Apollo Selling Off 3 NCL Ships

[Iamboatman]

I just saw an article on Lloyd's List (a shipping news service) that NCL is selling off Pride of Aloha, Norwegian Dream and Norwegian Majesty; the first to RCCL/Pullmantour and the other two to Louis Shipping (though there may be a bit of a bidding war starting for those two).

 

That is a pretty substantial reduction in capacity for NCL, NCL has no new ships until 2010 and last month had its Miami office operations substantially reduced. To be sure, NCL has a real debacle with the Hawaii program, but this seems - at least to me - fairly drastic.

 

I am wondering about cash flow and how that might affect Regent and its plans. Hopefully is it truly operated in the back office as a separate entity; but I still worry about its borrowing power for the new ship.

 

Not doom and gloom, just info. BTW, this is totally independent of my earlier thread on the "Know Where You Go" concept. I just happened to read two interesting articles from two totally different sources today and thought them both interesting.

[cruiseyguy]

There certainly could be a cash flow issue with Apollo although the successful sale of 3 ships could go a long way toward resolving it. I wonder what RCL is going to do with Pride of Aloha? Hmmm.....

[Iamboatman]

RCI is making a big push into the moderate Spanish market having put the old Celebrity Zenith and RCCL Nordic Empress into Pullmantour (which it bought last year) while swapping out the 2 R-ships and putting them into Azamara.

 

My guess is that they will use Pullmantour's moderate cruises, in Spanish language, as introductory stepping stones to their more polished products.

[Travelcat2]

Financial News Online reports that Apollo plans to increase it's assets "five fold". . . . interesting!

 

We probably should remember that Apollo has a 50% interest in NCL. . . (unless something has changed recently). So, the sale would not be going only into Apollo's pocket.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Is this the same Apollo that's having all the financial troubles? For example:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/business/14apollo.html?ref=business

[Iamboatman]

Yep.

 

My 12 year old asked me on Saturday if I was going to get some great deals when it files for bankruptcy like I did when Sharper Image filed. Welcome to the new economy of our youth! Keep in mind LNT was losing money for a couple of years and is, I believe, run totally out of another "pocket".

[Pam]

OT - The words "private equity companies" gives me chills, for personal and boring reasons. But in reading that article, I thought that if something happens to Claire's, my two granddaughters (14 and 6) will just melt down.

 

On to Regent, I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

[mylesf]

The decision to remove the Dream and the Majesty from NCL's fleet was done prior to Apollo's investment into their company. The Pride of Aloha., was pulled from their fleet because after extensive review it was determined that NCL could not provide the Freestyle expereince, in the Hawaii market, that they are known for.

[Iamboatman]

Where did you get that info from???

[mylesf]

Where did you get that info from???

 

It was made public. If you were to pull itin's for the Dream and the Majesty, prior to Apollo, they were not positioned in their fleet after 09. In addition, this has been NCL's public position since they began the upgrading of their fleet. They also have acknowledge that their capacity is going to decrease in 09 but they are gearing up for a massive increase in 10 and 11. Their growth during these two years will far make up for the departure of the Wind, Dream, Crown, and Majesty!

[electricron]

The Dream and Majesty haven't been owned by NCL since late 2004, when NCL bought the Spirit from Star. Since that deal, long before Apollo showed any interest in NCL, the Dream, Majesty, Wind, Sea, Crown, and Marco Polo have been owned by Star, with NCL leasing them for a period of time. When NCL's leases have expired, Star has either sold the ships to other cruise lines, or incorporated them within its own fleet.

 

Marco Polo and Crown have been sold to other cruise lines. The Sea and Wind have been sailing in Star's fleet. The Dream and Majesty are heading to Louis.

 

The only NCL owned ship has been the Pride of Aloha. It and the other remaining Pride, the America, weren't included in the Apollo 50% buy in deal completely financing wise. By December 31st, a deadline arises and more NCL cash or ships head towards Star. Apparently, NCL has decided to keep ownership of the America but not the Aloha. This decision saves NCL close to $300 million in cash. If NCL had decided to keep both remaining Prides, NCL would have had to pay Star close to $500 million in cash by December 31st.

 

What Star will do with the Aloha is up to them? They could incorporate it into their fleet this year, sell it to another cruise line, or charter it to another cruise line, including back to NCL. Apparently the deal with Pullmantur didn't go through. Rumors suggests it's heading to Miami for 3 and 4 day Bahamas cruises. Let's wait and see what happens to the Aloha.