Cruises on Saint Laurent coastal ship

Clipper Group, the company that owns the idled Saint Laurent coastal cruiser, is planning to relaunch it in July on much the same itineraries it had previously offered.

The 202-passenger ship has been renamed Victory I and will sail for the newly formed Victory Cruise Lines.

Victory has hired industry veteran Bruce Nierenberg as president and CEO.

It plans to debut on July 8 with a sailing from Montreal. It will offer Canada and Great Lakes itineraries in the summer, and switch in the fall to Cuba itineraries, beginning with an Oct. 28 week-long voyage from Port Canaveral. It plans to offer three- to 14-day Cuba itineraries from Miami after that.

The Victory I had previously been operated under a charter by Haimark Line. The ship hit the side of a lock on the St. Lawrence Seaway in Canada a year ago. A dispute over insurance claims between Clipper Group and Haimark led to Haimark's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in October 2015.

The ship has not offered cruises since.

Victory Cruise Lines has offices at 4770 Biscayne Blvd., in Miami, the same address listed for Victory Cruise Management in Florida corporate records. Victory Cruise Management's president is Torben Jensen, the founder and a director of Clipper Group.

Source: Travel Weekly