Top Headlines

Viking River Cruises smashes world record – inaugurates most new ships in a single day

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 20 March 2013 20 March 2013

River cruising is the hottest segment of travel right now, and in a fitting feat for the world’s leading river cruise line, Viking River Cruises set a world record with the christening of 10 new Viking Longships on March 20. The first-of-its-kind simultaneous christening ceremony in Amsterdam debuted the ships – Viking Aegir, Viking Atla, Viking Bragi, Viking Embla, Viking Forseti, Viking Jarl, Viking Rinda, Viking Skadi, Viking Tor and Viking Var – and was certified by a Guinness World Records adjudicator as ‘The Most Ships Inaugurated in One Day by One Company.’ Playing an integral role in the event were 10 distinguished women from around the world, representing the key Viking brand pillars of history, art, education, exploration and discovery, to serve as ceremonial godmothers for the new ships.

"Today is a proud day for Viking and for river cruising. We are honored to showcase 10 of our revolutionary new Longships and to have had such a celebrated group of women helping us christen them," said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking Cruises. "Our guests are explorers, just like the ancient Vikings of our Norse heritage, which is why we deliver authentic and enriching travel experiences like no other cruise line."

Guests at the christening ceremony enjoyed remarks by each godmother and a presentation on the growth of river cruising by Hagen. A Guinness World Records adjudicator also presented Hagen with an official recognition of the record breaking achievement, ‘The Most Ships Inaugurated in One Day by One Company’ – eight – breaking the previous record of two ships. A first in modern history, four of the christenings took place in front of a crowd of approximately 700 in Amsterdam, and the remaining six were conducted live via satellite from the Neptun shipyard in Germany. The celebration concluded with an onboard dinner and maiden voyage cruise around the Amsterdam harbor.

First phase of Carnival Cruise Lines' fleetwide review announced; line to cancel sailings on the Triumph, Sunshine

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 19 March 2013 19 March 2013

Carnival Cruise Lines has announced the first implementation phase of its fleetwide comprehensive operational review, focused on Carnival Triumph, as well as Carnival Sunshine, which is currently undergoing a previously scheduled dry dock for product enhancements. The cruise line is making significant investments to enhance the level of operating redundancies and the scope of hotel services that can run on emergency power, and further improve each ship's fire prevention, detection and suppression systems.

Given the necessary lead time to source needed materials and implement the enhancements, Carnival will extend the current out-of-service period for these two ships.

Carnival Triumph will now return to service on June 3, 2013, with a total of 10 additional cruises being canceled. Guests on the affected voyages will receive a full refund, reimbursement for non-refundable transportation costs and a 25 percent discount on a future four- to five-day cruise.

Carnival Sunshine, which is currently undergoing a multi-week dry dock to complete a comprehensive full-ship makeover, will now enter service May 5, 2013, following the cancellation of two European cruises. Guests on the canceled Carnival Sunshine voyages will receive a full refund, plus reimbursement for any non-refundable travel costs. Additionally, they will receive a 25 percent discount on a future cruise. The additional time out of service will allow for implementation of the enhanced operating redundancies and other measures.

"We sincerely regret canceling these cruises and disrupting our guests' vacation plans," said Gerry Cahill, Carnival Cruise Lines' president and CEO. "We are fully committed to applying the recommendations stemming from our fleetwide review and to make whatever investments are needed despite the difficult decision to impact people's vacations."

Cahill continued, "Our team of experts has worked virtually around the clock to determine the best set of solutions and rapidly develop an effective implementation plan for both of these ships. Moving forward, we will have the ability to source materials and schedule improvements much more expediently, thus minimizing the scheduling impact on other vessels.

"I would like to provide continued assurances that all of our vessels have fully effective safety systems, equipment and training in place. Additionally, our ships receive regular inspections from the United States Coast Guard and other regulatory authorities. The changes we are implementing are focused primarily on improvements to better support continued power and hotel services should unexpected issues arise. In addition, we are applying new learnings and making enhancements in the area of fire suppression and extinguishing. Going forward, the review will focus on the balance of our fleet. While this process will take time, it is our highest priority and has the full support and resources of Carnival Cruise Lines and Carnival Corporation," Cahill said.

Carnival Triumph operates year-round four- and five-day Mexico cruises from Galveston, Texas. Four-day cruises depart Thursdays and visit Cozumel while five-day cruises depart Mondays and Saturdays and call at Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico.

Carnival Sunshine is scheduled to operate a series of nine- and 12-day Mediterranean cruises May 5 to Oct. 20, 2013, either round-trip from Barcelona or sailing between Barcelona and Venice. The ship will sail on a 16-day trans-Atlantic crossing from Barcelona to New Orleans Nov. 1-17, positioning the vessel for a special six-day Caribbean cruise departing Nov. 18 followed by the launch of year-round seven-day Caribbean service from New Orleans Nov. 24, 2013.

Carnival shares fall 2% in London after interims

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 15 March 2013 15 March 2013

Shares in Carnival plc, the British holding company in the Carnival Corp & plc group, traded 2% down in late London trading after the company had published interims for the first quarter of its financial year.

The shares traded at £23.82, which was 1.98% down on the opening. The FTSE 100 index of leading shares had lost 0.7% since the market’s opening.

Carnival reported a return to profit in the first quarter of its financial year, but lowered its net yield forecast growth to flat versus 2012 from a 1% to 2% rise it had indicated in December.

Carnival says Europe hinders yield growth, sees 2013 EPS $1.80 to $2.10

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 15 March 2013 15 March 2013

Carnival Corp & plc chairman and ceo Micky Arison says that booking volumes during our seasonally strong wave period have remained solid with pricing comparisons improving in recent weeks. “However, economic uncertainty in Europe continues to hinder yield growth,” he said in a statement.

Arison added: “Despite considerable attention surrounding the Carnival Triumph, we had been encouraged to see booking volumes for Carnival Cruise Lines recover significantly in recent weeks. Attractive pricing promotions, combined with strong support from the travel agent community and consumers who recognize the company’s well-established reputation and quality product offering, were driving the strong booking volumes.”

The company expects net cruise costs excluding fuel per ALBD for 2013 to be up 2.5 to 3.5 percent on a constant dollar basis compared to up 1 to 2 percent in the December guidance. The change in cost guidance is due to the impact of repair costs, as previously announced, as well as, expenses related to the enhancement of vessels in the remainder of the fleet as a result of the ship incident.

Taking the above factors into consideration, the company forecasts full year 2013 non- GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) to be in the range of $1.80 to $2.10, compared to 2012 non- GAAP diluted earnings of $1.88 per share.

Looking forward, Arison stated, “Our long term business fundamentals remain strong as we broaden our customer base of new and repeat cruisers through attractive product offerings, high satisfaction levels and compelling value propositions. We expect to drive return on invested capital higher through a measured pace of capacity growth and a continued focus on fuelconsumption savings. We continue to expect over $3 billion of cash from operations this year and remain committed to returning free cash flow to shareholders in 2013 and beyond.”

Carnival Corp & plc lowers full year revenue yield guidance to flat

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 15 March 2013 15 March 2013

Carnival Corp & plc says it now expects full year net revenue yields, on a constant dollar basis to be in line with the prior year compared to up 1 to 2 percent in the December guidance.

“The change in net yields is due to the economic uncertainty in Europe and pricing promotions for the Carnival brand combined with less than expected growth in onboard revenue across the group. The company also expects net revenue yields on a current dollar basis to be flat for the full year,” Carnival said in a statement.