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ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL and Celebrity
Cruises both outlined their 2009 Europe deployment:
• Royal Caribbean will deploy eight ships in
Europe, one more than this year. The line will offer 70 itineraries,
visiting 87 ports in 32 countries, and sail out of two new homeports:
Copenhagen, Denmark, and Malaga, Spain.
• Celebrity will deploy five ships to
Europe, including what will be its two newest vessels, the Solstice
and the Equinox. Celebrity ships will visit 76 ports in 29 countries,
and the lineup includes five new cities and overnight stops in eight ports.
ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL will reduce its
departures from Norfolk by almost half in 2009, when the Grandeur of
the Seas will sail seven instead of 13 cruises from the Virginia
port. The Grandeur will offer Bermuda and Caribbean trips from
Norfolk, and Canada and New England trips from Baltimore. Royal
Caribbean also said its 2009 Northeast sailings would include the
Explorer of the Seas' third consecutive season of year-round Bermuda
service from Bayonne, N.J., and that the Jewel of the Seas would
offer New England and Canada trips from Boston.
DISNEY CRUISE LINE will homeport its two new
ships in Port Canaveral, Fla., under an agreement the line finalized
with the port to extend its contract through 2013. Disney will also
keep its two current ships sailing out of Port Canaveral under the
agreement. The Canaveral Port Authority will extend the dock; enlarge
and enhance Disney's terminal building to allow for additional
luggage and passenger capacity; and build a multi-level parking
structure by 2011, all in order to accommodate the new and larger
Disney ships, which are scheduled to launch in 2011 and 2012.
PORT CANAVERAL is also likely to homeport Royal
Caribbean's 3,643-passenger Freedom of the Seas beginning in May
2009. Royal Caribbean is sending the Mariner of the Seas, currently
sailing out of Port Canaveral, to Los Angeles at that time. The
Freedom currently operates out of Miami.
OASIS OF THE SEAS AND ALLURE OF THE SEAS are the
second pair of names a panel chose as finalists for Royal Caribbean
International's two Genesis-class megaships in the "Name that
Ship" contest being held by Royal Caribbean and USA Today. A
dozen names (six possibilities for each ship) will be chosen over six
weeks from readers' submissions; names chosen to be finalists so far
are the Mosaic of the Seas and the Coronation of the Seas.
NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE said its third generation
of Freestyle cruise ships will not have main dining rooms, main
theaters or Lido deck cafes and will not have traditional cruise ship
cabins. The 4,200-passenger vessels, NCL's largest, will have many
features that will be "unrecognizable" to cruisers, said
Colin Veitch, NCL's president and CEO. The first of the two
150,000-gross-ton ships will be delivered in January 2010. Veitch
also said that the Norwegian Jade will be the first NCL ship to get
the multimillion-dollar enhancements of the line's Freestyle 2.0
initiative when the vessel, the former Pride of Hawaii, debuts in the
Mediterranean on March 30.
CDF CROISIERES DE FRANCE will take delivery of
its first ship, the Bleu de France, in April, the first for Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd's new French cruise brand. The ship is
currently sailing for RCCL's Spanish brand Pullmantur Cruises as the
Holiday Dream. The ship will undergo a $46 million makeover in
Barcelona, to be tailored to French travelers, before entering
service in Marseille in May.
REGENT SEVEN SEAS CRUISES completed a
multimillion dollar upgrade of its entertainment programming, and now
has professional ballroom dance teams, new productions and what
Regent says is the largest live orchestra on any luxury cruise line.
Shows like ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" contributed to
Regent's decision to add several shows with professional ballroom
dancing and to offer complimentary lessons to Regent guests. Its
nine-piece orchestra will perform as a unit on the Mariner, Voyager
and Navigator, and will also break up into smaller units to perform
at cocktails hours or in lounges.
Ruby Princess Inaugural Moves Up
Princess has announced that its new Ruby Princess
will now debut on Nov. 8, one week earlier than previously scheduled.
The inaugural voyage will be a seven-day Western Caribbean sailing to
Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Princess Cays.
Carnival Execs See Strong Cruise Demand
Despite a bottom line battered by escalating fuel
costs and problems in the economy, Carnival Corp. executives say the
world's largest cruise company and cruise vacations in general are
well positioned for growth this year because consumers are looking
for what cruise vacations offer - value.
"Summer demand is skewed more toward
Europe," Arison added. "While Alaska continues not to grow
at the pace of other premium markets, such as Europe, overall it's
fine - a very good premium market."
Carnival Conquest Adds New Galveston Itinerary
Carnival Cruise Lines' 2,974-passenger Carnival
Conquest will offer a new seven-day itinerary from Galveston, TX,
that will include port calls to Key West and Freeport and Nassau.
The new weeklong cruise option will be offered
approximately once a month from February 2009 through April 2010 and
will complement the ship's existing Western Caribbean cruise schedule
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