Ocean Princess for sale

[Love.II.Cruise]

Personally, for us those ships will not be missed. Our current favorites are Island Princess and Sapphire Princess. JMHO

[yyjguy]

During the annual shareholders conference over at Royal Caribbean International it was stated by the CEO that as Azamera is finally making a profit, growth was being looked at, but through "additonal tonnage" not additional vessels. According to some, that is the first hint that Spendour of the Seas and Legend will be moved over to Azamera. As a result I can not see them buying the Princess vessels.

Over at Prestige, now under NCL ownership, the continued trend of building fantastic new ships will no doubt continue. Oceania's new Marina and Riviera are a huge success for them, and in an attempt to update the other three vessels, Regatta has just had a large refit, however none are scheduled for the other two. In fact they had Insignia chartered out to another cruise line for over a year owing to a weakness in bookings for their older ships.

The new Viking Line ships will put pressure on all mid sized ship operators to keep up or fade away, and I do not think Azamera or Oceania would want these old girls to run competition with all that the new mid sized ships have to offer.

There should be a market for the 8 old R ships somewhere, and I would expect it to be a lower tier cruise line such as Louis, Thompson or perhaps a new start up.

[Coral]

My memory could prove me wrong here but I believe Radisson (Regent) owned Paul Gauguin ship. When they sold it, there was a lease agreement in place that allowed Regent to book/sail for an extended time before the ship was transferred to the new company. This made for any easy transition between companies (at least from the casual observer).

 

If and when Princess sells the Ocean Princess, it could take months or a year for the new company to acquire it or else it is possible Princess would lease it out to complete the existing bookings. Or, it could disappear quickly..... Probably unlikely....

Edited September 26, 2014 by Coral

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...If/when a sale happens, they will have to deal with some very disappointed customers and there will be some amount of goodwill lost, but pragmatically, that will relate to a very small fraction of the cruising population. At least that's what I suspect their thinking is...

 

For booked passengers, hopefully generous move-over offers will be tendered at the time of a sale. The problem is, many of us have little or no "wiggle room" in our vacation schedules. I would personally avoid booking the smaller ships in that case.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Ryndam2002

[Aussie Gal]

We are booked on the Ocean Princess on a 32 day cruise from Singapore to Cape Town next April which we booked back in May, 2013. This morning we received a mail out from Princess advertising the Shore excursions and the Lotus spa for our cruise. At this stage, it is all systems go until of course they receive a buyer.

 

I am hoping as Coral mentioned that they would still do the itineraries that are booked or would lease the ship back until their bookings are completed. Our cruise is fully booked, though when we make our final payment at the end of November, that of course could change.

 

Jennie

[Coral]

Just as a pre-caution, it would be wise to take extra care in booking any flights. Either book air through Princess or have insurance that will cover you in case you need to cancel your air portion. At least a backup plan.

 

I honestly think that when Princess does sell the ship, there will be a very long notice to cover bookings.

[sammiedawg]

I'm not surprised, we were told a couple years ago that the Coral and Island were projected to be the small ships of Princess. I also noted the Ocean and Pacific were not scheduled for the yearly Amazon trip so that hinted at change.

I've not sailed Ocean or Pacific but hoped to try them someday. Maybe we will still get the opportunity. We've been on Oceania Regatta and have the twin Insignia booked for next year, loved the Regatta.

Some here have mentioned the Prinsendam. I did not care for that ship, just too old in the tooth for my taste. There is a distinct musty smell in a few areas of that ship, outside doorways are rotting and it just feels and looks old fashioned.

[Aussie Gal]

We are lucky that we are able to book most of our overseas flights using F.F. points which we always need to book early when they first become available. We also only book hotels that don't need deposits and we have a yearly Travel Insurance Policy which would cover any other expenses. But saying that, we would be so disappointed if our plans didn't eventuate especially as in the New Year we will need to get Visas for India and Myanmar which will cost us money and I very much doubt that Princess would compensate us for these if the cruise is cancelled.

 

Jennie

[shredie]

Personally, for us those ships will not be missed. Our current favorites are Island Princess and Sapphire Princess. JMHO

 

If the trend to mega ships continues, I think you might see the end of the Island/Coral, and who knows what's going on with the Sapphire. The loss of the little ships portends nothing good, I fear, since the next-smaller ones will be in line for any additional sales of ships.

[beg3yrs]

For booked passengers, hopefully generous move-over offers will be tendered at the time of a sale. The problem is, many of us have little or no "wiggle room" in our vacation schedules. I would personally avoid booking the smaller ships in that case.

 

The problem with move-over offers is that the offer is a choice of keeping your existing booking or moving over to another voyage for a large financial incentive. I don't think the choice being no cruise at all or a financial incentive to move to another voyage qualifies as a move-over offer. It's more like sink or swim.

[Astro Flyer]

If the trend to mega ships continues, I think you might see the end of the Island/Coral, and who knows what's going on with the Sapphire. The loss of the little ships portends nothing good, I fear, since the next-smaller ones will be in line for any additional sales of ships.

 

The Sapphire/Diamond are larger (116,000 tons) than the original Grand-class ships (109,000 tons) so hopefully the Sapphire & Diamond will be around for many years. :) And with the Island & Coral being the largest Princess ships allowed in Venice it's doubtful to me that they'll sell them.

 

I certainly don't know what will happen but with the Sun-class ships Downunder experiencing "technical problems" those may be the next to go after the Ocean & Pacific & be replaced by Grand-class ships.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Astro Flyer

[Putterdude]

While I am sure that the impending sale of the ship does create uncertainty and anxiety for people booked on cruises or who may be considering a booking. But the sale of such an asset does not occur overnight or even a month or two. There is the offering process which I am sure is underway right now, but even or if a buyer steps up there is going to the a negotiation period and then once a price is agreed upon there will be a due diligence period including inspections, marine survey, and sea trials all of which are going to take months and months. The sale process is much more complex then purchasing a used car. Now all of this is likely off the table or dramatically shortened if she gets moved to related company.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

The problem with move-over offers is that the offer is a choice of keeping your existing booking or moving over to another voyage for a large financial incentive. I don't think the choice being no cruise at all or a financial incentive to move to another voyage qualifies as a move-over offer. It's more like sink or swim.

 

Good point!

[GUT2407]

The problem with move-over offers is that the offer is a choice of keeping your existing booking or moving over to another voyage for a large financial incentive. I don't think the choice being no cruise at all or a financial incentive to move to another voyage qualifies as a move-over offer. It's more like sink or swim.

 

 

And will the offer be as attractive when you have no option.

 

A "move over" because they have over booked it is in the company's interests to make it as attractive as they possibly can, but when you don't have the choice of saying "nope I'll just stay where I am" my fear is they might "lowball" you.

 

Now in my experience Princess have normally been very fair, but I've also never had my ship sold out from under me.

[GUT2407]

Does anyone know of any other case where Princess sold a ship and how that was handled.

 

I expect that they'll do similar to what most lines do and have the transfer after all their sailing have been completed, the last sailing will probably sell out in two days if they do it right.

Edited September 26, 2014 by GUT2407
"i" key sticks.

[beg3yrs]

And will the offer be as attractive when you have no option.

 

A "move over" because they have over booked it is in the company's interests to make it as attractive as they possibly can, but when you don't have the choice of saying "nope I'll just stay where I am" my fear is they might "lowball" you.

 

Now in my experience Princess have normally been very fair, but I've also never had my ship sold out from under me.

 

Does anyone know of any other case where Princess sold a ship and how that was handled.

 

I expect that they'll do similar to what most lines do and have the transfer after all their sailing have been completed, the last sailing will probably sell out in two days if they do it right.

 

If the transfer of ownership is completed before all scheduled voyages have occurred, I suspect it would be very similar to the case where a whole ship is chartered to a private group for a period of time. This was recently done on one of the Grand class ships (can't remember which one off the top of my head). Existing bookings were simply cancelled with a small pittance of credit offered toward another cruise.

 

I personally hope Princess' bean-counters have the class to go with GUT2407's scenario.

[Aussie Gal]

The small Royal Princess (a sister to the Ocean and Pacific) was moved over to P&O back in 2011. We were on the very last of that ship's cruises under Princess and we had booked about 18 months out. Of course that was being moved to a sister Company under the Carnival umbrella. A completely different scenario to being sold to an outside Company.

 

Jennie

[GUT2407]

I am a little surprised Princess hasn't released a statement about how they intend to deal with it.

 

The logical thing would be do it the same as selling a house and have a settlement date in the contract when/if they find a buyer.

 

But will they act logically?

Edited September 26, 2014 by GUT2407

[MMDown Under]

 

There should be a market for the 8 old R ships somewhere, and I would expect it to be a lower tier cruise line such as Louis, Thompson or perhaps a new start up.

 

Or a lower tier country, such as Australia. :)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

The small ships will be a thing of the past ..

[Kewz1]

We are booked on the 1 Aug sailing of the British Isles. We will already be in England so the possible cancellation of this cruise, while annoying, will not majorly disrupt our plans.

 

I do have a question/concern that maybe someone here can address. If a major change occurs to our itinerary because of the ship being sold can we still get a full refund even if past the PIF date? We don't much care to whom the ship belongs. We booked for the itinerary.

 

Thanks!

 

Kristen

[beg3yrs]

I do have a question/concern that maybe someone here can address. If a major change occurs to our itinerary because of the ship being sold can we still get a full refund even if past the PIF date? We don't much care to whom the ship belongs. We booked for the itinerary.

 

I sure wish Bruce Muzz would chime in on this thread!

 

Anyway, regarding your question, I would suspect if there's a major change to your itinerary because of the ship being sold, you would get a full refund. My reasoning is that if the ship is already sold, you would no longer be traveling on a Princess ship and Princess could not be responsible for your voyage. Seems that would void the passage contract and money would be refunded.

 

Now, if the ship is still owned by Princess but its itinerary changes in a major way to support the sale (repositioning to the future owner's dry dock for their branding re-fit, for instance), if the embarkation or disembarkation ports change, that too would void passage contract and money would be refunded. Technically, you pay for a voyage from Point A to Point B (A and B could be the same). Stops in between those points are not guaranteed in the contract, just Point A and Point B.

 

Alternatively, I've had hotels sold out from under me with new owners honoring my reservation and price but not the previous chain's loyalty-based amenities. I was also given the option to cancel without penalty. I know a ship is not a hotel (although there are many similarities) but I think this is a valid comparison.

 

Now with all that said, Princess has been reasonably generous with situations like this in the past. Over time I've observed them 'learning', i.e. getting better at handling odd situations so I wouldn't worry too much about getting a refund if major changes happen.

 

BTW, getting 'cancel for any reason' insurance might not be a bad way to go here.

[Shogun]

Hi All

Do not think Princess will have a problem selling older ships, there are many smaller cruise lines in Europe using ships that are up to 25 years old, in fact the very first cruise ship l was on Cunard is still a float some place in Greece.

Even UK you have lines like Saga,Thomson or even Fred Olson

 

Yours Shogun

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[long cruiser]

The part i am not happy about is the fact on longer cruises(over 31 days ) you generally have to make final payment 120 out.We are booked for a 32 day cruise on the ocean princess on feb 26.

long cruiser

[earljr]

The small Royal Princess (a sister to the Ocean and Pacific) was moved over to P&O back in 2011. We were on the very last of that ship's cruises under Princess and we had booked about 18 months out. Of course that was being moved to a sister Company under the Carnival umbrella. A completely different scenario to being sold to an outside Company.

 

Jennie

 

Hi guys :D