Costa Cruises and Michelin-star chef team up to bring more of 'Italy's finest' flavors onboard
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- Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä
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- Published: 29 July 2015 29 July 2015
Costa Cruises has updated its lunch and dinner menus to feature more authentic Italian cuisine with help from one of the country's best culinary experts. Michelin-star Chef Fabio Cucchelli worked with a new team of corporate chefs to update the line's onboard cuisine, creating 14 authentic regional lunch and dinner menus and 252 new dishes.
Onboard, guests will find an assortment of Italian fare. New regional offerings include a fillet of spatola (silver scabbardfish in English) with bread and raisins, served with Sicilian caponata and sweet and sour red onion (from the Sicily region); Gricia-style rigatoni pasta with jowl bacon and Roman Pecorino cheese cream (from the Lazio region); and golden fried breaded pork cordon bleu with potato croquettes and grilled tomato (from the Friuli region).
"We chose the recipes that truly represent the tastes and aromas of Italian history and culture, creating a real culinary voyage through 14 different regions that's based on the itinerary of each ship, depending on the length of the cruise and the ports of call," said Filippo Bertuzzi, Costa Cruises' corporate director, food and beverage operations. "In addition, Costa selected a new team of corporate chefs who traveled on all the fleet's ships to implement the new menus, to provide onboard personnel with assistance during this important change and to ensure that our guests always enjoy the best travel experience, even at the table."
On cruises that call at Italian ports, guests will find even more Italian-style options, with menus of the region the ship visits. When the line's new flagship Costa Diadema calls at Savona, for example, guests can expect to see Genoese burrida soup with cuttlefish and fine peas on the menu or a Neapolitan-style pasta and potato soup after a call at Naples.
"We are proud of our gastronomic traditions, which are also a symbol of identity for countless Italians." said Giuseppe Carino, Costa Cruises' vice president guest experience and onboard revenue. "Every year on our ships we take on vacation hundreds of thousands of guests who come from about 200 different countries. Everyone has their own habits and preferences, but what they ask us for as far as food is concerned is to be able to taste the real flavors of Italian cuisine. That's why our gastronomic fare is based on regional culinary traditions, recognized around the world as a healthy and distinctively convivial cuisine. Every day during a cruise we propose a different menu that's dedicated to a particular Italian region: in this way we enhance the value of quality Italian producers, since most of the ingredients we use for these regional recipes are obtained from local suppliers."
The new menus are part of Costa's new "Italy's Finest" campaign - an effort to bring a stronger taste of Italy to its ships around the world by partnering with the country's most popular food and beverage brands. The line recently announced partnerships with Barilla, Illy Caffé and Ferrari wines, and has also revamped its entertainment offerings to feature more of Italy's best traditions.
New Century Maritime buys Aegean Paradise for $22.9 million
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
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- Published: 27 July 2015 27 July 2015
New Century Maritime, the Chinese shipping compaby, says it has acquired the 1990 built cruise ship Aegean paradise of 23,987 gross tons for $22.9 million from Hainan Cruise & Enterprises Shipping, another Chinese company.
The ship, which started life as the Japanese owned Orient Venus, will be acquired by Kingston Maritime, a wholly owned unit of the New Century group.
The buyer is principally engaged in the provision of cruise ship charter services, property investments and securities trading. It currently has two cruise ships, the 16,254 gross ton Leisure World, which was built in 1969 as Skyward for the then Norwegian Caribbean Lines and the 12,674 gross ton Amusement World that was built as the cruise ferry Patricia for Swedish Lloyd in 1967. Both have derived regular charter hire income for the group.
“With the steady outlook of the tourism industry in Singapore, the Group expects that its cruise ship charter services business segment will continue to bring positive contribution to the Group. The purchase of the vessel will enable the Group to further develop its cruise ship charter services business.
The Directors consider that the terms and conditions of the MOA to be fair and reasonable and that the Acquisition is in the interests of the Company and the shareholders of the Company as a whole,” New Century said.
Seeking government support to developing cruise tourism in Chile
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
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- Published: 27 July 2015 27 July 2015
With a view of finding support from the state level to more effectively develop cruise tourism in Chile, various representatives from the Corporation of Southern Cone Ports (le Corporación de Puertos del Cono Sur) – an association of ports and terminals formed for a purpose of promoting cruise business in Chile - met with Javiera Montes, the country’s Sub-secretary of Tourism, to explore viable ways forward. Alan Lam reports.
Chile’s cruise business potentials have always been limited by its peculiar geography. The meeting, held recently in the Ministry of Economy offices in Santiago, was chaired by Javiera Montes and Ignacio Covacevich, President of the Corporation, aimed to establish state and legislative supports for the relatively stagnating Chilean cruise industry. It was attended by Estaban Bilbao, Director of the Corporation, and Sabastián Montero, the executive director of the same organisation.
“It is important,” said Ignacio Covacevich, “that the state’s principal tourism authority supports our efforts - together with our experience and knowledge gained throughout the years in the cruise industry - in propelling further growth in tourism activities of our nation.”
One of the main objectives of this meeting was to recognise the Corporation’s achievements in recent years, which included having successfully negotiated a reduction in navigation fees, liberating regulatory controls of onboard casinos in Chilean waters, and organising Chile’s presence in various global cruise trade fairs.
Chile receives about 3.5 million tourists each year, of which only about 350,000 are cruise related. The main aim of this meeting was to find a path of cooperation between the Corporation and the state to increase cruise tourism in Chile. Both parties agreed to work closely hereafter, to generate and share information relating to cruise tourism.
The issue of cabotage was on the table. “Our objective was to communicate to the Sub-secretary,” said Ignacio Covacevich, “that the future cruise industry in Chile depends on opening of a passenger cabotage.”
“On the global level,” explained Ignacio Covacevich, “more than 90% of the itineraries are of seven days or shorter. The itineraries operating in Chile, mostly on the Valparaíso-Buenos Aires trajectory, last 14 days. A passenger cabotage will allow shorter itineraries, permitting international cruise lines to embark and disembark within Chilean territories. This will substantially increase cruise activities in the country.” However, he stressed that, this move must protect the interests of the national cruise industry.
Silversea relocates from Fort Lauderdale to Miami
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- Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä
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- Published: 24 July 2015 24 July 2015
Silversea Cruises yesterday confirmed plans to relocate its Americas office from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, Florida. The move is currently scheduled for late 2015. The company, which maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, and Sydney, with its global headquarters in Monte Carlo, will move all staff currently working in the Fort Lauderdale office to new, first generation, Class A office space in the Wells Fargo Center, a world-class office high-rise located where downtown meets the upscale Brickell area, a short distance from what is arguably the world's busiest cruise port and within a few short miles of Miami International Airport.
Kristian Anderson, Silversea's senior vice president and general manager for the Americas, said: "Miami is recognised in the cruise industry as being the 'cruise capital' of the world. So we're pleased to have found a building in the heart of the city that reflects the best of our brand and is able to meet our current and future expansion needs. Of course, as a LEED Gold-certified sustainable office building, our new location will provide a healthy, productive and beautiful work environment for our employeesin what has become a truly vibrant, world-class city."
Silversea Cruises launched its first ship in 1994 and currently operates a fleet of eight ships. The company recently announced plans to launch a new flagship, Silver Muse, in early 2017.
Michelle Sutter to serve as Fathom's senior sales leader
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- Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä
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- Published: 24 July 2015 24 July 2015
Fathom, the pioneer in social impact travel, has named 15-year cruise industry veteran Michelle Sutter as a company senior sales leader. In this role, Sutter will be responsible for marketing and business development supporting sales of Carnival Corporation’s Fathom brand that is pioneering the new category of social impact travel. Sutter joined the company in July reporting to David Drier, vice president, sales for Fathom.
“Michelle is a results oriented leader and business partner who successfully cultivates and expands authentic, meaningful relationships,” said Tara Russell, president of Fathom and global impact lead for Carnival Corporation. “She is committed to collaborating with travel professional partners to help them grow their businesses by successfully marketing and selling more unique products and services. She also has a demonstrated track record and passion focusing her unique gifts and talents to make a difference in the world – she has chaired several community fundraising initiatives and served on boards benefitting children’s charities and organizations. Her outstanding business development skills coupled with her dedication to societal impact make Michelle an ideal addition to our team.”
Sutter joins the Fathom team from Holland America Line and Seabourn where she was business development manager since early 2013, where she was responsible for increasing travel professional sales and market share for the company and exceeding established revenue objectives on a regular basis. In 2014, Holland America Line recognized Sutter with the prestigious Rookie of the Year Award. Prior to that, Sutter served in several sales roles of increasing responsibility at Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International where she was the recipient of numerous sales awards.
“It is exciting to get in on the ground floor of Fathom, working with a visionary executive team who deeply understands the desire to do good in the world, and who created this unique brand to address the real hunger to help others,” said Sutter. “I look forward to helping travel professionals meet the growing demand from travelers eager to immerse themselves in new cultures where they can learn, serve and flourish while making enduring, sustainable contributions on a scalable and systematic basis.”
A resident of Vancouver, Canada, Sutter earned a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American studies and Spanish from Simon Fraser University. She also actively supports the Umoja Operation Compassion Society by working with low-income immigrants living in British Columbia. Sutter is fluent in English, French and Spanish.
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