2 ships to leave Princess Cruises fleet
By Richard Tribou
Orlando Sentinel
Sep 22, 2020 at 7:47 AM
The coronavirus pandemic has forced another cruise line to sell its
ships as Princess Cruises announced both the Sun Princess and Sea
Princess were leaving its fleet.
The announcement is the latest from cruise lines that offload older
hardware that cannot sail as efficiently as newer, larger ships and
would not be as profitable when cruise lines effort their return to
sailing with reduced capacity to battle the spread of COVID-19.
Princess Cruises' parent company Carnival Corp. announced earlier in
September that it intended to sell or scrap 18 ships from among its
multiple brands. Already announced were the scrapping of four older
Carnival Cruise Line ships and the sale of four older Holland America
ships.
The two Princess ships were sold to undisclosed buyers, according to a
company press release. While they both had once served the North
American market and sailed from Florida’s Port Everglades, that had
since migrated to Australia.
“Both ships defined the premium cruise experience with Australians and
New Zealanders spending close to 14 million nights aboard these
ships," said Princess Cruises president Jan Swartz. "While it is never
easy to say goodbye to any ship in our fleet, this will allow us to
deploy newer ships enhancing our offerings for Australia cruisers and
focus on bringing into service exciting newbuilds like the upcoming
delivery of Enchanted Princess.”
Customers booked on either ship’s itineraries, which ran into late
2021, will be offered a refund or opportunity to rebook on another
Princess ship.
Sun Princess debuted in 1995, the first of the line’s Sun Class with
about a 2,000-passenger capacity and weighing 77,441 gross tons. It
migrated to Australia in 2007 and also was used by the line in its
foray into the Japanese market in 2013.
Sister ship Sea Princess debuted in 1998, but actually left the
company for Carnival Corp.'s British line P&O Cruises by 2003, but
Princess reacquired the ship in 2005.
There were four ships in the Sun Class, and with these two now sold,
Princess Cruises has no ship in that class, having previously sold off
Dawn Princess and Ocean Princess.
In comparison, the line’s newest ship, Sky Princess, comes in at
145,281 gross tons and has a 3,660-passenger capacity based on double
occupancy.
The cruise line still has 16 ships in its fleet and four more on order.
The cruise line, which was at the center of two coronavirus outbreaks
in early 2020, has suspended sailing through mid-December. The deadly
outbreak on Diamond Princess that was quarantined in Japan back in
February was among the incidents that led to the global shut down of
cruise lines in March.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/travel/florida-cruise-guide/os-tr-cru-princess-cruises-sells-two-ships-20200922-esien7ek5jhltheho7sepexbi4-story.html?outputType=amp&fbclid=IwAR2tsW2OeVyV7t4PH5rVV59PwkmhsgQcebBTKfOB_9iQPzAyPsWm9FmnWds
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