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Swan Hellenic adds Fort Lauderdale to office network

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 12 January 2021 12 January 2021

Swan Hellenic, the Cyprus based expedition cruise line, said it has opened its North America office based in Fort Lauderdale to offer service to customers in the United States, Canada and Mexico, including through a dedicated call centre.

“Headquartered in Cyprus with offices in London, Dusseldorf and Monaco, together with a branch office in Hong Kong (serving mainland China, Taiwan and South-East Asia), as well as partnerships serving India, Japan and Australia-New Zealand, Swan Hellenic’s new North America office takes the cultural expedition cruise leader impressively close to offering global direct customer support less than year after it relaunched,” the company said in a statement

The North America team of cruise industry veterans is headed by GM Tom Russell, previously President of Cruise & Travel Executives, COO of Global Voyages Group and COO & Managing Director North America of Silversea.

Mitchell Schlesinger has been appointed Sales Director North America. He has previous extensive experience leading the sales activities of Norwegian Cruise Line, Orient Line and Voyages to Antiquity.

Andrea Corman has been appointed Customer Relations Director. He has guest-service experience with Voyages to Antiquity, Uniworld River Cruises and Oceania Cruises and Nick Giersdorf as Marketing & Digital Director. He is ex-Chief Marketing Technology Officer at Global Voyages Group

“With such a high-calibre team dedicated to its North America customers, it’s clear that Swan Hellenic is totally confident and committed to bringing its unique cultural expedition cruises and renowned personal service to adventurous-minded and creative explorers around the world,” the company said.

Photo: Swan Hellenic willl operate three new buildings on order at Helsinki Shipyard in Finland.

Carnival has funds to sail through 2021 without revenue

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 12 January 2021 12 January 2021

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, said it has adequate funds in place to survive through 2021 even without revenues, while long term cumulative bookings are encouraging.

Chief Financial Officer David Bernstein in a statement: "We ended the year with $9.5 billion in cash and have the liquidity in place to sustain ourselves throughout 2021, even in a zero-revenue environment. While we raised capital mainly through debt this year, in the last few months we opportunistically strengthened our capital structure by raising $2.5 billion through at-the-market equity offering programs and by the early conversion of $1.5 billion of convertible debt.”

President and Chief Executive Officer Arnold Donald noted: "The booking trends that we have consistently experienced throughout this period affirm the strong fundamental demand for our brands which will facilitate our staggered resumption and support the long-term growth of our company."

"At December 20, 2020, cumulative advanced bookings for the second half of 2021 are within the historical range. Additionally, the cumulative advanced bookings for the first half of 2022 are ahead of 2019. Due to the pause in guest cruise operations in 2020, the company's future booking trends will be compared to 2019," the company said.

It believes the continued build in cumulative advanced bookings for this 12 month period ending May 2022 demonstrates the long-term demand for cruising. The company highlights this level of bookings was achieved with minimal advertising and marketing.

As of November 30, approximately 45 % of guests affected by the company's schedule changes have received enhanced future cruise credits (FCCs) and approximately 55% have requested refunds. There was no change compared to the end of the previous quarter.

Total customer deposits balance at November 30 was $2.2 billion, the majority of which are FCCs, compared to the total customer deposits balance of $2.4 billion at August 31. The decline in customer deposits is less than previous expectations.

At the end of November, the current portion of customer deposits was $1.9 billion with minimal bookings relating to first quarter of 2021 sailings. Approximately 60 % of bookings taken during the quarter ended November 30 for fiscal year 2021 were new bookings as opposed to FCCs re-bookings, despite minimal advertising or marketing, Carnival said.

Carnival adds one vessel to disposal list

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 12 January 2021 12 January 2021

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, has increased the number of ships it intends to offload to 19 from 18, it said.

“Since the pause in guest operations, the company has accelerated the removal of ships in fiscal 2020 which were previously expected to be sold over the ensuing years. The company now expects to dispose of 19 ships, 15 of which have already left the fleet,’ Carnival said in its final quarter and full fiscal year 2020 result statement.

In the third quarter statement, the company said it plans to axe 18 old ships. The company did not state which ship has been added to the disposal list.

The 19 ships represent approximately 13% of pre-pause capacity and only 3.0% of operating income in 2019. “The sale of less efficient ships will result in future operating expense efficiencies of approximately 2.0% per available lower berth day ("ALBD") and a reduction in fuel consumption of approximately 1.0% ALBD,” Carnival said.

The company recently took delivery of two ships and expects only one more ship to be delivered in fiscal 2021, which runs till 30 November, compared to five ships that were originally scheduled for delivery in fiscal 2021.

“Based on the actions taken to date and the scheduled newbuild deliveries through 2022, the company's fleet will be more efficient with a roughly 14% larger average berth size per ship and an average age of 12 years in 2022 versus 13 years, in each case as compared to 2019,” Carnival said.

Photo: The 1998 built Sea Princess is one of the ships recently sold by the Carnival group

Three Carnival group units extend standstill

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 07 January 2021 07 January 2021

Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises, which are all parts of Carnival Corporation & plc, have decided to extend the standstill of their operations, the companies said in separate statements.

“Carnival Cruise Line is notifying guests of additional cruise cancellations, including extending its pause in all operations in the U.S. through March 31, 2021, as well as select ships and homeport operations related to itineraries and dry dock work,” the company said.

Booked guests and travel agents are being notified directly of the cancellations and their options for a generous future cruise credit and onboard credit package, or a full refund.

In summary, the cancellations include:

All embarkations from U.S. homeports through March 31, 2021

Carnival Freedom from Galveston through April 10, 2021 (which includes a repositioning of the ship from Galveston to Seattle and a 17-day Carnival Journeys cruise which is not allowed under the current guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)).

Carnival Miracle from San Diego and San Francisco through September 16, 2021 (which includes many 10-day and longer itineraries not allowed under the current CDC guidelines).

Carnival Liberty from Port Canaveral from September 17-October 18, 2021 (to accommodate rescheduled dry dock work).

Carnival Sunshine from Charleston from October 11-November 13, 2021 (to accommodate rescheduled dry dock work).

Carnival Spirit’s 15-day cruise from Singapore to Brisbane on June 12, 2021 (consistent with the current limitations on international travel in place in Australia).

Meanwhile, Holland America Line said as it continues to prepare and develop its plans to meet the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the company is extending its pause of cruise operations for all departures through April 30, 2021. This includes Alaska, Mexican Riviera, Pacific Coast, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Canada/New England departures.

Princess Cruises also said that it is extending its pause of guest cruise vacations on ships sailing through May 14, 2021. This includes sailings in the Caribbean, the California Coast, along with early season Alaska and Europe cruises.

TUI shareholders approve third financing package terms

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 07 January 2021 07 January 2021

An extraordinary shareholders meeting of TUI AG, which was held virtually, the presence, including votes cast, corresponded to 44.58 percent of the share capital. Shareholders approved the three agenda items with a large majority, the company said in a statement.

The reduction of share capital from €2.56 per share to €1.00 per share was approved by 99.59 percent of the shareholders, and the subsequent capital increase of approximately €509 million was approved by 97.95 percent. The conversion right of the WSF into shares of TUI AG in accordance with Silent Participation I was approved by 98.04 percent of shareholders.

Prior to this, the other components of the third financing package, which was announced on December 2, 2020, had already been fulfilled. The Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) and TUI AG signed the agreement for two silent participations totaling 1.091 billion euros.

The WSF measures comprise a silent participation convertible into shares in TUI of €420 million. The second silent participation amounts to €671 million. “The second silent participation has been extended by the amount of the outstanding government guarantees as announced in the ad-hoc announcement of December 2, 2020. As soon as the guarantees are received, the second silent participation will be reduced accordingly. The EU Commission has already approved the contract,” TUI AG said.

The implementation of the components of the third financing package will also grant an prolongation of a portion of the existing KfW credit line in the amount of €500 million. This would otherwise have ceased to be available on April 1, 2021. The partial amount now also has a maturity like the rest of the existing KfW credit line (July 2022), once the outstanding senior bond is redeemed with the funds from the capital increase.

Under the third financing package, KfW is also participating in an additional loan facility together with private banks in the amount of €200 million.