Carnival is selling its luxury brand cruise ship

Luxury line Seabourn, a Carnival Corporation brand, announced that it has sold one of its older ships. Seabourn Odyssey, to a Japanese transport company. The line, which has expanded into the expedition cruise market in recent years, will continue to operate the ship through mid-2024.

Seabourn Odyssey Published trips are carried out

Seabourn, one of Carnival Corporation’s luxury lines, is unloaded Seabourn Odyssey at an undisclosed price to Mitsui OSK Lines, Ltd., a Tokyo-based transportation and shipping company, in August 2024. In a March 16 announcement, the shipping company said it would charter the ship with 450 guests and all published voyages up to to be performed August 22nd, 2024.

The ship, christened in June 2009, will be handed over to the Japanese company after the charter contract has expired.

Seabourn President Natalya Leahy said: “We are proud that Seabourn Odyssey has carried our guests around the world for the last 14 years and excited that she will be part of a great company, MOL.”

she added “As we prepare to bid farewell to Odyssey in September 2024, I look forward to continuing to optimize our fleet as we grow our expeditionary business. With the addition of Seabourn Pursuit this summer, Seabourn will have one of the most modern fleets in the ultra-luxury segment with an average age of just seven years.”

The luxury line’s first expedition ship, SeabournVenturelaunched in 2022 and its second, Seabourn Pursuit, set to debut this year. The date of the inaugural cruise of the new expedition ship has not been confirmed.

Seabourn said its fleet expansion into the expeditionary market will allow for a more diverse range of missions. It noted that the six-ship fleet, including Seabourn Pursuit, will continue to offer increased guest capacity thereafter Seabourn Odyssey Departure.

The 32,346 gross ton Seabourn Odyssey is a ship with 11 decks and 229 suites in four categories: sea view, veranda, penthouse and owner suites. When launched, the ship had the distinction of boasting one of the largest spas at sea at over 11,000 square feet. The ship was built at the T. Mariotti shipyard in Genoa, Italy, after being laid down at the CIMAR shipyard in Udine, Italy.

Early warning for ship sales

Carnival Corporation announced this in early February Three ships of its nine brands were to be sold soon, two of which would be from the Costa Cruises fleet. The identity of each ship was not disclosed, but they were all described as smaller vessels. Seabourn Odyssey fits this description but the Costa ships planned for sale have not been identified.

As the cessation of operations due to the pandemic impacted its business, Carnival Corporation has offloaded more than a dozen ships since 2020 from different brands.

Five of Carnival Cruise Line’s Fantasy-class ships have been sold or scrapped, the most recent of them Carnival Ecstasywhich sailed its last cruise in October 2022. Previous Fantasy class ships that were dispatched from the line are included Fascination carnival, Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Inspiration And Carnival Fantasy.

The parent company also sold four Holland America Line ships, two Princess Cruises ships, two Costa Cruises ships and one from the P&O Cruises fleet.

In May 2022, Carnival Corporation allegedly in talks with a Saudi investment fund to sell the Seabourn brand directly and possibly also the Cunard line. Carnival denied the rumors and stuck by both cruise lines.