Princess Cruises, the World’s leading international cruise line has just announced the removal of 2 ships from its fleet. Sun Princess together with Sea Princess have been sold to undisclosed buyers.
The sale of these vessels is in line with parent company Carnival Corporation’s recent announcement and plan to accelerate the removal of less efficient ships from its fleet.
“Sun Princess and Sea Princess contributed to significant growth in Australian cruising,” said Princess Cruises president Jan Swartz.
“Both ships defined the premium cruise experience with Australians and New Zealanders spending close to 14 million nights aboard these ships. 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.”
The first ship in the Sun Class, Sun Princess was introduced in 1995 debuting in the Caribbean and was amongst the largest ships in the world at the time. The 2,000-guest Sun Princess also sailed in Alaska and Panama Canal, among other destinations, before being homeported in Australia in October 2007.
Sun Princess also helped to open up the Japanese market in 2013 as the first foreign-flagged cruise ship to offer cruises designed specifically for the Japanese cruise market.
The 2,000-guest Sea Princess became synonymous with World Cruises, having completed six full world cruises since 2013. During her time based in Australia, Sea Princess travelled the equivalent of 35 times around the world.
Prior to joining Sun Princess in Australia, Sea Princess sailed in Europe and Alaska as well as the Caribbean, including serving as a homeport ship in Barbados in the mid- to late-2000s.
Removal of 2 ships in detail
Due to the imminent departure of these two ships from the fleet, Princess Cruises will cancel published itineraries which include:
- Sun Princess sailings from December 28, 2020 through August 14, 2021
- Sea Princess sailings from December 23, 2020 through November 9, 2021
Carnival Corporation plans are to removal a total of 18 ships across all of its fleet of ships. 8 have have already left the fleet. Globally Carnival Corp operate more than 100 ships.
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At present, the company’s monthly average cash burn rate for the third quarter 2020 was $770 million and is expected to be about $530 million for the fourth quarter.
The company said it is unable to predict when the entire fleet will return to normal operations, although a Carnival Cruise Line representative hinted at a possible return with short cruises in November.
