Seatrade Insider News reports that Star Cruises has not yet succeeded in re-selling the 77,104 GT, 2,002-berth Pride of Aloha, which will be delivered to it from NCL next month. According to its source, Star is asking $320 million for the ship, valued at $340 million in financial statements, and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. subsidiary Pullmantur Cruises has withdrawn an offer it made for $310 million. Built in 1999 as Norwegian Sky, the ship will be handed over by to Star next month as part of an agreement between it and its former subsidiary over the money-losing NCL America, but is apparently surplus to Star’s needs despite a previous announcement that she would be used on Asian itineraries.
Meanwhile, the same article corroborates earlier reports that Louis Cruise Lines is attempting to gain financing to acquire two other NCL ships owned by Star, the 50,764 GT, 1,742-berth Norwegian Dream (ex Dreamward) and 40,876 GT, 1,462-berth Norwegian Majesty (ex Royal Majesty), both built in 1992. It places Star’s asking prices for the ships at $230 million and $165 million respectively. An earlier report in Lloyd’s List, which first publicized the rumors of the three ships’ sale, put Louis’ offer at $378 million for both ships en bloc, only $17 million less than Star’s asking price as reported by Seatrade.
The Lloyd’s List report, which did not mention Star’s asking prices, characterized Louis’ offer as “top dollar” and stated that it had put the end to a potential rival bid by International Shipping Partners on behalf of Clipper Group. ISP’s CEO Niels-Erik Lund confirmed to Seatrade that it had made an offer for Dream and Majesty “at a lower level than is being asked”.
Click here for my earlier article on this ongoing story. Click here for Seatrade’s article (free registration required).
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