Swan Hellenic is a British cruise line specialising in expedition tours of historical or cultural interest aimed at the upper end of the cruise market. Swan Hellenic was first established as Swan's Tours in the 1950s as a tour operator carrying guests to historic sites, providing enrichment throughout their trips. In 1983, Swan Hellenic was acquired by P&O and became a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc in 2003, but it ended operations in 2007 after Carnival discontinued the brand. Shortly after, All Leisure Holidays Group purchased and revived Swan Hellenic, but ended its operations in 2017. G Adventures acquired the brand later that year and planned to revive it for a second time in 2018, but sold the brand to a private group in 2020, which plans to resume Swan Hellenic's operations with its first-ever new-build ship in 2021. History 1950s–1983: Swan's Tours In the 1950s, a British travel agent called Swan's Tours, operated by a father and son (W.F. Swan and R.K. Swan), was asked to organise a tour for visitors interested in the antiquities of Greece. Archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler served as a guest lecturer on the tours. The tours developed into a full programme of cruises, a concept known as "cultural cruising," in which well known academics, writers and clergymen were regularly featured as guest lecturers, both on board ships and on site. Swan's Tours prided itself on never repeating an itinerary and focused its business on touring classical sites in the Aegean sea, around the coasts and islands of modern Greece and Turkey. It also visited classical and other ancient sites in north Africa (including Egypt) and the eastern Mediterranean. In contrast to most commercial cruises offered at the time, in which the onboard entertainment was as important as the destinations visited, Swan's itineraries included almost-daily port calls for visits to historic sites, placing a high emphasis on the destination-oriented nature of its business. The operation was characterised by an English ethos of high culture, although it had an international following. 1983–2007: As subsidiaries of P&O and Carnival In 1983, P&O acquired Swan Hellenic from the Swan family. In 2003, it became a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc after Carnival merged with P&O Princess Cruises. Under Carnival, the characteristically small 300-passenger ship Minerva was replaced in 2003 by the 600-passenger Minerva II. This led to criticism that the intimacy of the original cruise concept