A strong cash offer from Mitsui Ocean Cruises drove the latest Seabourn ship sale, said Josh Weinstein, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation, speaking on the company’s first quarter earnings call.
“It was a decision that was in the best interest of the shareholders. It’s as simple as that,” Weinstein said. “Nothing’s for sale. We don’t have a for sale sign up, but if people are approaching us with unsolicited offers, I’ll listen.”
Weinstein said that Seabourn was a phenomenal brand and the ship sale helped bring the average age of the Seabourn luxury fleet down significantly, to just over seven years.
“There’s nothing wrong other than the fact somebody made us an offer that we couldn’t refuse,” Weinstein told Wall Street analysts.
The company recorded a gain on the sale of the Seabourn Sojourn, as the ship was sold to Mitsui and chartered back to Seabourn for 2025 and its 2026 world cruise.
The 2010-built 458-guest vessel will be delivered to its new operator in May 2026, where it will sail alongside the Nippon Maru and the Mitsui Ocean Fuji, which is the former Seabourn Odyssey, and was sold to Mitsui in 2023 and delivered in 2024.
