Phoenix Reisen is a German travel company based in Bonn, founded in 1973 by Johannes Zurnieden. It began as a tour operator without ships of its own, and entered sea cruising in 1988 with a long-term charter of the Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorkiy, making 1989 its first full cruise season. A second chartered ship followed in 1993, and a river-cruise business developed alongside the ocean operation. The company's ocean identity was built in this way, ship by chartered ship, for a German-speaking clientele that valued traditional cruising over resort scale. The three ships listed here express that character exactly. Artania, launched in 1984, Amera, launched in 1988, and Amadea, launched in 1991, are all classic mid-sized vessels taken on after earlier careers with other operators. None is a newbuild ordered for Phoenix Reisen, and none approaches the size of a contemporary mega-ship. Their appeal rests on familiar public rooms, manageable passenger numbers and long, well-documented service lives: the qualities that made Phoenix Reisen one of the last German operators devoted to classic ocean cruising.
The fleet — 3 ships in this directory
Sources: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/phoenix-reisen-marks-25-years-of-cruising-with-special-offers, https://www.cruisingjournal.com/en/cruise-guide/cruise-lines-guide/50-years-of-phoenix-reisen-50-yr-of-welcome-home