Transocean Tours

Transocean Tours

Transocean Tours Logo
Industry	Transportation
Founded	1957
Products	Cruises
Website	www.transocean.de

Transocean Tours is a German cruise line that operates three ocean-going cruise ships in the German and British markets and five river cruise ships in Germany. The company was formed in 1954 and first began operating cruises in 1972, using ships chartered from the Soviet Union-based Baltic Shipping Company.

History

Astoria in Kiel in 2007.

Transocean Tours Turistik was formed in West Germany in 1954. In 1967 the company became the West German agents of the Soviet Union-based Baltic Shipping Company, marketing cruises on the MS Alexandr Pushkin and MS Estonia. In 1972 Transocean Tours chartered the Estonia for full-time German market cruising. She was subsequently followed by several ships, including river cruise ships, chartered from both the Baltic Shipping Company and the Black Sea Shipping Company. Until the 1990s the chartered ships retained their Soviet funnel colours even when in Transocean service. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union the company begun chartering ships from other companies, starting with MS Calypso in 1994. At the same ships in Transocean service started to be painted in the company's white/blue livery.

Between 1997 and 2001, the company fleet consisted of just two ships, the ocean-going cruise ship MS Astor and the river cruise ship RMS Moldavia. In 2001, the river cruise ship MS Ukraina re-joined the fleet, followed by the Astor's near-sister MS Astoria in 2002. Another river cruise ship joined the fleet in 2005, while MS Arielle was chartened in 2006 for British-market cruising. In 2008 the Arielle was replaced by MS Marco Polo.

In 2008, Transocean Tours stated the charter of the Astoria would be terminated in 2009, and that the company are looking for another ship to replace her. At present (as of July 2009) the liner is in the Coaling Island port of Gibraltar.

On 4 September 2010, Transocean Tours announced that the Germany-based line will be going through a restructuring. This restructuring is also known in the U.S. as Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Former Fleet

Ship	Built	In service	Chartered from	Tonnage	Flag	Notes	Image
MS Alexandr Pushkin/MS Marco Polo	1965	1979? - 1981/2008 - 2010	Baltic Shipping Company/Far Eastern Shipping Company, Global Maritime	22,080 GRT	Leningrad, Soviet Union/Bahamas	Currently sailing for Cruise & Maritime Voyages.
MS Calypso	1967	1994 - 2000	?	11,162 GRT	Bahamas	She later became The Calypso and was owned by Louis Cruises scrapped late 2013.
MS Gripsholm	1965	1996 - 1997	Norwegian American Line	24,528 GRT	Bahamas	Chartered for six months and later sold to Saga Cruises after being damaged by fire, she would become the Saga Rose and later was sold for scrap in 2009.
MS Astoria	1981	2002—2009	Club Cruise	18,853 GRT	Bahamas	Entered service in 2009 as MS Saga Pearl II with Saga Cruises.
MS Arielle	1970	2006 - 2008	Louis Cruises	23,149 GRT	Bahamas	Was returned to Louis Cruises in 2008, 3 years earlier than scheduled; later sold and as of 2012, she is laid up.
MS Astor	1987	2001-2014	Astor Shipping/Premicon	20,606 GRT	Bahamas	Currently sailing for Cruise & Maritime Voyages.

External links

• Official website