News article: Carnival Corp will transfer or sell older ships....

[Coral]

From Sea Trade Insider:

 

http://www.cruise-community.com/ShowStory.asp?ID=8712

(you may need a free login)

 

 

Carnival will transfer or sell older ships

16/12/2005

 

Carnival Corp. & plc will announce the transfer of older tonnage to different brands and could sell some ships during the course of 2006, management told analysts during today’s earnings call.

‘There may be some movement of ships from one brand to another and there may even be some sales of ships,’ Carnival vice chairman Howard Frank said. He referred to current ‘tremendous’ demand for second-hand tonnage.

 

‘We have not been shy about moving ships,’ pointed out Carnival chairman and ceo Micky Arison, citing last month’s transfer of Costa Tropicale to the P&O Cruises Australia fleet.

 

Vessel sales have not been factored into current capacity-growth projections, Arison said.

[TorontoTL]

Interesting, I wonder if they would be thinking of transferring any of the Princess fleet to other brands or any of the other brand's ships to Princess. Other than the Regal which certainly is still popular I can't imagine them transferring any other ship.

[Coral]

Interesting, I wonder if they would be thinking of transferring any of the Princess fleet to other brands or any of the other brand's ships to Princess. Other than the Regal which certainly is still popular I can't imagine them transferring any other ship.

 

A lot could be read into the article.....

 

I think a lot of people are expecting something to happen to the Tahitian and/or Pacific Princess....I am hoping they are wrong. There is a possibility of a Sun Class ship being transferred to P&O Australia or maybe the Oceania being transferred from P&O to P&O Australia. The fact that Princess shares a few of their ships with P&O makes me wonder...

 

I am expecting some of the older Carnival ships to go elsewhere.

 

I wish Carnival Corp hadn't been so vague in their statements.

[steve20832]

No big surprise here. My guess is they will sell ships that are older than 15-20 years old. Carnival Corp. has a handful of new ships coming out in the next couple years. I'm sure the cost of maintaining a 15 year old ship that is 40,000 tons is much more than the cost of a new ship at 120,000 tons. The larger the ship, the more profitable it is for the cruise line.

[Times Prince]

Princess regularly shares the Pacific Princess II with P&O for a number of months each year, with major changes in the crew manning the ship. Also, if you recall, the Sea Princess just returned to the Princess Fleet after being "sold" to P&O for a several year period - and it was even renamed for that period. With P&O the parent of Princess this was a regular thing. There's also a P&O ship, the Pacific Sky, that is sailing as a Princess ship in 2006 doing SE Asia cruises.

 

Selling older ships also is common- the Pacific Princess (original Love Boat of TV fame) was sold to another line.

[JimnKaren]

We sailed on the Sky Princess in 2000 out of SFO on our Alaska cruise. An older ship then, but one of the classiest I have ever been on. It was after their summer of cruising Alaska that Princess was going to transfer her to Australia and re-name her. I would cruise on that ship again in a flash if she were not so far away.

 

Jim

[spongerob]

My guess is that Carnival would be looking to get rid of their Fantasy-class ships (I hope I have the name right). I don't see Princess having to get rid of profitable ships that routinely sell out well in advance of sailing...but then again, they keep building monsters that can only be filled using fire-sale prices. :confused:

[Coral]

My guess is that Carnival would be looking to get rid of their Fantasy-class ships (I hope I have the name right). I don't see Princess having to get rid of profitable ships that routinely sell out well in advance of sailing...but then again, they keep building monsters that can only be filled using fire-sale prices. :confused:

 

The Fascination (Fantasy class ship) was my first cruise and while I loved and didn't complain about anything on that cruise - now that I have cruised on other ships - I would never go back to this class of ship. I would sail a Spirit class ship in a heart beat, but just don't put me on a Fantasy class ship.

 

I sure hope they start getting rid of these.

[rolando]

I hear from a very reliable source that the Tahitian Princess has already been sold to Oceania Cruises and will move over in 2007. Princess is wanting to place a larger vessel in it's place. Don't know which one.

 

There was also this confirming annoucement by Oceania (full article in news section of this website)

 

Almost stealing Nautica's thunder was an announcement by Oceania's president Frank del Rio that the cruise line has "secured" its fourth ship. To be named Marina, the vessel, like the rest of the fleet a member of the former R-series of Renaissance Cruises, is expected to debut in July 2007. Intriguingly, del Rio did not offer details on which of the remaining Renaissance R-series vessels Oceania will take over. All others are currently either leased or owned by other cruise lines, including Princess Cruises, Swan Hellenic and Pullmantur.

[Coral]

There was also this confirming annoucement by Oceania (full article in news section of this website)

 

Almost stealing Nautica's thunder was an announcement by Oceania's president Frank del Rio that the cruise line has "secured" its fourth ship. To be named Marina, the vessel, like the rest of the fleet a member of the former R-series of Renaissance Cruises, is expected to debut in July 2007.

 

Seatrader reported this:

 

Oceania in `advanced' talks for a fourth R ship 22/11/2005

 

Oceania Cruises is in `advanced negotiations' to acquire a fourth sister ship, president and ceo Frank Del Rio announced at today's naming ceremony for Nautica in Istanbul. Del Rio said the vessel will be called Marina, `and, if all goes according to plan, it will be named in Hong Kong on Saturday, July 7, 2007.'

 

-----------

 

I am not exactly sure if they had "fully secured" the ship. Everything else I had read (outside of CC) indicated that they were still in "advance talks".

[mii]

We sailed on the Sky Princess in 2000 out of SFO on our Alaska cruise. An older ship then, but one of the classiest I have ever been on. It was after their summer of cruising Alaska that Princess was going to transfer her to Australia and re-name her. I would cruise on that ship again in a flash if she were not so far away.

 

Jim

 

Jim we also sailed the Sky Princess in 2000 to Alaska and I have to agree with you in that it was a classy lady. I remember the Art-deco design. I have fond memories of that trip and in fact I really wish they would change the current itiniery back to what the Sky Princess was to Alaska. Now it is too much outside passage for my tastes.

 

Marilyn

[Druke I]

For those of you waxing poetic about Sky Princess (now Pacific Sky), you missed a fantastic trip on her last voyage as a Princess ship, 9-00, San Francisco to Sydney, 27 nights.

 

Stopped at many WWII battlegrounds, had special guest lecturer (Bob Reynolds, a Brit RAF vet and expert on WWII in the Pacific) and special events for the many veterans aboard.

 

Sky Princess was a great ship in her day - but very expensive to run, as she is the last steam turbine passenger vessel built, and she has had many problems in her reduction gear system, along with some hull plating issues.

[mii]

For those of you waxing poetic about Sky Princess (now Pacific Sky), you missed a fantastic trip on her last voyage as a Princess ship, 9-00, San Francisco to Sydney, 27 nights.

 

Stopped at many WWII battlegrounds, had special guest lecturer (Bob Reynolds, a Brit RAF vet and expert on WWII in the Pacific) and special events for the many veterans aboard.

 

Sky Princess was a great ship in her day - but very expensive to run, as she is the last steam turbine passenger vessel built, and she has had many problems in her reduction gear system, along with some hull plating issues.

 

Druke, yes she may have been too expensive to run and had gear system problems but she sure was a great great lady and we still think of her often.:)

 

Marilyn

[Druke I]

A great lady - yes I agree - but in my opinion not as pretty a ship as the late great Royal Princess (Artemis).

[Hlitner]

Interesting thread. Actually, the Sea Princess is already being used as a partial P&O ship. On its current 14 day Caribbean itinerary (its sails from FTL every Saturday) she is generally carrying about 2/3 British-based passengers who have booked through P&O. Most of them fly on Thomas Cook charter flights with about half getting on at FTL and the other half getting on-board in Barbados (the ship docks there on alternate Saturdays). Entertainment and cruisine have been adjusted to better suit the British passengers. We just got off the ship today and had a great time.

 

Hank

[jima53]

Interesting about the idea of Carnival getting rid of the older ships. Last week in the local Jacksonville paper there was an article announcing that Carnival had renewed its contract to continue to use the Jax Port for another two years. The article went on to say that Carnival was very pleased with the increase in cruise traffice from Jacksonville. The port representative was hinting at the possibility of having a larger ship replace the smaller Celebration.

 

Jim

[arby70]

I happened to notice all the upcoming cruises you have in your signature. I am definitely jealous.;)