Ibero Cruceros

Ibero Cruceros
Owner / user	Carnival Corporation & plc
Introductory year	2007
Products	Tourism , cruises
Markets	Argentina , Brazil , Spain
Website	www.iberocruceros.com ( Memento of July 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

The Grand Celebration off Rhodes in 2012

The Grand Holiday in Livorno in November 2012

Ibero Cruceros or Iberocruceros (in the English-speaking area Ibero Cruises ) was a brand of the British - American cruise company Carnival Corporation & plc for the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets in Europe and South America.

The owner and operator of the ships used for the brand from 2007 onwards was the Italian Costa Crociere , the southern European subsidiary of the Carnival Group based in Genoa , which is also responsible for Costa Kreuzfahrten and the AIDA Cruises brand , which is geared towards German customers . After the group decided to give up the Ibero Cruceros brand at the end of 2014, the two remaining ships were sold.

history

Prehistory under Iberojet

In 2000, the Iberostar Group decided to add cruises to its range of travel options and therefore founded the Iberojet Cruceros . This in turn formed the joint venture Spanish Cruise Lines with the ferry company Trasmediterranea and the Greek Festival Cruises in equal shares and was the first ship to charter the Bolero for trips from Barcelona to the western Mediterranean. This was followed in 2002 by the Crown / Mare Nostrum from Valencia .

After Festival Cruises went bankrupt in 2004, Iberojet Cruceros became the sole owner of Spanish Cruise Lines and continued to operate the ship under its own name. In the same year, the company chartered the Voyager of the financially troubled shipping company Royal Olympic Cruise Lines and acquired their somewhat outdated SuperStar Capricorn from Star Cruises . The latter was sold again as Grand Latino in 2005 after only one year of cruise service .

In the early summer of 2006, Orizonia Corporation was established as the new parent company of Iberojet. The owners of Iberostar had decided to split the group into the three areas of Iberostar Hotels and Resort , Grupo Receptor (travel agencies) and Grupo Emisor (tours, cruises, airlines) and to sell them with the exception of the hotels. The shares went for 900 million to the private equity companies Carlyle Group at 55%, Vista Capital at 36%, ICG Equity Fund at 5% and the remaining 4% as a management buy-out to ten senior employees.

Ibero Cruceros

Ibero Cruceros was founded in 2007 as a joint venture between Orizonia Corporation and Carnival Corporation & plc. Although the new brand was actually in competition with the offerings of the Carnival subsidiary Costa Cruises, Micky Arison , Chairman and Chief Executive of Carnival , explained that he would achieve his growth goals in the Spanish mass market, the fourth largest in Europe, much faster and better with an experienced local partner to be able to. Carnival held a three-quarter majority.

The Grand Mistral was rebuilt and freshly painted in September 2007. After the Grand Voyager was also given a new coat of paint in the winter of 2007/2008, the Carnival Group relocated two older Carnival Cruise Lines ships to the new brand in Spain, the Celebration and Holiday . In May 2009 an agreement was reached to sell the remaining shares for 33 million euros to Carnival Coprortaion & plc., Which then became the sole owner. The Spanish cruise operator and brand then went to Costa Crociere SpA in Genoa, Italy. Carnival Corporation had already taken over this completely in 1997 and entrusted it with the operation of the AIDA Cruises brand, which is geared towards German customers, in addition to Costa Cruises. The Spanish subsidiary Ibero Cruceros SL, based in Madrid , was initially retained, but only served to support the Spanish-language entertainment on board and the sale of travel offers in Argentina, Brazil and Spain.

On May 12, 2014, the CEO of the Costa Group Michael Thamm announced the discontinuation of the brand at the end of 2014 at the “Protagonisti di Mare” event on board the Costa Luminosa. The Grand Holiday was sold to Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) to go there as Magellan . Initially, only a change to the company's main brand was planned for the Grand Celebration . Although she had already been repainted for the Costa Celebration and prepared for a new voyage, the ship was also sold at short notice and delivered to Celebration Cruise Line on December 20, 2014.

fleet

Even after ownership and responsibility for the operation of the ships had passed to the Southern European subsidiary of Carnival, the Ibero Cruceros ships, unlike the rest of the fleet, continued to sail under the Portuguese flag, with Madeira as their home port. The origin of the American Carnival Cruise Lines was clearly recognizable for the Holiday- class ships , the Grand Celebration and the Grand Holiday . The ships' typical chimney shape, known as the “whale tail”, remained unchanged under the Spanish brand, it was only repainted.

Former ships

Ship name	Ibero Cruceros	Shipyard / construction number	IMO number	delivery	Client	Renaming and whereabouts
Grand Mistral	2008 to November 2013	Chantiers de l'Atlantique , Saint-Nazaire No. J31	9172777	1999	Festival cruises	Use as Mistral until 2003. Sale through several owners, renovation in 2005 and renaming to Grand Mistral , as a charter with Iberojet. Acquired by Carnival Corp. & plc. in 2008. Relocated to the Costa Crociere brand within the group in November 2013 and under way as Costa neoRiviera , at the end of 2019 as AIDAmira to AIDA Cruises
Grand Voyager	2008 to 2011	Blohm + Voss , Hamburg	9183506	2000	Royal Olympia Cruise Lines	Used as Olympic Voyager , renamed Olympia Voyager in 2001 . Sold and renamed Voyager in 2004 . Sold and renamed Grand Voyager in 2005 . Chartered with Iberojet from 2004. Acquired by Carnival Corp. & plc. in 2008. After working for the Ibero Cruises brand, relocated to Costa Crociere and renamed Costa Yoyager . Sold to Bohai Ferry in 2014 and served there as Chinese Taishan .
Grand Celebration	April 2008 to October 2014	Kockums , Malmo	8314134	1987	Carnival Cruise Lines	In use as a Celebration until 2008. Within the Group, initially to Ibero Cruceros, relocated to the Costa Crociere brand as Costa Celebration in October 2014 . Sold to Celebration Cruise Line before a mission for Costa Crociere and back on duty as Grand Celebration .
Grand Holiday	2009 to October 2014	Aalborg Værft , Aalborg	8217881	1985	Carnival Cruise Lines	Used as a holiday until 2009. After renovation, handed over to the Ibero Cruceros brand. Sold to Cruise & Maritime Voyages in November 2014 and in service as Magellan since March 2015 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Festival and Iberojet with sea travel daughter. In: fvw, magazine for tourism & business travel. Verlag Dieter Niedecken GmbH, October 12, 2000, accessed on November 25, 2013 . 
2. ↑ Star Cruises is rejuvenating its fleet. In: fvw, magazine for tourism & business travel. Verlag Dieter Niedecken GmbH, January 20, 2004, accessed on November 25, 2013 . 
3. ↑ 1000 jobs lost in Balearics as tour operator closes. Majorca Daily Bulletin, March 21, 2013, accessed February 9, 2016 . 
4. ↑ News Release. Press release. In: The Carlyle Group. Carnival Corporation & plc, February 8, 2007, accessed April 16, 2018 . 
5. ^ Joint Venture of Carnival and Iberojet Cruceros in Spain. (pdf; 76 kB) In: POEA Market Update No. 10. Lloyd's List , 2007, accessed April 16, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Iberocruceros will be discontinued at the end of the year. May 12, 2014, accessed May 13, 2014 . 
7. ↑ Grand Holiday goes to CMV as "Magellan". November 5, 2014, accessed April 16, 2018 .