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Good news – AIDA Cruises to restart cruise vacations in August

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 09 July 2020 09 July 2020

AIDA Cruises, Germany's leading cruise line and a part of Carnival Corporation & plc, the world's largest cruise company – today announced it will resume sailing operations in August 2020. Following an industry-wide pause in operations in mid-March, three of its ships will restart sailing next month. AIDAperla will be the first to set sail on August 5 from Hamburg, followed by AIDAmar from Rostock-Warnemünde on August 12 and AIDAblu from Kiel on August 16. Bookings start today, July 9.

Supported by the theme – "With certainty the most beautiful vacation" – AIDA Cruises has worked with several global and national health authorities to develop a comprehensive set of health and hygiene protocols to help facilitate a safe, healthy and phased-in return to cruise vacations. The brand will provide extensive information about the enhanced protocols and procedures it will implement against COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. More details are available at www.aida.de/sichererurlaub.

Starting with the booking process through individual travel preparation, embarking and disembarking in port, and medical care on board, AIDA Cruises has introduced a variety of preventive measures to complement existing health and hygiene standards.

These measures range from the digital health questionnaire prior to the cruise, to temperature measurements before check-in for guests and crew, to physical distancing guidelines and routing systems on arrival and departure and on board, to closely managing capacities at venues such as restaurants, bars, theatres, sports and wellness areas.

The enhanced protocols are supplemented by additional hygiene and safety measures, such as increased cleaning and disinfection measures, which take place in all cabins and public areas according to a defined protocol, as well as additional disinfection dispensers at check-in and on board.

Onboard medical care for all guests and crew is available around the clock. The ships are equipped with PCR-test-kits and diagnostic devices for the immediate evaluation of suspected COVID-19 cases, and the medical team on board is trained in the relevant test procedures and treatment methods. Together with the responsible authorities, extensive processes have been developed to facilitate medical care, safe disembarkation, and a safe return home as quickly as possible for patients diagnosed with a confirmed COVID-19 case.

The first cruises will take place with an adjusted passenger capacity and without calling at another port. AIDA guests can look forward to a versatile vacation program on board with the usual five-star service for guests, with the implementation of necessary hygiene standards and rules for avoiding contact and keeping distance. Bookings start today, July 9, 2020, 12:00 a.m. (German time) in all travel agencies, at www.aida.de, as well as in the AIDA Customer Center at +49-381-20270707.

The comprehensive health concept and the measures taken to manage suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases have been developed with medical experts and are based in part on the current guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the German Robert Koch Institute (RKI) as well as other governmental and health authorities. Additionally, the renowned independent testing company SGS Institut Fresenius will check the implementation of the comprehensive hygiene standards and the processes of preventive measures against COVID-19.

AIDA Cruises is already working intensively on the next steps. Depending on the opening of further European ports for cruise ships, the first foreign destinations could be integrated into the itinerary.

In a third phase, the gradual return to the original itinerary will be possible, naturally taking into account current developments in the destinations and in compliance with the respective international and national regulations of health and hygiene authorities and AIDA's own high standards.

Oceana to leave P&O Cruises this month

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 07 July 2020 07 July 2020

P&O Cruises, the UK focused contemporary market unit of Carnival Corporation & plc, will axe the 2000 built Oceana, the company said in a statement.

“P&O Cruises can confirm that Oceana will leave the fleet from July this year,” the company said.

The ship started life as Ocean Princess of sister company Princess Cruises and was transferred to P&O Cruises in 2003. It is a unit of the Sun Princess class and has a gross tonnage of 77,449.

P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow said in the statement: “Whilst we and many of our guests will miss Oceana, her departure will allow us to focus on our remaining ships in the fleet, as capacity expands with the delivery of Iona later this year followed by her sister ship, scheduled for 2022. During this pause in our operations we need to fit the fleet for the future and ensure we have the right mix of ships once we resume sailing.”

Carnival group said a few weeks ago that six ships would leave its combined fleet of about 100 vessels in the subsequent 90 days and additional disposals could be expected.

The 1996 built Costa Victoria of Costa Crociere became the first disposal of the group when the vessel was acquired by an Italian company for recycling earlier this summer.

MSC Cruises to be supported by Blue-Ribbon COVID-19 Expert Group

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 06 July 2020 06 July 2020

Over the past months since temporarily halting its cruise operation in connection with the development of the global health pandemic ashore, MSC Cruises has been hard at work to develop a new health and safety operating protocol to support its return to service once the time is right.

Having set up a cross-functional task force comprised of in-house experts in the areas of Medical Services, Public Health and Sanitation, Hotel Services, HVAC and other Shipboard Engineering Systems, Information Technology and Logistics, MSC Cruises also engaged a world-renowned expert consultancy of Aspen Medical to further assist with the development of the Company’s own enhanced protocol and procedures.

Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Cruises, commented: “Today I am pleased to announce that the work of our task force is being further supported by the formation and engagement of a Blue Ribbon COVID-19 Expert Group for consultation on protocols and planning, as well as bringing additional specialised advice to augment our own existing resources and knowledge.

“The objective of our Blue Ribbon COVID-19 Expert Group in the fields of Medicine, Public Health, and/or related scientific disciplines is to create a group of highly qualified and internationally respected experts to inform and review our initiatives as they relate to COVID-19 to help ensure that the actions taken are appropriate, effective, and informed by the best available science and health practices. For this reason, this Expert Group will have competency to review policy initiatives, technical innovations, or operational measures related to COVID-19. It will remain in place long beyond our return to operations to ensure we benefit from their know-how and input even as the situation continues to evolve and more data become available.”

MSC Cruises’ Blue Ribbon COVID-19 Expert Group has been personally formed by the Company’s executive chairman and includes: Professor Christakis Hadjichristodoulou, Professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine as well as its Vicepresident, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Greece; Professor Stephan J. Harbarth, Hospital Epidemiologist, Infectious Diseases Specialist and Head of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and Faculty of Medicine; and Doctor Ian Norton, a Specialist Emergency Physician with post graduate qualifications in Surgery, International Health and Tropical Medicine, currently managing director of Respond Global, formerly the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Team Initiative program from 2014 until January 2020.

Bud Darr, MSC Group’s Executive Vice President for Maritime Policy and Government Affairs, commented: “Since the early days when it came to the development of our new health and safety operating protocol, we have been in continuous consultation with regional, national and local public health authorities including, among others, those in Europe, US, Brazil, and China - both directly and through the industry association CLIA. To this end, some of the Company’s most detailed engagement and contribution took place with EU-level authorities responsible for public health, as it relates to cruise ships. This has recently resulted in the issuance of the EU Healthy Gateways interim guidance, amongst others, and that national health authorities across the Continent are currently reviewing.”

“Currently, our focus is on next-phase work with authorities – including those responsible for health, transport and the maritime sector – in countries overlooking the Mediterranean as they are examining the most recent EU-level and international guidelines and looking to incorporate them as appropriate in their own local requirements. This is in fact the region where, thanks to the improvement in the health situation ashore and return to travel by citizens, we currently expect a potential resumption of cruise operation following the now nearly completed and successful reopening of other travel and leisure activities across the region.”

MSC Cruises’ new operating protocol – details of which will be announced soon - has been designed to meet and exceed guidelines provided by key international and regional regulatory and technical bodies including the World Health Organization, the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action and European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), as well as regulations set forth by many of the governments in the countries in which MSC Cruises ships operate.

Bud Darr concluded: “To this end, we also have engaged a specialised maritime classification society to provide third-party verification that our protocols and procedures meet established EU-level guidance.”

With its new health and safety protocol, MSC Cruises has worked to encompass every aspect of the guest’s journey from the moment of booking to embarkation, life on board and through to the return back home, whilst preserving the uniqueness of the guest experience.

In fact, MSC Cruises has had its global in-house taskforce from across the business in place to develop and continuously review its existing protocols and measures from the outset. MSC Cruises started rolling out increasingly strict measures from early in the crisis - in late January – by rolling out stringent health and safety protocols, which it continuously improved and enhanced to protect the health and safety of guests and crew as it worked to ensure their safe return home. This precautionary approach to health and safety to protect its guests and crew is at the heart of everything MSC Cruises does. And engaging market leading expert external support to develop this new protocol is a natural extension to this precautionary approach.

VP Operations Ferdinand Strohmeier leaves TUI Cruises, Benny Weidacher takes over

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 03 July 2020 03 July 2020

Ferdinand Strohmeier, Vice President Operations at TUI Cruises for almost nine years and responsible for the entire ship operation, is leaving the cruise company, to start as CEO at the Portuguese expedition cruise operator Mystic Cruises.

Strohmeier joined TUI Cruises as General Manager on board of the former Mein Schiff 1 in March 2011 and looks back on six successful commissions of newbuilds in his new position as Vice President Operations. As part of the management team he has decisively shaped both TUI Cruises and the Mein Schiff fleet in terms of product and service. "We very much regret, that Ferdinand Strohmeier is leaving us, thank him for all the years of trustful cooperation and wish him all the best and much success in his new position as CEO of Mystic Cruises in Portugal," said Wybcke Meier, Chairman of the Management Board of TUI Cruises.

As his successor, Benny Weidacher, currently Vice President Ship Operations at Pullmantur Cruises Lines joined TUI Cruises on the first of July 2020. Born in Austria, he has been in the cruise industry for more than 20 years and held various management positions both on land and on board, including at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Wybcke Meier: "With Benny Weidacher we are gaining an experienced cruise manager. We wish him a sucessful start."

Fincantieri unit acquires majority stake in Support Logistics Services

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 02 July 2020 02 July 2020

Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilder, has through its subsidiary INSIS acquired a majority share in Support Logistic Services (SLS), a company based in Guidonia Montecelio (Roma), specialized in the production, installation and maintenance of radar, satellite and radio communications systems for military and civil applications, the shipbuilder said in a statement.

“The operation falls within the Group’s strategy to strengthen its competence in high-technology activities. As such, it is consistent with the development plan conceived for the newborn Electronics, Systems & Software Division to foster and improve innovation, its main competitive strength,” Fincantieri said..

Last year, SLS had revenues of about €9 million, which is expected to further increase this year, almost half of the company’s 35 employees are engineers, systems analysts, design engineers and qualified technicians.

Fincantieri has undertaken several actions to diversify and expand its product and service portfolio, steering it towards higher added-value solutions over the past few years.

This will allow the company to gain direct access to a pool of highly qualified resources, to set up a high-technology center of excellence, while, at the same time, enabling SLS to further boost its industrial growth and its turnover.

Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri, commented: “This operation fits into our far-reaching strategy to consolidate and safeguard a supply chain made up of small and medium-sized enterprises. A dedicated corporate division will coordinate the various companies, which will continue to operate independently according to their intrinsic business approaches. This will allow them to retain key resources, expanding the pool of expertise of our Group”.

The closing of the transaction is subject to the usual conditions envisaged for comparable operations, as well as to the Italian Government refraining from exercising the “golden power” and to obtaining all the necessary authorizations from the relevant authorities.