Sycamore Partners Buys Controlling Interest in Margaritaville At Sea

[tgg]

From the Palm Beach Post:

 

"The company has acknowledged that new ownership is operating the cruise line. Ivy declined to offer details but The Post has learned that Sycamore Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, is the hedge fund that now has a controlling interest in Margaritaville at Sea."

 

Two former Costa ships are involved, each with a passenger capacity of almost 4 times an Azamara ship.

 

Oh the possibilities!😃

 

 

[Mackdogmolly]

1 hour ago, tgg said:

Oh the possibilities!😃

Looks like a little slice of hell to me! And since when is Key West allowing cruise ships to stop again?

[uktog]

3 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Looks like a little slice of hell to me! And since when is Key West allowing cruise ships to stop again?

We stopped there last month on Explora

[donaldsc]

4 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Looks like a little slice of hell to me! And since when is Key West allowing cruise ships to stop again?

 

The people of Key West got local legislation restricting the number of ships that could dock in Key West passed by I believe 60% of the voters in 2020.  In 2021 governor DeSantis signed a law forbidding a local government from passing a law to to regulate cruise ship port usage. This post is not making a political statement but a statement of historical fact.

 

DON 

[royallondon]

We were docked next to the Margaritaville in Freeport Bahamas in May (not sure it was actually in service).  The ship looked very old and didn’t appear to have any balconies (if it did, I suspect just a handful that had been added on post build).  Not sure that particular ship would meet the aspirations of the majority of Azamara cruises.
 

[cruisefam38]

As of the moment, Sycamore Partners has not updated their website to reflect this cruise line expansion.

On a side note, Cruise Hive website is reporting Azamara had a record sales year in the UK :  https://www.cruisehive.com/cruise-line-reaches-record-sales-in-the-uk-and-plans-to-keep-it-going/117595

[Mackdogmolly]

On 12/7/2023 at 4:00 PM, uktog said:

We stopped there last month on Explora

How was your Explora cruise, @uktog?

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

How was your Explora cruise, @uktog?

I will do a summary for these boards shortly (I’ve put some things on the Explora board) but excellent and with their sale as they’re cheaper than Azamara on a like for like basis per day (ie factoring in room type and drinks package) we happily rebooked 

[avw]

On 12/7/2023 at 11:07 AM, tgg said:

From the Palm Beach Post:

 

"The company has acknowledged that new ownership is operating the cruise line. Ivy declined to offer details but The Post has learned that Sycamore Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, is the hedge fund that now has a controlling interest in Margaritaville at Sea."

 

Two former Costa ships are involved, each with a passenger capacity of almost 4 times an Azamara ship.

 

Oh the possibilities!😃

 

 

The only place that mentions this connection is the Palm Beach Post. Doesn't seem to be known anywhere else other than the author of this article.  

[cruisefam38]

On 12/16/2023 at 11:51 PM, avw said:

Doesn't seem to be known anywhere else other than the author of this article.  

Having met tgg on a cruise, they gave the impression of a nice, thoughtful person not given to rash or hyperbolic actions.  Privately owned businesses have the option to keep their decisions behind closed doors, and generally can play things closer to the vest.  I appreciate they shared the info.

 

Sycamore Partners has shown they are comfortable with the strategy of growing a cruise line by purchasing an older ship and refurbishing it, rather than building new ships.  That MO fits with the news about Margaritaville at Sea doubling their fleet to two ships.

[excitedofharpenden]

2 minutes ago, cruisefam38 said:

Having met tgg on a cruise, they gave the impression of a nice, thoughtful person not given to rash or hyperbolic actions.  Privately owned businesses have the option to keep their decisions behind closed doors, and generally can play things closer to the vest.  I appreciate they shared the info.

 

Sycamore Partners has shown they are comfortable with the strategy of growing a cruise line by purchasing an older ship and refurbishing it, rather than building new ships.  That MO fits with the news about Margaritaville at Sea doubling their fleet to two ships.

I think you misunderstood. The "author" I think refers to that of the writer of the Palm Beach Post rather than tgg. 

 

Phil 

[cruisefam38]

Ah. Thank you Phil.

A third read through of avw's post could certainly be interpreted otherwise.

avw, not OP, author of the article. 

 

tgg, I do not retract my positive impression of you.

[Heartfelttraveler]

On 12/7/2023 at 4:55 PM, donaldsc said:

 

The people of Key West got local legislation restricting the number of ships that could dock in Key West passed by I believe 60% of the voters in 2020.  In 2021 governor DeSantis signed a law forbidding a local government from passing a law to to regulate cruise ship port usage. This post is not making a political statement but a statement of historical fact.

 

DON 

https://cruiseradio.net/key-west-awaits-pivotal-cruise-ship-decision/

[avw]

On 12/19/2023 at 9:09 AM, excitedofharpenden said:

I think you misunderstood. The "author" I think refers to that of the writer of the Palm Beach Post rather than tgg. 

 

Phil 

You are absolutely correct, Phil. A post on a Cruise Critic board isn’t an “article”. I used that word to make it clear that I was most definitely referring to the article in the Palm Beach Post.
 

I also didn’t say anything critical of the author of the article. I’m just saying I couldn’t find any reference anywhere else that referred to the possible transaction news the paper reported on, and people shouldn’t get excited or upset over something that may or may not be true. The article’s author didn’t even cite a source.

[DreadPirateRobert]

From what I’ve seen and read they will have a lot of work to do to improve Margaritaville At Sea.  Reviews and YouTube videos I’ve seen haven’t been kind. I wish them luck and success though. 

[Rabo]

Since that first post over 3 weeks ago, I have seen nothing through any news outlet of any purchase by Sycamore. 

[luv2travel90266]

Found this article that says Sycamore has controlling interest in Margaritaville towards the end of the article

Palm Beach Post

[Rabo]

That was the article mentioned in the first post in this thread on December 7. As far as I can see, there has been absolutely no other mention by any other news outlet regarding Sycamore having any interest in  Margaritaville At Sea. Not seeing anything, I would tend to believe that the Palm Beach Post article is inaccurate. If anyone has seen any other reference to this, please post a link here.