An Old Friend to the Rescue

The US Coast Guard, a good Samaritan and our old friend, the cruise ship Zenith (one of Celebrity's first ships and currently operated by Royal Caribbean's Pullmantur brand) combined forces to rescue six people on three small boats sailing between St. Thomas and St. Croix early today.

Details appeared in the April 24 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Taking in a Partner

Royal Caribbean is selling a majority stake in their Spanish Pullmantur brand and French brand, Croisieres de France (CDF). RCCL will retain 49%, partnering with Springwater Capital.

The complete story appeared in the May 10 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Zenith Damages Reef While Anchored at Cayman

Sometimes you can do all the right things and still end up in trouble. That’s Pullmantur’s situation in the Cayman Islands after Tuesday’s incident with Zenith.

While anchored at Grand Cayman, Zenith’s anchor chain caused significant damage to a coral reef, and it was reported and documented on video by a local diver.

Pullmantur and its parent, Royal Caribbean Cruises, are taking heat for the incident in the media and the court of public opinion, but it appears that the ship was anchored where it was supposed to be in a designated anchorage.

Details appeared in the December 10 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Discussion from Royal Caribbean

Royal Caribbean held their quarterly conference call today to discuss their third quarter earnings. As usual, there were some topics of conversation that went beyond the purely financial aspects of the business and were topics that consumers would find of interest.

The complete story appeared in the October 23 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Jorge Vilches Named President and CEO of Pullmantur

MIAMI, May 27, 2014 -- Jorge Vilches has been named president and chief executive officer of Pullmantur, one of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s (NYSE, OSLO: RCL) six brands. Vilches will be responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of the brand to ensure its continuous growth and success. He will report directly to Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Vilches has spent the past 10 years in the travel industry, holding various positions with the LATAM Group, a leader in the airline industry in South America. Most recently, he served as CEO of LATAM's long haul business unit, the group's biggest division in terms of capacity and revenue. Vilches' previous management positions at LATAM include CEO of LAN Peru, the main carrier in that South American country, and CEO at LAN Express, LAN's domestic operation in Chile. Vilches was born in Spain and has lived in a number of Latin American countries, most recently in Brazil.

"Jorge has a proven track record of success in the travel industry, and extensive knowledge of the market. I look forward to his leadership at Pullmantur," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "Pullmantur plays an important role in Royal Caribbean's long term strategy, particularly as we expand the brand's reach into Latin America. We are confident that Jorge will use his strategic insights and market awareness to make Pullmantur the undisputed cruise leader in Spain and Latin America."

Said Vilches: "I am very excited to join the Pullmantur family. I'm a believer in strong, committed teams and sharp strategic focus. Together with an outstanding group of employees, I look forward to delivering fantastic vacations to Pullmantur guests around the world. I also look forward to joining the team at Royal Caribbean, one of the true leaders of the travel industry."

Over the past 40 years, Pullmantur has built a position as the leader in the Spanish cruise market. Since 2006, it has belonged to the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., based in the United States. Pullmantur's modern fleet of five ships has a daily capacity of more than 12,000 passengers. Since 2013, it has promoted a strategic growth plan in the Latin American cruise market, where more than 60% of its business is located.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE, OSE: RCL) is a global cruise vacation company that owns Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisieres de France, as well as TUI Cruises through a 50 percent joint venture. Together, these six brands operate a combined total of 42 ships with an additional six under construction contracts. They operate diverse itineraries around the world that call on approximately 490 destinations on all seven continents. Additional information can be found on www.royalcaribbean.com, www.celebritycruises.com, www.pullmantur.es, www.azamaraclubcruises.com, www.cdfcroisieresdefrance.com or www.rclinvestor.com.

SOURCE Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for April 9, 2014

* Is NCL Canceling a Couple Port Calls Enough?
This week Norwegian Cruise Line canceled their calls (by Norwegian Dawn and Norwegian Jewel) at Roatan after a crew member ashore from Norwegian Pearl was shot and killed on Sunday during an armed robbery in broad daylight on the street when the thief apparently only wanted the man’s cell phone.
   Information has been limited because the police in Honduras operate in secret when investigating criminal matters. Police arrested two suspects on Monday, and the country’s security minister announced it with great fanfare, but police released them late Monday when they said it was determined the two weren’t involved in the crime.
   NCL’s statement says only that their calls were canceled this week in “an abundance of caution,” but the line declines to say any more. It appears by their statement that their calls are only canceled this week, and passengers can expect to call at Roatan next week despite the rising rate of violent crimes. Since NCL will not clarify their position, they have to be taken at their word and assume only this week’s calls are canceled. 
   But is this enough for Norwegian and other cruise lines to do at this port and other ports when there is a rising crime rate? In this CND article, we discuss what we believe they should be doing.

* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about RCCL closing the sale on the Pullmantur companies ... when it's not a cruise line, but it's paying the bills ... and Costa joining the club.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for January 23, 2014

* SC Court Closes One Door on Anti-Cruise Lobby
South Carolina’s Supreme Court dismissed a suit brought against Carnival Cruise Lines by a coalition of anti-cruise groups which included the Preservation Society of Charleston and Coastal Conservation League.

* RCCL Selling Pullmantur Non-Cruise Ops
Royal Caribbean is selling off a major interest in the non-cruise portions of their Spanish brand, Pullmantur. Those include the charter airline, tour operations and travel agencies.

* Strike Up the Band
In addition to their new Carnival Live concert series we reported about yesterday, Carnival has also expanded their house bands on nine of their ships.

Fireworks celebrate the 10th anniversary of Queen Mary 2 at Southampton last week just before departure of its world cruise.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Photo courtesy of Cunard Line. May not be copied or used without permission. All rights reserved.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for July 3, 2013

* Mitsubishi Resumes Building Cruise Ships
After a ten-year absence from the market, Mitsubishi has resumed building cruise ships. The company worked hard to get their foot in the door to the industry, building a pair of ships for Carnival Corp’s Princess brand in 2004, but then the cargo boom hit, and they became so heavily booked building various types of cargo vessels, their lead time to get a cruise ship scheduled was too long for cruise lines to consider.

But now construction has begun on the first of two ships for Carnival’s AIDA brand. These will be even more technologically-advanced than the two stunning Princess ships they built in the last decade.  More


* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about a Baltic ferry passenger going overboard ...  Zenith repairs are being extended to two weeks ... and funding for Piraeus.



The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for June 28, 2013

* The Cities Not Listed
When Carnival Cruise Lines announced a number of deployment changes yesterday for Florida homeports, a couple of ships were added to the list of those to be based in Florida. Focusing on the new itineraries, they didn’t mention ships replacing them in the northern ports where those ships are currently homeported.

Those cities - Baltimore, Norfolk, Boston - and ports where they call on those itineraries noticed it and realized those programs aren’t being replaced.


* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about an update on Zenith ... and Grandeur to return


The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Update on Zenith Fire

Royal Caribbean's Spanish brand, Pullmantur, reports that m/v Zenith safely docked in Marghera, Italy (near Venice) yesterday (June 25) and as of 7:08am this morning (June 26, local time in Madrid) all 1,672 passengers have been repatriated to Spain when the last of the charter flights from Italy landed in Madrid.

Zenith experienced an engine room fire on June 25 at 3:48am while in the Lagoon of Venice. The ship initially anchored 17 nautical miles south of Venice Harbor. The line said the fire was quickly extinguished, but as a precaution passengers and crew members were mustered on open decks. One engine was disabled, and the vessel was towed to Marghera.

In addition to the cruise line, Pullmantur also operates charter air packages to resorts in various locales in Europe and the Caribbean with a fleet of their own charter aircraft. The company immediately sent six of their aircraft to Venice to return passengers to Spain when the ship arrived at Marghera. Pullmantur CEO Gonzalo Chico Barbier traveled to Marghera to personally meet with passengers and crew and offer his support. A special Passenger Service Team was also dispatched from Spain to assist passengers with any needs they had.

Pullmantur said they will begin issuing full refunds to passengers on June 27. The company will also refund all passengers' travel costs. Passengers will also receive a 25% discount on a future cruise.

The company is still assessing damage and repair possibilities. The ship is currently in the Port of Marghera where Fincantieri has a shipyard. 

Zenith was on a Mediterranean itinerary, sailing from Ravenna to Venice, when the incident occurred.

The 47,000-gross ton Zenith was originally constructed for Celebrity Cruises in 1992. It was transferred to the Pullmantur brand in 2007, and it is scheduled to be transferred next year to RCCL’s French brand, CDF. All of the brands are owned by Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for June 25, 2013

* The Top of the News from Carnival
During today’s conference call for financial analysts to discuss Carnival’s second quarter earnings, there were two big topics of conversation.

One was that the company was splitting the roles of CEO and Chairman of the Board, and the other was about the rebuilding of the Carnival brand’s image. There were also a couple of other interesting comments that almost slipped by under the radar.


* Zenith Disabled by Fire
An engine fire early Tuesday morning partially disabled Zenith in the Venice lagoon. Reports say the fire was extinguished quickly, but it will cause an early end to the cruise. No passengers or crew members were injured.

The ship is operated by Royal Caribbean’s Spanish brand, Pullmantur, and they are in the process of arranging flights to repatriate all passengers.

Update on Zenith Fire - 06/26/13

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Zenith Aground

Updated May 12, 10am.
Pullmantur's Zenith ran around over the weekend as it sailed through the Oresund Strait. The ship was sailing from Copenhagen to Gdynia at the time of the incident. The ship was refloated and returned to Copenhagen for a survey of damage to the hull. Pullmantur confirmed the incident to Cruise News Daily and said that inspections showed no significant damage to the ship. It is now sailing and back on schedule.

Zenith was formerly operated by Celebrity Cruises and transferred to the Pullmantur brand of Royal Caribbean.

Island to Stand Alone

Royal Caribbean will sell their interest in Island Cruises to their partner in the venture, First Choice Holidays.

One of the two ships, Island Star, which Island charters from RCCL will be returned to RCCL in April 2009 and redeployed to RCCL's Pullmantur brand.

From later statements by TUI, First Choice's parent, the Island Cruises brand apparently will next year be folded into Thomson Cruises, another of TUI's holdings.

The complete story appeared in the October 6 (2008) edition of Cruise News Daily.

From the factoid department:

According to Fairplay, Cuba says they have lost $17 million worth of cruise business since Royal Caribbean purchased Pullmantur and could no longer do business with the island nation. That includes termination of all Pullmantur's ship's calls on the island's ports and no longer employing Cubans to work on the ships.

From the word travels slowly department:

Royal Caribbean acquired Spanish tour operator Pullmantur and their ships a year ago, but for some reason the English-speaking Cuban press seems to just be discovering it and its effects on the island nation. In the last week, we've seen a couple of articles on the subject running in the Cuban press. The one appearing in Gramma yesterday is the more thorough.

US law prohibits US-owned companies from doing business with Cuba. The immediate effect of the acquisition was that Cuban crew members aboard the Pullmantur ships had to be terminated and sent home. Longer term, it also means, of course, that Pullmantur's ships will no longer be calling at Cuban ports.

There was a similar economic loss to the island when Carnival Corp acquired Costa Crociere. Cruise News Daily has reported several times over the last few years on the potential Cuba has had both as a port of call and a port of embarkation in combination with European-sourced charter flights. In addition to the direct loss of calls and jobs caused by the US embargo, another provision of the embargo that also stifles Cuba's cruise industry is one that prohibits calls at any US port (including San Juan and St. Thomas) by any ship which has called at a Cuban port within the previous six months.