Louis adds ‘Norwegian Majesty’ to Cyprus fleet, ‘Dream’ in September

Louis Cruise Lines has concluded a deal to buy the 731-berth Norwegian Majesty from Star Cruises at a cost of EUR 103 mln (USD 162 mln), and will add the Norwegian Dream to its fleet in a separate deal in September, making it the fifth biggest cruise company in the world.
In an announcement issued Wednesday, LCL said that the ‘Majesty’ has been leased back to Star Cruises until December 2009. The two new luxury liners replace the low-capacity Princesa Marissa and Serenade that the company sold earlier this year.
The 41,000-tonne Norwegian Majesty was built in Finland in 1992 and underwent a major refurbishment in 1999 at a cost of USD 53.3 mln. It can accommodate 1937 passengers in 731 cabins and suites, 481 of which have outside views.
The cruise liner has nine decks, five restaurants, six lifts, three pools, a spa, health and beauty centre, a show lounge, casino and other large areas.
“We remain committed to our fleet renewal programme and aim to maintain our market share with 350,000 passengers carried in Europe, North America and elsewhere,” said Group Executive Chairman Costakis Loizou.
In 2008, LCL operated with a more efficient fleet than in 2007, deploying three ships out of Greece (vs. 4 up to 2007) and two ships out of Cyprus (vs. 3 up to 2007).
In February Louis Cruise Lines said it was to start negotiations with European shipyards on a newbuilding of around 2,000-passenger capacity for delivery in 2012.
Chief executive Stelios Kiliaris was quoted by Lloyd’s List as saying that the restructuring started last year with the purchase of the Opera (renamed M/V Cristal) for USD 49 mln.
Louis’ biggest disadvantage had always been that most of its fleet of eight ships could only carry a range of 500 to 1,300 passengers, while rivals such as Carnival, Celebrity, MSC Cruises, etc. accommodate more than 3,000 passengers per ship.
Buying newbuilds will increase capacity and also make savings on refurbishments and rising fuel costs over the next decade, similar to the Louis Hotel’s division selling many of its properties, but maintaining the operations through a lease-back plan.
The main 2008 programme is a series of three, four and seven-day itineraries out of Pireaus on board the line's largest ship, Aquamarine (1,268 passengers), the 1,200-passenger Cristal and the slightly smaller Perla, which carries 1,095 holidaymakers.
There is also a choice of week-long and 10-day sailings in both the Eastern and Western Mediterranean departing from Marseilles and Genoa, as well as Christmas and New Year itineraries, and a 16-day Canary Islands departure on December 5 on board the Orient Queen and Coral, and will be sailing out of Genoa.
Furthermore, Louis has five ships out on charter – four of the cruise ships (Thomson Destiny, Thomson Spirit, The Emerald and The Calypso) are chartered to Thomson Cruises and another one, the Arielle, to Transocean Tours.
Louis also expects to benefit from the rapid development of the island’s sleepy marinas into fully-fledged modern ventures attracting thousands of new visitors each year. It joined the winning joint venture bidding for the mega cruise centre in Larnaca that was awarded earlier in July.