A nice name for a ship talked about for years but never built. As Apollo's ownership of Regent has stretched longer than many of us postulated, I am beginning to wonder if Apollo's, and PCH's, plans for Regent are to just sell off the three ships to competing lines. Navigator is 14 years old, Mariner 12, and Voyager 10; pretty old for cruise ships these days. Look at Seabourn redesigning themselves by building new larger ships and getting rid of the triplets; why hasn't Regent followed the same pattern? Are they just holding onto the three ships as long as they can sell them and then they will dispose of the fleet? It doesn't seem that there is another long term plan in the cards; if there were, a new build should have been started by now.

Comments? Other possibilities?

edited to add: Post was not meant to be negative in any way; just posted to promote discussion on future of Regent, and, hopefully, a place for FDR to post the news of the building of Seven Seas Explorer.

Mark, I see no reason why Regent would sell off ships, well, the Voyager and the Mariner at least, and I do still love the Navigator, just not most of the intineraries, been there done that.

Remember, Seabourn is redesigning itself and building ships that are STILL not even as big as Regents larger ships, they are close to the size of the Navigator. Regent has no reason to get rid of their ships, they are much newer than the triplets to my knowledge. Unless they started a whole new concept closer to large ship cruising. I sure hope not. The size is what keeps me from Crystal with 1,000 plus pax. Are you saying that they should ditch what they have, and build even bigger ships?

Likewise, Silversea's newest ship is not as large as the Voyager or the Mariner. Their other "larger ships" are same pax size as Navigator (I've cruised them both and like them) I like the 700 size very much. Hate to see it go much higher, too far to get from one place to another, and everything just gets "larger" than I want! I'm headed for a Disney cruise with my grands in a few days, and will get my intro to big ships, even though I've booked concierge cabins with some perks, it is going to be a lot of walking on that big Dream ship!

I didn't take your post as negative at all, rather, speculative, and speculative is just what is, just chatter. We do a lot of that here, nothing wrong with it! None of us are in the "inner circle", so do speak, about Apollo and PCH.

But you are right, would be nice for an announcement from Regent about a new build. We hear about it here and there, but I'm waiting for an official announcement. I think it would breath new life into the line. My personal feeling about this business, you grow, or you get left behind. Nothing ever stays the same for too long. You snooze you loose.

If Regent builds the Explorer I would like to see them keep the Navigator and use her for new & exploratory itineraries, such as they did for the first Discovery Cruise. With the smaller pax ship they could try new adventures to see if they sell enough to put those itineraries on the larger ships.
Jim

On TAJ, we were sure led to believe by Franck Galzy and others that an announcement for a new Regent build was imminent. But I guess that I'll believe it when I read about it in a reputable article.

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Eugene

I hope no one is holding his or her breath!

WSJ headline today (May 7, pg C3): "Apollo Lifted by Stake Sales." Reporter says "...2013 is shaping up to be the year of the exit."

Article goes on to say that Chairman and CEO Leon Black told attendees at a conf in LA last week that his firm is a "net seller" and "harvesting" assets amid buoyant market conditions.

There was no mention of Apollo cruise line and entertainment assets.

Hmmm...

Good call on the name Marc, and I didn't intend to step on your thread - I simply didn't look after I got conformation and could post my piece (separately, but copied below):

"I now have it on good authority - but specifically not including the sponsors of this web site - that Apollo has authorized PCH to negotiate for a newly built ship for Regent, to be named the Seven Seas Explorer. And, in good journalistic fashion, I've now gotten conformation from an independent second source, so I feel confident in posting this. I understand from the second source that the ship builder will be the same as the one that built the Navigator (something Italian like Fintcari(sp?)), that the ship will be under 800' long and just over 100' wide, and will carry up to +/-780s passengers (770-790), with a number of single suites and perhaps 4 specialty restaurants. Larger suites will almost certrainly mean more expensive. Due out in mid-late 2015, but I could get no hint whether (or not) there will be a complementary shakedown cruise for guests as was offered for both Mariner and Voyager."

We also heard the same thing as Eugene from another senior officer on TAJ during our dinner. He claims he has seen the plans.