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Grand Turk Update
Grand Turk--is a brand new port. The terminal
itself is terrific. During our visit, the Crown was the only ship
there, and that makes a big difference, as it could be overwhelmed
when two ships are in port. That's particularly true of Jimmy
Buffet's Margaritaville, built around a giant pool complex, which is
absolutely the number one attraction for the guests.
The port facility bears some similarities to the
Costa Maya facility (also run by Carnival Corp.) and is almost
Disneylandish in terms of cleanliness. The basics, such as the access
point for buses, are handled impeccably.
Away from the port, the attractions that visitors
flocked to were the lighthouse, utterly beautiful beaches, and the
small downtown area with some shopping and bars. It's refreshing to
see an underdeveloped island during a Caribbean cruise (though
technically Grand Turk is not part of the Caribbean).
For the typical cruise passenger, the half-day (1
pm - 6 pm) allotted for GT was plenty of time. Princess has put
together an extensive list of shore excursions such as biking,
dune-buggies, 4WD safaris, fly and sport fishing, sightseeing via
horse and carriage, stingray encounters, and what the island is best
known for: scuba diving.
New Princess Itineraries
Princess Cruises has announced world-wide
itineraries for seven ships during the fall 2007 to spring 2008
season. Sapphire Princess returns to Asia and Australia/New Zealand,
Pacific Princess sails between Hawaii and Tahiti, and Sun Princess
and Regal Princess cross the Pacific. Princess will also offer a full
102-day world cruise, and passengers will have the opportunity to
join Sun Princess during her first season sailing "Down
Under" as an Australian-based ship. In addition, Royal Princess
sails up the Amazon River, Star Princess travels around Cape Horn and
to Antarctica, and Diamond Princess sets sail for Hawaii and Tahiti.
For the first time, Princess will offer two 16-day Antarctica
voyages, sailing round-trip from Buenos Aires.
Crystal publishes 2007 atlas
Crystal Cruises’ 2007 worldwide cruise atlas
is now available to travel agents and consumers. The 149-page guide
showcases 63 itineraries visiting 152 ports in 67 countries.
Next year, the 940-passenger Crystal Symphony and
the 1,080-passenger Crystal Serenity will cruise the Caribbean, South
America, Antarctica, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the
Mediterranean, Canary Islands, Black Sea, Panama Canal, Mexican
Riviera, Asia, British Isles, Baltic Sea, Arctic Circle and New England/Canada.
SeaMobile signs Crystal Cruises
Seattle-based SeaMobile, Inc. signed an agreement
with Crystal Cruises to install wireless broadband communications
equipment on board Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony later this year.
The service will allow Crystal passengers to use
their own cellular phones and wireless PDAs while at sea. Charges for
calls and data services will appear on the user’s wireless bill
from their home carrier.
Carnival likes Lucaya, if issues get resolved
Carnival Corp. would favor the relocation of
Grand Bahama Island’s cruise facilities to the more
tourist-friendly area of Lucaya but said a number of issues must
first be resolved.
‘Right now, the port location is in the
middle of a container port. If we had our druthers, we would move to
Lucaya. It’s more attractive,’ Micky Arison told Seatrade
Insider. However, the Carnival chairman and ceo said there are
‘political, financial and other issues’ that need to be settled.
Grand Bahama Port Authority chairman Hannes Babak
has been advocating the shift of cruise operations to a new site
owned by the port authority. He told local media a location for a
$200m facility has been identified and said an unnamed partner would
participate in developing a tourist village with retail, restaurants,
condos and timeshares. According to the Bahama Journal, Babak
also said talks are underway with Carnival and Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd.
San Francisco plans shore power system
San Francisco is set to become the third U.S.
city after Juneau and Seattle to provide shore power to cruise ships
in an effort to reduce air emissions.
Reuters reports that the San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission plans to build a $2m electric substation at the
city’s new cruise terminal that would supply power for
ships’ lighting, air conditioning and other hotel department needs.
Celebrity markets Australia tours
Celebrity Cruises introduced two tours from
Sydney to accompany the line’s first Australia-New Zealand
season beginning in November 2007.
The three-night package includes one night in
Sydney, followed by two nights in Cairns where passengers will visit
the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. They also will participate in an
Australian crocodile adventure in North Queensland.
The five-night option combines one night in
Sydney, two nights at Ayers Rock and two nights in Port Douglas,
where participants will travel to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
and take part in the crocodile adventure.
Both programs include fully escorted tours, some
meals, four-star hotel accommodations, and all transportation,
including transfers and flights between destinations. The three-day
option is priced at $3,149, while the five-day program is $4,499.
HAL upgrades Alaska motorcoaches
Holland America Tours is forging a new fleet of
39 motorcoaches for the 2007 Alaska season. They offer more legroom,
leather seats, an enriched narration program including topical
handouts, and educational visuals.
Also, just introduced are two new Tombstone
Explorer coaches for Tombstone Park excursions.
Three new MCI LX coaches will join the fleet in
2007 and 36 existing vehicles will be upgraded to the standards of
the new coaches. Seating on vehicles operating the ‘Great
Land’ and ‘Direct-to-Denali’ tours will be reduced
from 54 to 45, providing 50% additional legroom. Each coach will
sport six new LCD monitors and seats will be equipped with a headset
and eight-channel audio.
Princess plots Mexican Riviera program
Princess Cruises will offer 62 week-long Mexican
Riviera cruises roundtrip from Los Angeles and San Diego in 2007-08
on two ships.
The 2,600-passenger Golden Princess will take
over for Diamond Princess to operate the line’s classic voyage
from Los Angeles, while the 1,950-passenger Dawn Princess will sail
from San Diego on a similar itinerary with different port times.
The Golden Princess route visits Puerto Vallarta,
Mazatlán and Cabo San Lucas, with 31 departures on Saturdays
between late September 2007 and late April 2008.
Dawn Princess sails on Sundays during the same
period with a program that provides a later stay in Cabo San Lucas,
plus Mazatlán and an evening in Puerto Vallarta. The ship also
will operate two coastal voyages at the end of the season -- a
three-day direct journey from San Diego to Vancouver on May 4 and a
four-day Alaska sampler on May 7 from Vancouver to Seattle with a
call in Ketchikan.
Princess tackles the crewing challenge
The cruise industry’s biggest challenge
after filling the ships is sourcing the crew. ‘Everyone’s
vying for the same labor pool,’ says the svp fleet operations
for Princess Cruises and Cunard Line.
The Princess brand alone has 13,500 crew on the
ships and approximately 19,000 in total counting those on leave. With
new capacity coming on line -- Emerald Princess, Emerald II and Royal
Princess -- the company will need to source close to 5,000 more crew,
Caluori told Seatrade Insider.
New recruiting grounds include South America,
particularly Brazil, where the hospitality industry is well-developed
and many hospitality workers speak English. The company also keeps
its long-standing ties with recruiting agencies in the Philippines
and Mexico.
HAL broadens Panama Canal offerings
Holland America Line’s Panama Canal program
in 2007 will offer more New York departures, new February full
transits and the new destination of Puerto Chiapas in Mexico.
The line will operate 28 sailings and 12
itineraries on five ships. Offerings range from 10-day
‘Sunfarer’ cruises roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale on
Volendam to full transits of 14 to 22 days on various ships to a new
23-day Pan-America and Panama Canal cruise on Ryndam.
Oceania to venture Down Under beginning in 2008
Oceania will make its first foray to the waters
off Australia and New Zealand in January 2008, Tim Rubacky, an
Oceania spokesman confirmed.
Oceania executive vice president Bob Binder
revealed the news itinerary during the line’s annual Oceania
Club Reunion cruise, a sailing at the end of June to the British
Isles and Iceland that was predominately filled with past Oceania guests.
Binder said the Nautica will relocate to Asia and
Australia following its 2007 Europe season via a Rome to Singapore
cruise in November followed by a Christmas/New Year’s Singapore
to Sydney cruise.
Celebrity opens books on pre-, post-cruise
land options in Oz
Celebrity Cruises is partnering with local
Australian tour operators to provide two pre- or post-cruise
Australia land tours in its inaugural season in Australia and New
Zealand starting November 2007.
Guests on the Celebrity Mercury, which will
operate six 15-day sailings in the region, can choose between two
“cruisetours” out of Sydney.
A three-night tour spends one night in Sydney and
two nights in Cairns while a five-night trip includes an overnight in
Sydney and two nights each in Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Port Douglas.
Both land options are open for bookings.
The Celebrity Mercury will sail between Auckland,
New Zealand, and Sydney from December 2007 through March 2008,
visiting such destinations as Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington,
Christchurch, Dunedin, Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound, and Milford
Sound, New Zealand; Melbourne, Newcastle, and Sydney, Australia; and
Hobart, Tasmania.
Ketchikan secures port upgrade financing
The Alaskan city of Ketchikan sold $40.3m of AMT
bonds to finance a major cruise infrastructure upgrade authorized by
voters in a general referendum.
Cruise lines steer away from Lebanon
Cruise operators dropped calls in Beirut as the
conflict between Israel and Islamic terrorists escalated and violence
spread into Lebanon. Currently affected are Louis Cruise
Lines and Silversea Cruises.
US charters cruise ship for Beirut evacuees
The U.S. government has chartered the Orient
Queen to rescue evacuees from war-torn Beirut, Seatrade Insider has learned.
The charter was arranged by the Military Sealift
Command through the intervention of shipbroker John Hanbidge of New
York-based Cruise Ventures, Inc.
The vessel is approaching Beirut and will soon
begin ferrying evacuees to Cyprus.
Princess outlines 07-08 Caribbean routes
Princess Cruises will deploy seven ships to the
Caribbean in the 2007-08 season, which features the debut of Emerald
Princess in the Southern Caribbean and three maiden port calls.
The line will offer 110 departures on 10
itineraries, ranging from one week to 16 days, with ships varying in
size from 680 passengers to 3,100 passengers.
The new Emerald Princess will assume the
line’s 10-day sailings to the Southern Caribbean from Fort
Lauderdale, alternating with an Eastern Caribbean route. In its
second season from San Juan, Crown Princess will explore the Southern
Caribbean on two alternating week-long itineraries.
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