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NEW
110,000-TON CARNIVAL FREEDOM DEBUTS WITH 12-DAY GREEK ISLES,
MEDITERRANEAN CRUISES BEGINNING IN MARCH 2007
Carnival
Cruise Lines’ new 110,000-ton Carnival Freedom will
operate an exciting inaugural schedule in 2007, encompassing 12-day
cruises that include the line’s first-ever visit to the Greek
Isles and Turkey, as well as extended calls at a variety of
magnificent Mediterranean ports.
Carnival
Freedom’s inaugural season kicks off March 14, 2007, and
includes seven 12-day Mediterranean & Greek Isles cruises and 12
12-day “Grand Mediterranean” voyages through Oct. 16, 2007.
All voyages operate round-trip from Rome (Civitavecchia).
“For
Carnival Freedom, we’ve assembled two terrific itineraries that
feature new destinations for Carnival – the Greek Isles and
Turkey – as well as a variety of spectacular European ports to
enable guests to experience the region’s broad diversity of
cultures, cuisine and history,” said Bob Dickinson, Carnival
president and CEO. “These new 12-day cruises to the
Mediterranean and Greek Isles not only provide exciting itinerary
choices for our guests but represent the continuing evolution of the
‘Fun Ship’ vacation experience,” he added.
New
Mediterranean & Greek Isles Cruises
The 12-day
Mediterranean & Greek Isles cruises include eight ports:
Naples, Italy; Rhodes, Greece; Izmir (Ephesus) and Istanbul, Turkey
featuring scenic cruising of the Dardanelles; Athens (Piraeus) and
Katakolon, Greece; and Livorno, Italy, as well as an overnight call
in Rome (Civitavecchia). The seven 12-day Mediterranean & Greek
Isles cruises depart March 14 and 26, April 7 and 19, June 18, Aug.
5, and Sept. 22, 2007.
These cruises
offer guests a variety of unforgettable landside experiences,
including visiting the legendary Acropolis and the Temple of Poseidon
in Greece, as well as the ancient cities of Olympia, Priere, Didyma
and Miletus, which are four of the best-preserved settlements of
Grecian history.
With the
overnight call in Civitavecchia, guests can enjoy a shore excursion
to Rome to see the centuries-old Coliseum or to Vatican City to tour
St. Peter’s Basilica, while during the extended call in
Istanbul, guests can visit the fabled Blue Mosque and Topkapi Museum.
On the departure from Istanbul, Carnival Freedom will sail the
spectacular Sea of Dardanelles, which connects the Aegan Sea with the
Sea of Marmora.
Brooklyn
cruise facilities shaping up for April ribbon cutting
Passengers on
luxurious Cunard liners of yesteryear would not have dreamed of
stopping at a remote Brooklyn outpost en route to a berth along New
York’s Hudson River. Times have certainly changed.
On April 15 a
ceremonial ribbon will be cut at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red
Hook when the Queen Mary 2 sails into New York Harbor and anchors in
Buttermilk Channel, in the lone slip off Pier 12.
The ship’s
bow will point upriver toward the Brooklyn Bridge, with Lower
Manhattan looming in the near distance and the Statue of Liberty to
the left. Few passengers will identify the skyline of downtown
Brooklyn to the right, and fewer still the hardscrabble area called
Red Hook, where they will embark and disembark.
The Brooklyn
Cruise Terminal is expecting 39 departures this year from four
Carnival Corp. ships that will homeport here: Cunard’s QM2 and
Queen Elizabeth 2 and Princess Cruises’ Crown Princess and Star Princess.
HAL
invites pax to walk for a cure on 500 sailings
Holland
America Line said it will host 5K fitness walks onboard all of its
ships this year to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Starting April
1, passengers can participate in the scheduled walks -- one per
sailing -- by donating $15 to the Holland America Line Foundation.
The walks will take place around the ship’s deck for varying
laps, totaling five kilometers.
HAL pledged to
raise a minimum of $250,000 doing 500 walks on 13 ships this year.
Those who wish to participate but can’t walk the five kilometers
are invited to be part of the cheering section, the line said.
“It’s
a walk, not a race,” said Rose Abello, HAL spokeswoman at a
press conference about the event, adding that the walks are intended
for anyone and are not competitive.
MSC
Cruises to add seventh vessel in 2008
MIAMI -- MSC
Cruises ordered another Panamax ship from the Chantiers de
l'Atlantique shipyard for a 2008 delivery, CEO Richard Sasso said at
the Seatrade conference State of the Industry session here.
Sasso did not
say where MSC's five new ships on order would go but that North
America would "get a lot of attention.”
"These
ships give us so much versatility," he added.
MSC’s
seventh ship, weighing in at 89,600 tons and carrying 2,500
passengers, will sport balconies on 65% of its staterooms.
According to
Sasso, the ship’s name will be released in the coming weeks.
Rain
causes dam to burst in Kauai stranding visitors, residents
Unusually
heavy rainfall and flooding caused a dam on the Kaloko Reservoir in
the Kialuea area on the north shore of Kauai to break Tuesday morning
leading authorities to close the Kuhio Highway -- the only way to or
from the island’s north shore, leaving some people stranded,
according to Winfred Pong, a project manager for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Launching
this fall: NCL’s new brand campaign
Norwegian
Cruise Line will launch its new brand campaign in the fall with a
return to television advertising. ‘We will emphasize Freestyle
Cruising as our brand position,’ said NCL Corp. president and
ceo Colin Veitch.
The campaign
will be ‘lighthearted and emphasize the differences between our
product and other products,’ Veitch added. The advertising is
designed by GSD&M of Austin, Texas, which also created the
delightfully unconventional campaign for Southwest Airlines.
Though it
hasn’t purchased television advertising lately, NCL has been on
the airwaves with a series of appearances on widely watched programs
such as ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘Kelly &
Regis.’ On March 27, NCL will feature on Donald Trump’s
‘The Apprentice.’
Norwegian
Gem to debut in New York
Norwegian Gem
will make its debut in New York in October 2007 when the new 93,000gt
ship replaces Norwegian Dawn, which will redeploy to Miami for the winter.
‘We want
to put a new ship in New York to freshen the fleet. The only negative
comment we get on Dawn is that people have been on so many
times,’ said NCL Corp. president and ceo Colin Veitch.
Norwegian Gem
is the sister to Norwegian Pearl, which will be delivered in November
this year by Meyer Werft.
In other 2007
deployment news, NCL will operate Norwegian Pearl from Seattle for
the Alaska season, following the ship’s inaugural season of
Caribbean sailings from Miami this winter. The Pearl will join
Norwegian Star in Seattle, while Norwegian Sun will operate Alaska
cruises from Vancouver.
Bonaire
charts upward trend
Sixty-eight
cruise ships carrying 54,500 passengers are due to visit Bonaire
during the current season. For 2006/07, the Southern Caribbean island
estimates that 69 ships will call with approximately 85,000 passengers.
Among them
will be the vessels of Silversea Cruises, Princess Cruises, Holland
America Line and Cunard Line (with Queen Mary 2’s fourth visit).
‘We
expect these numbers to increase over the next few years as cruise
ships continue to seek out new and exciting destinations to add to
their itineraries,’ said Ronella Croes, director of the Tourism
Corporation Bonaire.
RCCL to
invest $20m in Roatán cruise facilities
Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd. was awarded the concession to operate the
cruise pier on Roatán Island and will invest $20m into
upgrading facilities and, if growth warrants, the development of a
second berth.
‘We hope
that with this agreement with Royal Caribbean, we will increase the
business and improve the facilities in a significant way,’ said
Ricardo Martínez, tourism minister of Honduras.
Upgrades will
include the creation of a bus and taxi staging area, additional
security and a Caribbean tourism village with services and amenities,
said John Tercek, vp commercial development for RCCL.
Until now,
Royal Caribbean has not been among the major visitors to
Roatán, renowned for its pristine coral reef, fishing and
diving. ‘We see significant growth of cruise tourism from Royal
Caribbean and other users,’ Tercek said. The facility, which
will be 100% financed by RCCL, will remain open to all operators.
‘I’m
happy we have someone the magnitude of Royal Caribbean working with
us. We’re prepared to take care of one million people from
cruise ships a year, and we only have 300,000,’ said Bay Islands
congressman Jerry Hynds.
Record
season for New Zealand
Cruise New
Zealand forecasts a record 348 port calls by international cruise
ships during the current 2005/06 season, said Craig Harris, chairman
of Cruise New Zealand. The figure is a sharp rise from the 280 calls
last season.
Facing
the megaship challenge
Cruise
infrastructure will take several years to adapt to new megaships,
industry executives said during the Seatrade Miami panel, ‘The
Age of the Megaship.’
‘The
tendency is quite clear. Ship size will most likely increase as no
basic technical limitations can be envisioned,’ said Maurizio
Cergol, Fincantieri’s cruise vessel chief designer. ‘Cruise
infrastructure will take time to adapt.’
Even with
increased size, security issues shouldn't pose a major concern for
passengers, Cergol said. ‘I don't think it's a matter of size.
It's a matter of design. We are to apply the existing rules. A bigger
ship is safer than a small ship. The best lifeboat is the ship itself.’
While Royal
Caribbean International's 4,370-passenger, 158,000gt Freedom of the
Seas is set to launch in May, the 220,000gt Project Genesis, being
built by Aker Finnyards, is targeting a Fall 2009 delivery. |
