| Date Published: March 11, 2004 |
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 First European Cruises Profile and Reviews
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| Is Festival Demise Imminent? |
A U.K.-based shipping trade publication is reporting that Festival Cruises has failed to successfully negotiate a re-financing solution with debt-holders and that the company's three most contemporary vessels -- Mistral, European Vision and European Stars -- will be sold at auction.
If true -- a spokeswoman from First European Cruises, Festival's U.S. marketing arm, "can neither confirm nor deny" -- the auctioning off of the three ships would mean the end of the Festival fleet.
Festival had, earlier this year, divested itself of older vessels such as Azur and Bolero; those two ships were sold this week at auction in Gibraltar. A buyer and price was not revealed.
Last week, we reported that Festival/First European, whose cruises on European Vision, European Stars and Mistral had been halted in February due to court-related orders, had waffled on a new date for resumption of sailings. Last month, the company had actually announced a starting date for those ships, saying that "favorable legal rulings ... have cleared the way for the company to continue moving forward." Alas, the dates came and went.
The U.S.-based spokeswoman said, at the time, that "We are still waiting for confirmed dates for the resumption of service and expect to get that information shortly." | |
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