With The Recent Sale Of Many Cruise Ships, Ships Are Starting To Move As They Are Handed Over To New Owners.

With the recent sale of a number of cruise ships, some ships are now on the move to the next stage of their life. Today's post is an update as the the current position of the ships as of 10/21/20 (Wednesday) at 9:30 PM EST. In addition, as part of this post, I will cover an interesting update on Disney Cruise Line's Fleet.

Let's start off with the ship removed from the Marella fleet - Specifically the Marella Celebration and Marella Dream. The Marella Celebration is currently in cold lay-up anchored in the Gulf of Elefsina, in the backwaters of Piraeus Greece. The ship's position has not been updated in over 3 months.

The Marella Dream is en route to Malta just off of southern Italy in the Adriatic. It is unclear what the next steps will be for the ship - since we have seen ships arrive in Malta and off-load furnishing in preparation for scrapping while other ships have remained idle awaiting a buyer. We shall stay tuned in for the future of this once popular ship on the New York to Bermuda run as Home Line's Homeric.

Fred Olsen Ships are on the move. Fred Olsen recently announced that both the Boudicca and Black Watch (ex Royal Viking Ships) have been sold for use as hotel ships. The Boudicca was the first ship to to leave Rosyth, England on September 28, 2020 and arrived in Tuzla Anchorage (in the Black Sea) off the coast of Turkey on October 16, 2020.

The Black Watch just left Rosyth, England today (10/21/20) en-route to Tuzla, Turkey anchorage. We will share details as they become available.

Next is Phoenix Reisen's Albatros (the 3rd Royal Viking ship) was sold to hotel operator Pick Albatros to be used as a hotel ship in a yet to be announced Middle East location. In an interesting note, Phoenix Reisen said that accommodations on board the Albatros can eventually be booked through Phoenix Reisen.

Moving along - The Cruise and Maritime voyages continue to be sold at auction. The Vasco de Gama has been sold to Mystic Cruises. The ship is currently remains dockside in Tilbury, England. It is unclear if she will sail for Mystic Cruises or be used by Nicko Cruises - their German Cruise affiliate. The second ship - the Columbus has been sold to unidentified Turkish buyers. The auction price for the vessel was reported a very low $7M. It is unclear whether the purchaser will operate the ship; charter the ship; sell the ship or scrap her. We will continue to track the ship's future.

The Carnival Fascination, which was reportedly sold to undisclosed purchaser, was removed from her dockside lay-up to an anchorage off the coast of Cadiz, Spain. When the ship was removed from her pier under her own power, people assumed the ship was heading to Turkish breakers. Instead the ship moved just outside the harbor and has remained there since..

Next is the Peaceboat Organization, who has purchased/chartered the Sun Princess of Princess Cruises. The ship will replace a program that was expected to be operated on 2 ships - the Ocean Dream (ex Carnival Tropicale) and Zenith (also of New York fame as Celebrity Cruises' Zenith). The Ocean Dream is sitting off shore of Hiroshima, Japan and the Zenith is in cold layup in Lavrio, Greece.

The Peaceboat website shows world cruises resuming starting in April of 2021. There is NO ship names mentioned on the website - previously the Ocean Dream and Zentith were listed - now all names are removed. Rumor states that the Sun Princess will be renamed the Pacific World. The Sun Princess and Sea Princess (her identical sister ship which was recently sold as well) are idle off the coast of Manila in the Philippine.

On a positive note, Disney Cruise Line is using the COVID19 Pandemic as an opportunity to perform maintenance and minor enhancements to their ships. As I write this article 4 Disney ships are in Brest, France under going modifications at Chaudronnerie Industrielle de Bretagne Shipyard. The ships at the shipyard are the Disney Fantasy, Disney Magic, Disney Dream and Disney Wonder.

 

Copyright NYCRUISINFO.com (c) 2020