MIAMI, March 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) and Ctrip announced today that they are
ending the SkySea Cruise Line joint venture. TUI AG's Marella Cruises has agreed to purchase
Golden Era, with delivery expected in December, 2018.
As a result of this transaction, TUI Cruises will now retain
Mein Schiff 2 in its fleet,
rather than selling it to Marella Cruises, giving TUI Cruises
increased capacity in the strong German market.
After the sale of Golden Era, it is expected that SkySea
will wind down its business operations before the end of 2018. The
companies expect that favorable business conditions in China and elsewhere will allow them to absorb
most SkySea employees into available positions at RCL and
Ctrip.
Through its Royal Caribbean International brand, RCL will
continue to serve the Chinese market, with the largest fleet
deployment in the region and a strong collaborative relationship
with Ctrip.
Royal Caribbean expects the
impact of the transactions to fall in a range of $0.12 to $0.15 a
share in FY2018. The loss will be excluded from 2018 Adjusted Net
Income.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) is a global cruise
vacation company that owns and operates three global brands: Royal
Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club
Cruises. We are a 50 percent joint venture owner of the
German brand TUI Cruises, a 49 per-cent shareholder in the Spanish
brand Pullmantur and a 36 percent shareholder in the Chinese brand
SkySea Cruises. Together, these brands operate a combined total of
49 ships with an additional thirteen on order as of December 31, 2017. They operate diverse
itineraries around the world that call on approximately 540
destinations on all seven continents. Additional information
can be found on www.rclcorporate.com.
Certain statements in this release relating to, among other
things, our future performance constitute forward-looking
statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These statements include, but are not limited to,
statements regarding revenues, costs and financial results for 2018
and beyond. Words such as "expect" and similar
expressions are intended to help identify forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements reflect
management's current expectations, are based on judgments, are
inherently uncertain and are subject to risks, uncertainties and
other factors, which could cause our actual results, performance or
achievements to differ materially from the future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied in those
forward-looking statements. Examples of these risks,
uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to the
following: the impact of the economic and geopolitical environment
on key aspects of our business, such as the demand for cruises,
passenger spending, and operating costs; our ability to obtain new
borrowings or capital in amounts sufficient to satisfy our capital
expenditures, debt repayments and other financing needs; incidents
or adverse publicity concerning the travel industry generally or
the cruise industry specifically; concerns over safety, health and
security aspects of traveling; unavailability of ports of call; the
uncertainties of conducting business internationally and expanding
into new markets and new ventures; changes in operating and
financing costs; the impact of foreign exchange rates, interest
rate and fuel price fluctuations; vacation industry
competition and changes in industry capacity and overcapacity; the
impact of new or changing legislation and regulations on our
business; emergency ship repairs, including the related lost
revenue; the impact of issues at shipyards, including ship delivery
delays, ship cancellations or ship construction cost increases;
shipyard unavailability; and the unavailability or cost of air
service.
More information about factors that could affect our operating
results is included under the captions "Risk Factors" in our most
recent annual report on Form 10-K, as well as our other filings
with the SEC, and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our most recent
annual report on Form 10-K, copies of which may be obtained by
visiting our Investor Relations website
at www.rclinvestor.com or the SEC's website
at www.sec.gov. Undue reliance should not be placed on the
forward-looking statements in this release, which are based on
information available to us on the date hereof. We undertake no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
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SOURCE Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.