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NCL
America Removes Pride of Hawai'i From Hawaii
Calling themselves
"victims of their own success," NCL America announced what
they called the "temporary withdrawal" of Pride of Hawai'i
from Hawaiian waters beginning February 2008 with a redeployment to
the NCL fleet and Europe for summer of 2008.
The Pride of
Hawaii is one of three NCL America ships sailing in Hawaii waters
under a U.S. flag, which enables the ships to make calls in the
Hawaiian Islands without stopping in a foreign port during the itinerary.
NCL had
substantial losses in 2006, which they blamed on their own added
capacity with Pride of Hawai'i and increased competition from other
foreign- flagged and crewed lines traveling to Hawai'i from the West Coast.
"We take this
action with regret, but sure in the knowledge that a temporary
retrenchment is the right thing to do for the good of the business
and the good of Hawai'i in the long run," said Colin Veitch,
president and CEO. "We remain committed to building a strong
U.S. Flag cruise business home ported in Hawai'i, and we need to make
sure that our other two ships, Pride of Aloha and Pride of America,
are able to achieve acceptable profitability before we can
confidently re- introduce Pride of Hawai'i.
"Clearly we
are victims of our own success. We have demonstrated that Hawai'i is
a highly attractive cruise destination and Hawai'i now has four times
as much capacity serving it in 2007 as it did in 2004 when we started
NCL America."
The Pride of
Hawaii will be renamed the Norwegian Jade. She will be reflagged into
the Bahamas registry during a wetdock in Honolulu, where the ship
will be fitted with a casino and new hull artwork. It will sail 12-,
13- and 14-day eastern and western Mediterranean cruises, sailing
from Barcelona, Istanbul and Athens; it will then reposition to
Southampton, England, for a series of cruises to the Mediterranean,
North Cape, Western Europe and the British Isles. The ship will offer
a series of sailings designed specifically for the U.K. market, NCL
said. The Jade will be joined in Europe by the Norwegian Gem, which
will sail western Mediterranean cruises from Barcelona, and the
Norwegian Jewel, which will sail in the Baltic region from Dover, England.
U.S. crew will be
offered positions with Pride of America or Pride of Aloha, or on a
ship in the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet, a company spokeswoman said.
It is expected that all crew who want to remain with NCL Corp. will
have a place somewhere fleetwide, she added.
Guests booked on
Pride of Hawai'i after February 2008 will receive a $50 onboard
credit per stateroom if they rebook by May 1, 2007, on Pride of
America, Pride of Aloha or any NCL ship. Those cancelling will
receive a full refund.
Cell
Phone Service Onboard The Yachts of Seabourn
For the
convenience of our guests, Seabourn has entered into an agreement
with Wireless Maritime Services to provide an advanced roaming
network on board all three Seabourn yachts, allowing you to make and
receive calls using your own mobile phone and phone number when the
ship is at sea. The service is accessible to most mobile phones
supporting GSM technology. It is available now on Seabourn Pride and
will commence on Seabourn Legend in April and on Spirit in May.
The WMS service is
active in all suites and many public areas of the ship. The system is
silenced in the Restaurant, the Veranda Café, the main show
lounge, The Club and the observation lounge. In public areas, please
set your ringer to vibrate and avoid conversations that might be
intrusive to others.
Seabourn
Opens Bookings For 2008-09 Cruising Schedules
Seabourn has
announced its sailing schedules for January 2008 through March of
2009. During the 15-month period, The Yachts of Seabourn will visit
over 200 ports in 55 countries during 127 scheduled voyages. Bookings
for the period will open on March 27, 2007. Asia, the Americas,
Europe, the Middle East and Africa will all be explored on cruises of
seven to 18 days or longer.
Seabourn Pride
will explore sea routes from Cape Horn in South America to the North
Cape of Norway on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, along with new
itineraries in France, the British Isles, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Seabourn Spirit
explores Southeast Asia in depth and makes two 8-day voyages to
China. India, Oman, Dubai, Egypt and the Red Sea lead to the
Mediterranean. New itineraries concentrate on the Dalmatian Coast,
including Split, Dubrovnik, Hvar and Rovinj, Croatia and Kotor, Montenegro.
Royal
adds another year-round W. Coast ship
Royal Caribbean
International will keep Vision of the Seas in Los Angeles year-round
in 2008-09, the company said in opening bookings for next year and beyond.
Vision of the
Seas, which has operated seasonally from LA, will take its
seven-night Mexican Riviera voyages full-calendar. The ship joins
Monarch of the Seas, which will continue with three- and four-night
cruises from the Southern California port year-round.
Damaged
Louis Cruise's Sea Diamond sinks off of Santorini
Divers were
searching for two missing passengers after the 22,400-ton Sea Diamond
sank just off of Santorini, Greece, at around 3 a.m. Friday morning,
hours after a collision with a volcanic reef, Louis Cruise Lines said.
The 20-year-old
ship scraped the volcanic reef off the Greek island on April 5 at
around 4 p.m., ripping a hole in its starboard side, allowing water
to penetrate the vessel, said Nicholas Filippidis, Louis Cruise Lines
director of product development in North America.
"They tried
to save the vessel but the damage was more severe and more water was
coming in than they could get out," Filippidis said. "It
was a beautiful vessel."
According to the
Cypriot cruise line, 1,200 passengers, most of them Americans, were
evacuated from the ship shortly after the collision, as well as 400
crewmembers. Because of the location, more than a dozen ships were
available to provide assistance within minutes. Six navy helicopters
were also in the air over the scene.
The captain and
several crew members from the Sea Diamond could face negligence and
other charges by Greek authorities, according to a report from the
Athens News Agency in Greece.
But the captain,
who has yet to be publicly identified, reportedly told prosecutors in
a deposition over the weekend that unexpected sea currents pushed the
ship onto a reef and that efforts to correct the drift failed.
Passengers on the
ill-fated Sea Diamond voyage will each receive €1,400
(approximately $1,872), according to George Stathopoulos, ceo of
Louis Hellenic Cruises.
The figure
includes the maximum amount of €1,000 payable under the Athens
Convention for lost luggage and €400 for the omission of
Santorini from the itinerary.
In addition,
passengers will receive a free four-day Greek Islands cruise on any
Louis ship or a certificate with a prorated discount for a longer cruise.
If you would like
to read the press releases from Louis Cruises CLICK
HERE
Free
For All (in California)
Queen Mary has
been a part of Long Beach for 40 years, and to celebrate, the
California attraction is having an open house for California residents.
Coming
to an Atrium Near You
It's probably
easier to gain weight on Crown Princess than any other ship. It seems
like no matter where you are going inside the ship, the smell of
fresh-baked cookies wafts up and draws you to the International Cafe
on the lower level of the atrium.
They have proven
to be such bonafide hit, the next logical step is to start baking
those cookies in atriums across the fleet.
All
NCL Tickets to Ride are Round Trip for Alaska Again in 2008
Norwegian Cruise
Line released the details of their 2008 Alaskan deployment, and at
this point, they are again planning to have three ships in Alaska in
2008, two operating round trip from Seattle and one round trip from
Vancouver. (We say "at this point," because, like the rest
of the industry, NCL is still gauging passenger reaction to the new
Alaska taxes and pricing, and even exactly how the new tax package
will affect the lines.)
RCI
outlines Northeast US sailings
Royal Caribbean
International opened bookings for 2008-09 departures from Northeast
U.S. ports. More than 80 sailings, ranging from five to 15 nights,
will chart New England/Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean.
Cruises will
operate year-round on Explorer of the Seas from Cape Liberty in
Bayonne, N.J., and in the summer and autumn on Jewel of the Seas and
Grandeur of the Seas from Baltimore, Norfolk and Boston.
Explorer’s
roundtrip itineraries from Bayonne will visit Bermuda and the Eastern
and Southern Caribbean on sailings of five to 12 nights. Nine-night
routes to New England/Canada will also operate.
Grandeur of the
Seas will sail roundtrip from Norfolk’s new Half Moone Cruise
and Celebration Center. The varied destinations include Bermuda (five
nights), New England/Canada (eight and nine nights) and the Eastern
Caribbean (nine nights). From Baltimore, Grandeur will operate
nine-night Eastern Caribbean voyages and five-night Bermuda get-aways.
Jewel of the Seas
returns to Boston in 2008 for four roundtrip seven-night sailings to
New England/Canada beginning in late September. One five-night
sailing will depart in mid-October.
Canaveral
sets new cruise records
Port
Canaveral’s multi-day cruise passenger movements hit 4,542,056
in 2006, a 3.5% increase over 2005. Annual cruise revenues ballooned
16.8%, to an all-time high of more than $36.6m.
Growth was driven
by Carnival Cruise Lines’ introduction of a third ship and new
five-day itineraries. Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Spirit
began making regular calls on roundtrip itineraries from New York,
and Princess Cruises’ new Crown Princess paid five visits.
Port
Canaveral’s 2007 vision statement sets two major cruise goals:
entering into long-term agreements with its resident lines and
increasing the number of homeporting brands.
Titanic
explanations for balcony tumble
On the
statistically extremely rare occasion when a passenger goes
overboard, the consumer media seem to immediately assume the worst
and speculate that a crime or a design flaw caused the situation.
Because officials
typically don’t comment due to passenger privacy issues, a
criminal investigation or a lawsuit, the truth may not emerge in a
timely manner.
In the recent case
of the young man and woman who went overboard from a Grand Princess
balcony in the Gulf of Mexico and were rescued four hours later,
Princess Cruises promptly reported the incident but did not elaborate
on the circumstances. Law enforcement officials said foul play was
not suspected.
This week Ernesto
Guzman, 22, thanked Princess and the U.S. Coast Guard for his rescue
while also crediting his water survival training at the U.S. Air
Force Academy. Asking for his privacy to be respected, he gave no
further details. Guzman continued on the cruise after his rescue. The
20-year-old woman who was saved left the ship and hasn’t
commented publicly.
The Rocky Mountain
News reported that a Colorado woman photographed the couple just
before they went over. Some passengers have said the pair were
re-enacting a scene from the movie ‘Titanic’ when they fell
from the railing of a ninth deck balcony. But travel agent Sandy
Darley told the Colorado newspaper the two were engaged in
‘hanky-panky’ -- as the paper put it -- and she was trying
to make them aware they were being seen by others by using her camera flash.
When the flash
didn’t fire, Darley stepped back into her room and heard ‘a
crash, followed by someone shouting a woman’s name.’
According to the Rocky Mountain News, Darley said she immediately
notified ship officials.
Half
Moon Cay adds over water oasis
Holland America
Line introduced the Private Oasis at Half Moon Cay, its Bahamian
island. The Private Oasis perches on a point, partially over water,
so large families or groups can gather in a private setting with a
water slide and a walkway into the water.
The Private Oasis
stretches across 1,620 square feet, compared to the cay’s 15
beach cabanas that are 200 square feet each and individually
accommodate up to four people. The oasis includes a large covered
deck and a sun deck with eight-person hot tub.
The new feature
was added for multi-generational families and groups of up to 25,
said Rick Meadows, evp marketing, sales and guest programs for
Holland America. An Ultimate Oasis Package is also available for a
wedding reception.
Facilities include
an indoor teak dining table seating six, outdoor teak lounges and bar
stools for 12, a barbecue area, full wet bar and refrigerator,
massage table, iPod music system, changing rooms, showers and
100-foot walkway with misting stations.
Several packages
are available and priced for up to 12 people, with an extra charge
for additional guests up to 25. The Palm Package offers beverages,
snacks, barbecue lunch buffet, butler, chef and lifeguard for $1,195.
The Royal Palm Package, $1,695, adds dishes like lobster and a
masseuse for short massages.
RCI,
Celebrity add Express Departure
Royal Caribbean
International and Celebrity Cruises passengers with early flights can
now choose Express Departure and carry off their own luggage instead
of claiming it in the terminal.
Passengers who use
the new option keep their bags in their rooms the night before
disembarkation and carry them off between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m.
Express Departure
is available on every Royal Caribbean and Celebrity vessel, in ports
throughout North and South America and Europe.
Princess
adds mother/daughter package
Princess Cruises
will introduce a ‘Mother/Daughter Memories’ package in
advance of the Mother’s Day weekend inauguration of Emerald
Princess and Royal Princess in May.
Available
year-round to mothers and daughters aged 21 and older, the $495
package includes silver charm bracelets, a Lotus Spa treatment, a
half-day pass to the adults-only deck area (The Sanctuary), reserved
seats for a wine-tasting event and 8 x 10-inch photos.
Good
News for Norfolk, VA
Royal Caribbean
assigned the 2,400-passenger Grandeur of the Seas to a season
in Norfolk, Va. The vessel will operate itineraries to Bermuda, the
Caribbean and Canada/New England from Norfolk between June 13 and
Sept. 4, 2008. Royal Caribbean meanwhile will be the first line to
use Norfolk's $36 million Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center
port, which opens to passenger ships this month with the arrival of
the Empress of the Seas.
Drydock
Updates:
• Celebrity
will give its Mercury an upgrade during a six-day drydock in San
Francisco beginning April 13. The "home improvement"
program, as Celebrity called it, will be highlighted by the addition
of 14 balconies on the aft end of the ship and a transformation of
the ship's shopping area. Other upgrades will focus on the gym, the
pool deck, carpeting in many public areas and the ship's bedding.
• The
Norwegian Dawn will enter an unscheduled drydock in Boston on May 29
to conduct repairs on a thrust bearing in the ship's propulsion
system. During a routine inspection, engineers identified localized
wear in the thrust bearing, NCL said. The ship has been sailing at
reduced speed in order to limit further wear; the safe operation of
the ship was not affected, NCL said. Two sailings, the May 26 and
June 2 departures, will be affected by the drydock, and NCL is giving
full refunds and a 25% cruise credit to deposited passengers.
Fred.
Olsen to stretch Balmoral
Fred. Olsen Cruise
Lines is to lengthen its latest purchase, Norwegian Crown, which is
currently under bareboat charter to Norwegian Cruise Lines.
FOCL which takes
redelivery of the vessel, to be renamed Balmoral, in November has
entered into a contract with Blohm+Voss Repair to extend the length
of the vessel by about 30mtr. In addition to increasing public areas,
it will also increase passenger capacity by approximately 350
bringing the total passenger count to around 1,340 in lower beds/berths.
Emerald
Princess sails on maiden voyage
Emerald Princess
embarked its first passengers April 11th in Civitavecchia. The
113,000gt ship’s first cruise is a 12-day Greek Isles voyage to Venice.
Port calls include
Naples, Santorini, Rhodes, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Piraeus, Katakolon,
Corfu and Dubrovnik.
Thereafter the
ship will operate a series of Greek Isles and ‘Grand
Mediterranean’ cruises before crossing the Atlantic in October
to its winter base of Fort Lauderdale.
Built at
Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard, Emerald Princess includes many
of the features that debuted with last year’s Crown Princess,
including a piazza-style atrium and an adults-only deck retreat
called The Sanctuary.
The ship also
brings some new amenities including the opportunity for small groups
of passengers to take part in a Chef’s Table dinner event on
select nights.
Norfolk
shows off its $36m cruise facility
More than 3,000
people took advantage of the opportunity to tour Norfolk’s $36m
Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center during a community open
house on April 7th.
Travel agents from
throughout the U.S. Southeast were also on hand, with agencies
represented from Raleigh, N.C., to Washington, D.C., said Stephen
Kirkland, manager of cruise marketing and operations.
‘In the
coming weeks, we’ll be installing one of the nation’s
largest, privately owned ocean liner exhibits, which will knock the
socks off our first cruise passengers on April 28,’ Kirkland said.
That will be the
inaugural call by Royal Caribbean International’s Empress of the
Seas, which is kicking off a season of cruises to Bermuda.
As earlier
reported, Royal Caribbean has confirmed that Grandeur of the Seas
will sail from Norfolk in Spring and Summer 2008, on voyages to
Bermuda, the Caribbean and Canada/New England.
Royal
Princess transformation is under way
Minerva II arrived
at Gibraltar’s Cammell Laird shipyard on last week to undergo a
two-week transformation into Royal Princess.
Most work will be
cosmetic because the 2001-built vessel, originally R-8, already
offers Princess Cruises trademark features like multiple restaurants
and a high percentage of balcony cabins. Of 355 rooms, 257 or 77% of
all ocean-view accommodations sport balconies.
The two specialty
dining venues will be converted into signature Princess venues:
Sterling Steak House and Sabatini’s, an Italian trattoria. The
main dining room, seating 338, will be called the Club Restaurant,
and the casual dining spot will be known as the Panorama Buffet.
The casino,
removed for the ship’s service as Minerva II under Swan
Hellenic, will be restored. The spa will become the Lotus Spa.
Royal Princess
will offer capacity for 710 passengers and is intended to look very
similar to its sisters, Pacific Princess and Tahitian Princess.
Celebrity
offers ‘passport’ to Euro culture
Celebrity Cruises
is beefing up its European-themed on-board activities for
Mediterranean and Baltic sailings. The new ‘Passaporto di
Europa’ program is aimed at enhancing sea days and evenings on
the ship and will encompass entertainment, shopping and dining.
In France, for
example, culinary staff representing Italy and France will stage a
cook-off and, in Italy, ‘Carnevale di Venezia’ will
transform the pool deck into a piazza with music, food, mask-making
and a gondola race. In Germany, ‘Oktoberfest German
Biergarten’ will offer German beers for sale, complemented by
German foods, a sausage-eating contest and an oompah band.
Other activities
are planned for Spain, Greece, Scandinavia, Russia and the British
Isles. And ‘Europe through the Silver Screen’ will present
a cruise-long film festival.
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