Spanish cruise line Pullmantur could be headed for a comeback after agreeing a financing deal with Royal Caribbean, according to Spanish media reports.
Royal Caribbean owns a 49% share in Pullmantur Cruises, which filed for bankruptcy under Spanish insolvency laws earlier this year after becoming one of the first cruise lines to sink due to the COVID-19 shutdown of the industry
Pullmantur has reached a cooperation agreement with its shareholder Royal Caribbean Group in order to guarantee its viability, obtaining the necessary funds to develop a continuity plan, Europa Press reported earlier this week.
“We believe in the possibilities of a shipping company of the stature of Pullmantur and we are working intensively on the business plan with the aim of betting on the viability of the company,” said bankruptcy administrator, Francisco Vera.
Royal Caribbean is said to be offering Pullmantur Cruises customers affected by the bankruptcy Future Cruise Credit of 125% to be redeemed on Royal Caribbean International or Celebrity Cruises.
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Celebrity Cruises denies Millennium Class ships to be sold to Pullmantur
Early reports said that Pullmantur could make a return with two Celebrity Cruises Millennium Class ships, but this has since been denied by the company, which said in a statement: While we fully support the reorganization efforts of Pullmantur and continue to work productively with Pullmantur as it develops its new business plan, it is important to clarify that we have not agreed to lease or sell any of our ships, including any Celebrity Millennium class ships, to Pullmantur.
Pullmantur sent three of its ships to be scrapped earlier this year – the MS Sovereign, the former Royal Caribbean Sovereign of the Seas and once the world’s largest cruise ship; the MS Monarch, the former Monarch of the Seas and the first major cruise ship to be captained by a woman; and the MV Horizon.
The joint venture with Royal Caribbean carried just over 400,000 passengers in 2019, 40% of whom were Spanish.
has arrived in the Turkish ship-scrapping hub of Aliaga, where she will be dismantled after 32 years at sea.
The ship is being scrapped after its owner, the Spanish cruise operator, Pullmantur filed for bankruptcy last month amid the COVID-19 induced global shut-down of the cruise industry.
In early June, Pullmantur said it was cancelling sailings through November 15, but less than three weeks later it filed for bankruptcy.
