The Return of Pullmantur

[Clive Harvey]

It appears that Pullmantur will rise again and will use two of Celebrity Cruises Millennium-class ships.

[Angelgreat]

It appears that Pullmantur will rise again and will use two of Celebrity Cruises Millennium-class ships.

Where did you find the information? Please link the source. If Royal Caribbean does bring back the Pullmantur name and brand, it will have to be a new cruise line since the original one no longer exists due to going bankrupt and dissolving. However, the new Pullmantur can be seen as a spiritual successor to the old one.

Also to note that the former Pullmantur Horizon is still laid up and owned by Royal Caribbean (Pullmantur Sovereign and Pullmantur Monarch already have been scrapped), so maybe they can also use her. Peace Boat is also about to end the charter of Zenith and Ocean Dream and they will soon return to Royal Caribbean so maybe they can use them too.

[Robbie]

I would assume it was from an article like this one:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5762/

It should also be noted that it says Pullmantur are not bankrupt but actually filed for creditor protection. From my experience this just means all unsecured debt is written off to save the company from going bankrupt.

[Angelgreat]

Allegedly, the two Celebrity ships that would be transferred to Pullmantur are the Celebrity Infinity and the Celebrity Constellation, because they haven't been refurbished since 2007 and because the Celebrity Millennium and the Celebrity Summit have already been refurbished last year. Here is the link:

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23950-pullmantur-could-mount-comeback-with-two-celebrity-ships.html

However, Celebrity Cruises has denied selling any of it's vessels to Pullmantur and they stated that they have not agreed to transfer or lease any of their vessels to Pullmantur. This may be worrysome because if Celebrity Cruises refused to sell, than Pullmantur may not come back. Here is the link:

https://www.cruisehive.com/celebrity-cruises-has-no-plans-to-offload-ships-to-pullmantur/43618

I must note that Royal Caribbean still owns the MV Horizon and it's a former Celebrity Cruises vessel and is in cold layup in Greece, so If Celebrity refuses to lend it's ships, they may use the smaller Horizon instead. Royal Caribbean is also about to have the Ocean Dream and the MV Zenith returned from Peace Boat, and since the Zenith is a sister ship to Horizon and is a former Celebrity Cruises vessel, they could also use her.

[Heinu Sch]

However, Celebrity Cruises has denied selling any of it's vessels to Pullmantur and they stated that they have not agreed to transfer or lease any of their vessels to Pullmantur. This may be worrysome because if Celebrity Cruises refused to sell, than Pullmantur may not come back. Here is the link:

https://www.cruisehive.com/celebrity-cruises-has-no-plans-to-offload-ships-to-pullmantur/43618

I must note that Royal Caribbean still owns the MV Horizon and it's a former Celebrity Cruises vessel and is in cold layup in Greece, so If Celebrity refuses to lend it's ships, they may use the smaller Horizon instead. Royal Caribbean is also about to have the Ocean Dream and the MV Zenith returned from Peace Boat, and since the Zenith is a sister ship to Horizon and is a former Celebrity Cruises vessel, they could also use her.

I doubt whether there is much truth in this, the big corporations are still just hoping to survive as cancellations are currently up to March 2021. Nearly a year of no income for cruise lines! With the debts on new ships still expected to be paid, even the likes of Carnival and Royal Caribbean cannot hold on much longer.

Spain sadly wasn't in a good economic condition before the pandemic and will, unfortunately, be even worse off after the lockdowns. A cruise line marketed directly at Spanish consumers have little hope of succeeding. Same goes for their winter market in Brazil.
Even in good conditions, I don't see a Spanish cruise line succeeding. Like any other person in the world, the Spanish are looking for the best value for money on their holiday budget, not a the Spanish-only cruise line. Most often, the best value comes in a ship from a competing brand.

If Royal Caribbean is indeed pondering the saving of Pullmantur, the speculation about which ships will be passed on, is just that, speculations. With all the ships laid up, the cruise blogs seem desperate to push some hot air that will generate clicks.
If Pullmantur struggled with sales on budget class ships pre-Covid, how will they fill even larger, far more luxurious (i.e. higher fares) ships post Covid?

Even so, if the bigwigs at Royal Caribbean do decide that they will rescue Pullmantur, being worried about which ship(s) they will get is rather pointless. Should they decide the Millennium class vessels are the way to go, Celebrity will do as they are told. As a wholly owned subsidiary, they do not have the luxury of holding out on the parent corporation.