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World's three largest cruise ships meet for the first time at sea

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 05 November 2016 05 November 2016

Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis-class ships, Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas and the new Harmony of the Seas, struck a chord on November 4, greeting each other at sea for the first and possibly only time. In a meeting of unprecedented proportions, the three record-breaking sisters came together to celebrate the U.S. arrival of Harmony of the Seas on the eve of the ship’s debut in her new permanent homeport of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Oasis-class ships are architectural and engineering marvels, boasting industry-changing and unexpected onboard experiences. Each ship features seven themed neighborhoods – a distinctive feature of the Oasis-class ships – and a number of spectacular features, adventures and thrills, including the lush and tranquil Central Park with nearly 12,000 plants and trees, FlowRider surf simulators; a thrilling zip line 82 foot long that races guests nine-decks in the air, luxurious multi-level loft suites with expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, the outdoor AquaTheater that hosts dazzling high-diving, aquatic and acrobatic performances, a Boardwalk with a hand-carved carousel, and The Rising Tide Bar, the first moving bar at sea.

The newest and youngest of the three ships, Harmony of the Seas, officially claimed the title of world’s largest cruise ship, beating her sisters by a mere foot in length and nearly 1,700 gross tons. The ship features a bold lineup of new experiences, imaginative dining, unparalleled entertainment and the latest technology, including VOOM, the fastest internet at sea. Harmony combines the seven neighborhood concept with some of the most modern and groundbreaking amenities and offerings that will appeal to guests of all ages. From The Ultimate Abyss, a dramatic 10-story tall slide, to unparalleled entertainment including Broadway’s hit musical Grease, sophisticated dining in venues ranging from Jamie’s Italian Cuisine by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to Royal Caribbean’s whimsical restaurant Wonderland, which is a unique culinary adventure for the senses, and robot bartenders, there is an adventure for everyone onboard Harmony of the Seas.

Carnival enhances leadership position in Tampa and Long Beach

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 November 2016 04 November 2016

Carnival Cruise Line will expand capacity in two key markets with Carnival Miracle operating 7-night Caribbean cruises from Tampa and Carnival Splendor offering week-long Mexican Riviera cruises from Long Beach, Calif., beginning in 2018.

Prior to launching service from their new homeports, both ships will offer extended Panama Canal cruises in January 2018 that will feature a variety of spectacular ports throughout the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. Carnival Splendor will also operate unique 14-night Hawaii cruises round trip from Long Beach.

With these capacity increases, Carnival is further bolstering its leadership position in two popular homeports, adding a second year-round ship in Tampa with Carnival Miracle and a newer, larger vessel on the West Coast with Carnival Splendor.

“Tampa and Long Beach are both highly convenient and popular homeports and we’re delighted to provide our guests with exciting new year-round cruise vacation choices in these two markets,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

7-night cruises from Tampa aboard Carnival Miracle

Carnival Miracle will launch a year-round schedule of 7-night Caribbean sailings from Tampa Jan. 27, 2018, becoming the second ship based at the popular southwestern Florida port. The week-long adventures depart on Saturdays and Sundays and feature four of the Caribbean’s most popular ports of call: George Town, Grand Cayman; Cozumel, Mexico; and Mahogany Bay, Isla Roatan; and Belize City, Belize, each of which offer world-class beaches, water sports and a variety of shore excursion opportunities.

The 7-night voyages from Tampa are part of Carnival’s exclusive Cozumel Plus program, which feature extended stays that provide guests even more opportunities to experience and explore one of the Caribbean’s most diverse vacation destinations. On Cozumel Plus itineraries, guests have access to a variety of new excursions, many taking place on Mexico’s mainland – with unforgettable tours like swimming with whale sharks, visiting centuries-old ruins and swimming in hidden caverns, complementing nearly 50 existing tours already available.

The 2,124-passenger Carnival Miracle joins the 2,052-passenger Carnival Paradise which operates year-round four- and five-day Caribbean cruises from Tampa. Carnival is the only year-round cruise operator from Tampa. The two ships will offer the widest variety of four-, five- and seven-day itineraries from Tampa and carry 320,000 guests annually.

Week-long Mexican Riviera cruises aboard Carnival Splendor

The 3,006-passenger Carnival Splendor will launch a year-round schedule of 7-night Mexican Riviera cruises from Long Beach, beginning Jan. 27, 2018, replacing Carnival Miracle and representing a 41 percent capacity increase on the line’s week-long cruises from the West Coast.

Three different itineraries will be offered, each featuring stunning destinations along the Mexican Riviera. One itinerary visits Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta, another spends two days at Cabo San Lucas and a full day in Puerto Vallarta, and a third overnights in Puerto Vallarta with a day-long call in Cabo San Lucas, as well. On these cruises, guests can relax on beautiful beaches, visit centuries-old historical sites and enjoy unforgettable dining and shopping experiences.

Carnival Splendor will join Carnival Inspiration and Carnival Imagination which both offer three- and four-day Baja cruises from Long Beach. With the addition of Carnival Splendor, the line will carry upwards of 700,000 guests annually from Southern California, operating nearly 250 three- to 14-day cruises a year.

Panama Canal and Hawaii cruises

Carnival Splendor will also offer a special 13-night Panama Canal cruise departing Miami Jan. 14, and arriving in Long Beach Jan. 27, 2018, becoming the first Carnival ship to transit the newly opened Panama Canal locks and providing guests the opportunity to experience this engineering marvel firsthand. The cruise will visit Cartagena prior to the Panama Canal transit, then call at Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Additionally, Carnival Splendor will operate two 14-day Carnival Journeys cruises to Hawaii round-trip from Long Beach – one departing Oct. 13, 2018, and the other Dec. 1, 2018 and visiting four breathtaking Hawaiian destinations – Maui, Honolulu, Kona and Hilo, as well as a call at Ensenada, Mexico.

Carnival Miracle will offer a 14-night Panama Canal cruise departing Long Beach, Calif., Jan. 13, and arriving in Tampa Jan. 27, 2018. Ports of call include Cabo San Lucas; Puerto Quetzal; and Puntarenas; followed by a transit of the Panama Canal, then stops at Cartagena, Colombia; and George Town, Grand Cayman. Carnival Miracle will also offer a unique eight-day Panama Canal cruise round-trip from Tampa April 14-22, 2018, with stops at Limon, Costa Rica; prior to a partial transit of the Panama Canal, then a call at Grand Cayman.

A special 14-day Carnival Journeys cruise featuring a partial transit of the Panama Canal along with visits to Cozumel, Limon, Cartagena, Aruba, Curacao and Ocho Rios, will also be offered by Carnival Miracle round-trip from Tampa Dec. 2-16, 2018.

Guests sailing on Carnival Journeys cruises enjoy unique local dining and entertainment experiences and a number of shipboard enrichment activities.

MV Werften takes over cabin factory, to invest €13 million in development

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 03 November 2016 03 November 2016

MV Werften Fertigmodule GmbH, part of the MV Werften Group, said it has taken over its own cabin factory in Wismar. In addition to the purchase price, MV Werften will €13 million in the facility and pointed out that up to 200 new jobs would be created in the process.

“The facilities with a total area of 22,000 square metres will be used for manufacturing ship cabins for the cruise ships with delivery from 2020. Besides a modern production area of 8,700 square metres, the acquired premises have over 4,000 square metres of storage area,” the company said in a statement.

The factory is located less than two kilometres from the Wismar shipyard and, being adjacent to the autobahn A20, has excellent transport links to the group’s other two shipyards in Rostock and Stralsund.

“Having our own cabin factory is very important as large cruise ships can only be built on a time- and cost-effective basis with prefabricated cabins,” said Jarmo Laakso, Managing Director of the MV Werften Group. “MV Werften Fertigmodule will supply us with high-quality prefabricated cabins at a competitive price.”

MV Werften is part of the Genting Hong Kong group, which also owns the cruise brands Crystal Cruises, Dream Cruise and Star Cruises.

Genting has stated that it wants to build ships for all three brands at its own shipyard to free itself from the cycle in the shipbuilding industry. It has placed orders for 10 vessels with MV Werften.

Carnival group expends Fathom social impact experiences to six brands

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 02 November 2016 02 November 2016

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, announced plans to expand its Fathom brand's Dominican Republic social impact experiences to its other cruise line brands sailing to its Amber Cove port of call.

Beginning in November, guests sailing regularly on the six additional Carnival Corporation &plc group brands to Amber Cove will be able to purchase a social impact excursion – a new participatory and immersive travel category pioneered by Fathom that takes people into the heart of a destination to explore local communities and discover its people in unconventional ways. Guests can purchase a social impact excursion just as they do today with traditional shore excursions.

"The feedback from our travelers and our local Dominican partners who have participated in Fathom's social impact experiences in the Dominican Republic has been overwhelmingly positive and mutually beneficial," said Tara Russell, president of Fathom and global impact lead for Carnival Corporation. "Our travelers repeatedly tell us the activities and alongsided interaction with the local Dominican people is very fulfilling, rekindling their hope and passion and inspiring a whole new perspective on life."

Russell added: "Additionally, the social impact experiences create enduring positive impact in the lives of children, families and communities, significantly affecting bright futures. It is exciting to now offer thousands of guests who sail with our family of brands to Amber Cove the opportunity to be part of Fathom's social impact experience and broader story."

Since Fathom began its every-other-week voyages in May 2016 to Amber Cove – located on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic -- its guests have been able to produce and install 730 water filters for local families, construct concrete floors for hundreds of people in 40 homes, plant nearly 16,000 seedlings and plants, and have provided approximately 17,500 hours of English conversational language skills training to adult and youth students.

Seven of the 10 Carnival Corporation brands make calls on Amber Cove -- AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Fathom, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises UK. By offering Fathom experiences to guests sailing on its other brands, the company expects to provide this unique, personally enriching experience to a much wider and growing number of guests with each additional sailing. In turn, this has the potential of significantly expanding the number of traveler impact days per month and broader collective impact story in the Dominican Republic.

To expand the Fathom social impact experience, the company will provide the following new excursions:

Hands-On Chocolate Experience at a Women's Cooperative: Travelers will engage in an immersive cultural experience and make an impact in the Puerto Plata community during a unique, hands-on visit to a chocolate cooperative founded by enterprising local women. Travelers will visit the small community of Altamira where they will discover Chocal, a tiny organic-chocolate factory run by a group of local women committed to earning an income while remaining close to their families. Travelers will have the opportunity to work alongside these women to participate in the chocolate production process from bean to bar, a truly rewarding experience.
Volunteer Experience at Recycled Paper & Crafts Entrepreneurship: For a rewarding experience that makes an impact on local communities, travelers may embark on an engaging and immersive cultural experience visiting artisans at a recycling micro-business. In the little village of El Javillar, travelers will find the RePapel co-op, a Recycled Paper & Crafts initiative that has taught local women to repurpose natural, recycled paper into treasures. Travelers will work side by side with these friendly women, discovering all aspects of the program, including creating new products for sale. At the end of their experience, travelers may purchase keepsake products to take home as mementos of their day.

Fathom is also currently exploring additional opportunities globally and with sister brands to bring the Fathom onboard and onshore engaging, purposeful experiences to a broader audience of travelers. New and additional opportunities for travelers to engage in the Fathom experience will be shared in coming months.

Featuring a two-berth port and a 25-acre landside development nestled in a picturesque cove, Amber Cove provides cruise guests from Carnival Corporation & plc’s brands with a convenient gateway to one of the newest Caribbean destinations -- the Puerto Plata region on the island's north coast. Referred to as the "Amber Coast," the region is known for the friendliness of its people, its history and culture, and the beauty of its beaches, mountains, forests, waterfalls and rivers.

The port also re-opened in November 2015 the spectacular Puerto Plata region to regular cruise ship visits for the first time in nearly 30 years, adding a new and exotic destination to the Caribbean, the world's most popular region for cruising.

In total, there are more than 40 excursion options currently being offered to guests sailing to Amber Cove with the company's brands. This includes traditional recreational and sight-seeing cruise excursions, such as snorkeling, scuba diving, parasailing or simply a relaxing day at the beach.

Fincantieri and Huarun Dadong Dockyard target cruise liner refit work

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 02 November 2016 02 November 2016

Fincantieri, one of the world’s largest shipbuilding groups, and Huarun Dadong Dockyard (HRDD), the leading Chinese shipyard specialised in ship repair and refitting activities, signed an exclusive cooperation agreement last March.

“Development of this cooperation framework continued and the parties have now signed a comprehensive agreement which further details and completes the terms of their collaboration. The agreement now includes the joint technical management of ship repair, dry-docking and conversion work on cruise liners and paves the way for the first project,” the two companies said in a joint statement.

Fincantieri has also established a joint venture with the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and Carnival Corporation & plc to build cruise ships for the Chinese source market.