Royal Caribbean sells 2 ships - Will Celebrity follow suit?

[C-Dragons]

 

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24059-royal-caribbean-s-majesty-and-empress-sold.html

 

Curious if X will transfer their oldest ships to an RCG subsidiary, or will just sell them off.

Edited December 17, 2020 by C-Dragons

[WonderMan3]

Seems odd that Celebrity would be releasing new itineraries for the older ships through next year if they were planning to sell them.

[C-Dragons]

3 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Seems odd that Celebrity would be releasing new itineraries for the older ships through next year if they were planning to sell them.

I agree, but then they have kept itineraries open for booking on ships that will most likely be canceled/modified in the near future.

[WonderMan3]

1 minute ago, C-Dragons said:

I agree, but then they have kept itineraries open for booking on ships that will most likely be canceled/modified in the near future.

Yeah, but those are itineraries that have been open for quite some time. The moment they shut them down or change them they would be faced with the possibility of a large number of passengers cancelling, and they can’t afford that right now. They can hold on to them and still present an outlook that they are waiting to see what happens. But to launch cruises knowing they aren’t going to operate them... I just don’t see them doing that.

[dkjretired]

3 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

Seems odd that Celebrity would be releasing new itineraries for the older ships through next year if they were planning to sell them.

Don’t know what’s going on but releasing itineraries hasn’t stopped them in the past. I remember once they spent millions on a ship refurb only to transfer the ship shortly after coming out of the refurb. It all depends on the bottom line.

[suenneil]

Spoken to our Celebrity Concierge this afternoon and they have NO plans to sell any ships and that includes not transferring 2 M class ships.  The whole fleet is staying Celebrity,

[bEwAbG]

The customer service people are always the last to know.  No company would want to risk word getting out until they're ready to announce it.

 

That said, I cannot imagine there is a huge market for old ships currently.  The M-Class are also about a decade newer than the ones RCG is getting rid of, so there is still plenty of life left in them for Celebrity's purposes.

[Arizona Wildcat]

Celebrity stated clearly they had no plans to sell on ships.  The two RCL ships sold were launched in 1990 and 1992.  Celebrity has no ships even close to that age.

X also announced a full update on the other two M Class ships.  Would make no sense.

[davekathy]

12 minutes ago, suenneil said:

Spoken to our Celebrity Concierge this afternoon and they have NO plans to sell any ships and that includes not transferring 2 M class ships.  The whole fleet is staying Celebrity,

A candid answer, not matter the Celebrity Cruise line job title. 

[marieps]

An X rep I spoke with two weeks ago had no idea Key West had voted to ban big ships.  I had to tell him to look it up.  I'm sure the concierge here is being paraphrased accurately, but that doesn't mean he/she was privy to Fain's plans.   He/she was just reporting what was known to be true.

Edited December 17, 2020 by marieps

[ECCruise]

4 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

Seems odd that Celebrity would be releasing new itineraries for the older ships through next year if they were planning to sell them.

Royal still had itineraries on Empress in Canada for fall, 2021 as recently as a couple of days ago.

[shipshape sam]

5 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

Seems odd that Celebrity would be releasing new itineraries for the older ships through next year if they were planning to sell them.

Once they have your money....

 

I have no doubt that they KNOW, within a range, how many (%) will cancel, will transfer to another sailing/ship.  

[C-Dragons]

2 hours ago, dkjretired said:

Don’t know what’s going on but releasing itineraries hasn’t stopped them in the past. I remember once they spent millions on a ship refurb only to transfer the ship shortly after coming out of the refurb. It all depends on the bottom line.

True.

We weren’t too happy when, out of the blue, X canceled our 14 night repositioning cruise from Dubai to Civitavecchia. Then they changed the itinerary to make it a round trip from Dubai. We had been booked for 9 months. So no one can predict what X will do.

Edited December 17, 2020 by C-Dragons

[WonderMan3]

31 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

Royal still had itineraries on Empress in Canada for fall, 2021 as recently as a couple of days ago.

Were those itineraries just released in the past few weeks? I already discussed above differentiating between itineraries that have been out there for awhile where they may hold off announcing changes or cancellations vs. announcing brand new itineraries.

[ECCruise]

5 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

Were those itineraries just released in the past few weeks? I already discussed above differentiating between itineraries that have been out there for awhile where they may hold off announcing changes or cancellations vs. announcing brand new itineraries.

They may have been out earlier, but I noticed them for the first time a week or so ago and was interested since they were a unique itinerary, i.e., Montreal RT.

[Cruise Wonderland]

6 hours ago, ECCruise said:

Royal still had itineraries on Empress in Canada for fall, 2021 as recently as a couple of days ago.

 

Those itineraries of Empress of the Seas were published long time ago.

 

For Celebrity Cruises, this week they just release the whole season (2022 April to October) of new Europe itineraries on Infinity and Constellation. If they are going to announce the sale of two ships soon (e.g. in next month), they do not need to spend the time in preparing these new itineraries.

[upwarduk]

10 hours ago, C-Dragons said:

True.

We weren’t too happy when, out of the blue, X canceled our 14 night repositioning cruise from Dubai to Civitavecchia. Then they changed the itinerary to make it a round trip from Dubai. We had been booked for 9 months. So no one can predict what X will do.

We were booked on that EASTER 2015 Century sailing. Originally she was then going to France for a refit before being transferred to Pullmantur. At the last moment( September 2014) she was transferred to the Asian market.

More recently, in April 2020, I rang our TA to cancel our August 1st 2020 cruise and was told to off,” as it will all be over by then and you will be sailing.”

I have lost faith in information passed on those who are supposed to be ’in the know!’

[excitedofharpenden]

18 hours ago, C-Dragons said:

 

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24059-royal-caribbean-s-majesty-and-empress-sold.html

 

Curious if X will transfer their oldest ships to an RCG subsidiary, or will just sell them off.

My Magic 8 Ball says "maybe"😉

 

Phil 

[TeeRick]

18 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Celebrity stated clearly they had no plans to sell on ships.  The two RCL ships sold were launched in 1990 and 1992.  Celebrity has no ships even close to that age.

X also announced a full update on the other two M Class ships.  Would make no sense.

Agree with you.  These two RCCL ships were 30 years old and not at all considered adequate for the modern state of cruising.  I know that they likely have their fans but for me I would have no intention of ever cruising on them.  But I think that is not the case with M-Class which are still very nice ships with modern amenities and fit into a size category that Celebrity cannot abandon.  I would cruise (and have) M-Class with no hesitation.

[Jeremiah1212]

Age of ships aside, if the travel industry takes a substantial hit to demand in the coming years and cabins aren't filled...ships will move. Beyond is already under construction, albeit now delayed. At some point they can't continue to add capacity. 

[C-Dragons]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Agree with you.  These two RCCL ships were 30 years old and not at all considered adequate for the modern state of cruising.  I know that they likely have their fans but for me I would have no intention of ever cruising on them.  But I think that is not the case with M-Class which are still very nice ships with modern amenities and fit into a size category that Celebrity cannot abandon.  I would cruise (and have) M-Class with no hesitation.

The M class ships do fill a niche that X needs. They are necessary for cruises through the Panama canal.

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, C-Dragons said:

The M class ships do fill a niche that X needs. They are necessary for cruises through the Panama canal.

The largest ship allowed through the new canal is 1200'x160' with a 50' draft. So far the largest ship has been Norwegian Bliss. I don't know, or care how big the Solstice and Edge ships are.

[Cruise Wonderland]

1 hour ago, grandgeezer said:

The largest ship allowed through the new canal is 1200'x160' with a 50' draft. So far the largest ship has been Norwegian Bliss. I don't know, or care how big the Solstice and Edge ships are.

 

Norwegian Bliss has some designs specially adapted to passing through the canal. On the other hand some ships smaller than Norwegian Bliss cannot enter the canal due to various limitations.

 

Solstice Class and Edge Class are both smaller than Norwegian Bliss. I guess the Magic Carpet on Edge Class may be a barrier for entering the locks of the canal. Not sure about Solstice Class but until now we haven't seen any Panama Canal cruises on Solstice Class vessels (hope my memory is correct).

[dkjretired]

23 hours ago, suenneil said:

Spoken to our Celebrity Concierge this afternoon and they have NO plans to sell any ships and that includes not transferring 2 M class ships.  The whole fleet is staying Celebrity,

 

I believe you were told that but Celebrity's rumor mill is horrible.  In the past we have seen Captains of ships who swore things were being done only to be proven wrong.  As an example years ago Century was going into dry dock and numerous people on board including Captains swore it was to be cut in half and a section put in to expand the size of the ship.  It was never done.  Don't believe anything until you see a press release, I can tell you that from 25 years of experience on this board. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

21 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

 

I believe you were told that but Celebrity's rumor mill is horrible.  In the past we have seen Captains of ships who swore things were being done only to be proven wrong.  As an example years ago Century was going into dry dock and numerous people on board including Captains swore it was to be cut in half and a section put in to expand the size of the ship.  It was never done.  Don't believe anything until you see a press release, I can tell you that from 25 years of experience on this board. 

Can we believe the Celebrity presser that said they have no plans to sell the M Class ships.  Not rumour or speculation.  Remember they just announced the refit for the last two.

As for cruising not having demand.  Just think about how many ships have gone to the breakers!  More than in 2017-2019 combined.