For Fans of Horizon

[richsea]

RCL has announced that they will sell their interest in Island Cruises & retain Island Star, formally Horizon. The Island Star will be transferred to Pullmantur, thus sailing with Zenith again.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/ourCompany/pressCenter/pressReleases/info.do;jsessionid=0000qecPofHCiVTwQ0pwXPjakEn:12hbiocus?prDate=10-06-2008&prCode=A

[Andy]

RCL has announced that they will sell their interest in Island Cruises & retain Island Star, formally Horizon. The Island Star will be transferred to Pullmantur, thus sailing with Zenith again.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/ourCompany/pressCenter/pressReleases/info.do;jsessionid=0000qecPofHCiVTwQ0pwXPjakEn:12hbiocus?prDate=10-06-2008&prCode=A

 

Hi Rich !

 

I read this yesterday. I am glad to see that Horizon and Zenith will be reunited in 2009. I was hoping that either or both of the ships would move to Celebrity or Azamara, but that is not to be.

 

I wonder if this news.... combined with the weakening economy, reduces the odds of Mercury leaving Celebrity's fleet. I believe that Mercury has a better chance of sticking with Celebrity a while longer. We will see what happens.

[Peregrina651]

I am glad to hear that both are still in the family, so to speak. Our first Celebrity cruise was on Horizon and our second was on Zenith. We have very fond memories of both cruises, which is perhaps why we have made Celebrity our CL of choice.

[richsea]

Hi Rich !

 

I wonder if this news.... combined with the weakening economy, reduces the odds of Mercury leaving Celebrity's fleet. I believe that Mercury has a better chance of sticking with Celebrity a while longer. We will see what happens.

 

Hi Andy! I certainly hope that you're right about Mercury, but I fear that it is just wishful thinking on our part. The fact that they are intent upon transferring Galaxy, to me at least, means that Mercury is indeed next to go. I had hoped that with the new builds coming on line we could look forward expanding the line with more sailings from more home ports, & possibly a Caribbean season longer than 4 months. But I don't think that will happen.:(

[Andy]

Hi Andy! I certainly hope that you're right about Mercury, but I fear that it is just wishful thinking on our part. The fact that they are intent upon transferring Galaxy, to me at least, means that Mercury is indeed next to go. I had hoped that with the new builds coming on line we could look forward expanding the line with more sailings from more home ports, & possibly a Caribbean season longer than 4 months. But I don't think that will happen.:(

 

Hi Rich !

 

I agree that none of us know what Celebrity has planned for Mercury, but I am more optimistic about Mercury sticking around. I could easily be wrong, but I feel with everything going on in the world, and the financial problems clearly moving into Europe and other regions.... that the pendulum may swing towards having at least a few more ships in the US over the next 18 months.

 

While none of us know what will ultimately happen with Mercury, I strongly feel that as the world has changed over the past several months (particularly in the past few weeks), it should keep more ships in the US. If this strategy works, there may not be an urge to say goodbye to Mercury. I believe we will get longer Caribbean seasons, starting next Winter.

 

As things change, it should be very interesting to see how the Cruise lines adapt. I believe the Mercury re-deployment is just one of more to come. We will see what happens.