SAN FRANCISCO---Jan. 18, 1996--Seabourn Cruise Line announced today that an agreement has been concluded for its acquisition of the vessel, Queen Odyssey, sister ship of the line's two elegant all-suite cruise ships, Seabourn Pride and Seabourn Spirit.

San Francisco-based Seabourn said the vessel had been purchased for $55 million from Kloster Cruises Ltd. of Oslo, Norway. Financial details of the acquisition were not released.

(It was announced publicly Tuesday, Jan. 16 in San Francisco that Royal Cruise Line would cease operations.)

Seabourn Cruise Line is jointly owned by Norwegian Industrialist Atle Brynestad who founded the line in 1987, and Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL).

The purchase agreement was signed today in Oslo by Atle Brynestad who serves as chairman and CEO of the line, and a representative for Kloster Cruises Ltd.

The elegant and highly regarded Seabourn will take possession of the Queen Odyssey on Jan. 26, 1996 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Seabourn pointed out that it had not acquired Royal Cruise Line but one of its assets and said it intends to continue to operate it as the Queen Odyssey and honor the Royal Cruise Line published schedule, pricing and marketing initiatives for a short period.

Seabourn stated that any guests booked at tariff on any modified Queen Odyssey itinerary can be assured that they will have the option of selecting itineraries from the Seabourn Pride or the Seabourn Spirit at Royal Cruise Line published prices. Details will be announced as soon as plans currently underway are finalized.

Following this initial period, yet to be determined, the ship will be integrated into Seabourn's upscale service philosophy and operating patterns. Seabourn said it would announce subsequent cruising regions, pricing and marketing strategy as rapidly as they are developed.

Seabourn said guests who have booked the Queen Odyssey will be contacted quickly through their travel agents, or by Seabourn directly if necessary and appropriate, and will be advised of the change of ownership of the vessel and her future operations.

The 10,000-ton Queen, which has been operated by Royal Cruise Line, and earlier by Royal Viking Line, which built the vessel from Seabourn's original design concept, was originally slated for Seabourn back in 1990 as part of an agreement with a German shipyard, Schichau Seebeckwerft AG of Bremerhaven, Germany. Seabourn acquired the first two vessels, the Pride in 1988 and the Spirit in 1989. It had an option for the building of the third ship but declined to continue with the arrangement as its price escalated.

Now-defunct Royal Viking Line built the vessel and operated it until late 1994 when the line was dismantled and various Royal Viking Line vessels were acquired by Cunard Line and Royal Cruise Line.

From Seabourn's San Francisco headquarters, Larry Pimentel, president of Seabourn Cruise Line, said, "It is always unfortunate when a major company fails. Royal Cruise Line has a long business history and we regret that it has been forced to take this action, particularly when it comes on the heels of the dismantling of Royal Viking Line.

"The real tragedy however, is that a large group of dedicated cruise industry professionals has been displaced.

"However, I do believe strongly that the acquisition of the Queen Odyssey by Seabourn will be viewed widely as a vindication of our judgment in not choosing to build the ship originally. The economic environment for purchase of the ship at that time was not right for us. Now it is."

"We have watched while both the original Royal Viking Line and now Royal Cruise Line have operated this vessel at prices significantly lower than Seabourn's while marketing the cruise experience as being of Seabourn's quality. In our estimation both of those lines were linking low price with quality. This is like attempting to mix oil with water. Today there are other cruise lines attempting to do the same thing and the result of their efforts can be seen in historical perspective -- in other words, buyer beware," he said.

"The acquisition of the Queen Odyssey," he said, "effectively insures our position as the quality leader in the cruise industry. I believe it is highly unlikely that vessels of this size and intimacy will ever be built again.

"Now, we fully expect even more profitability in the future since the Queen Odyssey represents a 50 percent increase in our guest capacity with minimal cost in the overall shoreside operation of the vessels."

"Today all of us at Seabourn Cruise Line, both aboard our ships and ashore, are absolutely delighted. We look upon this occasion as one in which a wandering family member has come home," he said.

Pimental also said much planning and work needs to be done to fully integrate the third ship into the Seabourn fleet. "Seabourn is generally recognized as the world's most celebrated cruise line. To assure that our new ship meets our high service standards, we will need to address staffing standards and policy issues.

"Accordingly, we will be operating the vessel as the Queen Odyssey with her present European officers staff, on her already published Royal Cruise Line itineraries and pricing for an initial period.

"Subsequently, our new cruise ship will by fully staffed with our own Norwegian officer and European service staff and commence Seabourn-designed itineraries, shore programs and pricing. Also at that time we will re-christen the ship as the Seabourn Legend and commemorate her joining our fleet with an international celebration.

"Highly important in our plan to present the new Legend with Seabourn's exceedingly high service standards, will also be to change her registry from the Bahamas to Norway."

"Just as the Seabourn Pride and the Seabourn Spirit, the Seabourn Legend will proudly fly the Norwegian flag continuing the long and esteemed Norwegian maritime tradition, thereby meeting and even exceeding the high expectations of those who sail with her," he said.

"In addition to staffing our new ship with our own people trained in the Seabourn philosophy, we will be adding approximately a dozen shoreside staff over the next several months," Pimental concluded.

Brynestad will continue to serve as chairman and CEO of Seabourn Operating from Oslo where the line's maritime and technical operations are headquartered. Seabourn President Larry Pimental and a staff of more than 50 marketing, reservations, air-sea, hotel operations, cruise-land programming and accounting staff are headquartered in San Francisco.

Carnival Corporation, which operates the largest cruise operation in the world, purchased 25 percent of Seabourn from Brynestad in 1993. The agreement at that time specified Carnival would purchase an additional 25 percent following two years of profit. Seabourn made its first profit in fiscal 1994 and its second in fiscal 1995 which ended Nov. 30 last year. Carnival Corporation in addition to owning and operating Carinval Cruise Lines, also owns 100 percent of two other cruise lines, Holland America Line and Windstar Cruises.

Each cruise line -- Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Windstar and Seabourn -- operates independently with autonomous management and marketing structures but enjoys the synergy which comes from the exchange of travel industry and cruise industry marketing and sales knowledge and combined purchasing power.

The Seabourn Pride and the Seabourn Spirit and the present Queen Odyssey are 200-passenger, all-suite vessels. Seabourn presently cruises in North America, South America, Alaska, the Caribbean, the British Isles, Europe, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, East Africa, Asia, the Orient and the South Pacific. Seabourn ships now visit 78 countries and nearly 300 ports of call.