Cruise Vacation News

Royal Caribbean Group on Thursday lifted its full-year profit forecast for a third time and said bookings for the next year were "significantly outpacing" pre-pandemic levels by a wide margin, sending its shares up about 3%.Cruise operators are reaping the rewards as travelers gravitate to cruise vacations that are cheaper compared to taking a land-based holiday.This has given the companies the ability to hike itinerary prices, especially in North America and Europe, as occupancy…

AIDA Cruises said Tuesday it would open its 2021 cruise season starting March 20 with AIDAperla ship sailing around the Canary Islands, "a favorite "fly and cruise" vacation for German travelers looking to enjoy the region's "eternal spring" weather and unique destinations." However, trips planned for earlier in March will not be taking place.The German federal government has extended the lockdown to contain the pandemic until March 2021. Many of AIDA's cruise destinations have also implemented measures that significantly restrict international holiday travel through early spring…

Florida-headquartered international cruise line Carnival Cruise Line announced that the debut of its newest ship, Mardi Gras, will be pushed back until Nov. 14, 2020 after the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland informed the cruise line “that the delivery will be delayed.”With this new schedule, Carnival will now take delivery of the ship in late October and its first revenue sailing will depart from Port Canaveral on Nov. 14, 2020. Consequently, the first eight sailings that were scheduled starting Aug. 31 have been cancelled, including European, transatlantic and New York-based itineraries and four Port Canaveral itineraries.Carnival said that the guest notification process began promptly after the notice by Meyer Turku so that impacted guests could begin to make alternative vacation plans.

Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard handed over Costa Venezia - built specially for Chinese guests - to Costa Cruises, the Italian brand of Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise company.The handover took place yesterday in the presence of Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Edoardo Rixi, as well as Carnival Corp. & plc and Costa Group officials.With a gross tonnage of 135,500 tonnes, the 323-meter-long Costa Venezia offers 2,116 cabins for a total of 5,260 passengers and will be the largest among Costa's fleet in China.The ship is part of an expansion plan that includes 7 new ships arriving for the Costa Group by 2023…

Royal Caribbean Cruises and Ctrip announced today that they are ending the SkySea Cruise Line joint venture. TUI AG's Marella Cruises has agreed to purchase Golden Era, with delivery expected in December, 2018. As a result of this transaction, TUI Cruises will now retain Mein Schiff 2 in its fleet, rather than selling it to Marella Cruises, giving TUI Cruises increased capacity in the strong German market. After the sale of Golden Era, it is expected that SkySea will wind down its business operations before the end of 2018. The companies expect that favorable business conditions in China and elsewhere will allow them to absorb most SkySea employees into available positions at RCL and Ctrip.

Carnival Corporation & plc will establish a new industry apex in connectivity capabilities today at sea when it attempts to make an unprecedented level of bandwidth available to guests on board Regal Princess from its Princess Cruises brand. Using its newly developed connectivity service, MedallionNet, and working with SES Networks, the world-leading provider of satellite-enabled connectivity solutions, Carnival Corporation and Princess Cruises will attempt to achieve bandwidth of 1.5 gigabits per second, the most ever delivered to a mobile platform. The record attempt will demonstrate that connectivity is no longer a limitation to cruise vacations. Guests using MedallionNet have access to the internet at speeds that eclipse typical land-based hotel connectivity performance levels.

If you want to book a plush river cruise vacation in America’s heartland – say on the Mississippi or Ohio Rivers – you can do it. The American Queen Steamboat Company’s website offers as many as 13 river cruises in 2018. Certainly, the ‘bourbon cruise,’ aboard the lavish American Duchess sounds like fun. Or, maybe next year you can sign up for the nine-day ‘Derby Cruise.’ And, next year means 2019 because the 2018 cruise is sold out. Maybe the most fun is that passengers themselves…

Costa Group – part of Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise company – announced that its new generation ships, the first LNG powered at sea, will call Marseille in 2019. The Costa Group, the leading tourism group, the No. 1 cruiser in Europe has renovated its commitment to Port of Marseille through different initiatives that began in 1996 when the new cruise called “La Dolce Vita” started its weekly operations from Marseille to offer the French guests every Saturday a brand new and unique experience in the best places of the Mediterranean onboard its ship Costa Romantica. This new offer launched by Costa contributed to the French people being more and more interested in experiencing a cruise vacation.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. said it has partnered with online and mobile commerce company Alibaba Group for its entry into the Chinese cruise shipping market. Alibaba operates the world’s largest online and mobile marketplaces, offering a wide range of products and services to its nearly half billion monthly active users. In China, people live, work and play on Alibaba, buying local and overseas products, and enjoying its entertainment and lifestyle services – travel, food delivery and social networking.

AIDA Cruises has taken delivery of the 12th vessel of its fleet, AIDAperla, from Japanese shipbuilder Mitshubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The vessel was commissioned April 27 at a ceremony in Nagasaki, Japan in the presence of Michael Thamm, CEO Costa Group; Felix Eichhorn, President AIDA Cruises; Shunichi Miyanaga, President and CEO MHI; and Kazuaki Kimura, President and CEO, Industry & Infrastructure MHI. In the coming days AIDAperla will set sail for the Mediterranean where the vessel will be christened by model and presenter Lena Gercke on June 30, 2017, in Palma de Mallorca.

American/British owned German cruise line AIDA Cruises has launched its first marketing campaign on the Chinese market. From April 2017, with AIDAbella, AIDA Cruises will, for the first time, deploy a ship in China all year round and, in close cooperation with Costa Asia, be offering cruise vacation “Made in Germany” from Shanghai as a new product for the booming Chinese market. Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group, said, “The ongoing growth of AIDA has made Germany the second biggest cruise market in the world.

Carnival Corporation & plc today announced the official opening of its Arison Maritime Center, a world-class facility dedicated to providing safety training for its bridge and engineering officers responsible for the navigation and operation of the company’s fleet of cruise ships. Located in Almere, Netherlands just outside Amsterdam, the new 75-million-euro facility features some of industry’s most advanced simulators and training equipment to provide annual training to more than 6,500 bridge and engineering officers from Carnival’s 10 global cruise line brands.

Carnival Corporation & plc announced today that its Arison Maritime Center in the Netherlands will honor the legacy of the Arison family who founded and grew the company into the world’s largest cruise line operation. The company also announced that construction is now well underway for what will be a state-of-the-art campus located in Almere, just outside Amsterdam. A grand opening celebration at the center is scheduled for July 14, 2016. The centerpiece of the new seven-acre campus is the CSMART Academy…

Holland America Line has promoted Gerald Mosslinger to vice president, food and beverage, as part of the renamed Guest Experience and Product Development Department that was formerly the Marine Hotel Operations Department. The cruise line made the departmental name change to better reflect the department’s core objectives and primary focus. As vice president, food and beverage, Mosslinger will oversee all of the culinary and dining service operations as well as manage all beverage operations for the Holland America Line fleet, including revenue activities, product innovation and service. He will report to Michael Smith, senior vice president…

Holland America Line is planning special promotions for National Cruise Vacation Week (NCVW), which runs Oct. 6-13, 2014. Organized by Cruise Lines International Association, the weeklong event features promotions and online opportunities to give consumers a perfect opportunity to book a cruise vacation while taking advantage of special savings. “Each year National Cruise Vacation Week highlights cruising as a vacation choice, and we are celebrating by offering special promotions to entice travelers to book their dream vacation,” said Richard Meadows, executive vice president, marketing, sales and guest programs for Holland America Line.

Holland America Line knows the trend for savvy travelers is to book vacations well in advance. To encourage those early bookings the line is returning with its popular “Explore 4” savings program that is better than before with four exceptional offers on select 2015 and 2016 sailings. The “Explore 4” benefits include a free Signature Beverage Package and free Pinnacle Grill dinner for guests booking an ocean-view and higher category stateroom, free or reduced cruise fares for third and fourth guests in the same stateroom on select sailings and 50 percent reduced deposits. Suite bookings also receive a $300 onboard spending credit per stateroom ($150 per person) and a free Canaletto dinner in addition to the other four offers.

Norwegian Cruise Line says it has reached an agreement with MEYER WERFT GmbH of Germany to build two new Breakaway-Plus class cruise ships for delivery in the second quarter 2018 and the fourth quarter 2019. Each ship will be 164,600 gross tons and include 4,200 passenger berths. "Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway have proven themselves as industry game-changers and are extremely popular with our guests," said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line's chief executive officer. The contract price for both ships is approximately euro 1.6 billion. The Company has export credit financing in place for each ship, arranged and underwritten by KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH of Germany.

Sembcorp Marine’s wholly-owned subsidiary Sembawang Shipyard has secured an agreement with RCL Cruises Ltd., a member of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. group, to perform the extensive revitalisation of Royal Caribbean International’s 137,276-gross tonnage, passenger-ship 'Voyager of the Seas'. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is a global cruise vacation company that owns Royal Caribbean International, among other cruise brands. This milestone revitalisation contract will further boost Singapore’s status as a major Asian cruise hub and reinforce Sembawang Shipyard’s reputation as one of the world’s leading shipyards in the highly specialised segment of cruise ships repair, refurbishment and conversion. Mr. P.K.

Citing strong performance and growing consumer demand, Carnival Cruise Lines today announced its’ largest and newest line of ships will sail from the Port of New Orleans beginning in April 2014. First, Carnival will deploy the 3,006-passenger Carnival Sunshine to New Orleans Nov. 18, replacing the current 2,984-passenger Carnival Conquest. The Carnival Sunshine recently underwent a massive $155 million transformation. The Carnival Sunshine will sail regular seven-day western and eastern Caribbean itineraries from New Orleans through April 2014 – when Carnival will reposition the 3…

Costa Crociere announced a compensation proposal for guests that have returned home after the Costa Concordia accident on January 13. This proposal is also the result of negotiations that Costa Crociere began with the consumer associations protecting guests’ interests, and with the support of multiple tourism/travel-industry associations. In Italy, the company has already reached an agreement with the National Council of Consumers and Users, a nationally representative organization. The families of the deceased and guests who were injured and required medical treatment on site will be covered under a separate proposal that will take into account their individual circumstances. • reimbursement of expenses onboard during the cruise.

Royal Caribbean International’s newly revitalized 2,360-passenger Serenade of the Seas arrives at the Port of New Orleans’ Julia Street Cruise Terminal Dec. 12 to sail weekly itineraries through April. The 965-foot cruise ship was completely refurbished in December 2012 and replaces Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, which was home-ported in New Orleans during the 2012-2013 cruise season. Sleek and sunlit, Serenade of the Seas features panoramic views and wide open spaces, as acres of glass enclose a nine-story central atrium.

Ship Features All-New WOWs, Including Royal Caribbean’s First-Ever Virtual Balconies, FlowRider Surf Simulator and New Dining Program. Royal Caribbean International’s Navigator of the Seas is primed to resume year-round service from Galveston, Texas on February 5, 2014, after completing a month-long drydock revitalization. Part of an extensive fleetwide program to enhance every Royal Caribbean’ ship, Navigator of the Seas will WOW the Lone Star State with the area’s most innovative and contemporary Caribbean cruise vacation by introducing new and significantly enhanced dining options…

Sembcorp's Sembawang Shipyard gets ship repair Favoured Customer Contract (FCC) from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL). The contract, signed in Miami, Florida, USA, by Mr. Kevin Douglas, Vice President of Technical Projects and Newbuildings for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Mr. Svein Taklo, Vice President, Marine Operations for Royal Caribbean International, and Ms. Wong Lee- Lin, Executive Director, Sembawang Shipyard, commits the repairs, revitalisation and upgrading of its fleet of passenger ships cruising in the Singapore region to Sembawang Shipyard. Royal Caribbean is a global cruise vacation company that operates Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Cruises and CDF Croisières de France.