The ship that just moved from P&O to Azamara has more of a history than you might think. Here is the story of Azamara Pursuit.
It has sailed as Swan Hellenic’s Minerva II, Princess Cruises’ Royal Princess, and most recently P&O Cruises’ Adonia.
Azamara’s UK managing director, Twynam, spoke out on the ship: “It’s a ship known and loved by Brits, whatever you call it. I don’t think we anticipated just how loyal people are to this ship specifically. They want to try it out as Azamara Pursuit now.”
For Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), Pursuit marks a new approach, entering into a turnkey agreement with MJM to deliver the refit.
“Because our new build team has been so busy with Edge, Symphony and Spectrum, we’re doing it as a turnkey. Pimentel, Azamara CEO, loves family businesses- and we have great chemistry with our partner MJM Group.
The by-product is Pursuit has become a UK story – it’s got a British captain and a British entertainment director, and its first five sailings will touch Southampton, where it will be christened and will depart on its maiden voyage.”
Twynam said details such as sheet metal bathroom linings, replacing wallpaper, hand-cut shower tray tiling and carpet resistant to water marks were examples of where Azamara’s partnership with MJM was creating a better quality result.
The refit will mirror that of Azamara’s other two ships, Quest and Journey, and many of the new features coming to Pursuit will be retrofitted across the fleet.
All three ships will get rid of the onboard casinos to make way for a “destination-focused lounge” called The Den. Alternatively, the cabins will gain UK sockets and USB ports.
“By maritime law, you can only open your casino in international waters,” said Twynam.
If you stay longer and overnight in port than any other cruise line, as we do, you’re not in international waters so the value of them to us was very limited. It will look stunning.
We’ve created entirely new steel cabins not on previous ships. The back of house stuff is incredible, and that’s before sexy stuff like carpets, mirrors, chairs and suites.”
Azamara took delivery of the ship in April this year and it is due to sail on July 24th: “To bring this ship up to Azamara’s standard requires a long time,” Twynam continued.
What is your opinion on Azamara Pursuit? Did you sail with her when she was P&O’s Adonia? Did you hear about Pursuit’s Godmother? Leave us your comments!
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