Classic International Cruises was a British-Australian owned

shipping company A shipping line or shipping company is a company whose line of business is ownership and operation of ships. Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo: # Bulk cargo is a type of special cargo that is ...

operating five luxury cruise ships, most notably its flagship, the rebuilt

ocean liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ...

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

''. The company only operated cruise ships that are former ocean liners, the classic ships of their day (hence the company's name).

History

Cruise vessel MV Funchal in Helsinki June 2009

Classic International Cruises was seemingly founded in 1985, with the purchase of as the Arcalia Shipping Company Ltd, which eventually became Classic International. They operated the one ship until 1994, when they bought the ''Princess Danae''. The ''Princess Danae'' entered service with an all-white hull and a sailing ship logo on her funnel. ''Funchal'' was given a yellow and blue striped funnel and a white hull, but by 2000 her livery was changed to what now all Classic International ships have. Since 2000 they have purchased 3 ships, ''Arion'', ''Athena'' and ''Princess Daphne'', the near-identical sister of ''Princess Danae''. With their main headquarters in

Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, the company also has several branches based in Paris, France,

Piraeus, Greece Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica (region), Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gu ...

, Neutral Bay, Australia,

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, Sweden, and

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. Due to unpaid bills by the line, the company's four ships, ''Princess Danae'', ''Princess Daphne'', ''Athena'' & ''Arion'' were all arrested, the only ship not arrested was ''Funchal'' which was laid up pending refurbishment for SOLAS. On 20 December 2012, it was resolved to place the company into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

. In the beginning of 2013, the recently created cruise company Portuscale Cruises, led by the Portuguese entrepreneur Rui Alegre, bought ''Princess Danae'', ''Athena'', ''Arion'' and ''Funchal'', assuming as well the liabilities of Classic International Cruises.

Ships

References

{{reflist Defunct companies based in London Defunct cruise lines Defunct shipping companies of Australia Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom