Tag Archives: Royal Caribbean Group

Royal Caribbean Group Pandemic Exits: 10 Ships Have Now Left the Fleet

Posted on by
Reply

The Royal Caribbean Group has sold a total of ten cruise ships since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the new Secondhand Market Report by Cruise Industry News.

While most of the exits are related to Pullmantur’s liquidation and Azamara’s sale, four ships have also left the fleet of Royal Caribbean International and Silversea Cruises.   

Cruise Industry News looks into the vessels that left the fleet and their fates:

Ship: Monarch
Brand: Pullmantur Cruceros
Year Built: 1991
Original Cost: $300 million
Capacity: 2,390 guests
Tonnage: 73,941
Date: July 2020
Fate: Scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey

Ship: Sovereign
Brand: Pullmantur Cruceros
Year Built: 1988
Original Cost: $185 million
Capacity: 2,322 guests
Tonnage: 73,192
Date: July 2020
Fate: Scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey

Ship: Horizon
Brand: Pullmantur Cruceros
Year Built: 1990
Original Cost: $185 million
Capacity: 1,442 guests
Tonnage: 47,000
Date: July 2020
Fate: Laid up in Elefsis, Greece

Ship: Empress of the Seas
Brand: Royal Caribbean International
Year Built: 1990
Original Cost: $170 million
Capacity: 1,607 guests
Tonnage: 48,563
Date: December 2020
Fate: Sold to Cordelia Cruises; now sailing in India as the Empress

Ship: Majesty of the Seas
Brand: Royal Caribbean International
Year Built: 1992
Original Cost: $300 million
Capacity: 2,354 guests
Tonnage: 73,941
Date: December 2020
Fate: Laid up in Greece after being bought by Seajets, a Greek ferry operator 

Ship: Azamara Journey
Brand: Azamara
Year Built: 2000
Original Cost: $190 million
Capacity: 718 guests
Tonnage: 30,200
Date: January 2021
Fate: Sold to Sycamore Partners along with the Azamara brand

Ship: Azamara Quest
Brand: Azamara
Year Built: 2000
Original Cost: $150 million
Capacity: 710 guests
Tonnage: 30,200
Date: January 2021
Fate: Sold to Sycamore Partners along with the Azamara brand

Ship: Azamara Pursuit
Brand: Azamara
Year Built: 2001
Original Cost: $190 million
Capacity: 710 guests
Tonnage: 30,200
Date: January 2021
Fate: Sold to Sycamore Partners along with the Azamara brand

Ship: Silver Galapagos
Brand: Silversea Cruises
Year Built: 1990
Original Cost: $20 million
Capacity: 100 guests
Tonnage: 4,077
Date: June 2021
Fate: Replaced by a new build; laid up in Panama after being renamed Mantra

Ship: Silver Explorer
Brand: Silversea Cruises
Year Built: 1989
Capacity: 132 guests
Tonnage: 6,130
Date: January 2022
Fate: Sold to a startup named Exploris; leaving the fleet in September 2023

Royal Caribbean Group Raising $900 Million to Refinance Debt

Posted on by
Reply

Royal Caribbean Group announced on Monday that it has commenced a private offering of senior convertible notes to be issued by the company due 2025 in an aggregate principal amount of up to $900 million.

In addition, the company intends to grant the initial purchasers an option to purchase up to an additional $135 million principal amount of Convertible Notes.

“The purpose of the offering is to replace some of the existing near-term maturities of convertible bonds with new longer-term convertible bonds in a manner which is non-dilutive to shareholders as described,” said Naftali Holtz, Chief Financial Officer of Royal Caribbean Group.

The cruise company said it intends to use the proceeds from the sale of the Convertible Notes to repurchase a portion of its 2.875% convertible senior notes due November 15, 2023, and 4.25% convertible senior notes due June 15, 2023, through open-market purchases, privately negotiated transactions, tender offers or otherwise. The Company intends to retire any Existing Convertible Notes so purchased.

“The proposed transaction proactively addresses the near-term maturity of our existing convertible notes,” said Holtz. “With the proceeds of this offering, our intention is to opportunistically repurchase the existing convertible notes, and we have the option to settle the remaining notes in cash to address our convertible debt maturities in a manner that is net neutral to our outstanding shares and share equivalents.”

The Convertible Notes will be convertible at the holder’s option in certain circumstances. Upon conversion, the company may satisfy its conversion obligation by paying or delivering, at its election, as applicable, cash, shares of its common stock or a combination of cash and shares of its common stock.

Royal Caribbean to Ditch Covid Testing on Short Sailings.

Posted on by
Reply

Independence of the Seas in Southampton, Photo Credit Spacejunkie2

Royal Caribbean Group will ditch pre-embarkation testing for fully vaccinated guests on sailings of five days or less from 8 August, president and chief executive Jason Liberty has confirmed.

Speaking during Royal’s second quarterly results call on Thursday (July 28), Liberty said the change in policy would be “subject to local destination requirements” and unvaccinated passengers would still be tested.

“We also anticipate in the not-too-distant future that pre-embarkation testing for longer-duration voyages will be reduced,” he added.

Asked on the call when testing requirements for longer cruises might be lifted, Liberty predicted further easing could follow soon but did not rule out reintroducing measures if needed.

“So we’re starting off here by doing the five days or less and we’re going to look at that. But I think our expectation here, call it, in the next 45 days or so. And of course, following local requirements, which will somewhat dictate in some of our destinations, what those testing requirements will be that the majority of the testing requirements will be lifted, especially around the majority of our deployment,” he said.

“We might, depending on where the ships are going, take some additional protocols and of course, we’re going to continue to follow where Covid is in society and take the necessary actions.”

The update came as Royal announced a return to “positive operating cash flow” with the group’s entire fleet now back in service.

Average second-quarter (three months to 30 June) load factors ran to 82% and to nearly 90% in June, while the group expects third-quarter (three months to 30 September) load factors to average around 95% before “increasing to triple digits” by the end of the year.

Royal’s positivity came despite posting a US $500 million Q2 net loss, one the group said “exceeded the company’s expectations” and was “driven by better revenue and cost performance”.

In its trading update, the company revealed that second-quarter bookings for sailings departing in the second half of the year remained “significantly higher” than those received in Q2 2019 for the latter half of 2019.