Celebrity & Azamara Top Cruisers Choice Awards

by Kevin Griffin writing for cybercruises.com

Sister lines Celebrity and Azamara walked away with the top positions in the Cruise Critic Cruisers Choice awards last week. Looking at the top five ships in three categories in the US and UK polls, Celebrity scored nine firsts and Azamara eight, followed by Oceania and Thomson with six each.

For purposes of its polls, Cruise Critic defined a medium-sized ship as carrying between 1,200 and 1,999 passengers, with anything above that being defined as large and anything below as small. The results are laid out below for the best five ships in each of category for each of the UK and US, as well as the best ship in each category for dining, entertainment and service for the UK and US. The actual ships’ scores are given in brackets. Some of the surprizing results: are laid out below.

Cruise Critic Cruisers Choice awards 2013 – Scores courtesy of Cruise Critic

The most interesting result was that of the forty-eight results laid out above, Royal Caribbean brands collected eighteen of the top spots, compared to only four for Carnival brands. Celebrity’s nine wins were all for 2,850-berth Solstice class ships except for 1,814-berth Celebrity Century positioning third in the UK medium ships category. Celebrity took the UK’s top three large ship positions.

Azamara did proportionally even better in that with only two 684-berth ships, it managed to pick up eight of these awards. The other Royal Caribbean win was the 5,408-berth Allure of the Seas, which took third-best large ship in the US results.

Oceania managed six wins in the categories we have chosen above, all by its two newest ships, the 1,258-berth Marina and Riviera. But the real surprise was Thomson Cruises walking away with six awards, not only from their own market in the UK but also from US voters. We can think of only one reason for that and that is that the UK results must be included in the US ones, but the website is not clear as to the methodology.

Certainly, with Thomson selling off brands, such as its ski operation, Neilson, and contemplating unloading others to pay down £1.6 billion in debt, any aspiring bidder might look at Thomson Cruises as a possible acquisition. That its older ships should have achieved tops in the mid-size awards for entertainment in both polls and also outscored Carnival’s brand-new 3,690-berth Carnival Breeze makes Thomson worth a look.

It is actual cruisers who are being polled here and of the Carnival brands only one ship from each of Carnival, Cunard, Holland America and Seabourn managed to score in this sample, and none from P&O or Princess. What makes it even odder is that Carnival Breeze won her spot in the UK survey and not the US one. In the US, Disney managed to score as many wins as all Carnival brands combined.

Norwegian Cruise Line and Crystal each achieved three places, but Azamara’s two ukltra-premium ships taking eight places to only three for Crystal’s two ultra-luxury ships is an interesting surprise.

The Growth of Cruising – A Twenty-Five Year Comparison

by Kevin Griffin writing for cybercruises.com

Twenty-five years ago, in 1988, the main cruise lines were Carnival, Cunard, Holland America, Norwegian America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Royal Viking Line.

Royal Viking Sun

Of these seven, only two, Norwegian America and Royal Viking Line, have fallen away, consolidated into Cunard. But half a dozen new lines have arisen.

In 1988, Seabourn had introduced its first ship, the 212-berth Seabourn Pride, and four more lines follow over the years with Crystal Cruises, Regent and Silversea, all ultra-luxury, and more recently Oceania and Azamara in the ultra-premium sector. The former Chandris Cruises, meanwhile, evolved into Celebrity Cruises, which was taken over by Royal Caribbean in 1997.

Of the lines we have chosen, it might be surprising to some that in 1988 the fleet numbered only 39 ships with 37,157 berths (42 and 40,566 berths if we include Cunard), especially as in 2013 the top eight ultra-luxury and ultra-premium lines together operate 25 ships with 21,480 berths. In this context, to-day’s ultra-luxury and ultra-premium fleet is more than half the size of the entire main line and luxury fleet of twenty-five years ago.

The biggest difference, however, is in the size of the ships. Although the 1988 average was below 1,000 berths per ship this was the beginning of a period of growth, not only in number of berths (Princess Cruises’ 62,500-ton Star Princess, which seemed big then, had only 1,470 berths), but ships started to grow in tonnage as well.

Ultra-Luxury & Ultra-Premium Fleet comparison table: 1988 – 2013

The average ship size for the main-market lines grew from about 950 berths to 2,335 berths, or almost two-and-a-half times per ship. And the size of ultra-luxury and ultra-premium ships has risen from 212 in  Seabourn Pride to about 670 to-day if we do not include Cunard, or more than three times the size.

And the main market lines have also been taking advantage of economies of scale. Although Norwegian Cruise Line had introduced the 70,202-ton 1,850-berth Norway in 1980, it was 1988 before Royal Caribbean introduced the 73,192-ton 2,292-berth Sovereign of the Seas. But another eight years saw the introduction of the 101,353-ton 2,642-berth Carnival Destiny. The result has been that traditional lines’ fleets and berth capacities have grow exponentially:

Main Line & Luxury Cruise Fleet comparison table: 1988 – 2013

Other lines such as Costa Cruises and Chandris Cruises, with six ships each, the 10-ship Epirotiki Lines and a single-ship (at the time) P&O Cruises have not been included in this analysis, but obviously Costa and P&O have both benefitted in terms of fleet expansion from being taken over by Carnival Corp, now Carnival Corp & plc.

All in all, despite wars, terrorism, disease and economic dislocations, the industry as a whole is surviving and seems to be surviving well if we can judge by cruise line stocks as well as fleet size .

The Latest Cruise Ship Orders

by Kevin Griffin writing in cybercruises.com

This month has brought news of three new cruise ship orders for beleaguered European shipyards, one order coming from Norwegian Cruise Line and one each from Holland America Line and Carnival Cruise Lines.

Norwegian Breakaway: The Waterfront

The first announcement came two weeks ago from Norwegian Cruise Line, when it stated that it had reached agreement with Meyer Werft in Germany to build a new ship for delivery in October 2015, with an option for a second to be delivered in the spring of 2017.

The new ship, at 163,000 gross tons and 4,200 passenger berths, will be larger than the 146,600-ton 4,000-berth “Breakaway” class ships now being built by Meyer Werft but will incorporate many of these ships’ new design elements. The new “Breakaway Plus” ship will be the largest in the Norwegian fleet.

The contract price of about €700 million is financed by export credit guarantees. Norwegian ceo Kevin Sheehan said, “This new order further solidifies our commitment to continued innovation in terms of the guest experience and will incorporate technical and environmental advances as well.”

Meyer Werft in Papenburg with Norwegian Dawn

The new ship, along with the option for a second, will be the tenth and eleventh that the Company will have built at Meyer Werft.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Carnival Corporation & plc announced that it had reached agreement with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to build two new ships – a 2,660-berth 99,000-ton ship for Holland America Line, for delivery in the autumn of 2015, and a 135,000-ton 4,000-berth ship for Carnival Cruise Lines, for delivery in early 2016.

A memorandum of agreement has been signed for the construction of the two ships, the total cost for which, including US dollar-denominated contract price and all owner’s costs, will be about $1.3 billion, or about $195,000 per lower berth. This memorandum is subject to customary closing conditions, including execution of shipbuilding contracts and financing.

Carnival Breeze

The Holland America ship will be a new class of vessel for the line, and will enter service five years after the last Holland America delivery,  Nieuw Amsterdam of 2010. The Carnival Cruise Lines vessel, also of a new class, will be launched four years after Carnival Breeze, which debuted this spring.

This timing is similar to the five-year span between upcoming new ship introductions for both Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises.

“To-day’s order continues the company’s strategy of introducing two to three ships per year across the corporation’s ten brands. We have strategically timed the introduction of these new ships to allow ample time for those brands to further grow their passenger base and absorb the new capacity,” said Micky Arison, chairman and ceo of Carnival Corporation & plc.

Carnival Corporation & plc now has nine new ships scheduled for delivery – two each in 2013 and 2014, three in 2015 and two in 2016. The addition of new tonnage is expected to some extent to replace existing capacity reductions from possible sales of older ships. The oldest classes of ship currently operated by these two brands are the eight Carnival Fantasy class and Holland America’s Statendam class and Prinsendam.

New Orders for Carnival Cruises and Holland America Line

Image of the house flag of Carnival Cruise Line. This flag is also used within the corporate logo of Carnival Corporation & PLC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Carnival Corporation & plc announced it has reached an agreement for the construction of two new cruise ships – a 99,000-ton ship for its Holland America Line brand and a 135,000-ton vessel for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand. 

            A memorandum of agreement has been signed with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of a 2,660-passenger ship for Holland America Line scheduled for delivery in autumn of 2015 and a 4,000-passenger ship for Carnival Cruise Lines scheduled for delivery in winter 2016.  The total cost for the two vessels combined, which includes the U.S. dollar denominated contract price and all owner’s costs, will be approximately $195,000 per lower berth. The memorandum of agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including execution of shipbuilding contracts and financing. 

            The Holland America ship, which will be a new class of vessel for the line, will enter service five years after the last Holland America ship,  ms Nieuw Amsterdam, delivered in 2010. The Carnival Cruise Lines vessel, also a new class of ship, will be launched four years after the introduction of Carnival Breeze, which debuted in spring 2012.  The timing of capacity additions for these brands is similar to the five year span between upcoming new ship introductions for both Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises (UK), as previously announced.

            “To-day’s order continues the company’s strategy of introducing two to three ships per year across the corporation’s 10 brands. We have strategically timed the introduction of these new ships to allow ample time for those brands to further grow their passenger base and absorb the new capacity while minimizing revenue yield dilution in the remainder of their existing fleets,” said Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc. 

Including the newbuilds, Carnival Corporation & plc currently has nine new ships scheduled for delivery – two for 2013, two for 2014, three for 2015 and two for 2016. Arison also noted that the addition of new tonnage is expected, to some extent, to replace existing capacity reductions from possible sales of older ships.

The memorandum of agreement with Fincantieri continues the company’s longstanding and successful relationship with the Italian shipbuilder, which dates back more than 20 years.

            Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, said, "These additional orders bring the total number of ships we have built for Carnival Corporation & plc to 61 and confirm Fincantieri’s world leadership in the cruise ship sector even at a time of slowing demand."  Bono added, "We view these orders as a very positive development for the Italian economy and the global cruise industry."

Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise vacation group in the world, with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Ibero Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and P&O Cruises (Australia). 

Together, these brands operate 100 ships totalling approximately 203,000 lower berths with nine new ships scheduled to be delivered between March 2013 and March 2016. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour company in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.

Carnival Cruise Check-in at Miami International Airport

Miami International Airport, FL (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Carnival Cruise Lines has opened check-in counters at Miami International Airport.  The counters are available from 8 a.m.. to 2 p.m.. at Concourses D and H on sailing days.

Passengers are directed to counters based on flight arrivals.  After checking in, they get an "Airport Express" boarding card to expedite arrival at the cruise terminal.  Sail & Sign cards are also given to passengers at the airport and transport to the pier can also be purchased during the airport check-in service.

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Star Clippers To Cruise Cuba

by Kevin Griffin writing for cybercruises.com

Over the years, as Carnival Corp & plc and Royal Caribbean Cruises have expanded into Europe by acquisition, a number of Cuban cruise programmes have had to be shut down when they purchased Iberocruceros and Pullmantur.

Star Clippers, however, is European-controlled and has just announced a programme of eight Cuba cruises in the winter of 2014 on board its 170-passenger Star Flyer. This will be an expansion of its already existing winter cruise programme in the Caribbean, which has been based on Barbados and St Maarten.

Star Flyer will operate four Cuban itineraries — in February and March — ranging from six nights to 14 nights in duration. The line’s Cuban base port will be Cienfuegos, which will see positioning cruises at the opening and end of the programme and one 6-night and five 7-night cruises round trip from Cienfuegos.

“Cuba represents an exciting new destination both for our first-time guests and our many repeat clients,” said Star Clippers president, Mikael Krafft. “As well as offering spectacular history, culture and architecture, the island’s coast is ideal for sailing, with many beautiful anchorages and uninhabited beaches and cays.”

The Cuban cruises cannot be sold to US citizens or residents due to the embargo which prohibits travel to Cuba unless under restricted circumstances. While Europeans, Canadians and South Americans will be able to book these cruises, present US laws will mean that US sales agents will not be able to sell this programme.

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Yet Another Line Cuts Bermuda Calls

by Kevin Griffin of The Cruise People writing for cybercruises.com

Two weeks before Holland America Line’s 1,346-passenger Veendam departs New York on her final cruise to Hamilton, Bermuda, comes news that yet another cruise line is cutting back the number of its Bermuda calls, this time from fifty-five to forty-four, a further reduction of eleven cruises.

This weekend, Royal Caribbean announced that it was going to reduce the number of Baltimore to Bermuda sailings next year on its 1,950-passenger Grandeur of the Seas, which will replace the 2,252-berth Enchantment of the Seas.

Instead, the Grandeur will alternate between Bermuda and Bahamas next year, making only fifteen cruises to Bermuda’s Dockyard. Not only will there be ten fewer Bermuda cruises from Baltimore but the berth capacity of the Grandeur is 15% less, meaning an effective reduction of almost half in the number of Baltimore passengers able to cruise to Bermuda.

This comes as a result of Royal Caribbean wanting to give its Baltimore guests more choice in their destinations.

The 3,114-berth Explorer of the Seas, will undertake twenty-nine cruises from New York to Bermuda compared to thirty this year. The number of Baltimore to Bermuda cruises will fall from twenty-five this year to fifteen next. On top of the change in plan, it has also been reported that some of Royal Caribbean’s Bermuda cruises were not selling that well.

By the end of this month, three major cruise lines, all owned by Carnival Corp & plc, will have either eliminated or reduced their Bermuda cruises.

Carnival Cruise Lines visited Bermuda sixteen times in 2011, but just once this year. And Princess Cruises, which called in Bermuda ten times in 2011, has just two calls scheduled for 2012. On top of this, Holland America Line will drop its regular service later this month.

As no replacement has been found, regular cruise ship visits to Hamilton will become a thing of the past after Veendam leaves New York on her final voyage on August 26. Thereafter, she transfers to the Canada/New England trade.

Veendam, the only ship sailing regularly into Hamilton for the past three years, will have made nineteen trips this year, but will not return in 2013.

Joanne MacPhee, head of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, told the Bermuda Sun, “it is a significant blow that there will be no regular cruise ship next year in Hamilton. The Veendam has provided a major boost to retailers and restaurants in the city over the last three years. The ship’s passengers have a higher spending power than the ships that come into Dockyard.”

Meanwhile, the Bermuda Government is hoping to lure more small ships into Hamilton and St Georges to make up for the drop in numbers. Also, officials are said to be talking to Disney Cruise Line.

Small ship operators that have been identified include Azamara Club Cruises, Regent Seven Seas and Silversea, who have each sent occasional callers. Azamara Journey did a full Bermuda season on 2007.

Other ships that have been identified include Princess Cruises’ 688-berth Pacific Princess and Holland America’s 837-berth Prinsendam, both of which make occasional Bermuda calls.

The only good news in Bermuda is that Norwegian Cruise Line’s new 4,000-berth Norwegian Breakaway will substantially increase its Bermuda capacity next year. But one also wonders whether Bermuda should not be going after more of the old formula of weekly cruises from New York that served both Bermuda and Nassau, or even Florida for that matter.

The only other thing going for Bermuda may be the new North American Emission Control Area that came into effect on August 1 and applies to a 200-mile limit from the US coast.

Ships sailing to Bermuda can still burn the cheaper heavy bunker fuel once outside the ECA, and Bermuda, unlike Alaska and Canada/New England, is 697 nautical miles from New York and 683 from Norfolk, well outside the ECA.

How Cruise Sales Differ Across the Atlantic

Image of the house flag of Carnival Cruise Line. This flag is also used within the corporate logo of Carnival Corporation & PLC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Kevin Griffin – The Cruise People, Ltd writing in cybercruises.com

Cruise selling policies differ on both sides of the Atlantic, the most obvious contrast being that in North America deposits remain fully refundable up to final payment date, while in Europe’s largest cruise market, the UK, one forfeits their deposit if they cancel. But even in Europe practices differ.

In Germany, for example, Europe’s second largest cruise market (and soon to be largest), deposits are usually refundable up until just a month before sailing. But in the meantime, a couple of other notable differences have sprung up in recent times, first on who can buy a cruise where and second on agents remuneration.

On the first subject, P&O has long been known for prohibiting cross-border cruise sales. Three decades ago, the author was quoted a fare by P&O Los Angeles on a cruise from Sydney that was 33% higher than the same cruise quoted in Australia. A similar complaint was made to UK cruise magazine “World of Cruising” in more recent times when Swiss clients were told they had to book a Princess cruise through Swiss agent Kuoni at a higher fare than offered in Florida.

Through its association with P&O, this restriction has now also spread to Cunard, which no longer allows cross-border bookings and whose Transatlantic sailings can be as much as 25% more expensive in the UK. But even here there is no consistency, as sometimes UK fares for the same sailing are lower than the North American fares.

Meanwhile, this prohibition has spread beyond P&O. To cite an example, Vacations to Go, a US agent with a UK phone number, states on its web site that “the following cruise lines now prohibit all US travel agencies from selling cruises to citizens of countries other than the US and Canada, unless they have a residence in the US or Canada.
This is not a Vacations To Go policy or a US government policy, it is a corporate policy instituted by each of these cruise lines.”

It then goes on to name “Holland America, Oceania Cruises, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Star Clippers.”

More recently, appointed as US agent for P&O Cruises, its site adds for good order that “residents of the UK may not book P&O Cruises through Vacations To Go.” Missing from the list is one line that used to be there, namely Costa.

In an age of globalisation this practice of cruise lines prohibiting cross-border sales is in effect a restraint of trade and we wonder how legal it is. Apple once tried something similar with its iTunes pricing within Europe, restricting buyers to making purchases in their own country, and thus forcing some to pay higher prices. In 2004 the UK Office of Fair Trading referred Apple to the European Commission for violation of EU free-trade legislation and in 2007 Apple was threatened with a £330 million fine.

In the end Apple had to agree to offering common pricing throughout Europe. In a single market such as Europe customers should be free to purchase goods and services from any member state, but this still appears to be not the case with many cruise lines.

On another subject, P&O, Princess and Cunard last year announced that they would cut agents’ commissions in the UK to 5% in an attempt to try to stop them from rebating, a process whereby agents would pass on part of their commission to the client in order to “buy” their business.

Meanwhile agents selling the same Princess and Cunard cruises in North America (and elsewhere) are still paid on a scale of 10-15%. One of the reasons P&O, Princess and Cunard UK did this was apparently a fear of being accused of resale price maintenance. This is a practice whereby a manufacturer and its distributors agree on pricing, a practice that is outlawed in the UK. But whether a service is a manufactured good and an agent is a distributor are moot points.

Meanwhile, this spring, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ adopted a different approach, which is to offer 10% agency commission and threatening to stop sell agents who rebate from their commission. Those who did not rebate would be rewarded by a 5% bonus at the end of the year.

This in effect would punish agents who rebate, as opposed to punishing those who do not rebate by cutting their income, which was the case with P&O, Princess and Cunard UK. The Fred. Olsen approach shows strength and is a refreshing change and it will be interesting to see where this all goes. Clearly at 5%, P&O, Princess and Cunard UK are well below the usual cruise sales norm of 10%.

Back in North America, on August 1 Carnival Cruise Lines will further toughen its own anti-rebating stance. From that date, agents may only offer clients non-cash value-add-ons equivalent to a maximum of $25 per person.

Non-cash equivalents means bags, hats, beach towels, memory books, sunglasses or Carnival favours delivered on board, and on-board credits will no longer be allowed. Carnival first introduced level pricing in 2003, then an advertised price policy in 2005.

Last week, Carnival president Gerry Cahill visited London in anticipation of the Carnival Magic sailing from Dover next year. Illustrating the dichotomy on commiassion policies within the Carnival group, Cahill told the UK’s Travel Trade Gazette “we have our own commission structures, ranging from 10-15%. We want to make sure that we’re different to our sister brands as sensitively as we can. Each brand makes its own decisions.”

P&O’s commission cuts seem to have had some effect, however. Cahill’s ultimate boss, Carnival Corp & PLC ceo Micky Arison seemed to be supporting P&O’s stance when he told the UK’s Travel Weekly last week that “The reality is that the ones who were the biggest screamers were the biggest discounters. They lost their competitive advantage as they could no longer give their commission away and found they couldn’t make a living.”
Meanwhile, there was a lot of collateral damage among agents who were not rebating.

Royal Caribbean has also been tough on North American agents who rebate and at one stage even put a stop-sell on Vancouver-based CruiseShipCenters, now Expedia CruiseShipCenters. But Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises also continue to offer normal commission levels in the UK market, leaving P&O, Princess and Cunard somewhat isolated.

Indeed, it was Royal Caribbean Cruises’ ceo Richard Fain that told a London audience in April that the agency distribution system “is not broken” and that Royal Caribbean would take “no precipitate action” on commission levels.

How different things are on the two sides of the Atlantic!

In the Wake of s.s. Keewatin

 

A personal note from Kevin Griffin writing for cybercruises.com : I have a particular interest in s.s. Keewatin as I was privileged at the age of 17 to land my first real job – as a waiter – on board her sister ship s.s. Assiniboia. This was during their last summer of passenger service and just before I entered university.

Keewatin and Assiniboia were built on the Clyde in 1907 and operated Canadian Pacific’s Great Lakes Steamship Service, sailing weekly from Port McNicoll, on Georgian Bay, to Sault Ste Marie and on to the Canadian Lakehead at Port Arthur and Fort William (which combined into Thunder Bay in 1970).

The pay was $173.58 per month but that was upped almost immediately to $240 once I was on board. Meals and berth were included and tips were an added bonus. Clothing requirements were“black shoes, white shirts, black bow tie, navy blue trousers and old clothing for work in port. Jackets are supplied and the navy trousers can be purchased at Del Hasting’s Men’s Wear in Midland.”
The jackets were blue serge with brass buttons and were quite warm on a hot summer’s day at lunchtime!

Keewatin sailed on Wednesdays and Assiniboia on Saturdays and the two ships met at Sault Ste Marie every Sunday. The cost of such an “Inland Sea” cruise in those days was $90 per person in an inside cabin or $100 in an outside, and the fare included passage Port McNicoll-Fort William and return, berth and meals aboard ship and hotel room and meals in Fort William while the ship handled cargo. These cruises, which were offered twice weekly, thus consisted of five nights, one of which was spent ashore.

When the boat train from Toronto came alongside at Port McNicoll at 3 pm, passengers boarded the ship, followed by the waiters carrying their luggage (and freshly laundered sheets, towels and uniforms from the Royal York Hotel laundry in Toronto) and she sailed promptly at 3:15 – just fifteen minutes later! At the Lakehead there were rail connections to and from the Pacific via Canadian Pacific’s famous Trans-Continental express “The Canadian.”

The next season, with the passenger service gone (although Assiniboia still carried cargo for a while), I was given a ticket on “The Canadian” and assigned to Canadian Pacific’s British Columbia Coast Steamship Service, where I joined Princess Patricia, cruising from Vancouver to Alaska. She was built in the same shipyard as Assiniboia and Keewatin and gave her name to Princess Cruises when she was chartered to Stan McDonald of Seattle for two winters cruising from Los Angeles to Mexico.

We had to remove all the Mexican decorations in preparation for her next Alaska season. One difference on the West Coast was that the waiters wore cooler white jackets for lunch.

Having sailed as a four-year-old from Liverpool to Montreal in Canadian Pacific’s second Empress of Canada, and later worked for the company in Montreal, I had not only immigrated to Canada with them, but had also managed to collect three employee numbers – in Port McNicoll, Vancouver and Montreal!

Meanwhile I crossed the Atlantic again in the third Empress of Canada in 1970. Two years later, as Mardi Gras, she became the start of Carnival Cruise Lines and right up until to-day’s Carnival Breeze, every Carnival ship has had an “Empress Deck.”

I was privileged to be one of only a few that were invited to join the final leg of the tow of Canadian Pacific’s last surviving passenger ship, s.s. Keewatin, from Mackinaw City back to her home port of Port McNicoll, where she arrived at 1:30 pm on June 23, a hundred years to the day after her first passenger departure from the then-new port, which opened in 1912.

Under the auspices of Skyline International Development Inc of Toronto,  Keewatin will become the centrepiece of a new waterfront park in the newly-revived resort community of Port McNicoll.

Leaving Mackinaw City on June 19, this is a record of the voyage.

OTHER CRUISE NEWS

Cruising the Great Lakes in 2012

Keewatin and her sister ship Assinboia stopped cruising the Great Lakes in 1965, but forty-seven years later there has been a revival in cruising the Great Lakes and New York-based Travel Dynamics International still have space on the following departures this summer on its 138-berth m.v. Yorktown.

Great Lakes Grand Discovery – 11 nights
Detroit to Duluth via the Great Lakes, with fares starting at $5,295 per person (not including $500 per person booking incentive). July 21 – August 6, 2012

Great Lakes Grand Discovery – 10 nights
Duluth to Detroit via the Great Lakes, with fares starting at $4,995 (not including $500 per person booking incentive). August 1 – 11, 2012

Discovering a North American Treasure – 7 nights
Chicago to Quebec via the St Lawrence Seaway, with fares starting at $3,995 per person (not including $500 per person booking incentive). August 8 – 18 and August 18 – 25, 2012.

America’s Enchanting Seaway: From the Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence – 7 nights
Detroit to Quebec via the St Lawrence Seaway, with fares starting at $3,995 per person (not including $500 per person booking incentive). August 25 – September 1, 2012.

(Kevin Griffin is managing director of The Cruise People Ltd in London, England.)

LiveJournal Tags: Empess of Canada,Keewatin,Mardi Gras,Port McNicholl,Thunder Bay,Port Arthur,Fort William,Yorktown,Carnival Breeze,Assinaboa

Carnival Revives the Dominican Republic’s North Shore

by Kevin Griffin – The Cruise People

Carnival Corporation & PLC has announced plans for a new $65 million two-berth cruise ship centre in the Dominican Republic. The new 30-acre Amber Cove Cruise Centre is being built at the Bay of Maimon, about fifteen miles west of Puerto Plata, and is due for completion in 2014. The new terminal is a joint project between Carnival and Báez & Ranick, a local ocean transportation, logistics and marine services group.

The project is designed to re-establish the Dominican Republic’s north coast as a popular cruise destination. The last cruise ship to call to Puerto Plata did so nearly thirty years ago now but the new facility is expected to host more than 250,000 cruise passengers in its first year of operation.

Carnival is expecting the new cruise hub to host up to 8,000 cruise ship passengers daily — vastly more than the 350,000 cruise passengers who visited the Dominican Republic in 2011. Last year saw a 1% decrease in passenger numbers to the country but Carnival is hoping its $65 million investment will reverse that trend. Puerto Plata was in the past the country’s second cruise destination after Santo Domingo.

As well as offering a gateway into the Dominican Republic, the cruise centre will include thirty acres of waterfront property and will feature a welcome centre, a variety of retail offerings, themed restaurants and bars and a water attraction. A transportation hub will allow visitors easy access by land and sea to the surrounding attractions. The news follows by two years the 2010 announcement of a $27 million terminal for Puerto Plata that did not involve cruise lines and was the subject of much criticism.

As Steven Stern says in his Stern’s Guide to the Cruise Vacation, “In Puerto Plata, there is little to do other than shop for amber in the local market, but if you feel adventurous, rent a horse at the dock and ride through the countryside to the beach.” Amber Cove is fifteen miles to the west of Puerto Plata.

A precedent for the Amber Cove project is Carnival’s own Mahogany Bay Cruise Centre in Roatan, Honduras, which it opened in 2009. Mahogany Bay has now hosted more than a million passengers, not only in Carnival ships but also in ships from Princess, Holland America, Seabourn, Costa and P&O, as well as non-group vessels. Another is Grand Turk Cruise Centre, which Carnival opened in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2006. It will host 285 ships bringing 675,000 visitors this year. Carnival Corp & PLC seem to be building themselves a stable of these new ports in the Caribbean.

LiveJournal Tags: puerto Plata,Amber Cove,Mahogany Bay