With the Explorer heading to Louis Group, Semester at Sea is on the market for a new-to-them cruise vessel for the Fall 2015 semester, according to T. Kenn Gaither, president and CEO of the Institute for Shipboard Education

“It is far easier to operate the ship than to own it,” said Gaither.

He said the program had planned for this and knew the ship was on the market with the financing bank.

Thus, he is looking for replacement tonnage, and said the Institute was working through different models of both bigger and smaller vessels.

The Explorer will complete its educational duties with the spring semester, sailing from San Diego in January and disembarking in Southampton on April 29.

The program expects to charter and not own its next vessel.