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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
featuring stops at Montego Bay, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman;
and Cozumel, Mexico.
Dates scheduled for this new itinerary are:
2009: Feb. 15th, March 15th & 29th,
May 17th, June 14th, July 12th, August 9th, September 20th, October
18th, November 15th, December 13th.
2010: Jan. 10th, Feb. 7th, March 7th,
April 4th.
CLICK
HERE for
more details
Carnival Cruise Lines to Launch Whodunit
Mystery Cruise Series
Carnival Cruise Lines has partnered with Whodunit
Productions, the leading organizer of mystery cruises at sea, to
produce a series of Whodunit Cruises aboard the Carnival Paradise,
based out of Long Beach, CA.
Eight different three-day "Mystery
Cruises" will be offered in 2008 and throughout 2009. The first
will depart on Halloween, Oct. 31. Other departure dates include Jan.
9, Feb. 13, March 13, May 1, July 17, Oct. 30 and Dec. 4, 2009.
The Whodunit Cruises will feature a variety of
activities throughout the various public rooms - all with the
objective of solving the mystery by the end of the voyage. When
participants arrive on board they are given their own role to play
and are encouraged to utilize the traits of their character to solve
the mystery. Participants can also interact with professional actors
hired specifically to set the tone for the mystery by creating an
atmosphere of suspense and intrigue.
Call our office for reservations or info.
Princess: Smoke on Grand Princess caused by
engine failure, not a fire
Princess Cruises says the smoke seen billowing
from the 2,600-passenger Grand Princess late Monday (3/31) was the
result of an unexpected breakdown of one of the ship's engines, not a fire.
News outlets in Jamaica this morning reported
that a fire broke out on the ship as it sailed away from the island.
But Princess spokeswoman Julie Benson says nothing ever was burning
on the vessel.
"Upon departure from Ocho Rios yesterday,
one of Grand Princess' engines suddenly stopped, emitting a large
amount of smoke into the engine spaces," Benson said. "There
was no fire, and the safety of the ship and our passengers was never compromised."
Benson says the breakdown of the engine did
affect the ship's speed, causing it to arrive about two hours late
this morning at its next port of call, Grand Cayman. She says the
line expects the problem with the engine to be fixed before the ship
departs Grand Cayman this afternoon.
Arison: No New U.S.
Ship Orders
Lloyd's List, a British-based publication,
reports that inflation, the weak dollar, and higher shipbuilding
costs have convinced Carnival Corp. to halt any new ship orders for
U.S.-based brands beyond those already on the books.
The article quoted Carnival Corp. Chairman/CEO
Micky Arison, "We recognize that we are unable to build new
ships for our U.S. brands at present dollar-valued costs and our own
internal return projections."
As the Lloyd's List reporter correctly noted,
Royal Caribbean/Celebrity are continuing to order newbuilds,
apparently for the North American market. Celebrity has five
Solstice-class ships on order, including one placed this March when
the dollar was already in the tank.
What does Carnival Corp.'s position on new ship
orders mean for the industry? In the short-term, few will notice a
big slowdown in capacity growth. Princess, Holland America, and
Carnival all have ships coming online this year. Carnival Cruise
Lines has three coming between now and the end of 2011.
In contrast, Royal Caribbean has no capacity
increase in the North American market this summer. Independence of
the Seas, the third in the Freedom-class series, starts in Europe.
Assessing Today's Fantasy-Class
With growth expected to slow down for Carnival
Corp.'s North American ships, Micky Arison told Lloyd's List Carnival
could carry on "indefinitely" in the U.S. with its current
fleet; he points to the recently unveiled $250 million renovation
program on eight Fantasy-class ships as an example of how the brand
will remain fresh and competitive.
Based on our recent ship inspection of Carnival
Imagination, the money was well spent, in part because it represents
a welcome return to emphasizing the needs and interests of Carnival's
core market. In recent years, touted additions like wine bars and
French chef-designed menus weren't particularly relevant to Carnival travelers.
But the changes for the Fantasy-class ships
appear aimed at the family market. At the top of Imagination now is a
wildly circuitous, four-story-high water slide--the largest slide at
sea. Nearby are dual-lane, 82-foot-long racing waterslides.
Princess' New Deposit Rules
Princess' new deposit requirements, requiring a
30% deposit on the cruise-only fare rather than a flat dollar amount,
effective for voyages from summer 2009 onwards, has some people
asking what prompted the change.
"We believe it is more equitable, as,
historically, the passengers paying the least paid the highest
proportion of their fare as a deposit," replies Princess Exec VP
Jan Swartz. "It is also more in line with many competitive
land-based vacation packages deposit policies."
Carnival Miracle to offer new eight day
Eastern Caribbean option from NY in 2009
Carnival Cruise Lines has added a new eight-day eastern Caribbean
cruise option from New York aboard the 2,124-passenger Carnival
Miracle featuring port calls to Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos;
the private island of Half Moon Cay; and Nassau, The Bahamas.
The new cruise route will be offered approximately once a month from
May through September 2009. The new itinerary complements the
existing Eastern Caribbean cruise schedule from New York with stops
in San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, USVI; and Tortola, British
Virgin Islands.
* There's more news that wouldn't fit in the Newsletter. CLICK
HERE for the rest of the news!
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