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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
Published: 19 December 2017 19 December 2017

CMV Travel and Leisure Group Limited (CMV), the UK based cruise shipping company said it would deploy the 46,052 gross ton Magellan on the Pacific Coast of Mexico for winter 2019 to support the launch of Cruceros Marítimos Vacacionales, a new Mexican cruise brand.

The ship’s Mexican Riviera cruise programme would be aimed exclusively at the Mexican domestic market. Magellan will commence operations on 3 February 2019 with an introductory winter debut season of eight seven-night sailings homeporting from both Acapulco every Sunday and Manzanillo every Friday with the season finishing on 31March 2019. The voyages to/from the UK will be marketed internationally.

The company operates in the UK, Australia and the Us as Cruise & Maritime Voyages and in Germany as Transocean Cruises. Christian Verhounig, CEO explained, “CMV specialise in the development of dedicated source markets having successfully established markets and programs in the UK & Ireland, Germany, Australia and France. CMV will currently be the only exclusive Mexican cruise product available on the domestic leisure market. The Mexican market offers great potential and we plan to extend the season in 2020. This exciting new initiative is part of the Group’s continued strategic international development plan in achieving our longer-term growth objectives”.

The itinerary will include calls to Manzanillo and Cabo San Lucas in the Baja California peninsula plus two days at sea. Acapulco will be the primary gateway port serving the region of Guerrero and Mexico City. Both Mazatlan & Puerto Vallarta, apart from being transit calls will also provide secondary gateway ports to the cities of Guadalajara, Leon and the northern Mexico States.

John Dennis, Vice President Sales & Marketing of the CMV North American Fort Lauderdale based sales office will assume responsibility for the commercial management and business development of the Mexican operation with a maiden season capacity of 12,000 passengers.

John Dennis explained, “Following extensive development work over the past year which has involved numerous visits and meetings with many of the key stakeholders and Government officials, I am delighted that the Board have sanctioned this exciting and ground breaking new venture. We will be opening a dedicated sales office in Mexico City and officially launching Cruceros Marítimos Vacacionales and the debut 2019 Magellan program during the first quarter of 2018 with big trade launch events planned in Mexico City, Acapulco, Guadalajara and Mazatlan, at the 2018 “Tianguis Turistico” the most important event of the tourism sector in Mexico.”