travel agent or calling Classic International Cruises on 1800 990 857 or (02) 9908 7877 or by visiting www.classicintcruises.com

Development of Classic International Cruises

Classic International Cruises (CIC) is the brand name of a group of shipping companies managed by the Arcalia Shipping Company who have been successfully serving the global cruise market since 1986 and this year will be celebrating 20 years in the passenger shipping industry.

In stark contrast to the rapid development in recent years of the global cruise conglomerates, Classic International Cruises continue to operate smaller more traditional tonnage with high occupancy levels and consistently high standards of customer satisfaction whilst maintaining their strong independence, conservative approach to business and traditional maritime heritage.

Under the entrepreneurial stewardship of Mr. George P Potamianos the Chairman of CIC, the group started their own cruise operations in 1986 with the acquisition at auction of the 500-passenger ship, 9563 tonne Funchal. Funchal was then chartered to UK based Cotswold Travel, and respected German tour operator, Neckerman until 1989, with cruises to South America.

All four-cruise vessels in the fleet are now registered in Madeira and fly the Portuguese flag. The officers and crew of the vessels are predominately Portuguese while nationalities of the cruise staff and entertainment teams largely depend upon the market the vessels are serving.

The CIC philosophy is quite simply to provide a relaxing, friendly and informal style of cruising and to offer a memorable value for money cruising experience.

Funchal

Funchal is a classic liner with a fascinating and proud history and has a long association with Arcalia being the first vessel to join the Classic fleet in 1986. Named after the famous capital of Madeira, Funchal was constructed in 1961 at Elsinore Denmark, as a dual purpose passenger mail ship and cruise liner. She operated regularly between Lisbon and the Atlantic Islands of Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands until 1972.

Funchal has a beautiful profile, charming interiors and a yacht like ambience shared by 500 passengers. Her owners continue to upgrade her facilities and in October 2006 will be undergoing further refurbishment works.

Arion

Arion was originally constructed in 1965 in Pula Croatia and was the second of a pair of handsome liners used for a weekly service between Venice and Egypt. In 1991 the vessel was sold and renamed as Astra and Astra 1 – in 1996, following acquisition by her new owners she was then named Arion, who according to Greek mythology was a poet, musician and singer (and the son of Neptune King of the Sea), who was miraculously saved by a dolphin which is now the proud emblem of the ship.

Princess Danae

Princess Danae belongs to the grand family of classic cruise liners and was originally built in 1955 under the Port Line and operated as a cargo passenger ship between Europe and the Antipodes under the name Port Melbourne. She was sold in 1972 and renamed Danae and completely re-constructed to become a luxury cruise ship for the 5 star market. In 1985 Costa Cruises acquired the Danae. In 1996 CIC acquired Danae and after an extensive $US10 million refurbishment the vessel was christened Princess Danae and became the newly crowned flagship of the CIC fleet.