Carnival Corporation Continues To Sell Off Ships - Some to New Owners - Some to Scrappers Maasdam, Veendam, Pacific Aria, Pacific Dawn, Pacific Princess, Carnival Imagination

 

Post Date: August 28, 2020 - 11:30 PM

 

Carnival Corporation continues to aggressively sell off and scrap ships to raise cash and poise itself for resumption of service. In July Carnival Corporation beached the Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Inspiration on the beaches of Aliaga, Turkey. The ships will be systematically dismantled and parts, engines, generators, furniture and any resalable components will be available on the open market for purchase. Anything not sold will be recycle including the steel portions of the hull and superstructure. The process will take between 3-5 months to complete and it appears that the Turkish breakers are moving quickly to dismantle the ships.

Unfortunately the second shift of ships to arrive at Aliaga, Turkey for breaking are taking shape. Earlier this week it was announced that the Carnival Imagination was stripped of personal items in Curacao. The Carnival Imagination departed Curacao on 8/26/20 and is expected to arrive in Aliaga on September 13, 2020. Rumors suspect that her sister ship, the Carnival Fascination will be next to head to the scrappers, since Carnival has announced that the Fascination will be laid-up long term and has been removed from Carnival's website. The Carnival Fascination remains laid up in Cadiz, Spain.

Other Carnival Ships sold for scrap include the Costa Victoria which was sold to Italian Ship-breakers in late June. Unfortunately this sleek ship was sold for scrap well before her time at the age of 24.

Other ships that have a questionable future include the Pacific Aria (ex Ryndam ) the Pacific Dawn (ex Regal Princess) and Pacific Princess (ex R Three) which are sailing through the Suez Canal as I am writing this article in a convoy - each about 1 KM a part. Two of the ships - the Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria - were under contract to be sold to Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV) later this year, With the bankruptcy of CMV in early August, the ships had no solid future. The Pacific Dawn and Pacific Aria are expected to arrive in Limassol, Cyprus on September 1. The exact destination of the Pacific Princess is undetermined at this time. It is unclear whether the ships will find a new buyer, sold for scrap or being repositioned for future service.

On a brighter note, It was announced that 2 ships from the shrinking Holland America fleet are going to new owners and not the breaker's torch. The Maasdam and Veendam have been sold to Seajets. Seajet has been traditionally a ferry operator between the Greek Isles, but it is apparent that the ferry operator wants to enter the cruise business. In June, 2020, Seajets purchased the Oceana from P&O Cruises. The Oceana has since been renamed the Queen of the Oceans and is tied up in Greece. The Queen of the Oceans has been joined by the Veendam which has been renamed the Aegean Majesty and the Maasdam.

Other Carnival Corp Ships that have been sold for future service include Holland America's Rotterdam and Amsterdam which were sold to Fred Olsen Cruises and will be renamed the Borelis and Bolette. Unfortunately these ships will displace 2 of Fred Olsen Line's older ships the Black Watch (ex Royal Viking Star) and Boudicca (ex Royal Viking Sky) both built in the early 1970's. The fate of these two Royal Viking ships is questionable.

The final sale to announce is Costa Cruises' Costa NeoRomantica (ex Costa Romantica) which has been sold to Celestryl Cruises. The NeoRomantica has been renames the Celestryl Experience and is currently in Piraeus awaiting a return to service in the spring of 2021.

As described above the Carnival Corp is aggressively shedding older ships. Hopefully the return to cruising and an end to the pandemic will stop the massive sell off of ships. This sell off does not fend well for ports like New York and New Jersey which traditionally serve as secondary embarkation ports to Florida, Alaska and Europe during the Summer and Spring Seasons. With less ships focus will be on the primary markets.

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