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 .

Holland America Line Single-Handedly Extends St Lawrence Season

Originally published by our London office.

 

Holland America Line’s Maasdam, a regular St Lawrence trader, passing under the Quebec Bridge

For many decades, in the days before air conditioning, the St Lawrence cruise season ran all summer long. From 1919 until 1965, Canada Steamship Lines offered weekly Saguenay cruises from Montreal, with a season that ran from June to September, even during the war. From 1921 to 1961, the Clarke Steamship Company offered longer “Round the Gulf” and Labrador cruises in a season that ran from May through October. After these services closed, Cunard Line, the Baltic Shipping Company, Polish Ocean Lines, Moore-McCormack Lines and the Greek Line, among others, began offering week-long cruises from Montreal or 10/11-night cruises between New York and Montreal.

The history of St Lawrence cruising goes back a long way. Under the auspices of Thomas Cook, the Quebec Steamship Company first sent its 1,864-ton Orinoco out from New York in the summer of 1894 to visit Saint John NB, Halifax, Charlottetown, Gaspé, Tadoussac, the Saguenay River and Quebec. Indeed, by 1904, the Plant Line was advertising its Gulf of St Lawrence cruises from Boston as follows:

Six Days’ Cruise 1400 miles for $18. From Union Wharf, Boston, every Tuesday and Saturday, 12 noon for Halifax, Hawkesbury and Charlottetown. Good board. Cheapest rates. Best trout and salmon fishing, and shooting. Beautiful scenery. This doesn’t half tell it. Send stamp for booklet “Looking Eastward,” maps, etc.

A pioneer of St Lawrence cruising from 1908 until the First World War, the s.s. Trinidad cruised the St Lawrence by summer and sailed from New York to Bermuda in the winter.

The Quebec Steamship Company’s 2,162-ton Trinidad followed in 1908, the 300th Anniversary of the founding of Quebec. In 1919, this line was acquired by Britain’s Furness Withy & Co, who cruised first the 5,530-ton Fort Hamilton and and then the 7,785-ton Fort St George from New York to Quebec. Between the wars, the Anchor Line, Canadian Pacific, the Clyde Line, White Star Line and others all offered cruises between New York, the Maritimes, Quebec and Montreal. These cruises were nearly always offered in the high season in July and August, when it was hottest in the cities, as a getaway from the summer heat.

More recently, however, the so-called Canada New England brand has suffered in that even The Sunday Times now tells people who want to cruise the St Lawrence to go in the autumn. The question is, is this the propogation of a myth or is it simply because cruises only go there now in the autumn? This has been one of the biggest challenges facing St Lawrence and New England destinations in recent years, but things are slowly starting to change.

In recent years, Holland America has operated one ship, the 1,266-berth Maasdam, into Montreal between May and October. Starting this autumn, however, it brought a second ship to the St Lawrence, in the 1,348-berth Veendam, which it had previously been operating on the New York-Bermuda run. Next year, Holland America will operate Veendam on a full season of St Lawrence cruises, from May through October, turning at Quebec while Maasdam continues to turn at Montreal.

Maasdam departing Montreal on a cruise. On the left is the Sailors’ Memorial clocktower on Victoria Pier. Behind here is where the Canada Steamship Lines and Clarke Steamship Company cruise ships used to sail from

Moving Veendam to St Lawrence cruising is interesting in two ways. First, Holland America has already let it be known that it thinks it can make more money trading to Canada and New England than in what was once regarded as the lucrative Bermuda cruise market. Secondly, with the imposition of the North American Emission Control Area (ECA) this summer, Veendam is actually going against the flow.

When sailing to Bermuda she spent most of her time outside the 200-mile ECA limit but by sailing to Canada she will always be within it. This means she will have to burn more expensive distillate fuel in order to reduce sulphur emissions, something that Holland America has already estimated increased their fuel costs by 40% in the Alaska trade, which is also completely within the ECA, for an  extra $200,000 on a 7-night cruise.

Veendam will handle four embarkations and four disembarkations at Quebec, bringing more than 20,000 extra visitors a year over a three-year period. Under the new marketing agreement, Montreal will also see additional turnarounds from Maasdam in July and August. This programme, announced last month, is backed by $1.15 million in government funds, half from Tourism Quebec and half from Quebec City.

Included in Veendam’s new sailings will be four 14-night round trips from Quebec that will call at Charlottetown, Sydney, Halifax, Bar Harbor, Boston and the Saguenay. Equally, Maasdam will offer seven 14-night round trip cruises from Montreal calling at Quebec, Charlottetown, Sydney, Halifax, Bar Harbor and Boston. Both itineraries will also be available as one-way 7-night sectors between Montreal and Boston and Quebec and Boston.

As part of this agreement, the 450-berth Seabourn Sojourn, operated by Holland America affiliate Seabourn, will also operate three St. Lawrence turnaround cruises from Montreal that will visit seven ports in Quebec: Montreal, Quebec City, Trois Rivières, Saguenay, Baie Comeau, Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands.

Holland America has become a bit of a pioneer in the St Lawrence. It was the first cruise line to visit Sept Iles, on the St Lawrence North Shore, when it sent  Maasdam there in May 2009. This in itself was an earlier season start than usual for the St Lawrence, the call having been made during a positioning voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Montreal, something it will offer again in 2013. The new $20 million berth at Sept Iles now accepts cruise ships of up to 985 feet in length.

Compagnie du Ponant’s Le Boréal calls at the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St Lawrence

Fellow North Shore ports Baie Comeau to the west and Havre St Pierre to the east have also added cruise facilities and their proximity to Gaspé on the South Shore, Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island and Corner Brook in Newfoundland, offers a choice of half a dozen cruise ports in the Gulf of St Lawrence below Quebec. The Magdalen Islands, which has its own weekly cruise ferry from Montreal and is now also visited by Compagnie du Ponant and Crystal Cruises, adds a seventh.

Crystal Symphony seen here calling at Quebec, offers a round-trip Gulf of St Lawrence cruise from Montreal each September.

On September 30, Crystal Cruises operated  a 7-night round trip from Montreal with its 960-berth Crystal Symphony. Three of her four ports, Sept Iles, the Magdalen Islands and the French islands of St Pierre et Miquelon, were first time calls for Crystal. The fourth port, Quebec, has been rated as the most popular cruise port in North America. This Montreal round trip itinerary will be repeated on September 26, 2013. But in September 2014, the cruise will be offered by Crystal Serenity from Quebec. A larger ship than Symphony, the Serenity presumably can’t get under the Quebec Bridge to sail upriver to Montreal.

Royal Caribbean has also started operating turnaround cruises from Quebec with its 2,112-berth Brilliance of the Seas, with a typical 10-night cruise taking in Baie Comeau, Corner Brook, Halifax, Sydney, St Pierre et Miquelon and Charlottetown. Like the Serenity, the Brilliance is to tall to fit under the Quebec Bridge.

Other St Lawrence visitors this season have included the 3,114-berth Emerald Princess, 2,104-berth Eurodam, 264-berth Le Boréal, 2,476-berth Norwegian Dawn, the 2,620-berth Queen Mary 2, the 684-berth Regatta, 490-berth Seven Seas Navigator, 388-berth Silver Whisper and Veendam, nearly all in September and October. Not to mention Aida, Fred Olsen and Saga ships that cruise over from Europe.

The addition of  Veendam to the St Lawrence trade is good news for Quebec City, which in 2013 will see five Holland America calls each month from May to August and seven in June. The only other ship coming nearby in the summer months is Oceania’s 1,258-berth Marina, which will make an unusual June 1 call at Quebec while on a 16-night cruise from New York to Southampton. The other ships will all wait until September (21 calls) and October (27 calls), when they come flocking in for “the leaves.”

For more details on Cruising the Gulf of St Lawrence please call The Cruise People Ltd in London on 020 7723 2450 or e-mail cruise@cruisepeople.co.uk and in Canada at 1-800-961-5536 or e-mail cruise@thecruisepeople.ca

Vancouver To Gain While Victoria Loses

by Kevin Griffin writing in cybercruises.com

Island Princess in Vancouver

The Port of Vancouver has concluded its 2012 Alaska cruise season, posting a modest increase in passengers to 667,000 compared to 663,000 in 2011. Between May and October, Vancouver’s two cruise terminals welcomed 28 different ships on 191 calls.

During that season, sixty ships connected to the port’s shore power facilities, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a claimed 2,266 tons.

For the 2013 cruise season, Vancouver anticipates an increase of more than 20%, with more than 820,000 passengers. The port is looking forward to the return of four vessels in 2013: the 1,750-berth Disney Wonder, 2,002-berth Norwegian Sun, Oceania’s 684-berth Regatta and Holland America’s 1,380-berth Amsterdam. Meanwhile, Vancouver’s arch-rival Seattle saw a record 934,000 passengers pass through its cruise terminals in 2012.

Sapphire Princess in Seattle

Across the Straits of Georgia, on Vancouver Island, Victoria is forecasting fewer cruise ships next year, expecting.211 ships carrying 466,000 passengers.
That’s thirteen fewer calls than in 2012 and a decline of about 10,000 passengers.

Victoria handled more than 500,000 passengers in 2012. and if more than double occupancy is achieved next year the actual number of cruise passengers could reach 490,000.  The drop in calls will occur because  Disney Wonder will make Vancouver her home port in 2013, after having operated out of Seattle in 2012.

Most Seattle departures use Victoria rather than Vancouver as their required foreign port of call to comply to US coasting regulations.

LiveJournal Tags: Norwegian Sun,Island Princess,Sapphire Princes,Regatta,Amsterdam

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.

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!

Holland American Line Offers New Vegetarian Menu

Holland America Line (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Holland America Line introduced a new vegetarian-only menu, as well as 30 new vegetarian dishes to its main dining room menu.

Holland America Line’s master chef Rudi Sodamin designed an exclusive 22-dish vegetarian and vegan menu that highlights vegetables and other naturally healthy ingredients in culinary selections. The alternative menu includes a full range of appetizers, salads, soups and main entrées, and is available upon request at no extra cost for lunch and dinner in the main dining room aboard all 15 ships in the fleet.

The savoury collection of dishes on the new vegetarian-only menu include Portobello Mushroom and Chipotle Quesadillas, Vietnamese Vegetable Spring Rolls, Curried Vegetable Empanadas, Spicy Lentil and Garbanzo Salad, Sweet and Sour Vegetable Tempura, Vegetable Jambalaya, Grilled Vegetable and Tofu Kebobs, and Baked Cheese Polenta with Mushrooms and Artichoke Hearts.

In addition to the new vegetarian-only menu, 30 new vegetarian dishes will be added to the main dining room menu. These offerings also will be featured as a second vegetarian option in the casual Lido buffet during lunch. Additionally, every dinner menu will now offer guests the option of one appetizer, one soup or salad, and at least one vegetarian entrée each evening, increasing the total number of vegetarian options on board to 52  dishes.

Some of the newly expanded vegetarian selections on the main dining room menu include Corn and Zucchini Pancakes served with Southwest-style cous cous salad, Asparagus and Zucchini Torte with wild rice and sun-dried tomato coulees, Carrot and Parmesan Risotto topped with a lemony arugula salad and crispy carrot ribbons, and Grilled Eggplant and Bell Pepper Masala braised in yogurt with Indian spices and served with coconut-pistachio basmati rice.

LiveJournal Tags: vegetarian dining

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

Oceania Cruises’ Riviera Confirms Positioning in the Market

by Kevin Griffin writing for cybercruises.com

Oceania Cruises’ Riviera, a sister ship of  Marina delivered in January 2011, was christened in Barcelona on Friday. At 66,084 tons, she would have been one of the largest in the world two decades ago, but is now just a footnote in an age where cruise ships have exceeded 225,000 tons and carry more than 6,000 passengers. In fact, more than 100 cruise ships exceed the size of these two sisters.

But those big ships, with all their children’s attractions (and we know that some adults are just grown up children), are much more like fun fairs than the cruise we used to know.

Riviera and her sister ship, however,are built on a more human scale, retaining their attachment to the sea. They are not like the big ships, travelling engineering marvels. But they are sophisticated.

As in days of yore, these ships exude quality on board and offer a quality cruising experience, reminiscent of the type of thing New Yorkers used to experience in Home Lines’ Oceanic, the first large purpose-built cruise ship, and Holland America Line’s once Transatlantic liner Rotterdam in the 1960s and 70s, and Brits knew with P&O’s traditional Canberra and Oriana, while both sides shared Cunard Line’s Caronia.

Riviera and Marina are very similar in dimensions if not in tonnage to these well-remembered ships, much as if this style of ship has returned after half a century:

Oceania Cruises has furthermore pulled a brilliant coup by positioning their ships as upper premium rather than utra-luxury. This means that it is easier to exceed passengers’ expectations when the ships’ position in the market is understated.

This formula has won the day for Oceania and the proof of it is in the 2012 issue of the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships. Not only has Marina, the first of the twins, scored highly, achieving a full five stars and 1701 points out of 2000, but she has eclipsed her own supposedly more upmarket stablemates over at Regent Seven Seas Cruises, the all-inclusive arm of Prestige Cruise Holdings.

Ironically, I’m sure this is not what Prestige intended but the three Regent ships have been given only four-plus stars and an average of 1633 points out of 2000.

The reviews for both of the new ships have been consistently good, with the only criticism being that unlike the traditional cruise ships named above the new sisters have no walkaround promenade deck. However, the new Oceania sisters measure an impressive 52.8 tons per passenger, offering about a third more space per passenger compared to the average of about 40 on most contemporary ships to-day.

Riviera will offer a total of twenty Mediterranean cruises before heading for her new home port of Miami in November. Meanwhile, with two new ships now delivered to Oceania, it was reported that the top executives from both Prestige Cruise Holdings and the Italian shipbuilders Fincantieri who built the latest pair, were back on board Riviera negotiating the next newbuilding for Regent Seven Seas.

LiveJournal Tags: Canberra,Home Lines,Rottterdam,Oceanic,Caronia,Riviera,Marina

Holland America’s Maasdam Opens Montreal Cruise Season; Record 55,500 Cruise Passengers Expected in 2012, Up 46% on 2011

by thecruisepeople

CRUISE PASSENGER NUMBERS EXPECTED TO LEAP 46% IN 2012

Montreal’s 2012 cruise season, which starts this Saturday with the arrival of Holland America Line’s Maasdam at Alexandra Pier, will set a record: 55,500 passengers are expected to visit Montreal, up 46% over last season. From May 12 to October 24, 2012, 49,000 passengers are expected to transit through the passenger terminal during 35 scheduled international stopovers, and a further 6,500 passengers will embark on domestic cruises, primarily for the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Pictured above is Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Symphony, which will operate a 7-night round-trip cruise from Montreal on September 30.

“I am absolutely thrilled by these results that show a very promising future for Montreal’s international cruise industry as well as significant economic spinoffs for the city,” said Sylvie Vachon, president and CEO of the Montreal Port Authority, at a press conference held this morning at Iberville Passenger Terminal.

“The success of the 2012 cruise season isn’t a coincidence. Those involved in this rapidly developing industry have joined forces on the Montreal Cruise Committee and have established the success of this sector as a major priority,” said the Hon Charles Lapointe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tourisme Montréal.

Led by Tourisme Montréal and the Montreal Port Authority, the Montreal Cruise Committee brings together Aéroports de Montréal, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, the Old Port of Montreal Corporation, the Hotel Association of Greater Montreal, the City of Montreal, Casino de Montréal and the Société de développement commercial du Vieux-Montréal. The committee is also supported by the Ministère du Tourisme du Québec. The 2012 cruise season should generate about $14 million in economic benefits.

For more information on cruising to or from Montreal and Quebec as well as New England call The Cruise People Ltd in London on 020 7723 2450 or e-mail cruise@cruisepeople.co.uk in North America call 1-800-961-5536 or e-mail cruise@thecruisepeople.ca

LiveJournal Tags: Montreal,St. Lawrence,Maasdam,Crystal Symphony