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Saga says Spirit of Discovery sales "meet ambitious target"

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 27 September 2018 27 September 2018

Saga Group plc, the British tourism to financial services group that targets customers aged 50 or more, said forward sales of the first of its two newbuildings are going well.

Meanwhile the current cruise operations of the group reported a stable result for the first six months of the year.

“Spirit of Discovery forward sales continue to meet our ambitious plan with over 64% of our sales target for the first 19 cruises already achieved at attractive rates,” the company said in its first half 2018 interim report.

Saga Cruising delivered a 6.0% increase in revenue to £47.6 million, reflecting an increase in passenger days of 3,000 with increased capacity. There were no scheduled maintenance days in the period compared with 19 days of maintenance on the Saga Pearl in the comparable period in 2017.

The gross profit for Cruising was impacted by the treatment of hedging gains on fuel. Owing to the significant rise in the price of oil through December 2017 and January 2018, the year-end derivatives charge included a £1.6 million mark-to-market benefit on undesignated fuel hedges related to the current financial year. Of this, £0.8 million related to the first half of the year. This will not be an issue after this financial year with the introduction of IFRS9, which will enable improved matching of hedging contracts.

Underlying Profit Before Tax from the Cruising business was £4.8 million, barely changed from the £4.7 million in the same period last year. “Increased marketing spend was partially offset by cost savings from operational efficiencies,” the company said.

Commenting on the results, Lance Batchelor, Group Chief Executive Officer, said in the report: "Travel has delivered a solid performance and we are seeing encouraging demand for our new ship, Spirit of Discovery, in line with our ambitious plan. Construction is on track, with keel laying this summer, ahead of her maiden cruise next year.”

P&O Cruises to introduce former Golden Princess as Pacific Adventure in 2020

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 26 September 2018 26 September 2018

P&O Cruises Australia, the Australia and New Zealand focused contemporary market unit in Carnival Corporation & plc group, said its has first Grand Class ship will be named Pacific Adventure and that it will join the line in late 2020.

“Pacific Adventure is certain to be a popular name choice among P&O Cruises’ many guests. P&O’s nearly 600,000 strong Facebook community was asked to guess the name of their favourite cruise line’s newest ship and six were spot on suggesting Pacific Adventure,” the company said in a statement.

The 108,865 gross ton ship, currently sailing as Princess Cruises’ Golden Princess, is scheduled to enter the P&O fleet in October 2020. The first program featuring Pacific Adventure will go on sale next month and include sailings through to the end of 2020.

Princess Cruises' Star Princess will join her sister ship, Golden Princess, in the P&O Cruises Australia fleet from the end of 2021. “Star Princess will replace the much-loved and considerably smaller Pacific Jewel, which will leave P&O Cruises in March next year, by which time she will have served the brand for almost 10 years,” the company said. Its new name has not been published yet.

Continuing the fleet’s transformation, Pacific Adventure is in sync with the adventurous spirit behind Pacific Explorer’s name, and will build on the fresh and contemporary design of her sister.

The 3,100 guest ship will offer an array of dining experiences including exciting concepts from Australian chef and restaurateur Luke Mangan and award-winning Melbourne chef Johnny Di Francesco.

Taking relaxation to a whole new level, Pacific Adventure will sport a sprawling child-free Oasis retreat across multiple decks, offering sun lounges, spa tubs, a swimming pool and dedicated bar.

The Blue Room also returns as a live-music venue with sumptuous soft furnishings for guests to sit back and enjoy live blues, soul and R&B.

With an expanded range of cabin options including 560 balcony rooms, 230 suites and mini suites and the fleet’s first 5-berth family cabins, the ship will offer something for everyone.

P&O Cruises President Sture Myrmell said the brand is primed to keep transforming the fleet with the arrival of Pacific Adventure in 2020.

“We’re thrilled to have another ship on the horizon that will continue the exciting evolution of our modern Australian cruise product. We have grand plans for Pacific Adventure and we can’t wait to take our guests on unforgettable adventures across Australia and the South Pacific,” said Myrmell.

Dream Cruises brings the 2 millionth inbound passenger to Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 24 September 2018 24 September 2018

Dream Cruises, “Asia’s Global Cruise Line” and the only International cruise company that has year-round homeport deployments at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, welcomed the arrival of the 2 millionth passenger – Ms. Mu from Taiwan on September 23.

Ms. Mu arrived in Hong Kong on Sunday (September 23) morning upon completion of her fly-cruise holiday on World Dream, along with her daughter and grandson.

Since 2016, Dream Cruises has been based in Hong Kong with homeport deployments of two megaships respectively - Genting Dream which debuted in November 2016, as well as her sister ship World Dream, which debuted in November 2017 as the first cruise ship to be christened in Hong Kong.

With Dream Cruises’ arrival in the Pearl River Delta almost two years ago, she has delivered close to 600,000 international passenger trips from across the region.

In 2018, Hong Kong is ranked 4th with the number of cruise calls in Asia. In 2017 the passenger throughput of Kai Tak Cruise Terminal doubled to 780,000 – this year it is expected to have a total of 850,000 passengers, a 9% YOY increase.

Fred. Olsen team join Great British Beach Clean and remove 73 kg of rubbish

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 20 September 2018 20 September 2018

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, the UK based destinational cruise line, said it is playing its part in helping to conserve its local shoreline by supporting the Marine Conservation Society's 'Great British Beach Clean'.

The Fred. Olsen team cleaned a 100-metre section of River Orwell foreshore at Priory Park, Ipswich, Suffolk on Sunday 16th September 2018, and collected an incredible 73kgs of rubbish, in just over 90 minutes!

"Fred. Olsen was proud to hold its first-ever ‘Beachwatch’ beach clean event with the Marine Conservation Society (‘MCS’) at Priory Park, Ipswich, Suffolk on Sunday 16th September 2018, in support of The Great British Beach Clean," the company said in a statement.

In just over 90 minutes, the Fred. Olsen team collected an unbelievable 73kgs of rubbish at Nacton shores.

Rachael Jackson, Public Relations Manager for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines and organiser of the inaugural Fred. Olsen beach clean said:“It was a very successful first-ever beach clean for Fred. Olsen and a project that we would like to continue into the future. We were amazed – and disappointed at the same time – that we were able to find so much rubbish, along a fairly small section of the Nacton shores, ranging from plastic bottles, car parts, yacht buoys, cuddly toys and even metal barbeques!

“We care passionately about the natural environment around us and – as an Ipswich-based company – we chose the River Orwell as our beach clean area because the majority of our staff live and work locally. We would like to thank Priory Park and Suffolk Coast & Heaths for all their assistance and support throughout our beach clean event.”

Fred. Olsen will be submitting the data of all the rubbish collected to the MCS to assist and inform their studies along the River Orwell.

Cruise industry learned from 2017 hurricanes how to deal with events, share best practices

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 20 September 2018 20 September 2018

The 2017 hurricane season that affected a number of destinations in the Caribbean taught the cruise industry how to deal with such events, industry executives said in a conference call on Thursday.

“We have become quicker and more efficient in dealing with such events now,” said Adam Goldstein, vice chairman of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and chairman of Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA).

The first way to deal with a storm is to replace a port in an itinerary with another one and if a port call is missed, a compensation can be paid to affected passengers, but this is done on a case by case basis, said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc and global chair for Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

Ships are mobile assets, unlike e.g. hotels, which gives the cruise industry flexibility. The group fleet operations people are tasked with dealing with routines such as provisioning and waste disposal in case a ship has to revise its itinerary due to unforeseen conditions.

He added that events such as hurricanes, typhoons etc. are parts of the environment in which the cruise industry operates.

Goldstein said that the industry has, on a broad scale including destinations, learned to share experiences in order to enable everyone affected by an event to respor to best practyises to deal with it.

The social media has posed a new challenge as some commentators post contents that may not be fully accurate about e.g. hurricanes. Golstein said that travel agents play an important role in providing prospective passengers a truthful picture of the situation during the hurricane season.

Donald reminded the audience that the Caribbean covers mre than one million square miles. He noted that it is not a point, it’s a huge area and asked if there’s a storm in Texas, would you ancel a trip to New York because of that.