Cruise Ship "Athena"

[Lionel Tebbutt]

"Athena" - Anyone have up-to-date information on the arrest of this vessel ? Have friends booked to cruise on her but having difficulty obtaining latest info on her from the travel agents ?

[Tony Morcom]

From our friends at Cruisecritic.com

Fourth Ship from Classic International Fleet Arrested



(Updated: Oct. 5, 11:00 a.m. EDT) -- Four ships in the Classic International Cruises (CIC) fleet have now been arrested, according to news reports.

In the latest incident, Princess Daphne, on charter to Germany's Ambiente Kreuzfahrten, was arrested in Souda, Crete, on Tuesday (Oct. 2), according to Seatrade Insider. There are 169 passengers on board.

The 17,000-ton, 580-passenger Athena and 800-passenger Princess Danae were detained in Marseille on September 17 for failure to pay crew wages and fuel costs.

A third CIC ship, the 6,000-ton Arion, is detained in Montenegro for similar reasons.

The fifth ship, Funchal, remains in Lisbon, pending refurbishments.

Passengers onboard Athena -- which had been chartered by Belgian tour company All Ways -- were repatriated to Belgium, but the crews of both ships are still onboard.

The latest arrest comes just one month after Princess Danae was arrested in Dublin for non-payment of a $94,000 fuel bill. It was detained on August 30, but allowed to leave after an agreement was reached over the disputed bill.

The Athena incident first came to light when member Pax106 posted on the Cruise Critic message boards asking what was going on with the company.

He wrote:

“Do you know what is going to happen with Athena? She is actually arrested in Marseille together with Princess Danae due to lack of payment from Shipowners. Arion another vessel of the fleet is also arrested in Kotor. It seems that the Shipowners disappeared...

“Can anyone inform what is going on with this company?”

At time of going to press the CIC website was still taking bookings for the Australia cruise. Despite repeated attempts to contact Classic International in Europe, we have been unable to. However, we did get hold of Grant Hunter, managing director of CIC in Australia.

Mr Hunter told us: "The owners of Athena and the five other ship owners of the CIC Group and their bankers in Portugal are continuing to work on a major restructure of the group. This involves not only the five ship-owning companies but 22 companies that provide management, crewing and technical support, therefore the process is complex. The owners of Athena have repeatedly advised Classic International Cruises during the past two weeks that the Athena cruises in Australia this summer will be proceeding as scheduled.”

Mr Hunter said bookings for Athena's Australian season remain steady and cancellations are as per normal and there is strong ongoing support from the travel agent industry in Australia.

Athena is alongside her berth in Marseille as the restructure is negotiated.

In a separate incident, British passengers have been given the green light to sue CIC for a disastrous transatlantic crossing in which one passenger died.

--by Adam Coulter, U.K. Editor

[Lionel Tebbutt]

Tony- Many thanks for your reply which have only just now read (unexpectedly had to go away for a few days) Your prompt response was much appreciated -Regards Lionel.

[Captain Kong]

It appears that the ATHENIA is the old STOCKHOLME of ANDRIA DORIA infamy.
.
I sailed from Fremantle to Liverpool on one of that company, Classic International Cruises, on the FUNCHAL, a very interesting and excellent 38 day voyage, in 2005, again a very old ship but the service and catering was as good
as QE2.
Cheers
Brian.

[robpage]

I did not realise the Funchal was still going , it is over 50 years old , and was converted many years ago from Steam turbine to Stork Werkspoor , nice classic lines ,

[Captain Kong]

The FUNCHAL was in Lisbon in 2011 having a 12 million Euro refit, now fifty one years old. . a lovely old ship. and could not fault it. see on google, ...........
SS Funchal

www.ssmaritime.com/funchal.htm

Some beautiful photos of Funchal on the site.
at one time she was the Presidential Yacht of Portugal.

She had up to 400 passengers, mostly Liverpool expats from Rockingham, south of Perth. Known as the Rockingham Mafia. They were all going back to Liverpool for the last time.
Dont know what will happen now that Classic International Cruises have gone bust. I would sail on the Funchal anytime,
Cheers
Brian
photo below, ......FUNCHAL in the Suez Canal by the new Bridge, and again.
Brian

[Captain Kong]

Funchal in the Suez Canal by the new bridge.

[Keith Tindell]

I dont care how old she is, she looks like a proper ship, not a high rise block of flats, regards KT

[Captain Kong]

Maybe the 12 million Euro refit broke the bank for them,

[Ivan Cloherty]

Couldn't agree more Keith, brings tears of joy remembering ships like this and tears of sorrow that so few remain