The Pullmantur Zenith is heading to Peace Boat and will operate for the non-government organization starting in 2020, Cruise Industry News can confirm.

Pullmantur had said the 1992-built ship would leave its fleet in early 2020, with the ship expected to start in service for Japan-based Peace Boat soon after.

“We are excited to expand the Peace Boat cruise family with the Zenith and look forward to welcoming more people to experience Peace Boat’s unique cruises, with their blend of lifelong learning, international friendship activities and tourism,” said Yoshioka Tatsuya, founder and director of Peace Boat.

The 1,828-guest Zenith will sail along the 1982-built, 1,022-passenger Ocean Dream, the organization told Cruise Industry News in a prepared statement. 

“The ‘Peace Boat II’ cruises onboard Zenith will sail three-month around the world itineraries, offering Peace Boat’s passenger base a cruise experience on a larger, newer vessel and enabling Peace Boat’s outreach to increase further among passengers across East Asia. The first cruise will sail in April 2020, and itineraries will be announced shortly,” the organization said.

Peace Boat was founded in the early 1980s, offering shorter cruises, and has slowly expanded into global months-long voyages with the purpose of raising awareness and building connections internationally among groups that work for peace, human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development.

The organization has conducted over 100 voyages on passenger ships since its founding. 

In addition, the group hopes to build a new “green” cruise ship, the Ecoship, which was announced in 2017.