Swan Hellenic

In the 1950s, a British travel agent called Swan's Tours, operated by a father and son (W.F. Swan and R.K. Swan), was asked to organise a tour for visitors interested in the antiquities of Greece. Archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler served as a guest lecturer on the tours. The tours developed into a full programme of cruises, a concept known as "cultural cruising,"[1] in which well known academics, writers and clergymen were regularly featured as guest lecturers, both onboard ships and on site. Swan's Tours prided itself on never repeating an itinerary and focused its business on touring classical sites in the Aegean sea, around the coasts and islands of modern Greece and Turkey. It also visited classical and other ancient sites in north Africa (including Egypt) and the eastern Mediterranean. In contrast to most commercial cruises offered at the time, in which the onboard entertainment was as important as the destinations visited, Swan's itineraries included almost-daily port calls for visits to historic sites, placing a high emphasis on the destination-oriented nature of its business. The operation was characterised by an English ethos of high culture, although it had an international following.

In 1983, P&O acquired Swan Hellenic from the Swan family. In 2003, it became a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc after Carnival merged with P&O Princess Cruises. 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.

On 7 April 2007, Carnival officially ceased Swan Hellenic's operations,[2] and transferred Minerva II to the Princess Cruises fleet with the new name of Royal Princess.[3] Swan Hellenic's demise was also compounded when Martin Randall Travel launched a series of cruises to fill the niche Swan Hellenic had left.[4]

On 15 March 2007, following news of Carnival folding the Swan Hellenic brand, 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.[5] All Leisure Holidays Group (ALG) subsequently acquired Swan Hellenic, joining it with sister brand Voyages of Discovery.[6][7] The revived brand intended to begin operations with Minerva in May 2008, but the maiden voyage was later postponed after the ship's generators incurred problems.[6] For her inaugural season, Minerva was scheduled to sail itineraries to the Baltic, Scandinavia, and Mediterranean.[7]

In January 2008, Swan Hellenic announced it would begin operating river cruises in 2009, offering itineraries sailing on the Danube from Vienna and on the Rhône from Lyon.[8] The cruises were operated in partnership with A'Rosa Cruises, and were offered with packages that included land excursions and gratuity charges.[8]

On 4 January 2017, it was reported that ALG had gone into administration, leaving 400 passengers abroad. The Civil Aviation Authority was instructed to repatriate them and future bookings for 13,000 others had been cancelled with pending refunds.[9] The news came one day after the company announced it was cancelling its first itineraries of 2017, seen as a precursor to the ending of operations after profits had declined in recent years.[10][11] That month, Grant Thornton's Eddie Williams, administrator to ALG, told BBC: "The cruise operations [of Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery] have been significantly loss-making over a number of years and the ongoing cost of funding these operations by the tour operations has created significant cash issues for the entire group, which has ultimately led to the administration of all businesses."[9] Following ALG's closure, Minerva, the only ship operating for Swan Hellenic, was laid up in Marseille awaiting sale.[12]

In February 2017, G Adventures announced it had acquired the Swan Hellenic brand, with the plan to restart operations in 2018.[12] Itineraries were scheduled to be released that summer, though none were ultimately publicized and released for sale.[12]

On 22 July 2020, a team led by former cruise industry executive Andrea Zito announced it had purchased Swan Hellenic from G Adventures.[13] Zito, who had helped to broker the sale of Swan Hellenic to G Adventures in 2017 while working for V-Ships Leisure, said the revived brand will retain its British heritage and maintain the breadth of international offerings provided in the past by honing in on its focus on exploring different cultures across global destinations.[1] The revived brand will launch with offices in Düsseldorf, London, and Monaco.[13] Swan Hellenic is scheduled to begin operations with the brand's first-ever new-build, an expedition vessel built by Helsinki Shipyard in Hietalahti, scheduled for delivery in August 2021 for a November 2021 debut, with a sister ship slated for delivery in January 2022 for an April 2022 debut.[13][14] The 152-passenger vessels, originally reported as commissioned for Russian river cruise operator Vodohod, are designed to sail in the polar regions and the tropics.[13][14] The vessels, temporarily named Vega 1 and Vega 2, will be built to Polar Class 6, measure 110 metres (360 ft) long, 20 metres (66 ft) wide, and have a maximum crew capacity of 120.[13][14]