Phoenix Reisen adds Dubai cruises after buying Holland America’s Prinsendam

The German cruise line Phoenix Reisen will cruise twice from Dubai in 2019 after purchasing Prinsendam from Holland America Line in July.

According to reports, the 37,983gt, 835-passenger ship is being chartered back to Holland America Line to continue sailing planned voyages through July 1, 2019.

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“Prinsendam has proudly served our guests since 2002, and we share in the fondness that many of our loyal cruisers have for this special ship,” said Holland America Line president Orlando Ashford.

With her transfer to Phoenix Reisen, Prinsendam will be joining her former Royal Viking Line fleetmate Albatros.

Prinsendam was built in 1988 as Royal Viking Sun, and has cruised for Cunard and Seabourn before joining the Holland America fleet as an ‘elegant explorer’.

The ship will be refurbished and re-launched as Amera in 2019, a move that will give Phoenix Reisen significantly more capacity and fleet flexibility to explore more high-demand cruise destinations, such as Dubai.

Pheonix Reisen has been offering cruises from Dubai for several years and in 2019 will be stepping up its Dubai cruise program with two cruises aboard cruise ships Amadea and Albatros.

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Amadea will depart Villefranche (Nice) on December 23rd, 2018 on an 18-night voyage to the Middle East, arriving in Dubai on January 10th, 2019.

This cruise is the first leg of a 144-night world cruise that ends in Bremerhaven, Germany later in the year. The Dubai to Singapore leg, a 21-night cruise departing January 11th, can also be booked individually.

Amadea will visit Muscat in Oman, Mormugao, Mangalore and Cochin in India as well as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia on the way to Singapore.

Albatros will also visit Dubai, on April 22, 2018, at the end of a 22-night cruise from Hong Kong. She’ll do a turnaround in the city and then depart on a new 22-night cruise to Genoa the same day.

These two itineraries are part of a grand voyage of 146-nights from Hamburg, Germany to Genoa, Italy, via Central America and Southeast Asia. Both can also be booked individually.

Albatros’ cruise from Dubai is more Arabian Gulf intensive, with port calls in Abu Dhabi, Sir Bani Yas Island, Bahrain and Muscat and Salalah in Oman, before crossing the Red Sea en-route to Safaga in Egypt.

Other ports of call include Eilat in Israel, Aqaba in Jordan and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. She’ll also call in La Valletta, Malta before arriving in Genoa.