ORIENT Lines is promoting holidays for later in the year 2000 after selling out for its millennium cruise to the Antarctic.
Speaking at the launch of an advance programme for January to April 2000, sales and marketing Paul Ellerby said: “We are full for the start of 2000. We have been on sale for that date since June 1998. Now we are trying to focus people’s minds on the travel opportunities later in the millennium year.”
In January 2000, the company’s one ship Marco Polo will carry out three eight-day cruises out of Buenos Aires. A 13-day holiday out of the UK starts from ú3,111 which includes sightseeing and an overnight stay in Buenos Aires.
At the end of the month, the ship will depart on a 22-day half-circumnavigation of the Antarctic before sailing on to New Zealand. Prices for a 26-day package which includes overnight stays in Buenos Aires and Christchurch start from ú5,177.
Ellerby said: “When Orient was first set up in 1992, we planned to operate an Antarctic programme every other year. But cruises filled up so quickly, we decided to run them every year”.
After leaving the Antarctic, Marco Polo will carry out itineraries in New Zealand, Australia and the Far East, culminating in a cruise from Bombay to Athens in April 2000.
Orient is due to publish a full 2000 programme this coming May.
The company is planning to add a second ship next year. It originally hoped to publish details in the brochure. However, an announcement about the new ship is now expected later in the year.