2 ships to leave Princess Cruises fleet
The coronavirus pandemic has forced another cruise line to sell its ships as Princess Cruises announced both the Sun Princess and Sea Princess were leaving its fleet.
The announcement is the latest from cruise lines that offload older hardware that cannot sail as efficiently as newer, larger ships and would not be as profitable when cruise lines effort their return to sailing with reduced capacity to battle the spread of COVID-19.
Princess Cruises’ parent company Carnival Corp. announced earlier in September that it intended to sell or scrap 18 ships from among its multiple brands. Already announced were the scrapping of four older Carnival Cruise Line ships and the sale of four older Holland America ships.
The two Princess ships were sold to undisclosed buyers, according to a company press release. While they both had once served the North American market and sailed from Florida’s Port Everglades, that had since migrated to Australia.
“Both ships defined the premium cruise experience with Australians and New Zealanders spending close to 14 million nights aboard these ships,” said Princess Cruises president Jan Swartz. “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.”
Customers booked on either ship’s itineraries, which ran into late 2021, will be offered a refund or opportunity to rebook on another Princess ship.
Sun Princess debuted in 1995, the first of the line’s Sun Class with about a 2,000-passenger capacity and weighing 77,441 gross tons. It migrated to Australia in 2007 and also was used by the line in its foray into the Japanese market in 2013.
Sister ship Sea Princess debuted in 1998, but actually left the company for Carnival Corp.’s British line P&O Cruises by 2003, but Princess reacquired the ship in 2005.
There were four ships in the Sun Class, and with these two now sold, Princess Cruises has no ship in that class, having previously sold off Dawn Princess and Ocean Princess.
In comparison, the line’s newest ship, Sky Princess, comes in at 145,281 gross tons and has a 3,660-passenger capacity based on double occupancy.
The cruise line still has 16 ships in its fleet and four more on order.
The cruise line, which was at the center of two coronavirus outbreaks in early 2020, has suspended sailing through mid-December. The deadly outbreak on Diamond Princess that was quarantined in Japan back in February was among the incidents that led to the global shut down of cruise lines in March.
While a few lines have begun to sail again in other parts of the world, including Carnival Corp. brand Costa in the Mediterranean, sailing from North American ports remains halted. All lines are currently under a no-sail order from the Centers for Disease Control through Sept. 30, and all member lines of Cruise Lines International Association have agreed to halt sailings until at least November.
On Monday, CLIA announced its member lines had agreed to a core set of safety measures, including requisite COVID-19 testing and the wearing of masks following CDC guidelines, as part of each line’s return-to-sailing safety protocols they plan to have in place when they do sail again.