Updated: First American river cruise line opens European cruising
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- Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 21 July 2020 21 July 2020
AmaWaterways has announced it has resumed operations in Europe. The first U.S.-based river cruise operator to begin cruising Europe's rivers, it's trialed the effort on AmaKristina in Germany with German, Dutch and Swiss passengers, offering custom-designed five night Rhine River itineraries roundtrip from Cologne.
AmaWaterways has its sights set on a second ship and itinerary to operate on the Danube, in the moderately immediate future.
“Although many countries continue to have travel restrictions in place," says Kristin Karst, executive vice president and co-founder of AmaWaterways, "we have begun operating a series of sailings for European guests, in collaboration with an established German tour operator, e-hoi. With these sailings, we have been able to put into practice and perfect our enhanced health and safety protocols while demonstrating that travelers can enjoy our unforgettable river cruise vacations with peace of mind.”
Europe's new normal?
New protocol developed to resume sailing was created to reflect in-depth recommendations from the EU Healthy Gateways guidelines, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), IG RiverCruise and other official authorities. River vessels, such as the 150-passenger AmaKristina, are limited to a maximum of 100 travelers. Crew members are required to wear face masks at all time. Passengers must wear face coverings when moving around the ship's public areas.
The new capacity controls mean that AmaKristina's restaurants -- The Main and the Chef's Table -- easily can accommodate healthy spacing. New room service options, typically somewhat limited on river cruise vessels, have been added. AmaWaterways’ ships have been designed with fan coil individual air cooling and heating units, which eliminate any recirculation of air in staterooms or in public areas and nearly all staterooms include balconies, letting guests relax there or on the ships’ spacious Sun Decks.
On land, several innovations introduced by AmaWaterways years before the pandemic include Quietvox systems that allow travelers to spread out and still hear guides' commentary and its well-established series of tours that offer outdoor activities such as hiking and cycling.
Steady effort in Europe
AmaWaterways may be the first U.S.-based river line to operate in Europe but the region is still off-limits for Americans. However, other European-based companies, such as Nicko Cruises, A'Rosa and CroisiEurope are all taking similarly cautious approaches as they have also restarted operations in a limited capacity.
Additional detail on the river line's health protocols can be found here: https://www.amawaterways.com/protocols. AmaWaterways plans to provide a further update on the status of its operations and of the future of river cruising on Tuesday, August 4.
We'll keep you posted.
Tasman government cancels agreement for two ropaxes with Finland’s RMC
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 21 July 2020 21 July 2020
Government of the Australian state of Tasmania has cancelled a plan to build two 55,000 gross ton ropaxes for TT-Line Company at the Rauma Marine Constructions shipyard in Finland and is now looking to build the vessels at home .
State premier Peter Gutwein was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) as saying: "On one hand we have a decision whereby we could see more than AUD850 million invested in a European country, supporting European jobs, providing what would without doubt be an excellent product."
"However on the other hand we had the opportunity to explore how much of that investment could occur within the state or within our country."
A taskforce, which will be headed up by Treasury with members from State Growth, TT-Line and the Federal Government, will spend the next three to six months looking into Australian options, the report said.
The ferries had originally been contracted with the Flensburger shipyard in Germany, but the builder’s financial problems led the Australian company to sign a letter of intent for their construction at RMC earlier this year.
RMC said in a statement that it would be happy to re-enter talks with TT-Line Company should the building of the vessels in Finland become an option in the future. The yard has two ropax ferries and four 3,900 tonne displacement naval vessels in its orderbook at the moment.
Australian yards have no previous experience of building passenger vessels of this size. However, the country has a major naval ship building programme in progress and although the vessels are mainly built to Spanish, French and British designs, most of the work is carried out in Australia.
Cruise & Maritime Voyages enters administration
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 20 July 2020 20 July 2020
Cruise & Maritime Voyages, the UK based destination focused cruise line, said it has entered administration after failing to secure funding to carry it over the Covid-19 crisis.
“We are sorry to inform you that South Quay Travel Limited (“SQTL”) – which traded under the name Cruise & Maritime Voyages – was placed into administration on 20 July 2020. Paul Williams, Phil Dakin and Edward Bines of Duff & Phelps Ltd. were appointed Joint Administrators of SQTL. At present the Administrators are evaluating SQTL’s financial position,” the company said I a statement posted on its website.
The company started business in 2009 and it has operated its fleet of ships on charter from a Greek company.
At the time of its collapse, its fleet comprised of the following vessels:
Columbus, built in 1989, 63,786 gross tons
Vasco da Gama, 1992, 55,819 gross tons
Magellan, 1985, 46,052 gross tons
Marco Polo, 1965, 22,080 gross tons
Astor, 1987, 20,606 gross tons
Astoria1948, 16,844 gross tons
It was due to introduce next year two additional ships:
Amy Johnson, currently Pacific Dawn, 1991, 70,285 gross tons
Ida Pfeiffer, currently Pacific Aria, 1994, 55,819 gross tons
In addition to the UK market, the company operated in Germany, where it used the Transocean Kreuzfahrten brand, plus in Australia, Mexico and the US.
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