TUI Travel PLC agrees to acquire Island Cruises

On 6th of October, we announced that TUI Travel PLC - the parent company of Thomson Cruises – will be the new owners of Island Cruises.

Until that point, Island Cruises was a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Limited and TUI Travel PLC, with each company owning 50%. TUI has agreed to buy Royal Caribbean’s share and as a result, will own Island Cruises in its entirety.

As part of the agreement we have to make a few changes to our programme. Unfortunately, this means the Island Star will be leaving the Island Cruises fleet on 26th of March 2009.

We understand this will have an effect on the holiday plans of some customers. So first and foremost, we’d like to apologise for any inconvenience this causes. But we’d also like to take some time to explain how to keep the impact to a minimum.

To help make things a little clearer, we’ve created a Q&A section that should answer any questions you might have…

Which cruises are affected by Thomson taking over Island Cruises?

Island Star

26 Mar 2009

Caribbean Journey

Apr-Oct 2009

Mediterranean Discovery

Mediterranean Explorer

Mediterranean Isles

Mediterranean Spirit
Mediterranean Splendour

Venetian Adventure

14 Nov 2009

Caribbean Bound

Dec 09-Mar 10

Eastern Caribbean

Classic Caribbean

Latin Caribbean

25 March 2010
Exotic Caribbean Cruise

I‘m booked on one of the cruises listed above. What should I do?

You don’t need to do anything immediately. If you reserved your cruise with a travel agent, they’ll contact you within 14 days to talk you through the options and to help arrange an alternative cruise holiday. And if you booked direct with Island Cruises - either over the phone or on the internet – we’ll get in touch as soon as we can. Don’t worry if you don’t hear from us straight away, it could take up to 21 days, so please bear with us.

Can I still book one of the listed holidays?

In short, no. Those cruises have been cancelled, so we can’t take any new bookings for them. However, there are lots of alternatives to choose from. Thomson and Island Cruises now offer a combined programme of friendly, relaxed holidays where outstanding service and great value come as standard.

If you are looking for a cruise to replace the Island Star summer programme, the Island Escape and the Thomson Destiny both offer similar itineraries. And if it’s a Caribbean cruise you’re after, we’re putting the finishing touches to our new Caribbean line-up, which will be on sale in December.

I’m a travel agent and my customer’s cruise has been cancelled. What should I do?

Please wait for a separate communication. We’re currently sending information out to all our travel agent partners.

Who can I talk to for more information?

If you’d like more information or advice about your cruise holiday, please give us a call on 0161 772 8670 or if you’d like to know more about the Thomson Cruises programme, click on www.thomson.co.uk/cruise