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Passat Kreuzfahrten ceases trading

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 October 2014 04 October 2014

Passat Kreuzfahrten, the German operator of the 1975 built 16,500 gross ton Delfin, has ceased trading, the company says on its website.

The ship terminated its last cruise for the company in early September and Passat is now working to restructure its business.

The company and Cruise & Maritime Voyages in the UK signed a cooperation agreement late last year, whereby the British companu took over certain marketing functions of Passat. The German company also became a cooperation partner of Kristina Cruises, the Finnish operator,after it had been forced to sell its only ship at the turn of the year.

This is the second small German cruise operator to go out of business within a few months. In the summer, Ambient Kreuzfahrten ceased trading after it had failed to reach targeted level of bookings for cruises on board the 17,000 gross ton Azores it had chartered from Portuscale Cruises, the Lisbon based company.

Peter Deilmann Kreuzfahrten has also reported weaker than anticipated sales,but the company continues to operate the 1996 built 22,500 gross ton upper end of the market ship Deutschland as before.

New South Pacific focused venture Island Escape Cruises unveils classic design

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 October 2014 04 October 2014

Island Escape Cruises, the South Pacific focused small ship luxury cruise line, founded by Peter Bissett, has unveiled the classic design of its expedition vessel currently under construction. The ship’s exterior, with an unmistakable classic profile, harkens back to the 1930s, the era of the Titanic. Alan Lam reports.

The 46-metre long, 24-pax ship, scheduled for delivery in August 2015, will carry three launches for disembarking passengers in remote locations on shore excursions. It will also be equipped with single and double kayaks, snorkeling gears, a diving compressor, and a helicopter.

Its destinations will include cruises to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and New Zealand. According to the company, the itineraries will be on sale from as early as November 2014.

Cruise itineraries affected by West African Ebola pandemic

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 October 2014 04 October 2014

At least four cruise liners have cancelled their calls to West African ports in favour of ports in the Canary Islands and the Spanish mainland. Alan Lam reports.

Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn and Fred.Olsen have all modified their itineraries on account of the Ebola crisis in West Africa, diverting their vessels away from the region.

The Seven Seas Mariner will call at Tenerife and Lanzarote on 17th and 18th of October instead of Dakar, Senegal, during its 21-night cruise from Lisbon to Miami. Fred.Olsen’s Braemar will also change its itinerary: instead of calling at Dakar and Banjul, the ship will be diverted to the Canary Islands. Seabourn Sojourn will now call at Barcelona and other Spanish mainland ports.

To date, Senegal has only one reported case of Ebola. These cancellations are mainly precautionary. Regent Seven Seas stated that the line always put the safety and comfort of its guestsfirst and foremost.

In addition, Cruise & Maritime Voyages has abandoned a number of calls at West African ports on the return voyage from Australia and South Africa of its 20,636 gross ton Astor in the spring of 2015. The ship will call at ports in the Atlantic islands instead.

The crisis looks set to continue for quite some time; cruise lines are keeping a close watch at the situation.

Growing cruise industry produces 10% of Dominican Republic's tourism revenue

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 October 2014 04 October 2014

Cruise has been the fastest growing segment of tourism in Dominican Republic in recent years. The country is included in the itineraries of no fewer than 16 cruise lines - including Royal Caribbean International, Holland America Line, AIDA, Norwegian Cruise Line, CostaCruceros and Celebrity Cruises -receiving more than 400 calls to its ports annually. Alan Lam reports.

According to the Republic’s central bank figures, the segment enjoys the highest growth rate in recent years and among the best projections for the coming ones. The economic impact of cruise is all too apparent: it represents roughly about 10% of the four million annual tourists to the country.

The Republic is not just a point of transit for cruise tourists; about 95.9% of the passengers disembark at its ports in order to visit its sites and attractions. According to a research carried out by Business Research and Economic Advisors, there has been a significant increase in on-shore spending by these passengers.

“The cruise industry is very important for us because of its economic impacts to our country,” said MagalyToribio, Marketing Advisor of Ministry of Tourism. “The growth in maritime tourism demonstrates that our ports are well prepared to receive huge number of cruise tourists during high seasons.”

Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas is scheduled to make a call at Bahía Samanásoon.

In Bahía de Maimón, a new passenger terminal is under construction, due to complete in 2015. It will be the most modern terminal in the Caribbean and it expects to welcome 250,000 cruise tourists during the first year of operation.

The first two cruise ships to call at the island in 2015 will bring in about 11,000 tourists. The Ministry of Tourism vowed to maintain its effort in attracting cruise ships to the Republic.

Oasis of the Seas enters Verolme dry dock in Rotterdam

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 October 2014 04 October 2014

Earlier this week, the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean International's 226,000 gross ton Oasis of the Seas arrived into the Keppel Verolme shipyard in Rotterdam ahead of its sailing to the UK. Arriving in Southampton for the first time on 15 October 2014, the ship will be 40 per cent larger than any other cruise ship to ever berth in the UK, the cruise line said in a statement.