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Insignia out of service to March 22, NCLH expects 5-cent EPS hit in Q4 and in Q1

Anne Kalosh
Insignia scheduled to re-enter service from Singapore
Oceania Cruises' fire-damaged Insignia will be out of service until March 22, missing the first three legs of its Around the World in 180 Days cruise. Parent company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings estimated an impact of 5 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2014 and in the first quarter of 2015, net of insurance proceeds.

The company reiterated its prior full year 2014 adjusted EPS guidance of $2.28 to $2.32. That guidance did not include the results of the acquisition of Prestige Cruises International, the parent of Oceania Cruises, which closed in Q4, nor the impact from the Insignia fire.

The repairs are estimated to take approximately nine weeks, and the ship's modified world voyage is now scheduled to begin in Singapore on March 22. The vessel has been towed to a San Juan drydock.

Insignia's Dec. 11 engine room fire, while the ship was alongside at Port Castries, St. Lucia, left three workers dead. All passengers were safely evacuated.

There has been no public indication of what caused the blaze.

The fire cut short a 10-day cruise that sailed from San Juan on Dec. 7, and resulted in the cancellation of a 24-day voyage scheduled to depart Miami on Dec. 17, along with the first three legs of the world cruise, which was to begin in Miami on Jan. 10.