Joie de Vivre launched

UNIWORLD Boutique River Cruise Collection’s new ship, S.S. Joie de Vivre is the “foundation” for a “fantastic 12-18 months ahead for Uniworld” globally, md Australia Fiona Dalton says.

The vessel made her big debut in Paris overnight, christened by godmother Dame Joan Collins with over 20 Aussies present.

Stanley Tollman, chairman and founder of TTC, told attendees when the attack on the Bataclan Theatre happened in Paris in Nov 2015, he initially decided to hold off on the ship build, but a week later reversed the decision.

“It could have gone one of two ways,” Dalton told Cruise Weekly at the ship’s christening.

“The courageous thing to do was to continue to deliver this extraordinary initiative and that’s what they did and here we are today with this incredible testimony to this destination,” Dalton said.

“All credit to them for having the courage of their conviction to do what they knew was right, not what they knew was easy.”

The 128-passenger vessel is now 90% booked out for the rest of the year and embarked on her inaugural eight-night Paris and Normandy cruise down the River Seine last night.

“There has been a lot of build up but the ship is every inch as beautiful as we thought she would be, and to see it first hand for the first time, it’s very special, a very special moment,” Dalton told Cruise Weekly.

Bookings across the board out of Australia for the past six months “have been really strong,” she said, noting “we’re already selling very well into 2018, much stronger than last year”.