CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER READERS RATE MOZART NUMBER 1 RIVER SHIP IN BEST CRUISE SHIPS’ SURVEY


FIVE-STAR DEILMANN VESSEL AMONG WORLD’S TOP SMALL SHIPS

NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 2005 – Peter Deilmann’s river and ocean fleet, which scored high marks with travelers in reader surveys conducted by Condé Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure magazines last year, is once again a winner. This time, the cruise line’s five-star MV Mozart was voted the number one river ship of the 80 best cruise ships in the world by the magazine’s readers. Deilmann’s 204-passenger Mozart with an overall score of 87.1 was the highest ranked river vessel among the top 15 ships in the small ships’ category.

In the survey, the classic Mozart with well-appointed cabins of 203 square feet, largest of any river ship, scored 95.8% for crew and service, 92.3% for cruise itineraries and 92% for food and dining. The magazine ranked a total of 31 small ships with 64 to 436 passengers in the small ship category that included ocean liners, sailing ships, expedition vessels and river ships. The 204-passenger Mozart was featured recently in Bon Appetite Magazine in an inviting eight-page article by noted food writer James Villas on food, wine and multi-country sailing on the Danube to the capitals of Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava and smaller towns and villages on the river.

Magazine readers have ranked Deilmann Cruises in the top 10 cruise lines in the Condé Nast Traveler surveys for five years as did readers of Travel & Leisure in that magazine’s most recent survey. Readers continue to give Deilmann high marks for service, itineraries and food with one telling Condé Nast the “level of service is second to none” and another saying the itineraries are “very eclectic, something that will appeal to everyone.” Among river vessels, Deilmann ships have the highest passenger-to-crew ratios: 2.5 to 1.

The fleet of Peter Deilmann Cruises includes nine river ships and the luxury ocean liner, MS Deutschland. This year the cruise line is offering more than 240 European river cruises on the Danube, Rhine, Moselle, Rhône, Saône, Seine, Elbe, Vltava, Oder and other rivers from March 26 through Nov. 12.

The MV Mozart sails on the Danube to several countries from Passau in southeastern Germany, two hours from Munich. Sailings depart on Sundays, March 27-Oct. 30, calling at the capitals of Austria, Hungary and Slovakia and wine villages and small towns in Austria and Hungary. Seven-night Danube cruises on the Mozart start at $1,745 per person for an outside twin cabin.

A pioneer in the river cruise industry in the 1980s, Peter Deilmann was the first to design and build ships that reflect the style and amenities of ocean-going cruise ships but were keyed to the unique specifications of river cruising. The line continues to be a leader in luxury cruising. Based in the Baltic town of Neustadt in Holstein, the privately owned German company was founded in 1968 and has its North America headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

Information on Danube cruises of the five-star Mozart and four-star Danube Princess as well as the other Deilmann vessels and their sailing itineraries is available from travel agencies or Peter Deilmann Cruises at 1-800-348-8287 or by e-mail at pdcmail@deilmann-cruises.com. The 104-page Great Rivers of Europe 2005 brochure is available online at www.deilmann.cruises.com or by calling Peter Deilmann Cruises.