Portuscale Cruises has now cancelled its 2015 northern summer season of cruises on the MV Funchal, one of three ships currently in its active fleet.
The season axing comes five months after Portuscale cancelled a planned Australia visit which was to see the refurbished ship operate briefly from Newcastle & Geelong this year (CW 04 Sep).
Reasons for the latest season cancellation have not been made clear by the line, however IHS Maritime has reportedly been told that Funchal’s owner Pearl Cruises Transportes has been “unable to meet the necessary conditions in order to assure its cruise operation in 2015”.
Portuscale operates the Azores on a charter agreement with Cruise & Maritime Voyages, while two other ships – Lisboa & Porto – are understood to be sitting idle in a Lisbon dock.
