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Seabourn to add fourth Odyssey class ship, Pride, Spirit and Legend to leave the fleet

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 19 February 2013 19 February 2013

Seabourn has announced the sale of the line's original three vessels Seabourn Pride, Seabourn Spirit and Seabourn Legend to Xanterra Parks & Resorts, owner of Windstar Cruises. There will be no disruption in service or changes in operations on any currently published Seabourn voyages. Seabourn Pride will be transferred after its published schedule ends in April, 2014. Seabourn Spirit and Seabourn Legend will be transferred to Windstar in April 2014 and May 2015, respectively.

"Seabourn remains dedicated to our mission of creating the world's finest travel experiences through our small-ship cruising product," said Seabourn president Richard Meadows. "Our three newest vessels, Seabourn Odyssey, Seabourn Sojourn, and Seabourn Quest have raised the bar for ultra-luxury cruising and we intend to add a fourth ship of similar design," he continued. "Seabourn is already in discussion with shipbuilders and an order is likely to be announced within the current fiscal year. The new ship will allow Seabourn to maintain much of its current guest capacity."

During the transition, Seabourn is fully committed to continuing to deliver its award-winning standards on Seabourn Pride, Seabourn Spirit and Seabourn Legend, and providing its clientele with the ultra-luxury service and onboard product they have come to expect.

Windstar Cruises expands fleet with addition of three Seabourn ships

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 19 February 2013 19 February 2013

Windstar Cruises announced today that its owner, Xanterra Parks & Resorts, has reached an agreement with Seabourn, a cruise company that operates six luxury cruise ships, to purchase three of their ships: Seabourn Pride, Seabourn Legend, and Seabourn Spirit. Under the project name Global Windstar, the expansion will double the size of Windstar's recently renovated, three luxury sailing yacht fleet, making the company the market leader in small-ship cruising with 300 or fewer passengers, with a total of 1,230 berths. The purchase on February 15, 2013, is one of several recent Xanterra Parks & Resorts acquisitions, including VBT, an adventure travel company, and The Grand Hotel in Tusayan, AZ, adjoining the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

"Windstar Cruises has experienced four straight years of revenue growth. This expansion is the perfect way to build on the momentum following our recent fleet-wide renovation, providing us with the much needed capacity to match the accelerating demand for our intimate style of yacht cruising," said Andy Todd, chief executive officer of Xanterra Parks & Resorts, owner of Windstar Cruises. "Global Windstar enables us to extend our unique small-ship experience throughout the world."

The delivery of the three 104 all-suite ships, which hold 208 passengers each, will take place over the next two years in the Mediterranean. The Seabourn Pride will be the first ship to enter into Windstar's luxury fleet in April of 2014. Following a Windstar branded renovation, which will give the ship a new name and casually elegant look, the Pride with set sail a month later in May 2014; voyages are expected to go on sale in May of this year. Windstar Cruises will take possession of Seabourn Legend in April 2015 and Seabourn Spirit in May 2015. These two yachts are scheduled to start sailing in May of 2015 following their dry-dock period.

"Windstar is proud of its heritage in sailing, but what our guests are most enthusiastic about is our intimate, yacht style of cruising. This style is the core of our brand experience and the new ships are a perfect fit to build on that foundation," added Hans Birkholz, chief executive officer of Windstar Cruises.

The fleet expansion will provide Windstar Cruises access to new destinations such as Asia and South America, in addition to the fifty countries the company already sails to. Known for visiting hidden harbors and secluded coves of the world, Windstar will continue to focus on the unique destinations that large ships cannot call on. The opportunities of Global Windstar are already evident with the recent announcement of Windstar's return to Tahiti in May of 2014. Tahiti has been one of the top destinations requested by Windstar guests and travel partners.

Carnival issues profit warning on Carnival Triumph

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 14 February 2013 14 February 2013

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, estimates that the total impact from voyage disruptions and related repair costs of Carnival Triumph will result in an $0.08 to $0.10 earnings per share reduction in the company's 2013 first half.  

Carnival Triumph, one of the vessels of the group’s US based contemporary market brand Carnival Cruise Lines, suffered an engine room fire on Sunday that left the vessel without power and repairs will keep it out of service until April

Gloomy Valentine’s day for Carnival shares in London

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 14 February 2013 14 February 2013

Shares in Carnival plc, the UK constituent of Carnival Corp & plc group, fell heavily in London on Thursday, their second day of deep losses.

In the past few days, a host of media reports have emerged about the plight of passengers of Carnival CruiseLines’ Carnival Triumph that lost power after an engine room fire off the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico in the Caribbean on Sunday.

At midday local time, shares in Carnival plc had fallen 2.9% to £25.00 since the opening of the market. The FTSE100 index of leading shares traded 0.8% down today midday on the back of a streak of bad figures from the euro zone.

The Carnival shares had closed at £25.90 on Friday and only fell 5p on Monday and rose to close at £26.28 on Tuesday. However , they fell sharply already on Wednesday to finish at £25.75.