Pullmantur Cruises

Pullmantur was founded in Madrid in 1971 as a tour operator. Alongside selling package holidays, the company also developed a cruise business: in the late 1990s, it began chartering ships and offering Mediterranean cruises from Barcelona. This evolution from tour operator to Spanish cruise provider explains the shift from individual charter agreements to its own changing fleet program.

From charter program to cruise line

In 1998, Pullmantur partially chartered the Rembrandt for seven-night Mediterranean cruises. The following year, the tour operator regularly sold more than 500 berths. In 2000, it signed a three-year full-charter agreement for the Seawind Crown, with around 800 berths available each week. When the cruise line Premier went bankrupt and the ship was seized in September 2000, Pullmantur was left without a ship. The company then decided to buy ships rather than continue chartering. In 2001, the Oceanic began weekly seven-night cruises from Barcelona; the R Five joined the fleet in 2002. Routes through the Mediterranean thus became an important early focus.

Royal Caribbean completed its acquisition of Pullmantur in November 2006. It was the group’s first wholly owned European brand; the Spanish company combined cruising with tour operations and other holiday offerings. In 2007, the Zenith was transferred from the Celebrity fleet and initially used for seven-day cruises in the eastern Mediterranean. The ships in the changing fleet can be compared with other cruise ships in the ship directory; the Caribbean itineraries highlight another important cruising region for the company.

Court-ordered liquidation from 2021

In 2016, Pullmantur continued as a joint venture between Royal Caribbean and Springwater. In June 2020, the shareholders applied for reorganisation under Spanish insolvency law. Within the joint venture, Cruises Investment Holding owned 51 percent and Royal Caribbean 49 percent. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were cited as a major factor. In 2021, a Spanish court opened liquidation proceedings for Pullmantur Cruises SL; by March 2022, the company was listed as “en liquidación.” The auction of the brand was announced in 2023. The court-ordered winding-up brought the cruise business to an end, concluding a history that had progressed from charter cruises out of Barcelona through integration into an international group to insolvency proceedings.