Tag Archives: Pacific Pearl

Carnival Corp: On Track to Slowly Remove Older Ships

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Adonia in her Fathom livery during a 2016 turnaround day in Miami
Adona (Fathom) is set to join Azamara Cruise.

Carnival Corporation remains on pace to remove one to two older, less efficient ships from its fleet on an annual basis following two recent transactions.

Carnival announced earlier in the week the P&O Adonia has been sold to Azamara for a March 2018 delivery. The Adonia joins the neoClassica, which will leave the Costa fleet around the same time.

Newer ships are not only generally larger, but burn less fuel and generate higher ticket pricing and onboard revenue.

The 2001-built Adonia is one of the smallest ships in the Carnival fleet, at 684 passengers. The neoClassica is also on the smaller side, with capacity for 1,308 passengers, having been built in 1991.

The sales are part of the company’s broader corporate strategy to remove older, less efficient ships, while moderating capacity growth in line with demand, according to executives.

“We remain on track with our strategically enhancement program as we continue to deliver more efficient vessels, while replacing less efficient ones over time,” said Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation, on the company’s third quarter earnings call.

Last year followed a similar beat as the 1988-built Pacific Pearl left the P&O Australia fleet for a new home with Cruise & Maritime Voyages. Her capacity was replaced by the much newer 1997-built Dawn Princess, which was transferred to P&O Australia and renamed the Pacific Explorer.

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“As demonstrated by our April sale of Pacific Pearl, as well as our recently announced sale of Costa neoClassica, expected to leave the fleet next April, and our P&O Adonia, expected to leave the fleet next March. We remain on pace with our historical average of removing one to two ships per year,” Donald added.

In 2014, the company moved a number of ships off its books as the Voyager, which was operating for Costa was sold to Bohai Ferry.The Celebration went to Bahamas Paradise after her stint with Iberocruceros. The Grand Holiday, another Ibero ship, was sold to Cruise & Maritime Voyages, and finally, the Ocean Princess was sold to Oceania, a deal in which Carnival even provided financing.

New Zealand chalks up ‘phenomenal’ 2015-16 cruise season

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Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

A record number of more than 254,000 passengers and almost 92,000 crew visited New Zealand between August 2015 and June 2016.

‘This represents a phenomenal growth of 26% which translates to an injection of NZ$484m into the economy,’ the outgoing chairman of Cruise New Zealand, Kevin O’Sullivan, told delegates at this year’s annual conference in Wellington.

O’Sullivan, who has been appointed CNZ’s executive officer, said the country welcomed nine new ships during the 2015-16 season and that the annual Cruise New Zealand Economic Impact Report forecasts even stronger growth for the future.

‘The 2016-17 cruise season starts again at the end of this month and we expect to welcome 11 ships new to New Zealand and another three new ships are scheduled for the following season,’ he said.

‘Although we are expecting to experience a slight dip in passenger numbers despite this new capacity in 2016-17, it will rise by 11% to a new record in the 2017-18 season.’

He said the dip in the coming season is almost entirely due to the exit of P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Pearl which had previously operated during the winter months.

‘What is exciting about the 2016-17 cruise season is that the ships will make 791 port visits, an increase of 13% on 2015-16,’ he said.

He said the cruise sector will not only inject a projected NZ$490m into New Zealand’s GDP and support 8,878 jobs in the coming season, it will also spread the tourism dollar to regions less frequented by international travellers.

It is predicted that the total number of passengers will be 282,538 in 2017-18, injecting NZ$536m into the economy.