RCL to Sell Century to CTRIP

[eroller]

 

Well Celebrity is now rid of the trio of original newbuilds that were essentially the foundation of the brand.

 

 

I need to correct this statement, as somehow I forgot HORIZON and ZENITH! They of course came before CENTURY and were the first newbuilds for Celebrity.

[cruisestitch]

I believe that Cruisenut is also booked on that cruise. I wonder if he knows yet…..

 

A truly bonehead decision, in my opinion, already handled badly by Celebrity, when passengers find out about this huge change here on Cruise Critic before being told directly. This would have been a time for a personal letter/email/phone call to each and every affected passenger and/or their travel agent.

[Orator]

 

I shutter to think what the Chinese will do to her. She will have a large casino that is for sure, and plenty of tacky and garish spaces to go along with it. :-(

 

I would guess that the color"red" would be evidenced throughout the ship. In fact, might be the new "Big Red Boat".

[GWM907]

Sad. My first cruise was on Century in 2000. Will always remember it. Here we are 14 years and 19 cruises later. Thank you Century for making me know how wonderful a cruise vacation can be.

[C 2 C]

Now I don't feel so bad about cancelling this cruise.

 

Me too.

 

This is the second time we cancelled a Century booking that turned out to be fortuitous. The last one we cancelled occurred when Century had a breakdown in the Mediterranean and all the passengers were evicted in Villefranche.

 

That was another Celebrity fiasco.

I can imagine all those people who have confirmed non-refundable air arrangements to Dubai and Rome

Edited September 3, 2014 by ~Cruisenut~

[Orator]

I've met some of the finest staff in the fleet on Century. From Captain George down, they are a talented and dedicated group who go the extra mile to provide the best cruise experience possible. I hope that the majority can be retained preferably by Celebrity, but by RCCL if they cannot continue with Celebrity.

[c-legs]

Hi,

That's quite a ''ton of bricks '' announcement and change of course.....

Even as recently as 2 days ago, CDF had CENTURY's voyages lined up, on offer, on their website, starting May 12th !!

 

This must have taken folks over at Pullmantur/CDF completely by surprise .....

 

In retrosepct, RCCL seems to have mishandled this entire ''ship transfer/sale'' big time. We all remember CDF's ''official'' press release relating to their ''acquiring'' Century, the subsequent redeployment of CENTURY to take her to Rome, the farewell sailings, etc.etc.....

Now ;THIS ?

 

As we are now well within air bookings time window, I suggest a rather large number of guests are looking at non-refundalbe pre/post cruise air and hotel arrangements and wondering what next RCCL has in mind in terms of ''stunning announcements''...

 

That is quite puzzling....

Cheers

Claude

[Andy]

Hi,

That's quite a ''ton of bricks '' announcement and change of course.....

Even as recently as 2 days ago, CDF had CENTURY's voyages lined up, on offer, on their website, starting May 12th !!

 

This must have taken folks over at Pullmantur/CDF completely by surprise .....

 

 

Hi Claude,

 

How are you ? I hope all is well.

 

You've certainly brought a huge chunk of information into the discussion. Amazing to know that CDF had Century sailings on their website a few days ago !!! You have to wonder what the heck happened ????

 

I also feel for those who were booked on the affected sailing. That's going to be a dilly of a conversation between TA's/Guests, and the folks at Captains Club and corporate. I sincerely hope that Celebrity will do whatever it takes to make things right.

[WestLakeGirl]

Was Century going to be renamed by the French line? Are those cruises gone now from that line's website? Has there been any statement from that line? We have several French more speaking Cruise Critic posters, can any fill us in?

[C 2 C]

A quick search:

 

same offers in June & July:

 

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/cruisesoncenturycdf-jul2015.html

 

Edited September 3, 2014 by ~Cruisenut~

[cruisestitch]

And what of the poor fellow cruisers who had all those cruises booked? They are also feeling the pain tonight. While not Celebrity cruisers, they are all caught up in this debacle. I guess there aren't any Cruise Critic Boards for them? (Is there a French version of Cruise Critic? ) But imagine all of their affected plans, too. I wonder how far out they were booking Century sailings.

[aerospace]

This must have taken folks over at Pullmantur/CDF completely by surprise

 

For all we know it was the higher ups at CDF that decided they didn't want the ship and scuttled the deal. Perhaps the financing fell through or they decided to order a new ship instead. We can't jump to conclusions on the matter.

Edited September 3, 2014 by aerospace

[cruisestitch]

Remind us again, someone who knows the corporate structure, what is the relationship between CDF and the parent company Royal.

 

CDF will have to be paying out a lot to reimburse their customers for all the cancelled sailings. There's a lot of lost business there, and a lot of costs.

 

Royal is losing $20 million on the deal.

 

I'm wondering what effect this will have on stock prices, dividends, profits, the whole money thing.

[seaworthy1]

We only sailed Century once, and we loved her. In days of old, you would think the powers that be must know best. But watching some of Celebrity's decisions lately I no longer believe that. One rumor is that NCL is buying Azamara, so my original hope that Century would go to Azamara is questionable. What do those of us who like the small ship experience have to look forward to?

 

God, how I miss Renaissance....

[The_Big_M]

I have feeling that the Presidents Cruise might be a tad uncomfortable this coming year. For the President. A $20 million loss? Yikes!

 

It'd just be from book value, not affecting cash flow. Just affects the balance sheet, not the income statement.

[The_Big_M]

The 15-night, Dubai to Rome sailing on April 5, 2015 is being redeployed to a 14-night sailing from Dubai to Singapore. Guests with affected individual bookings and named group bookings on Celebrity Century's April 5, 2015 sailing from Dubai to Rome have the option to either cancel their booking and receive a full refund or move to an alternative sailing and receive a re-accommodation onboard credit as well as compensation to cover air change fees. Guests with reservations affected by the transition will be proactively contacted by Celebrity Cruises. Guests and Travel Agents with specific questions are welcome to call 1-888-283-7275.

 

I was about to book this some months back, but with the high cost of air travel had held off.

 

Glad I did now!

[need2bespoiled]

We only sailed Century once, and we loved her. In days of old, you would think the powers that be must know best. But watching some of Celebrity's decisions lately I no longer believe that. One rumor is that NCL is buying Azamara, so my original hope that Century would go to Azamara is questionable. What do those of us who like the small ship experience have to look forward to?

 

God, how I miss Renaissance....

 

NCL is buying Prestige (Regeant and Oceania).

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5968

 

We were going to book the cruise to get a sailing through the Suez Canal. We surely would have invested quite a bit by now in Airfare / upgrades, so glad we did a sailing on Century and found out she was not for us.

 

I agree with everyone else who said this could have been handled better, but sometimes, business is business and we don't know all of the details.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[c-legs]

Was Century going to be renamed by the French line? Are those cruises gone now from that line's website? Has there been any statement from that line? We have several French more speaking Cruise Critic posters, can any fill us in?

As at 2 minutes ago, all is ''business as usual'' on CDF: Century retains the name, and her sailings for at lest 6-7 months are listed.

This whole marasm boggles the mind.

I suggest nobody saw that brick wall coming at us....and no less than Dick Fain is dropping the bricks ! ...as if nothing ever happened affecting Century during the past 20-25 months....

Strange...

[c-legs]

Hi Claude,

 

How are you ? I hope all is well.

 

You've certainly brought a huge chunk of information into the discussion. Amazing to know that CDF had Century sailings on their website a few days ago !!! You have to wonder what the heck happened ????

 

I also feel for those who were booked on the affected sailing. That's going to be a dilly of a conversation between TA's/Guests, and the folks at Captains Club and corporate. I sincerely hope that Celebrity will do whatever it takes to make things right.

Hi,Andy

I was doing quite well...until Arno popped an e-mail in my box about that fiasco....:rolleyes:

Just finished an interesting exchange with 5 different friends who had joined us on the 05apr sailing( plus3 more on the last B2B).

We're not ..angry....just totally dumb-founded and blind-sided by this sudden Dick Fain's announcement.....The fallouts will be long lasting, expensive and damaging, in my opinion. I can't help but suggest RCCL has shot itself in both feet here. Whatever the long term ulterior motive was ,way back when, at the time THIS move was orchestrated

( did NOT happen just last week :mad:), the way it has been ''dumped'' on the industry at large is mind-boggling and, in my opinion, revolting.

While it's Fain's and his board's right and responsabilty to make choices and take decisions on behalf of the shareholders, affecting all facets of the operations and its subsidiaries, there are ways of doing things...and there are ways of NOT doing things. You, I and a large portion of our community know which side of the fence the current debacle falls...

Let's '' stay put''....I still suggest there is another shoe to fall here...

( even if both feet have been shot...!:D:D).

Who says life is boring....

Cheers,Andy

Keep well

[sheeng]

Hi,Andy

I was doing quite well...until Arno popped an e-mail in my box about that fiasco....:rolleyes:

Just finished an interesting exchange with 5 different friends who had joined us on the 05apr sailing( plus3 more on the last B2B).

We're not ..angry....just totally dumb-founded and blind-sided by this sudden Dick Fain's announcement.....The fallouts will be long lasting, expensive and damaging, in my opinion. I can't help but suggest RCCL has shot itself in both feet here. Whatever the long term ulterior motive was ,way back when, at the time THIS move was orchestrated

( did NOT happen just last week :mad:), the way it has been ''dumped'' on the industry at large is mind-boggling and, in my opinion, revolting.

While it's Fain's and his board's right and responsabilty to make choices and take decisions on behalf of the shareholders, affecting all facets of the operations and its subsidiaries, there are ways of doing things...and there are ways of NOT doing things. You, I and a large portion of our community know which side of the fence the current debacle falls...

Let's '' stay put''....I still suggest there is another shoe to fall here...

( even if both feet have been shot...!:D:D).

Who says life is boring....

Cheers,Andy

Keep well

 

 

Same here .....dumb-founded and blind sided! 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

[timtam2]

poor little Century :( So sad to think a dignified older lady is going to be subject to (most likely) a ghastly tarting up by her new Chinese owners. I'll never forget what happened to the SS Oriana after she was sold to the Chinese - it was unrecognizable after they had finished 'refurbishing' her (then they left her to die and sink ..)

 

I'll be on her one more time in 2 months and will savour every moment.

 

I'm also very sorry for the people who have had their plans to sail on her to Rome crushed. I'm sure many of those people are past passengers and friends of Century and wanted to see her out in style. Now, she is going to slink back to Singapore and whatever future awaits her.

[CruisinCindy]

I can't help but feel a bit taken aback at comments by 3 different posters assuming that the new Chinese owners will have such bad taste that they will ruin Century. How would you know? Or is it just because of stereotypical assumptions about their culture / race, that their changes will be tarty or classless? And just because red is known by Asians to be a lucky color, doesn't mean it warrants a snide remark about painting the ship red.

 

 

 

We all want the best for the Century, but the company is seeing fit to let her go. I for one will be enjoying every second when I board on Thursday!

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

Sent from my RM-860_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk

[Lulubelle45]

Just got off the Century on Aug 24th and she is a lovely if not well worn ship. They were doing various work on the decks while we were there. Unfortunately it was poorly timed. We were blessed with amazing warm weather 25 degrees C 80F but that's was also when they decided to drain the pools for maintenance at 1 pm on a sea day. The deck chairs were full of swimsuit clad pax. Next day the newly filled heated pool was drained again for what was rumored vomit.

We saw a few things patched and had a closet door fall off in our cabin so she's seen better days

 

Bathroom door propped up on a wood block all week

 

 

 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Forums mobile app

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Maybe RCCL will be running the ships , like hotels mange different properties they do not own

"The vessel's sale is an excellent business opportunity for both Royal Caribbean and Ctrip, and will generate strong value for both companies' shareholders."

 

Someone heard a Rumour that Infinity was to be sold

[Big_G]

I can't help but feel a bit taken aback at comments by 3 different posters assuming that the new Chinese owners will have such bad taste that they will ruin Century. How would you know? Or is it just because of stereotypical assumptions about their culture / race, that their changes will be tarty or classless? And just because red is known by Asians to be a lucky color, doesn't mean it warrants a snide remark about painting the ship red.

 

 

Agree. :confused: