Cruise West World Cruise Terminated, Ship Sold to Danish Investors

Last week Cruise West abruptly terminated their 120-passenger vessel, Spirit of Oceanus’, 335-day world cruise.

The company suspended bookings and shut down its reservations system, replacing its website with a notice of the company’s restructuring efforts.

Cruise West said the first step in their restructuring was to terminate the 335-day world cruise, which came to a halt in Newfoundland, Canada last week, leaving some passengers stranded.

There have been reports that all but a handful of passengers were set to disembark at St. Johns, so it seems just a small amount of passengers had their cruises cut short. It is common for around the world cruises to be booked in segments and very few travelers book more than one or two segments.

Washington's Employment Security Department also reported receiving notification from Cruise West of their intentions to layoff of 65 employees by the end of this week.

Passengers who had booked Spirit of Oceanus were advised by Cruise West to file claims with their travel insurance companies, credit card issuers or if they paid with cash notify Cruise West by email.

At the termination of the around the world voyage the line did not say where the Spirit of Oceanus was going or what its new role would be.

Today, International Shipping Partners (ISP) Inc., a ship management company based in Miami reported that the vessel had been sold to TN Cruise K/S Denmark. ISP also reported that the company, controlled by Danish investors, was formed for the purpose of buying the Sprit of Oceanus and ISP will manage the vessel and are looking for a long-term charter.

Spirit of Oceanus had been with Cruise West for nine years and was the largest and most luxurious in its fleet.