Thomson Cruises will be renamed Marella Cruises, at the same time that the cruise line changes to Tui later in October.
Marella, which means ‘shining sea’ in Celtic, was chosen to give Thomson ‘stand out in the cruise market’ along with it its own identity from Tui Cruises, the company’s European brand.
According to distribution and cruise director Helen Caron, they did not want British guests to be confused with the cruise business of the group in Europe. Marella will still feature the Tui smile logo, as well as a brand new Marella Cruises logo in a blue box.
Marella Cruises will still offer its fly-cruise program, with flights out of 22 regional UK airports, across the fleet of 6 cruise ships once Marella Explorer enters service May 2018.
Tui also unveiled a new homeport in Asia for next year's winter. Marella Discovery will offer cruises from Lankawi to a total of 18 new ports of call on 14 adult-only itineraries, with guests also able to join from Bangkok. The new ports of call include Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Mumbai, Cochin, Colombo, Mangalore.
For the first time in the history of the company, Tui will base a couple of ships in Barbados winter 2018. Marella Celebration will join Marella Explorer.