Apollo buys Regent

[Jancruz]

We have some exciting news to share with you about our company. Regent Seven Seas Cruises is being purchased by Apollo Management LP, a New York-based investment group, from Minneapolis-based Carlson.

 

Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises will be placed under the ownership of Prestige Cruise Holdings, Inc. (PCH), a corporation controlled by Apollo which will manage certain cruise portfolio assets of Apollo. NCL Corporation will remain a separate holding outside of PCH.

 

Regent Seven Seas Cruises will remain a wholly independent brand under my guidance as president of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and will continue to operate from its Fort Lauderdale, Florida headquarters, and reservations will continue to operate from Omaha, Nebraska. Oceania Cruises will remain in its Miami headquarters, headed by Bob Binder, president of Oceania Cruises. Both Bob and I will report directly to Frank Del Rio, chairman and CEO of Prestige Cruise Holdings.

 

In addition to the strong brand recognition and award-winning products of both brands, there is something else we both share - our commitment to our travel partners. The success of Regent Seven Seas Cruises and our new sister brand has been driven by you and the agency community as a whole. Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises are both renowned for their relationship with the agency community and that is something that will only get stronger as we build new ships, chart new destinations and explore new opportunities with our travel partners.

 

For you, this change of ownership will not have any impact on your relationship with Regent Seven Seas Cruises or your clients' experience on our ships. So the key messages I wish to share with you are:

 

Regent Seven Seas Cruises will continue to operate as a stand-alone brand

We will continue to deliver the same great experiences that your clients have enjoyed and that have made us successful

There are no plans to make changes to our existing offerings or published schedules

Our core management team and key personnel on land and at sea will remain intact

We will partner with Carlson to continue to grow the Regent brand at sea and on land. In addition to our plans to grow Regent at sea, Regent Hotels & Resorts will continue to operate and grow as part of Carlson Hotels Worldwide, the world's ninth largest hotel company. The Regent brand will continue to offer to our guests the very best in luxury service and travel experiences, including the finest personalized service and warm and friendly hospitality worldwide.

 

We are excited about the future of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and we will keep working with you to provide the very best luxury cruise experience for your clients. Thank you for your continued support of Regent.

 

Kindest personal regards,

 

Mark S. Conroy

President, Regent Seven Seas Cruises

[TLCOhio]

There are no plans to make changes to our existing offerings or published schedules

Our core management team and key personnel on land and at sea will remain intact. Mark S. Conroy President, Regent Seven Seas Cruises

 

All of the "happy talk" in this announcement sounds good, BUT, then there is the "real world". The new owner will have spent a billion dollars for Regent and needs return on that big investment. With NCL, Oceana and Regent all under their ownership, that narrows control of the cruise market more, especially at the higher end. Is that good or bad, long-term, for consumers who must pay the bills?

 

Looking for some more specifics and details that really benefit the consumers. THANKS! Terry in Ohio

[Iamboatman]

Those are very good questions. However, I do not know that there are any good answers right now.

 

Certainly the less cruise lines the less competition, but there is also the issue of needing to fill berths and finding the point of resistance by passengers.

 

One of the issues most certainly is crew training/service, for there is only so much that can be done with the hardware to support higher prices. The divergence of thought is "Does the present service support the price or will higher service support even higher prices?"

 

That said, I am sure Apollo is aware of the hardware issues and has figured in addressing them as well...though we just don't know how as of yet.

 

I plan on listening a lot and talking less on this issue...until I actually know something concrete.

[garykool81]

All of the "happy talk" in this announcement sounds good, BUT, then there is the "real world". The new owner will have spent a billion dollars for Regent and needs return on that big investment. With NCL, Oceana and Regent all under their ownership, that narrows control of the cruise market more, especially at the higher end. Is that good or bad, long-term, for consumers who must pay the bills?

 

Looking for some more specifics and details that really benefit the consumers. THANKS! Terry in Ohio

 

 

I can honestly say that I noticed *no* decrease in service, ambiance, food quality, etc., between our pre-Apollo Oceania trip and our post-Apollo Oceania trip. The experiences were virtually identical...didn't notice any cost cutting.

[canadagal]

I agree Eric.............guess only time will tell and until then it's all just speculation. If there are any major negative changes and impact it will surely be reflected in customer reviews. Until and if that happens I'm content to look on the positive side of all of this and just cool my heels until we know more.

Pat

[Iamboatman]

I want to be clear that I am not looking at the aquisition as a negative at all. I am pleased that a company that is clearly focused on developing itself as a major player in the cruise market has purchased Regent. I am looking forward to improvements and positive changes.

[canadagal]

Eric, I didn't mean the acquisition as a negative either........I was just stating "if" it turns out to be a negative that we will certainly hear about it from pax......sorry for the confusion. Also, I just read that the new holding company will be led by Frank Del Rio and I think that is a huge positive. Jan I'm surprised you never mentioned that! After all he's the CEO and Chairman of Oceania. Mark Conroy will still be President of Regent but will report to Mr. Del Rio. NCL Corp will be a separate entity from the new Holding company that encompasses Oceania and Regent........so that was more good news to me. Carlson has leased the Regent name to the new holding company also.

Pat

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Right, it might be nice to have someone posting directly on the boards from the company for a change, like FDR does!

 

As for change, I'm thinking it's probably going to be a good thing. I wonder how long they leased the name for. I was hoping they would dump the name and bring back the "lyre" logo, but I guess they would not want to shake things up in the short term.

 

I think what Eric means by "hardware" is new ships.

[canadagal]

Ooops, sorry Jan......I see in your post now that it did mention Mr. DelRio.........my mistake and my apology for that and for reading too quickly....missed it! Sorry!

Pat

[cruiseyguy]

I agree with Wendy--I hope FDR becomes as involved in Regent as he is (now) in Oceania and that his new corporate duties don't distract him from his signature personal attention. And I, too, hope he posts on the Regent board.

[CruiserPK]

I personally will be very disappointed if they merge the two cruise lines. I am perfecly happy with Regent and based on a good friend's experience, think Oceania would not work for us. So....I guess we will all have to stay tuned and see what happens.

 

Cheers, Pam

[Rickey 88]

I personally will be very disappointed if they merge the two cruise lines. I am perfecly happy with Regent and based on a good friend's experience, think Oceania would not work for us. So....I guess we will all have to stay tuned and see what happens.

 

Cheers, Pam

 

A press release today from FDR clearly states that there is no intention in "Regent-ize Oceania" or "Oceania-ize Regent".

 

It appears as if both lines will operate independently, and retain their individual identities. This should be good news for those who have a fondness for one brand or the other....

[xrvlcruiser]

Rickey 88,

 

Could you post the link to the press release?

 

Thanks . . .

[dougnewmanatsea]

Oceania and Regent will most definitely not be merged. They operate in two different market segments, especially now that Regent is all-inclusive.

 

They will also remain more or less independent. Prestige Cruise Holdings will be just that, a holding company, and aside from FDR and a few other people (one or two according to a recent article), everyone will either work for Regent or for Oceania... Not both. From an operational standpoint they will still be two separate companies with two separate management teams, in two separate cities even (Regent in Ft. Lauderdale and Oceania in Miami).

 

As for the newbuilds, they should be ordered sometime in 2008 and be based off the design of MARINER, which is apparently a more successful ship than VOYAGER from an operational standpoint, pod problems notwithstanding.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Could you post the link to the press release?

It's a news article (interview), not a press release.

 

You can read it for free here but you will need to register first, if you are not registered.

[xrvlcruiser]

Thanks Doug,

 

All three artilcle were intesting . . . thanks for pointing me in the rihgt direction.

 

xrvl

[Iamboatman]

FDR made an interesting and refreshing comment, which is that growth is expected through increased capacity and contemplates an order being placed in 2008. MC says delivery in 2010 is possible, but 2011 is more likely.

 

Recently, what tends to occur is the "buffing up" of present ships so that they are fresher in concept and more consistent with the new ship(s) when they arrive. This was done, by way of examples, by Celebrity and Seabourn.

 

I also found it interesting that the "model" is more than likely (it seems) that the new ship will be likely be based on the Mariner rather than the Voyager. I say this because, at least from this board, there seems to be a stronger affinity with the Voyager. (I happen to like the Mariner very much and do think it is well designed overall.)

 

One other thing is the talk of a possible IPO for Prestige. A very interesting play...and a great way to pay for some of these acquisitions without taking the money out of Apollo's or FDR's pockets. We shall see if it happens and how it will be structured.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I also found it interesting that the "model" is more than likely (it seems) that the new ship will be likely be based on the Mariner rather than the Voyager. I say this because, at least from this board, there seems to be a stronger affinity with the Voyager. (I happen to like the Mariner very much and do think it is well designed overall.)

I think a lot of the preference towards VOYAGER comes down to the fact that her suites are larger, especially the bathrooms. That isn't surprising, given that VOYAGER was intended to loosely combine the public spaces of MARINER with the suites of NAVIGATOR.

 

It will be interesting to see what the standard suites look like on the new ships. If based off MARINER, the new ships will presumably be a two-corridor design, which might mean smaller standard suites... Though I do expect more elaborate (and possibly more) suites above the standard level, and there has also been talk of adding yet more dining options.