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P&O PRINCESS CRUISES TO ACQUIRE
FORMER RENAISSANCE SHIPS R3 AND R4
P&O Princess Cruises today announced the acquisition of the former
Renaissance vessels, R3 and R4, which will join its North American and
Australian fleets.
The 684 lower berth vessels, which originally entered service in 1999,
will be acquired through a lease purchase structure at a total
combined capital cost for the two ships of approximately $150 million.
Under the terms of the acquisition contracts, the two vessels are
contracted to be deployed in the Pacific Ocean region for at least the
first two years of their operation by P&O Princess. R4, which will be
renamed Tahitian Princess, is expected to continue to be deployed in
French Polynesia for a further three years.
The ships have a similar design to the other vessels in the P&O
Princess fleet with over two thirds of the cabins on each ship having
balconies, and with the ships incorporating a wide variety of dining
alternatives. The P&O Princess fleet will continue to include a
choice of small, medium-sized and large vessels appealing to the full
range of consumer tastes in the countries where the Group operates.
Tahitian Princess will sail year round in French Polynesia, as part of
our Princess Cruises fleet, offering new itineraries to our North
American customers. Her homeport will be Papeete, Tahiti.
R3 will be renamed Pacific Princess and will operate on a split
deployment divided between Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises in
Australia. For the six months of the year that she is part of the
Princess fleet, she will offer itineraries throughout the Pacific
region and French Polynesia. For the other half of the year the
ship's homeport will be Sydney and she will offer premium cruises to
Australians under the P&O Cruises Australia brand to French New
Caledonia and elsewhere in the South Pacific.
With the addition of the Pacific Princess to the contemporary product
delivered by the Pacific Sky, P&O Cruises in Australia will increase
its capacity by 30% and provide products designed to appeal to the
full range of Australian consumer tastes.
Peter Ratcliffe, Chief Executive of P&O Princess Cruises commented:
"Our strong global reach and our increasingly modern fleet gives us
the flexibility to deploy our ships strategically. Operating one ship
for half the year under our Princess brand and for the other half of
the year under our P&O Cruises Australia brand enables us to operate
in the peak summer period year round, selling across the northern and
the southern hemispheres.
These two small ships, acquired at a very effective capital cost, are
ideal for Princess' destination trades and will complement our modern
fleet of larger vessels. The new ships will deliver Princess'
signature product of "personal choice cruising", with a range of
dining options and the high proportion of balcony cabins that our
customers have come to expect.
At the same time, we are able to expand and broaden our presence in
the Australian market, with a new premium product to complement the
successful Pacific Sky programme.
We are delighted to have the opportunity to acquire these ships and
look forward to expanding the tourism market in French Polynesia and
in the other developing countries in the Pacific region."
- Ends -
Enquiries
P&O Princess
+44 (0)7730 732 015
Caroline Keppel-Palmer
Brunswick
Sophie Fitton
+44 (0) 20 74045959
Notes to Editors
R3 and R4 each have a gross tonnage of 30,277 grt and a top speed of
19.5 knots. They both have 684 lower berths and were built in 1999.
They are two of the eight sister ships previously operated by
Renaissance Cruises. In March 2002, P&O Princess Cruises announced
that it entered into an agreement to charter R8, which will be renamed
Minerva II, to operate under its UK discovery brand, Swan Hellenic.
The two ships are owned by French investors and had been leased to
Renaissance Cruises. P&O Princess will lease the ships for
approximately two years, from the fourth quarter of 2002. At the end
of the lease period, P&O Princess will purchase the two ships for a
fixed price. The ships will be accounted for on balance sheet,
together with the associated lease and purchase liability. It is
expected that the two ships will be capitalised in P&O Princess' books
at a combined value of around $150 million, giving a capital cost of
$110,000 per berth.
Princess Cruises
Princess Cruises, one of the best known names in North American
cruising, operates a fleet of ten ships deployed on many different
itineraries calling at more than 180 ports worldwide. Cruises range
from 7 to 32 days in length to destinations including the Caribbean,
Alaska, Europe, the Panama Canal, Mexico, the South Pacific, South
America, Hawaii, Asia, Canada, New England and Bermuda.
P&O Cruises Australia
P&O Cruises Australia offers cruises of between seven and fourteen
nights from Sydney to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji and New Zealand.
Its vessel, Pacific Sky, is the biggest cruise ship to sail the South
Pacific year round.
P&O Princess
P&O Princess Cruises plc is a leading international cruise company
with some of the strongest cruising brand names: Princess Cruises in
North America; P&O Cruises, Swan Hellenic and Ocean Village in the UK;
AIDA and A'ROSA in Germany; and P&O Cruises in Australia. In addition
to the above two vessels, the current complement of 19 ships and two
riverboats offering 31,130 berths is set to grow in the next two years
with six new ocean cruise ships and one riverboat on order. P&O
Princess Cruises has approximately 20,000 employees worldwide and
carried over one million passengers in 2001, generating a revenue of
approximately $2.5 billion (approximately GBP1.7 billion).
Headquartered in London, P&O Princess Cruises' ordinary shares are
quoted on the London Stock Exchange and as ADSs on the New York Stock
Exchange (under the symbol "POC").