Pacific Princess Leaving In 07??

[Captain Rhone]

I found an article from Seatrade Insider and talks about Oceania is looking for a 4th ship. I'm wondering if this will be the Pacific Princess after her 2006-07 season in Australia and the South Pacific as the new ship is expected to be named "Marina" in Hong Kong in 7/2007 if the deal goes through so maybe it'll be the Pacific Princess beacuse she will be closer to there? I know alot of people like this ship so I'm wondering why they would want to get rid of it if this is the planned ship to leave? Here is the article...

 

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.’

 

Del Rio did not elaborate further but, as suggested by his use of the word ‘sister’ to describe the acquisition, the company is pursuing another R-class vessel, Seatrade Insider has confirmed.

 

Oceania’s fleet currently consists of the former R One, R Two and R Five.

 

R Three and Four are sailing as Pacific Princess and Tahitian Princess for Princess Cruises. R Six is owned outright by Pullmantur. R Seven is Delphin of Delphin Renaissance. R Eight is Swan Hellenic’s Minerva II

[bdjam]

According to Princess – at the time the Regal Princess transfer was announced – the small ships in the fleet help to facilitate “Personal Choice” and they won’t be going anywhere. That’s according to Princess anyway… :rolleyes:

[calikak]

Whichever ship they pick, it'll need to go through some time in dry and/or wet dock to be switched over to Oceania, so it could probably be either Pacific or Tahitian, if it's going to be one of the Princess ships that goes over there. Hopefully it's neither of them and it'll be one of the other R ships still out there.

[Coral]

I have no doubt Oceania wants the Tahitian and Pacific but I don't think they will get them.....

 

I think they will stay with Princess but if they don't, they will stay with Carnival Corp in some capacity - they will not leave Carnival Corp.

[Coral]

I am rethinking my statement above a little bit - Does Princess actually own the Tahitian and Pacific Princess? These ships are being leased or originally being leased but I never heard that they were actually purchased by Princess. And with the last paragraph indicating that "R 6 is owned outright" I sort of wonder who Oceania is negotiating with. I wonder what Princess's lease comments actually are. Princess may not have a say in keeping the ship - no one really knows what the contract says. Though if there is a bidding war and Carnival Corp wants to keep them, they have the money to do so.

[calikak]

Coral, I read this on a website about Pacific Princess:

 

"In late September/early October 2001, the entire fleet was seized by creditors and laid up at Gibraltar and later moved to Marseilles (with the exception of the Tahiti-based R THREE and FOUR, which were laid up at Uturoa). In 2002, Princess Cruises announced the purchase of the THREE and FOUR, and following a slight refit, they emerged in a new all-white livery with funnels sporting Princess' familiar 'sea witch' logo." (emphasis added)

 

http://www.maritimematters.com/pacificprincess2-1.html (FYI, great photos of the ship on this site)

 

Then I did a google search and came up with this:

 

09/08/02

P&O Princess Details R3 & R4 Deployment

Princess today detailed its acquisition of Renaissance vessels R3 and R4. The 684-berth ships, which originally entered service in 1999, will be acquired through a lease purchase structure at a total combined capital cost of approximately $150m. They are contracted to be deployed in the Pacific for at least the first two years of their operation by P&O Princess. R4, which will be renamed Tahitian Princess, is expected to continue operations in French Polynesia for a further three years. Tahitian Princess will sail year round in French Polynesia as part of the Princess fleet. Her homeport will continue to be Tahiti. R3 will be renamed Pacific Princess and will operate on a split deployment divided between Princess and P&O Cruises in Australia. For the six months of the year that she is part of the Princess fleet, she will offer itineraries throughout the Pacific and French Polynesia. For the other half of the year the ship's homeport will be Sydney and she will offer premium cruises to Australians under the P&O Cruises Australia brand to French New Caledonia and elsewhere in the South Pacific. With the addition of the Pacific Princess to the contemporary product delivered by the Pacific Sky, P&O Cruises in Australia will increase its capacity by 30% and provide products targeted at a range of Australian consumer tastes. 'Our strong global reach and our increasingly modern fleet gives us the flexibility to deploy our ships strategically,' said P&O Princess ceo Peter Ratcliffe. 'Operating one ship for half the year under our Princess brand and for the other half of the year under our P&O Cruises Australia brand enables us to operate in the peak summer period year round, selling across the northern and the southern hemispheres.'

 

Here's a link to that site (it's cached): http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:A3KhQLU-3BYJ:passengershipsociety.com/news2002.htm+%22Tahitian+Princess%22+lease+agreement&hl=en

[calikak]

Here's a little more info about the lease arrangement (can you tell it's a slow day at work? :D).

 

"R3 and R4 each have a gross tonnage of 30,277 grt and a top speed

of 19.5 knots. They both have 684 lower berths and were built in

1999. They are two of the eight sister ships previously operated

by Renaissance Cruises.

 

In March 2002, P&O Princess Cruises announced that it entered

into an agreement to charter R8, which will be renamed Minerva

II, to operate under its UK discovery brand, Swan Hellenic.

 

The two ships are owned by French investors and had been leased

to Renaissance Cruises. P&O Princess will lease the ships for

approximately two years, from the fourth quarter of 2002. At the

end of the lease period, P&O Princess will purchase the two ships

for a fixed price.

 

The ships will be accounted for on balance sheet, together with

the associated lease and purchase liability. It is expected that

the two ships will be capitalized in P&O Princess' books at a

combined value of around USD150 million, giving a capital cost of

USD110,000 per berth."

 

http://bankrupt.com/TCREUR_Public/020813.mbx

 

I haven't read anything more recent on this, but if nothing changed and the above info is correct, then sometime late last year the Tahitian and Pacific would have been purchased by Princess, and would no longer be just leased.

[Coral]

Thanks for letting me know the sale went through......I was wondering about that :)

[patlanta]

© Copyright 2005 Seatrade Communications Limited. Replication or redistribution in whole or in part is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Seatrade Communications Limited.

 

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.’

Del Rio did not elaborate further but, as suggested by his use of the word ‘sister’ to describe the acquisition, the company is pursuing another R-class vessel, Seatrade Insider has confirmed. Oceania’s fleet currently consists of the former R One, R Two and R Five. R Three and Four are sailing as Pacific Princess and Tahitian Princess for Princess Cruises. R Six is owned outright by Pullmantur. R Seven is Delphin of Delphin Renaissance. R Eight is Swan Hellenic’s Minerva II.

"Debut of Nautica and the Arrival of Marina, Oceania Cruises' Fourth Ship

 

The exquisite, mid-sized Nautica holds 684 guests, as do Regatta and Insignia, the first two ships in the Oceania Cruises fleet. Together they form an exquisite trio that sails to the world's most exotic and alluring destinations. Soon after the naming ceremony, Nautica will embark on her Magical Maiden Voyage, a 24-day odyssey from Athens toSingapore. "Our growing fleet has been voted one of the top threecruise lines in the world in our first two years of existence, a feat

never before achieved in this industry," said Del Rio with pride. And just as the debut of Nautica was announced at Insignia's naming in Monte Carlo, Frank Del Rio announced the planned debut of the line's fourth ship, Marina, which is expected to be named in Hong Kong on Saturday, July 7, 2007."