After years of being virtually ignored by the cruise industry, except for a few hand-me-down ships, the "contemporary" or "mass market" portion of the industry seems to be discovering there's a market for their products in Australia and New Zealand.
Princess recently started expanding their own programs for the local Australia/New Zealand market (viewed there as an upscale product) while at the same time working with P&O Australia to upgrade theirs. Yesterday Royal Caribbean International announced a major expansion of their own in the market for next year.
Details are in today's edition of Cruise News Daily.
Friday, September 14, 2007
CND Headlines - The Last of the Freedom-Class
It seems like it was just yesterday that we were at the Aker yard in Turku (Finland) and Freedom of the Seas was floating out of the drydock. Today, the float out process began for the last of the three-ship order of Freedom-class vessels, indicating that the work on the hull is
completed.
The intense work inside now begins as we move toward the May delivery date.
When completed, Independence of the Seas will be homeported at Southampton for the summer season, making it the largest cruise ship, at 160,000 tons, ever to be homeported in Europe.
There's a photo on the front page of the CND website of the executives pressing the button that flooded the drydock with 87 million gallons of water. That process will take until tomorrow to complete when the ship can be towed out.
This may be the last of the class to be built, but it will be followed by the even-larger Genesis-class in the fall of 2009.
completed.
The intense work inside now begins as we move toward the May delivery date.
When completed, Independence of the Seas will be homeported at Southampton for the summer season, making it the largest cruise ship, at 160,000 tons, ever to be homeported in Europe.
There's a photo on the front page of the CND website of the executives pressing the button that flooded the drydock with 87 million gallons of water. That process will take until tomorrow to complete when the ship can be towed out.
This may be the last of the class to be built, but it will be followed by the even-larger Genesis-class in the fall of 2009.
From the support department:
On Wednesday, we reported in Cruise News Daily that the brands of Carnival Corp would cease paying commission to travel agents on air add-ons. In preparing the article, we checked with the two largest multi-brand cruise companies in the US, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, and neither could even muster a "no comment" during the afternoon. That probably meant they were caught totally by surprise and really needed to think out their positions.
MSC USA is obviously committed to the agency distribution system for their products because just a few minutes ago, they became the first competing brand in the US to speak out on the issue when they issued this statement:
“MSC Cruises is a proud supporter of the travel agent community. It is our intent to grow business together and share our success with our agent partners,” says Richard E. Sasso, President and CEO of MSC Cruises (USA).
“We have always supported travel agents with an unprecedented commission structure and will continue to do so. In addition to the already high-level commissions we offer on the cruise portion, MSC Cruises demonstrates our support by offering 10% commission on air, 10% on pre-booked shore excursions and 10% on pre-booked spa packages,” Sasso continues.
“When it comes to working with travel agents, you can be assured that MSC Cruises will continue to be an innovator. We will continue to offer a commission structure and programs designed to help you profit,” he adds.
MSC USA is obviously committed to the agency distribution system for their products because just a few minutes ago, they became the first competing brand in the US to speak out on the issue when they issued this statement:
“MSC Cruises is a proud supporter of the travel agent community. It is our intent to grow business together and share our success with our agent partners,” says Richard E. Sasso, President and CEO of MSC Cruises (USA).
“We have always supported travel agents with an unprecedented commission structure and will continue to do so. In addition to the already high-level commissions we offer on the cruise portion, MSC Cruises demonstrates our support by offering 10% commission on air, 10% on pre-booked shore excursions and 10% on pre-booked spa packages,” Sasso continues.
“When it comes to working with travel agents, you can be assured that MSC Cruises will continue to be an innovator. We will continue to offer a commission structure and programs designed to help you profit,” he adds.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
CND Headlines - Queen Victoria Returns from Sea Trials
The front page of CND's website has a magnificent photo of Cunard's Queen Victoria. It turns out it was the first photo of the ship taken at sea and was snapped during the vessel's recent sea trials off the coast of Italy. (That makes it sound so easy. Run the ship at full speed. Hire the helicopter. Swoop down in front of the ship. Snap the picture. Nothing to it.)
The vessel just returned from its successful set of sea trials in the Adriatic (Sept 1-3). The first set, which it also completed successfully were Aug 24-26. All is on track for on on-time delivery and Queen Victoria's first arrival in Southampton on December 7 for its inaugural events.
The vessel just returned from its successful set of sea trials in the Adriatic (Sept 1-3). The first set, which it also completed successfully were Aug 24-26. All is on track for on on-time delivery and Queen Victoria's first arrival in Southampton on December 7 for its inaugural events.
CND Headlines - Build Your Own Boat
Tell your kids to get out their LEGO bricks. It's going to be a long night. They're going to build a cruise ship, and they're going to do it and do it and do it until they get it right. If they are the best doing it, you'll all go on a free NCL cruise.
After building the cruise ship of their dreams, you take a picture of it, and they write a 500-word essay describing their accomplishment. One winner of an NCL cruise will be selected from each of three age groups. (6 to 9, 10 to 14 and 15 and older).
Details were in today's issue of Cruise News Daily.
After building the cruise ship of their dreams, you take a picture of it, and they write a 500-word essay describing their accomplishment. One winner of an NCL cruise will be selected from each of three age groups. (6 to 9, 10 to 14 and 15 and older).
Details were in today's issue of Cruise News Daily.
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