Carnival Corp’s fleet rationalisation plan has now turned to subsidiary Princess Cruises, which is reported to have sold older cruiseships.
Princess informed passengers in an email that the 77,500-gt Sea Princess (built 1998) and 77,400-gt Sun Princess (built 1995) will leave the fleet with immediate effect, UK-based website Cruise Capital reported on Friday.
“We are writing to share the news that Sea Princess and Sun Princess have been sold and will be leaving our fleet,” the Carnival subsidiary wrote in the email.
“While it is never easy to say goodbye to any ship in our fleet, the sale of these ships will allow us to deploy newer ships enhancing our offerings for Australia cruisers.
Carnival Corp confirmed the sale of both ships on Monday.
One of the ships has been widely reported over the past two days as joining the fleet of Japan Grace, the vessel provider for Tokyo-based charity Peace Boat.
Online news provider Cruise Industry News has quoted Japan Grace as saying that it was “chartering” a large 2,400-berth cruiseship of around 77,000 gt that had previously served the Asian cruise market out of Taiwan and Japan.
The description matches the Sun Princess, which has been based out of both countries in recent years.
Japan Grace is said to have indicated that the new ship, which is to be named Pacific World, will replace Peace Boat’s long-serving 35,300-gt Ocean Dream (built 1981) and the 47,400-gt The Zenith (built 1992), which was acquired from the Royal Caribbean Group in in 2019.
The Zenith was delivered just before the coronavirus pandemic shut down the cruise industry. It has yet to make a voyage for Peace Boat. It is currently laid up in the Greek port of Lavrion.
A Peace Boat spokesperson, when contacted Friday, said the company could not provide any comment on the reports of a new ship.
Carnival said on Tuesday that it was accelerating the exit of 18 less efficient ships from its fleet, with chief executive Arnold Donald hinting that the departure of three was imminent.
On Wednesday the company confirmed the demolition sale of the 70,500-gt Carnival Fascination (built 1994).
The Princess sales bring the number of ships Carnival Corp has sold to 14. Of these, nine were sold for further trading and five for scrap.
Carnival said the 18 ships would represent a 12% decline of pre-Covid-19 capacity but only 3% of 2019 operating income.
This article has been updated to include confirmation of the deal by Carnival Corp
