Thomson Cruises will rebrand itself into Marella Cruises, a refreshed brand for the UK market.

Marella is said to mean shining sea in Celtic.

Helen Caron, Distribution and Cruise Director said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for our business. We’re really proud to offer an experience that guests can, and want to, come back to again and again and moving forward as Marella we’ve got brand new, modern additions to our fleet and more destinations, choice and experiences than ever before which really reflects our spirit of exploration and discovery within the new brand.”

The Mein Schiff 1, which was set to transfer to Thomson as the TUI Explorer next year, will now be named the Marella Explorer.

Other ships will get similar name changes, as the TUI Discovery 1 and 2 will become the Marella Discovery 1 and Marella Discovery 2.

And the big news is a deployment change for the 2018 winter: the company will offer an Asia program sailing from Bangkok aboard the Marella Discovery.

For the first time in the company’s history, two ships will be based in Barbados for winter 2018. Marella Explorer will sail its first ever winter season from the Bajan paradise and will be joined by Marella Celebration, operating established itineraries,

Sister company Thomson will also be rebranding later this month, moving to one aligned, global brand as TUI.