A victor was named yesterday in the bidding war over a cruise line which sends two vessels to Bermuda through the summer.

Celebrity Cruise Lines president and CEO Richard Sasso told The Royal Gazette that a definitive agreement had been signed between the company and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

"We just need Government approval which should not be a problem,'' he said.

Bloomberg reported yesterday that RCCL had announced it had agreed to buy Celebrity for $1.32 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt.

The offer is the line's second for Celebrity. It comes after rival Carnival Corporation offered $1.325 billion which topped RCCL's initial offer of $1.3 billion.

Bloomberg quoted Carnival's vice-president of public relations, Tim Gallagher: "It seems now that there are no other venues to pursue. We're sorry we didn't have the opportunity to put something together with Celebrity.'' Celebrity is a joint venture of Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. and Chandris Group. Its ships Zenith and Meridian visit Bermuda although the latter will be replaced by the Horizon next year.

RCCL's Island representative during the cruise ship season is the Song of America .

Mr. Sasso said: "We are optimistic about our future which promises to be very exciting.'' He said Celebrity believed the future of its brand would be enhanced greatly through RCCL's acquisition.

Although the two lines will essentially be under one umbrella, they were likely to remain the same distinct brands that had served Bermuda in the past.

"I don't expect to see much change,'' said Mr. Sasso.

While there would be an ownership change, he continued, joining the two brands would strengthen them.

They would still work to provide the best cruises, he added, and would continue to go after the same types of customers they had served before.

In fact, the team could encourage more people to experience Bermuda as the joint effort will have a wider audience.

Tourism Minister David Dodwell agreed and pointed out that Bermuda's contracts were with specific ships -- not cruise lines.

He stressed that RCCL and Celebrity were different brands and would likely remain that way.

"It's one issue to have a company which owns three ships but it is a different issue when one company has three ships which are all the same brand,'' he said.

However he added that this did not mean that Bermuda should not be cautious.

And Mr. Dodwell said Bermuda would be cautious as it moved into new contracts with the ships so it did not end up "with all its eggs in one basket''.

Mr. Sasso said there were many factors involved in Celebrity's choice of buyer including the fact that RCCL had approached Celebrity with the first serious bid.

At that point, Mr. Sasso noted, Celebrity was not for sale or soliciting bids but the offer was attractive and was later accepted in good faith.

Carnival's offer was attractive also, he added, as both were seen to be potentially good marriages as both were very strong lines.

Celebrity looked at what was attractive to it as a company and realised that under either banner there would be growth but upon weighing up all the factors decided RCCL's offer was the right one.

RCCL, the world's second-largest cruise operator, will buy Celebrity for $245 million in cash, $270 million in stock and will assume the line's $800 million in debt.