Voyager – all white on the night

Gleaming white under lowering grey skies, Voyages of Discovery’s new ship has arrived at Portland in Dorset for the final stages of a refit which seems to have been going on for months.
During its four weeks alongside, the ship – formerly Alexander von Humboldt – will have cabins and restaurants spruced up by Northern Ireland-based fitters Mivan.
At the beginning of next month, the ship will arrive in its new home of Portsmouth, and on December 4 will officially be renamed Voyager – although the new name is already painted proudly across the bow.
Its maiden voyage for VoD will be an epic journey to the Caribbean and South America, returning home at the end of April.
VoD was this week awarded the title of Best Niche Cruise Line at the 2012 British Travel Awards. Managing Director Alan Murray says: “To be commended as the best in our field by our customers and travel industry peers is a huge achievement for Voyages of Discovery. 2012 is a very exciting year for us with the launch of our new ship mv Voyager in December and we are confident that we will continue to lead the way for discovery cruising in the UK.”
Sister cruise line, Swan Hellenic, picked up the bronze award in the Best Luxury Cruise line category.
Winners of the Best Luxury Line award were Cunard, while P&O collected a handful of trophies for Best Mainstream Cruise Line, Best UK Departure Cruise Line and Best Family Cruise Line.