Island Cruises was a

cruise line A cruise line is a company (law), company that operates cruise ships that operate on Cruising (maritime), ocean or River cruise, rivers and which markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from Passenger ship, passenger lines whic ...

that was founded as a joint venture between

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Royal Caribbean Group, formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is a cruise holding company based in Miami, Florida, United States and incorporated in Liberia. It is the world's second-largest cruise line operator, after Carnival Corpor ...

and First Choice Travel PLC, each of whom owned 50% of the company. The company operated in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, aiming its products primarily at markets in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

.Ward, Douglas: ''Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2006'', pages 358–359, 363. Berlitz Publishing 2006. First Choice was later acquired by

TUI Travel TUI Travel PLC was a British leisure travel group headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex. The company was formed on 3 September 2007 by the merger of First Choice Holidays PLC and the Tourism Division of TUI AG, which owned 56.4% of it. The compa ...

. In 2008, Royal Caribbean sold its stake in the company to TUI, and the cruise line's only fully owned ship, the ''Island Escape'', was transferred to TUI's

Thomson Cruises Marella Cruises (formerly Thomson Cruises) is a British cruise line operated by TUI UK, offering cruise holidays around Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia. History The company had initially entered the cruise market in 1973, but due to rising fue ...

. Island Cruises was discontinued in 2015.

History

Island Cruises was founded in 2001 by Royal Caribbean and First Choice Holidays PLC, and began operations in 2002 with one ship, the ''

Island Escape MS ''Island Escape'' was a cruise ship originally built as the cruiseferry MS ''Scandinavia'' in 1981. The ship was renamed MS ''Stardancer'' in 1985 and ''Viking Serenade'' in 1990 before being converted to a cruise ship in 1991. She was renam ...

''. Initially, Island Cruises had planned to operate in Europe during the summer season (

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

), and out of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

during the winter. Before the first winter season began however, the decision was made to change the winter schedule to 3- and 4-night cruises out of Brazil. During 2002, the Island Escape was featured in the reality television series Cruise Ship, commissioned by

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

. Island Cruises targeted the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

family market, offering casual "totally relaxed" cruising; in South America, the company aimed at a younger audience. In 2005 a second ship joined the Island fleet, when the was chartered from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. On 6 October 2008 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. sold their share in Island Cruises to TUI Travel PLC, who had previously acquired First Choice Holidays PLC. At the same time the Royal Caribbean announced they would be ending the charter of ''Island Star'' to Island Cruises in April 2009. Sailings of the ''Island Star'' after April 2009 were cancelled, and the ship was re-deployed to

Pullmantur Cruises Pullmantur Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid-based travel agency Pullmantur. In 2006, Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by U ...

, another subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd as the

MV Pacific Dream MV ''Horizon'' was a cruise ship that sailed from 1990 to 2020, and was the first new build for Celebrity Cruises. She was sent for Ship breaking, scrapping at Aliağa, Turkey, in 2022. Service history The vessel was ordered on April 28, 1988 at ...

. ''Island Escape''s sailings were unaffected, but sold under TUI's existing

brand. In October 2015, the Island Cruise brand was discontinued after the sole ship ''Island Escape'' completed her last scheduled cruise with Thomson Cruises, now operating as Marella Cruises.

Former Ships

References

External links

Island Cruises international website

Island Cruises Brazilian website
{{TUI Royal Caribbean Group Defunct cruise lines Transport companies established in 2001 Transport companies disestablished in 2015