A Carnival Cruise Line ship that was widely reported in September as having been sold for recycling in Turkey has turned up under the ownership of what appears to be a trading buyer.
IHS Markit records indicate that the 70,500-gt Carnival Fascination (built 1994) was recently handed over to Century Harmony Cruise and renamed Century Harmony.
The new owner is shown to be a Marshall Islands-registered entity with no listed contact details. TradeWinds was unable to contact it for further comment.
However, cruise industry sources with knowledge of the deal say that Century Harmony Cruise is backed by Asian interests who intend to use it as a floating hotel in the Far East.
Europe-based manning agents are said to have been tasked with recruiting a full crew for the Century Harmony, which is undergoing mobilisation in Spain after sitting out the pandemic period in cold lay-up in Cadiz.
It is unclear whether the ship was bought directly from Carnival Corp’s flagship brand or via intermediaries that were said to have acquired it in September.
Some sources believe the Turkish ship recycler that intended to purchase the ship did not conclude the deal due to vessel congestion at Aliaga’s breaking facilities.
Growing demand for floating accommodation
If the Century Harmony is used for an accommodation role, it will be the sixth older cruiseship this year to find such employment under new ownership.
Two former Cruises & Maritime Voyages (CMV) ships sold at auction in October are heading to the Middle East to act as accommodation ships.
Greek shipowner Marios Iliopoulos’ 46,000-gt Magellan (built 1985), which he bought at auction via his ferry company Seajets, was in the Mediterranean on Monday, heading for the Suez Canal.
Sources close to Iliopoulos said the ship is en route to Oman, where it will take up a charter as an accommodation ship. It is the first of six cruiseships the ferry mogul bought this year to find employment. The remaining ships are laid up in Greece.
Highseas Ltd, a St Vincent & the Grenadines-registered entity that acquired CMV’s 22,100-gt Marco Polo (built 1965) at auction, is sending its recent purchase to Dubai for a similar accommodation ship charter.
Company sources indicated to cruise media recently that the Marco Polo could possibly return to active cruise service once the industry recovers.
Other older cruiseships that TradeWinds has previously reported as being sold for accommodation roles include Fred Olsen Cruise Lines’ 28,600-gt Boudicca (built 1973) and Black Watch (built 1972), which were sold in September to Turkish interests.
The 28,500-gt Albatros (built 1973), a sistership of the Fred Olsen duo, was sold around the same time by Germany’s Phoenix Reisen to Egypt's Pickalbatros hotel chain, which intends to rebuild it as a floating resort on the Red Sea.
