A cruise venture between a big Chinese travel
vendor and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
is folding.
Shanghai-based SkySea Cruise Line will make its last cruise
this fall. The end of the venture may be another sign that the bloom is off the
rose in the largest potential cruise market in the world.
RCCL's partner, Ctrip.com International, said TUI's Marella
Cruises has agreed to purchase its only ship, the Golden Era, with delivery
expected in December 2018. Ctrip and RCCL currently each own a minority of
SkySea, with the balance owned by SkySea management and a private equity fund.
Among RCCL's contributions to the venture was the former Celebrity
Century, which began sailing as the SkySea Golden Era in May 2015.
Marella Cruises, formerly Thomson Cruises, will acquire the
1,814-passenger ship and put it in service as an adults-only vessel called
Marella Explorer 2 in the summer of 2019.
Ctrip, the largest OTA in China, said the cruise business would continue to be an
essential part of its platform, and that the company would continue to work
closely with all cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean.
The cruise business in China had a reset last year following
a political dispute that put Korea off limits, causing many charter contracts
to be renegotiated. In 2018, capacity in the Chinese market will not expand for
the first time in at least five years.
Ctrip said by the time of its final voyage, SkySea Cruise
Line will have operated close to 300 cruises and carried nearly 500,000 guests
in just over three years.