Bleu de France itineraries outlined

**Ally** · 11-06-2007, 08:29 AM

Quote:

After a winter season in the Caribbean, Pullmantur’s Holiday Dream (ex-Europa) will head to Barcelona in March for a €30m refurbishment before sailing under the name Bleu de France as the first all-French ship of the new Paris-based CDF Croisières de France.

The company is a Pullmantur subsidiary and part of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

A brochure detailing the 2008 itineraries is due to be published by the end of the year. Meanwhile, a flyer outlining the summer programme has been distributed to the trade. From May 25, Blue de France will operate 23 weekly cruises from Marseilles with calls in Barcelona, Tunis, Naples, Civitavecchia and Livorno. Prices start at €899 per person on an all-inclusive basis.

In winter she will be based in La Romana (Dominican Republic) sailing each Saturday to St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Martin and Tortola. Flights will be operated by Pullman Air Boeing 747. Extension stays in the Dominican Republic resort of Punta Cana are under study.

‘France is an attractive market for a cruise company,’ comments the energetic French-Ontarian Canadian Brigittte Tissier, who heads CDF’s Paris office. ‘The all-inclusive formula is well established in France which is why we want our product to be up to the expectations of our market.’

Distributed exclusively through travel agencies – a sector Tissier knows well after 16 years in tourism – the company is targeting 10,000 to 15,000 passengers for the first summer season.

Bleu de France might also be marketed to French-speaking passengers in Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec (Canada) within one or two years, according to CDF.

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