Archive for the ‘Fred Olsen’ Category

118 New Ships Since 2000 – Ship Sizes – The New Panama Canal

Atlantic Crossing, Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cruise West, Crystal Cruises, Cunard Line, Disney Cruise Lines, Fred Olsen, Hapag LLoyd, Holland America Line, MSC, News, Norwegian Cruise Lines, P&O, Panama Canal, Royal Caribbean, Uncategorized | Posted by cruisepeople
Jun 18 2010

by Mark Tre’

The recent announcement by CLIA that 118 new cruise ships had been delivered since 2000 has led us to have a look at how the world cruise fleet is now made up and how it has changed in the last decade. The findings, along with progress now being made on a new Panama Canal, are rather interesting. Large ships, nay huge ships, have now become the norm. And like the trade of the world, the type of passenger attracted to each size of ship is surely quite different.


118 New Cruise Ships Since 2000
In January, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) published an interesting statistic. It said that 118 new cruise ships had been introduced to the world fleet since 2000. That is very close to one ship a month, every month, year round for a decade. While there has been a slowdown during the recession, orders are starting again and it is worthwhile to have a look at how this massive new fleet is composed. To do this, in order to give the fleet a different perspective, we are going to look at how the fleet is divided in the same terms used for cargo ships, working from the largest down.

The Capesize Ships
In cargo ship terms, Capesize ships are the next size up from Suezmax, the latter being ships that are too wide or deep for the Panama Canal but can still use the Suez. Capesize ships, however, always have to navigate via the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. Length and beam are not a problem in the Suez Canal, but draught is limited to 62 feet.

As cruise ships carry passengers and not heavy cargoes, this is not a problem for them, as even RMS Queen Mary 2 has only a draught of 32 feet 10 inches, which means that there is really no such thing as a "Suezmax" cruise ship. In the container trades these ships tend to be known as "post-Panamax" (a Panamax ship can carry up to 5,000 twenty-foot equivalent containers while a post-Panamax can carry up to 12,000 (although there is also now a design for a 20,000-unit vessel).

Capesize cargo ships ten to carry large cargoes of low-value goods such as coal and iron ore, of ports they can serve is severely restricted by their size. The same is of course true of Capesize cruise ships that cannot enter many cruise ports because of their own size, but the huge advantage they offer is that they can bring down rates because of economies of scale. Indeed, the same applies to Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, which carry 6,000 passengers each but limit themselves to the same more on board activities such as ziplines and high diving and their ports, which they visit on a repetitive basis all the year round, feature things such as roller coaster rides and chair lifts. Despite the fact that they offer huge loft suites, these ships must cater to the mass market with their low unit costs in order to stay full.

Where Capesize cargo ships are typically above 150,000 tons deadweight, or about 100,000 gross tons measurement, Capesize cruise ships are of basically the same size, The first Capesize cruise ships were actually built in the 1930s, with the delivery of  Normandie for the French Lines and Cunard Line’s Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. These three North Atlantic express passenger ships were all too long and to wide to be able to use the Panama Canal, and were the largest ships to have been built to that time.

To-day’s Capesize cruise fleet thus numbers forty-seven ships either in service or on order. Starting with the 5,400 lower berth Oasis and Allure of the Seas, they work down through a quintet (the largest cruise ship order ever placed) of the 2,850-berth Celebrity Solstice class, a quartet of 3,100-passenger ships consisting of the Voyager of the Seas class, and three trios, the 3,600-passenger Freedom of the Seas class, 3,500-guest MSC Fantasia class and the 3,100-berth Carnival Dream class.

Then follow another pair, Disney Dream and sister, and the one-off 4,200-berth Norwegian Epic (which was to have been part of a pair until her sister ship was cancelled), to be introduced next week, and Queen Mary 2, another one-off, and one with a lot more space with only 2,620 lower berths. These ships are all above 1,000 feet in overall length and only one, Voyager of the Seas of 1999, was delivered before the year 2000.

To be added to these are twenty-two more. The eleven ships of the Carnival Conquest (six) and Costa Concordia (five) classes, all 952 by 116 feet in overall dimensions, are ten feet too wide for the present Panama Canal. Eleven more ships, of the Grand Princess class, including P&O’s Azura and Ventura, all 951 x 118 feet, also fall into this category. These twenty-two Carnival Corp & PLC ships were built to a short and stout design that precludes them from passing through the present Panama Canal, and they are all products of the Fincantieri shipyards in Italy. Only one of this lot, Grand Princess of 1998, was delivered before the year 2000.

So of the 118 cruise ships delivered since 2000 sixty-seven, or more than half, are too big to transit the Panama Canal.

The Panamax Ships
The next category down is Panamax, which is the maximum size ship that can use the Panama Canal (although new locks are due to open in 2015). Cargoes carried by Panamax ships are generally a little higher value and include grain, steel and minerals as well as thermal coal and iron ore. And Panamax cruise ships are more likely to feature alternative restaurants and big shows than ziplines and roller coasters. In fact, many offer more than just a repetitive 7-day itinerary and are more likely to be found on alternating 10-day circuits in the Mediterranean as just one example.
These ships have a maximum length overall of 965 feet and a beam of 106 feet and are able to squeeze through the present locks. This size is ideal for World Cruises as well, and can reposition easily between Alaska and the Caribbean. For example, where Queen Victoria and the new Queen Elizabeth can offer world cruises that transit both Panama and Suez, Queen Mary 2 is forced to sail all the way around the tip of South America to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific as she is too big for the Panama Canal.

The Panamax cruise fleet numbers eighty ships. Owners such as Norwegian Cruise Line (and its once-parent Star Cruises) made sure they did not build wider than Panamax and so this fleet includes half a dozen Meyer-built vessels of dimensions of 965 by 106 feet, while Celebrity Cruises has four St Nazaire-built ships of the same dimensions in the Celebrity Constellation class and Princess Cruises two St Nazaire-built ships of the Coral Princess class. To these can be added Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria, all of maximum Panamax dimensions.

Following closely behind are the four ships of the MSC Musica class, all just a foot shorter than Panamax, and the four Royal Caribbean ships of the Radiance of the Seas class, three feet shorter. Following at 960 feet are the four Carnival Spirit class and two ships each of the Costa Atlantica and Costa Luminosa classes. At 936 feet, or 29 feet short of Panamax are half a dozen Holland America ships, from the 2002-built Zuiderdam to this year’s Nieuw Amsterdam. Royal Caribbean’s five 915-foot "Vision" class ships (not including the now-lengthened Enchantment of the Seas) and the 921-foot Pride of America, complete the Panamax class above 900 feet.
Fully another forty ships follow at between 800 and 900 feet and Panamax beam, representing Carnival, Celebrity, Costa, NCL, P&O, TUI Cruises and at the lower end in terms of length, the ships of Aida Cruises (half a dozen at 817 feet), P&O Australia (three at 805-810 feet) and the Crystal Serenity at 820 feet.
There have been one or two exceptions to the maximum Panamax length of 965 feet. The laid-up s.s. United States, for example, was constructed in 1952 to be able to transit the Panama in an emergency, but her overall length is 990 feet. A couple of other ships to-day, the 990-foot Enchantment of the Seas, which was lengthened in 2005, gets around this as her bow was redesigned when she was lengthened to that it can be hinged up to bring her overall length down to 965 feet. The 970-foot Utopia, to be delivered in 2013, is the other.

The New Panama Canal
However ships may be classified today, the present Panamax definition will become redundant in five years when a third lane of locks is opened on the Panama. These new locks will allow ships of up to 1200 feet length overall by 167 feet in beam and up to 49.9 feet in draft to transit the canal. Essentially, this will allow most of the world cruise ship fleet to transit Panama.

There are sure to be some exceptions, however, as with the five largest units of the Royal Caribbean fleet their maximum width at the level of the bridge wings is 226 feet for the Oasis and Allure of the Seas and 184 feet for the Freedom class ships. This could leave the five Royal Caribbean ships as the last of the Capesize cruise ships, unable to use the new locks. How many other cruise ships might be affected is not yet clear.

 
Meanwhile, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 may be able to conduct her world cruises using the Panama Canal after 2015, although that is not yet clear. One factor, that might also affect other cruise ships, is the height of the Bridge of the Americas at the Pacific end of the canal, which has a clearance under the main span of 201 feet at high tide. By comparison, the clearance under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at the approach to New York is 228 feet, and Queen Mary 2 clears this bridge by only 13 feet.
This means she could be about fourteen feet too tall for the Panama Canal unless some height can be obtained from masts or her funnel, which was specifically designed to the maximum height to pass under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. By comparison the maximum height of the Queen Victoria is 179 feet from keel to top of the highest mast.

Handysize Ships
The next designation of cargo ships, called Handysize, carries all sorts of cargoes to and from ports all over the world, and again usually cargoes with higher values than either the Capesize or Panamax ships, including the likes of steel, project cargoes, copper, zinc and other valuable metals. Such ships are designed to maximum dimensions and maximum capacity to allow them to serve the vast majority of the world’s ports.

Within this grouping will be found all the traditional style cruise ships that we were used to until just a decade ago plus some new ships. Some examples of ships in this category, mostly ranging in the 600 and 700-foot overall length brackets, include the fleets of Azamara Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Phoenix Reisen, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, plus the most recent newbuildings of Seabourn and Silversea.

One point about all these fleets is that none of them do repetitive 7-day itineraries, which is the wont of the larger ships, and they offer itineraries worldwide that change according to the season, many of them never repeating an itinerary in a year.
A mixture of traditional and upmarket ships, the more traditional ones do not include many balconies but the newer middle-range ships such as the eight former Renaissance ships (now with Azamara, Oceania and Princess, with one to go to P&O soon as Adonia) offer a more discerning product. The new ships of Seabourn and Silversea, however, together with Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Europa, serve the most discerning market of all with not only balconies but the best of on-board facilities.

These are indeed the finest cruise ships in the world, paying attention to every detail of service. They also cost more and attract a different clientele.

Small Ships
As well as the larger ships, there is a wide variety of small ships, ranging from the myriad of new river ships to the daily mail boat from Bergen to the North Cape to ships such as Cruise West’s Spirit of Oceanus, which now completes a globe-spanning world cruise of 335 days every year and a large fleet of expedition ships sailing to the Antarctic, the Amazon to Peru and the Northwest Passage, not to mention Alaska, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands.
But that, as they say, is another story for another day.

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Shipyards Anxious for New Orders

Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Fred Olsen, Holland America Line, Louis, News, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Oceania Cruises, Princess Cruises, Silversea | Posted by cruisepeople
Apr 11 2010

In recent years there have been four major cruise ship building yards in Italy (Fincantieri), France (Chantiers de l’Atlantique), Germany (Meyer Werft) and Finland (Aker), and two aspiring yards in Japan (Mitsubishi) and South Korea (STX). That was true at least until recently when STX took control of the majors in Finland and France by acquiring Aker Yards, which had also recently acquired control of the former Chantiers de l’Atlantique.

And two new entries, Samsung and Daewoo, who have both built overnight ferries, are now arriving from South Korea.

The past year or two, with the world financial crisis, has seen a lull until recently in orders for new cruise ships as the world adjusted to the new reality. Without new orders the shipyards will soon begin to lose their skilled workers. However, if they can hold on, there is no question that more new ships will be needed as the cruise market continues to grow worldwide. Literally dozens of new cruises ships will be required over the next few years.

For now, however, the world recession that has stopped new orders means that some shipyards may end up with empty berths.

Most successful so far in landing orders as confidence returns and orders re-commence is Fincantieri, which has already landed one order from Carnival Cruise Lines and two for a new design for Princess Cruises. Even prior to these orders, Fincantieri had work going forward, with four ships for delivery this year (Azura, Le Boréal, Nieuw Amsterdam and Queen Elizabeth), four more for 2011 (Carnival Magic, Costa Favolosa, L’Austral and Marina) and three for 2012 (orders for Compagnie du Ponant, Costa and Oceania’s Riviera).

Second most successful in getting new business, and most in need of the work, STX France has managed to obtain an order for a single ship from MSC Cruises. Parent company STX Europe, builder of Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, has built or is now building the fifteen largest cruise ships in the world in its French and Finnish yards. Many of these were three series of large ships for Royal Caribbean, but they also include Norwegian Epic for NCL, RMS Queen Mary 2 for Cunard and several ships for MSC.

After STX completes Allure of the Seas, building in Finland, and Norwegian Epic, building in France, its cruise ship order books come to an end. It is no wonder then that the name of Nicolas Sarkozy came to the fore in the negotiation of the latest MSC order, as employment in the St Nazaire region depends heavily on STX France, in which the French still retain a large number of shares.

Meyer Werft, meanwhile, seems to be in reasonable shape. With only one delivery this year, next month’s Celebrity Eclipse, future orders nevertheless include three cruise ships for 2011 (one each for Aida, Celebrity and Disney) and three more for 2012, a direct repeat of the 2011 trio. Meyer Werft has been successful in the past with fill-in orders, building container ships between cruise ships, for example, but container ship tonnage is now in huge oversupply.

Another European yard, niche operator T Marriotti in Genoa, still has two orders yet for delivery, in Seabourn Sojourn this year and Seabourn Quest in 2011, but no orders beyond. Marriotti is at present converting Carnival Celebration into Grand Celebration for Carnival’s Spanish subsidiary Iberocruceros.

A recent order of interest, still at letter of intent stage, is the all-suite ship Utopia, for Utopia Residences of Beverly Hills, California. As well as 200 residences, which are selling for prices between $3.7 million and $26 million,  Utopia will feature a 206-suite Utopian Hotel, for those who wish just to take a cruise. The $1.1 billion Utopia, due for delivery in 2013, is being built by Samsung Heavy Industries, a shipyard that has not yet produced a cruise ship, although it has built a pair of new ferries for Stena Line. With experience from the Stena Line ferries and this 971-foot ship, Samsung will have the fitting out experience that will allow them to go after more cruise ship business.

As well as the Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC and Apollo groups, which will need dozens of new ships, there are two or three potential new entries into the newbuilding arena. A possible first order, because it has the largest fleet, may come from Louis Cruises of Cyprus, who is said to have been discussing a new design with South Korean builders Daewoo Shipbuilding. To carry around 2,000 passengers, the Louis ship would reportedly be for charter to a tour operator.

The main tour operator to whom Louis now has ships on charter is the UK’s Thomson Cruises, who is imminently to take over Costa Europa and Thomson Dream. Daewoo has gained passenger ship experience as it has built and is building a number of new ferries for Blue Star Ferries of Greece.

Others said to have been in play for possible newbuildings once economic conditions turn around include Fred Olsen Cruise Lines and Saga Holidays in the UK and Phoenix Reisen in Germany. And no doubt others will appear.

Article courtesy of Mark Tre

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Cruising in "the Dominions"

Africa, Canadian Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Discovery World Cruises, Fred Olsen, Holland America Line, MSC, P&O, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, South Pacific | Posted by cruisepeople
Dec 15 2009

Years ago, the Commonwealth countries of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were known as "the Dominions" – indeed Canada called itself the Dominion of Canada until the 1950s.

The Dominions, which had been served by lines such as Canadian Pacific, Cunard, White Star, P&O, Shaw Savill and New Zealand Shipping, came to the aid of the UK in two world wars, long before the United States entered either.

To-day, however, very few people realize that these four countries contribute about 1.3 million passengers to the world cruise market. This is more passengers than Germany, Italy or Spain and almost as many as the UK. So let’s have a look at the cruising market in these Commonwealth countries to-day

Canada: 775,000 "Invisible" Canadians
Earlier this month CLIA acknowledged the importance of Canadians to the cruising market, in announcing that the next Cruise 360 travel agents’ conference would be held in Vancouver on June 2-6, 2010. CLIA estimates the size of the Canadian market travelling in its ships at 775,000, or triple the size of a decade ago. This is larger than all European countries except the UK and Germany.

The Canadian market has always been easy to miss as most Canadians travel across the longest undefended border in the world, that with the United States, to join ships that are already full of Americans. Thus, unlike Australia, which is geographically distinct from other countries, Canadian cruisers have become a sort of "invisible minority."

One interesting thing that unites Canada and Australia, however, is that RMS Queen Mary 2 visits both during the course of the year, visiting Quebec in the summer or autumn and Sydney as part of her world cruise, thus being the largest ship to call at each country.
At one time, Eastern Canada did have its own small cruise market, with ships from Cunard Line and later the Soviet  Alexandr Pushkin and the Polish Stefan Batory, operating round trip cruises from Montreal. But over the years Montreal and Quebec became part of a one-way Canada/New England cruise rotation whereby ships shuttled back and forth between Montreal and increasingly Quebec in the north and New York or Boston in the south.

Meanwhile, Vancouver, at least up until the past two or three years, had acted as the base for the Alaska fleet.

However, history was made at the Port of Québec this October as more than 13,000 cruise passengers embarked or disembarked in one 48-hour period, with three ships, Crown Princess, Norwegian Spirit and Costa Atlantica, also making inaugural calls. And inward visits into the St Lawrence in 2009 totalled 166,000 passengers on 21 ships.

On the west coast, however, Vancouver, with close to500,000 passengers, 80% of them American, embarking there, remains the cruise capital of Canada, despite the loss of half its Alaska business to Seattle and a general reduction in the Alaska cruise trade because of the Alaska head tax.

Australia: 330,000 Cruisers With a Geographical Base
Unlike Canada, Australia is so far removed from the rest of the world that it has always had its own ships cruising from Australian ports full of mainly Australian (and of course New Zealand) passengers. Starting with P&O ships and a number of ships from Sitmar, which was later taken over by P&O Princess, the two largest carriers to-day are both branches of Carnival, in P&O Cruises Australia and Princess Cruises. Carryings in the Australian market were about 330,000 in 2008.

P&O Cruises has expanded from two ships to four in a fairly short time, with the delivery this month of Pacific Jewel, ex-Ocean Village 2, and in 2010 its fourth ship, Pacific Pearl, now Ocean Village. Having already acquired Regal Princess, now Pacific Dawn, this means that the flagships of the P&O Cruises fleet in Australia are now the last of the Sitmar ships.

The once Crown Princess and Regal Princess were introduced in 1990-91, while the old Fair Princess was still cruising from Australia.
Last Thursday, December 10, proved to be a big day for Sydney, with Diamond Princess arriving first, followed by  Pacific Jewel, fresh from her makeover in Singapore, and then Sun Princess. Nearly 10,000 passengers were handled in Sydney that day.

With Diamond, Sun and Dawn Princess, Pacific Dawn, Sun and Jewel all based in Sydney either full time or for the summer, the Australian market has finally shown it can support not just one or two ships but two fleets of ships with P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises each having its own fleet of Australia-based ships now. And in the west, Classic International Cruises has its Athena now based in Fremantle on a seasonal basis.

New Zealand: 119,000, Mostly Foreigners
In the 2008/09 season, 118,987 cruisers were reported to have left New Zealand ports, of whom almost 90% were visitors, mainly American, Canadian and Australian. About 25,000 were actually New Zealanders. This total of almost 119,000 was up from 40,000 in 2004/05 so the market has almost tripled in just four years.

The local New Zealand market is strong enough, however, that P&O Cruises will lengthen its 2010 Auckland season for  Pacific Sun from two months to twenty-four, after the 2009 season sold out with 12,000 Kiwis cruising in her over just two months.

South Africa: 70,000 in MSC Sinfonia Alone
South Africa this year has its largest cruise ship yet in the 2,100-passenger MSC Sinfonia, now based at Durban for the 2009/10 winter season and working for South Africa-based Starlight Cruises. MSC Sinfonia is expected to carry some 70,000 cruisers this season and replaces  MSC Melody and MSC Symphony/Rhapsody before her.
Spring will also see Holland America Line’s Noordam and Westerdam in Durban and Port Elizabeth, not as cruise ships but as accommodation ships for the 2010 World Cup in Cape Town
Other than that, there is no indigenous South African cruise market other than those operated by Starlight Cruises, although other ships calling in South Africa this season will be Queen Mary 2, Balmoral, Discovery, Seven Seas Voyager, Silver Wind, Crystal Serenity and Columbus, all making calls on world cruises or longer voyages.

Conclusions
For those who like statistics, here are the estimated non-US markets by rank, in number of cruise passengers, with Commonwealth countries shown in red:
UK – 1,500,000
Germany – 907,000
Canada – 775,000
Italy – 682,000
Spain – 497,000
Australia – 330,000
France – 310,000
Scandinavia – 123,000
New Zealand – 119,000
Benelux – 92,000
South Africa – 75,000
Switzerland – 62,000
Commonwealth – 2,799,000
Continent – 2,673.000
The Commonwealth countries thus total 2,799,000 cruisers while Continental European countries total 2,673,000 – a very different way of looking at things, but one that is no longer current since the UK joined the European Union.
(Source: By Mark Tré – Cybercruises.com)

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Cruising to (and from) Cuba

Caribbean, Deilmann Cruises, Fred Olsen, Holland America Line, News, Royal Caribbean | Posted by cruisepeople
Nov 25 2009

While Americans have not been able to cruise to Havana for forty-seven years, other nationalities are able to travel there freely, and ships from some of these countries have been making cruise calls in Cuba over that period. For example, four lines that are offering calls at Havana this winter include Compagnie du Ponant, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises and Thomson Cruises, with the latter actually making Havana an embarkation port for some cruises.
Meanwhile, although the Obama administration has made it easier for some Americans to travel to Cuba, and charter flights have begun from US airports, there is no obvious sign that US-based cruise lines will be calling there soon. So let’s have a look at who goes now to this tropical isle with more than 2,000 miles of coast line located just 90 miles from Florida.

Havana’s Glory Days
One of the icons of early American television was a comedy couple called Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez, who in a November 1957 programme entitled "Luci Takes a Cruise to Havana," filmed partly in Cuba just a week before the Castro revolution, recounted how they had met when she took a cruise to Cuba in 1940. Although war had broken out in Europe by 1940, it had not yet stopped cruise ships from sailing from New York and Miami.
Havana first developed as a popular cruise port in the 1920s with the Ward Line, whose ships sailed from New York and had names such as Havana, Orizaba, Siboney, Mexico, San Jacinto and Monterey. Soon, others joined them, and most particularly the Cunard Line, which at the end of1928 began advertising a departure from New York for Havana every Saturday with its Transatlantic liner Caronia.
Cunard used the tagline "A West Indies Cruise Is Either Cunard Or It Is Not Cunard" and soon other Cunard ships were also sailing to Havana. The Ward Line soon retaliated however with its celebrated 1930 duo of Oriente and Morro Castle, but the latter became an infamous fire loss off the New Jersey coast in September 1934.
Florida ports also saw regular sailings to Havana, from the American P&O (Peninsular & Occidental Steamship Co), with daily overnight sailings from Tampa and Key West, and later from both P&O and the Clyde Line, with nightly sailings from Miami. These were followed in the 1930s by regular 7-night cruises from Miami that called in both Havana and other Caribbean ports.
Although war put a stop to activities after 1940, by the 1950s the trade had returned, with reports indicating that sometimes two-thirds of cruise passengers sailing to Cuba were single working women from New York seeking adventure and romance. Cunard Line confirmed this observation. The centre of action was a Havana bar called Sloppy Joe’s, a popular location frequented by tourists.
But while hit movies such as Guys and Dolls (1955) stressed Havana’s bars, casinos and romance there was also an undertone of US mob-controlled crime, however, supported by a corrupt Cuban regime. All this ended in September 1962, when cruise ships stopped calling in Havana. The last ship to leave, the ferry City of Havana, took with her 287 passengers, 237 of whom were Cubans with US residency certificates and the balance employees of the US State Department. Since then, no cruise ship has sailed to Cuba from any US port.

To-day: A Door Slowly Opens
Since President Obama came to power in the USA there has been a slight loosening of the reigns, at least for exiled Cubans wishing to return to visit relatives. Charter flights to Cuba now leave from New York, Miami and Los Angeles, and one Miami-based operator claims to have carried more than 10,000 passengers to Cuba this summer.
In September, Cuban exile Armando Ruiz, revealed that his company, Florida Ferry International, had applied to the US Treasury Department to operate a 600-cabin cruise ferry between Miami and Havana. And while cruise lines have been developing new ports in Haiti, Honduras and the Turks and Caicos, none has spoken publicly about sending ships to Cuban ports.
Eight years ago now, in March 2001, an American shipping company, Crowley Liner Services, was granted a licence to carry eligible commodities to Cuba in weekly service from Port Everglades and Jacksonville to Havana, which is, after all, a city of 3.7 million people.
Four weeks ago, on October 28, a vote at the United Nations saw 187 nations vote against the US embargo of Cuba as against to only 3 for – which included the United States, Israel and Palau, a tiny nation of 21,000 people. This almost unanimous vote is the first such vote to take place since President Obama came to office.

Meanwhile, opportunities do exist with European-owned lines to cruise to and from Cuba. This is despite the fact that Italy’s Costa had to stop its ships calling on Cuba and give up on plans for a $62 million Havana cruise terminal after it became part of the Carnival Group, and Spain’s Pullmantur had to drop its own Cuban cruises after Royal Caribbean acquired that company.

Le Levant To Spend Christmas in Cuba
Compagnie du Ponant’s 90-guest megayacht Le Levant will visit Havana this winter, with a Christmas cruise leaving Fort de France, Martinique, and sailing by way of St Barthelemy, Virgin Gorda, and the Dominican Republic ports of La Samana, Cayo Levantado and Cayo Arena to Cuba’s Santiago de Cuba (on Christmas Day), arriving December 27 at Cienfuegos, where passengers will disembark for a visit to Havana and dinner at the Tropicana cabaret.
From Cienfuegos, Le Levant will make her way to Cancun by way of Cuba’s Cayo Largo, then Belize City, Half Moon Caye and Calabash Caye, all in Belize, meaning a full turnaround at Cuba’s south coast port of Cienfuegos, but these will be the only Cuban calls this winter.
Braemar To Call at Havana and Santiago
This winter, Fred. Olsen’s Braemar is offering a series of 14-night "Caribbean and Cuba" Friday departures from Barbados that include an overnight stay in Havana from Sunday to Monday in the middle of each cruise. The first departure has recently left (November 12) and subsequent departures will be made on December 10 and February 18. These cruises also call at Curacao, Aruba, Ocho Rios, Costa Maya and Cozumel before Havana and then proceed to Grand Cayman and Montego Bay before returning to Barbados.
Two more cruises, leaving on March 5 and April 2, will make a daytime call at Santiago de Cuba, calling at St Lucia, St Martin and Grand Turk before Santiago and then Bonaire and Grenada before returning to Barbados.
Two Hapag-Lloyd Ships Call on Cuba
Hapag-Lloyd’s top-rated 408-berth flagship Europa has called many times at Havana and other Cuban ports and this year will be no different.  Europa will make four calls in Cuba this year, at Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos, Isla de la Juventud and Havana during her December 5 cruise from La Guaira to Progreso, Mexico.
Before arriving in Cuba, calls will also be made at Antigua, St Barthelemy and Jost van Dyke and she will then finish her cruise in Mexico after a full week spent cruising in Cuban waters, with an overnight stay in Santiago de Cuba and two nights spent in Havana.
Hapag-Lloyd’s other main line cruise ship, the 420-passenger Columbus, whose charter has just been renewed until 2011, will be making a turnaround in Havana. Columbus will turn at Havana after her Christmas cruise, that starts on December 21 in Progreso, Mexico, and arrives in Havana on January 5 for an overnight stay.
Calls will also include Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos in Cuba, after cruising by way of Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Virgin Gorda, Antigua, St Barthelemy and Santo Domingo. Columbus will leave Havana, after another overnight stay, on January 7, 2111, bound for Callao via Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Belize City, Puerto Cortes, Roatan, Puerto Limon, San Blas and Esmeraldas in Ecuador.
Thomson Dream to Sail from Havana in 2011
Ironically, although Costa had to give up its Cuban dreams when it became part of Carnival Group, it is a former Costa ship, the 1,500-berth Costa Europa, to become Thomson Dream in April, that will not only be offering regular opportunities to visit Havana on overnight calls but will also be boarding some of her passengers in Havana. This will be a first for Thomson, part of the TUI Travel Group.
During the winter of 2010/11,  Thomson Dream will operate three 14-night itineraries – the Cuban Adventure, the Caribbean Experience and the Classic Caribbean cruise, with two or three days in Havana on each itinerary. The Cuban Adventure sails from Montego Bay to Barbados, with a two-night call in Havana. The Caribbean Experience sails from Barbados to Havana, with an overnight stay. And the Classic Caribbean cruise sails from Havana to Montego Bay. The ship will actually be sailing on a repeating 21-day itinerary that will be divided into 14-night segments.
So for some of the more fortunate on three dates in 2011, Havana will be serving as a turnaround port for  Thomson Dream, offering chances to stay or visit other parts of the island such as Varadero or the Isle of Juventud, once know as the Isle of June. Direct flights will be operated from the UK to Havana, Barbados and Jamaica by Thomson Airways.
There will be four sailings from each of Barbados and Montego Bay and three from Havana, the first time Havana departures have ever been offered by such a large ship. Over the years Thomson has also been improving its product it now has a reputation as a more traditional style cruise operator. The only exception to this in its fleet of five ships (three of which served with Holland America not so long ago) is its "ultra-casual" Island Escape, which has been taken over from First Choice and is operated as a sub-brand..

Whither Cuban Cruising?
By no means are these the only cruise ships to have called at Cuba. Over the years, ships such as Alexandr Pushkin, Deutschland, Spirit of Adventure, Hebridean Spirit, Vistamar, AidBlu and others have called as well. In fact, one ship, Airtours’ Sunbird (now sailing as  Thomson Destiny) set a record on New Year’s Day 2003 when she brought 1,414 passengers to Havana.
In 2005, Cuba saw 102,440 passengers visit on 122 calls at its ports. But this dropped to just 11,000 in 23 port calls in 2007 after Pullmantur had to withdraw its Holiday Dream in October 2006 after being bought by Royal Caribbean. And ships that do call in Cuba cannot then call on a US port for the following six months because of the Torricelli Act of 1992 and the Helms-Burton Act of 1996.
Nevertheless, an island country with 289 named beaches and the potential to take 3 million American tourists when the trade is re-opened also stands to be very good cruising ground. If a small island like Cozumel can attract 2.5 million cruisers, then there is a huge future for cruising in Cuba when that day finally does arrive. And it won’t be just large ships, but small ships and sailing ships too will want to be able to take advantage of Cuba’s huge coastline. One interesting question is whether the Cuban register might be able to add some opportunities in future.
(Source: By Mark Tré – Cybercruises.com)

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New St Lawrence Cruise Ports

Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Fred Olsen, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn Cruises | Posted by cruisepeople
Oct 20 2009

It is not often that particular areas of the world come up with new cruise ports that have not already been exploited but indeed it does happen. Just as in the more temporate climes of Mexico and Roatan, new cruise ports are beginning to open up in the moderate Gulf of St Lawrence, which is really a summer destination only.
So what are these ports that are beginning to attract lines such as Carnival, Costa and MSC, all newcomers to the area, which has always relied on Montreal and Québec for turnarounds?
Here is a whirlwind tour.

The City of Saguenay
The new City of Saguenay, which is selling itself under the same name as the well-known fjord and tributary of the St Lawrence River, is actually an agglomeration of the municipalities of Chicoutimi, the area’s largest city and once the shallow-draught terminal of a weekly cruise operated by Canada Steamship Lines until 1965, the deeper port of Bagotville, where Canada Steamship Lines overnighted steamers from Montreal, Québec, Murray Bay and Tadoussac used to turn around, and Port Alfred, a larger pulp and paper and aluminium port. To-day, the whole area is known as Saguenay.
Saguenay’s new cruise port, a development of the old Bagotville wharf, attracted 28,000 visitors in 2009 and was this year’s venue for the annual Canada New England Cruise Symposium this June.

Baie Comeau
Baie Comeau is a relatively new place as from beginnings in 1937 when the Québec North Shore Paper Company opened a pulp and paper mill there to supply the Chicago Tribune and the New York News, it grew in the 1950s to include an aluminium smelter and a grain elevator. It was also the birthplace of one of Canada’s 20th Century prime ministers.
But this year, Baie Comeau is benefitting from a new $26 million Glacier Exploration Centre opened in a converted church this June. Carnival Cruise Lines are expected to make five calls on Baie Comeau in 2010 with Carnival Glory. Baie Comeau has already had a number of calls from Holland America Line and Fred.Olsen Cruises.

Sept-Iles
Although in existence since the French regime, and a base for the Hudson’s Bay Company (founded in 1670), a sometime whaling station and a base for fur traders as well, Sept-Iles did not get its real start until 1954, when it became an iron ore loading port for the Iron Ore Company of Canada. Sept-Iles and nearby Clarke City also featured, however, as a major port of call for mailboats operating from Montreal.
To-day, a new wharf has been opened in town that allows cruise passengers to board a train to visit the Innu summer camp on the Moisie River, long known as a gathering place for salmon fishing. The Sept Iles have long had a railway connection, from 1906 from the bay to a pulp mill at Clarke City, and from the 1950s by the Québec North Shore and Labrador Railway and the Arnaud Railway to Labrador.
Holland America Line has been one of Sept-Iles’ first major cruise line customers.

Havre St Pierre
Like Sept-Iles, Havre St Pierre is expected to gain from new calls by Carnival Cruise Lines in 2010. Once a port of call for regular cruises, nearby is a cabin said to have been built by who later became Lord Strathcona, who at that time was a Hudson’s Bay Company factor.
Now, the port, which has not seen regular cruise ship visits since the 1930s, has opened up as an ilmenite shipping port but is again is trying to attract cruise lines to make a call on its naturally protected harbour and visit the nearby Mingan Islands.

Gaspé
Unlike Baie Comeau, Sept Iles and Havre St Pierre, which are newer ports developed in the 20th Century, Gaspé has been around for centuries, and was first industrialized by fishermen from important Jersey firms such as Robin, Collas & Company. Starting in about the 1920s it became more of a tourist haven and benefited from weekly sailings from Montreal and Québec by large steamers, one of which cruised from Miami in the winter time.
A cruise destination for the Québec Steamship Company, Furness Bermuda Line, Clarke Steamship Company, Royal Viking Line, Baltic (March Shipping) and Yachts of Seabourne, Gaspé and the nearby rock of Percé are once again opening up to cruise ship visitations. Nearby is also the famous bird colony of Bonaventure Island.

Québec City
Not a new port, but certainly one of the big gainers, earlier this month, history was made at the Port of Québec as more than 13,000 cruise passengers embarked or disembarked in one 48-hour period. Three ships, Crown Princess, Norwegian Spirit and Costa Atlantica, also made inaugural calls.
Princess Cruises, Costa Cruise Lines and Norwegian Cruise Line are among the lines that now make the city their point of departure and arrival since the new larger ships are too tall to get under the Québec Bridge to Montreal.
The port now features three cruise ship terminals, Pointe-à-Carcy, the newest cruise terminal, Anse au Foulon, formerly known as Wolfe’s Cove, the turnaround for Canadian Pacific’s once-giant Empress of Britain of 1931, one of the first of the giants unable to make it to Montreal, and home later for Queen Elizabeth 2 until the construction of the new town terminal where RMS Queen Mary 2 and other ships berth.
This month also saw the first visit of Cunard’s Queen Victoria, which tied up at the nearby Canadian Coast Guard Pier, where icebreakers and buoy tenders are usually berthed, for an overnight stay. This month also saw Holland America Line’s Maasdam, the city’s most frequent cruise visitor, make her 100th call. Maasdam has now brought 129,000 passengers to Québec.

(Source: By Mark Tré – Cybercruises.com)

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Ocean Liner Days: The Real Thing

Africa, Asia, Atlantic Crossing, Australia/New Zealand, Azamara Cruises, Canadian Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Deilmann Cruises, Discovery World Cruises, Fred Olsen, Holland America Line, MSC, Oceania Cruises, P&O, Positioning Voyages, Royal Caribbean | Posted by cruisepeople
Aug 30 2009

When RMS Queen Mary 2 recently sailed from Southampton, she left behind some who had tried to book her but could not get space. Despite the fact that she has about 1,000 more berths to fill than the old Queen Elizabeth 2 and despite a world recession, QM2 often sails full these days.
Cunard is not alone in being a company that has ocean liner roots that it still honours to-day.
Others have also found a new seasonal niche in moving their ships between cruising grounds (positioning voyages) and it is now not rare to find these voyages sold out, sometimes well in advance.
Surprisingly, a lot of tradition survives in this 21st Century market of 5,000-passenger ships. So let’s look at some of the opportunities available to-day to and from North America, Australasia, South America and Asia.

The North Atlantic
Cunard Line has the longest North Atlantic liner tradition on Earth, dating back to the first scheduled sailing of its Britannia from Liverpool on July 4, 1840. The last century saw many famous Cunard ships ploughing the Atlantic waves – among them two Mauretanias, Aquitania, two Caronias and three Queens, which will soon be six when the second Queen Elizabeth delivers next year. And in its traditional way, it like to call its ships, ocean liners.
To-day, Cunard maintains the last regular ocean liner link between Europe and North America with RMS Queen Mary 2‘s dozen scheduled voyages for each of 2009 and 2010, plus the occasional voyage by Queen Victoria and in 2011 by Queen Elizabeth as well, usually in connection with the January departures of their world cruises.
For several years now, since it started to add larger ships to its fleet, Fred. Olsen has been offering special voyages around Africa and around South America, as well as world cruises that can be booked by sector. This autumn, however, sees two special North Atlantic sailings to Canada. Balmoral will leave Dover on September 26 for a 13-night passage to Montreal via the Azores, Corner Brook, Gaspe and Quebec and after two weeks cruising the east coast, she will leave Halifax on October 23 for a 12-night sail back to Dover by way of Sydney, Charlottetown, St Pierre, St John’s and Cobh.
Two more Canadian sailings are being offered by Costa and Peter Deilmann. Costa Atlantica will leave Savona on September 16 for Quebec City, a 17-night voyage via Barcelona, Lisbon, the Azores, New York, Boston and Charlottetown. And Deilmann’s classic Deutschland leaves Hamburg September 22 for a 12-night sailing to Montreal by way of Falmouth, Ireland, Newfoundland, St Pierre and the Saguenay Fjord.
Other than RMS Queen Mary 2, which offers a full Transatlantic schedule, other operators tend to offer very seasonal fare, that is, from America to Europe in spring and back from Europe to America and the Caribbean by autumn. This year, there will be three sailings from Europe to New York or Boston in August, two of these by old-time liner operator Holland America Line; six in September to New York, Boston or Fort Lauderdale, two of which will be offered by Princess Cruises; seven in October, two of which again are by Holland America; a dozen sailings in November, two each by Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and one by Holland America; and three stragglers in December by Azamara, Fred. Olsen and MSC.
One crossing that has attracted much repeat business each autumn is Oceania Cruises, with its smaller 684-berth ships, but the biggest ship crossing will be Royal Caribbean’s 3,600-berth Independence of the Seas, a 13-night crossing leaving Southampton on November 23 for Fort Lauderdale. One line that we have mentioned, Holland America Line, founded in 1872, was among the original North Atlantic operators and even tried to take ownership of the words "ocean liner" for a while until they wisely allowed Cunard to take the role of operating the real ocean liners within the Carnival group.
Other than the US sailings, several ships also terminate in Caribbean ports. And the same fleet will all be headed back to Europe next spring, with the exception of new ships such as  Carnival Dream and Celebrity Equinox, which will be making delivery voyages to their new cruising grounds after a few introductory cruises in Europe.
For people who need more flexibility, there are also year round cargo ship voyages that carry a few passengers. One of these, on the Independent Container Line route between Antwerp, Liverpool and Philadelphia, even offers weekly sailings. And although they only carry passengers between April and November, year-round sailings are still available to and from the Mediterranean.

Europe To the West Coast
An interesting departure for North America’s west coast is Cunard Line’s departure of  Queen Victoria, which leaves Southampton on January 4, 2010, for San Francisco by way of New York, Fort Lauderdale and Acapulco, to arrive 24 nights later. Yet another ship, Arcadia, that was originally intended to have been completed as Queen Victoria too, but then switched to P&O, leaves Southampton on January 10, to arrive in San Francisco 22 nights later, sailing by way of Madeira, Barbados and Acapulco.

Australia and New Zealand
P&O, which actually got its start a couple of years before Cunard, eventually developed into a line best known for its services to and from Australia and New Zealand and India and the Far East. People who remember names such as Orion, Oronsay, Viceroy of India, Arcadia and Canberra can still to-day book liner voyages with P&O by booking a particular sector of its annual world cruises.
Aurora leaves Southampton, for example, on January 5, 2010, offering a 55-night voyage through Suez to Brisbane, 57 nights to Sydney, 60 nights to Melbourne or 66 nights to Fremantle, while Arcadia leaves Southampton on January 10 and offers a 38-night voyage via the Panama to Auckland, 45 nights to Sydney or 47 nights to Brisbane.
On the way back to Southampton,  Arcadia leaves Auckland on February 15 (59 nights), Sydney on February 22 (52 nights) and Brisbane on February 24 (50 nights), returning via Suez. The Aurora, meanwhile, leaves Brisbane on February 26 (52 nights), Sydney on February 28 (50 nights), Melbourne on March 3 (47 nights) and Fremantle on March 9 (41 nights), returning to Southampton via the Cape of Good Hope.
Returning from Sydney, Queen Victoria sails on February 18 for a grand 63-night voyage back to Southampton. The same voyage is available from Auckland in 70 days, while Fremantle to Southampton takes 55 days via Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai.
For Canadians and Americans too, there are opportunities. The same Queen Victoria that arrives in San Francisco on January 26 offers a 25-night sailing to Sydney via Honolulu, Fiji and New Zealand. And Arcadia that arrives in San Francisco on February 1 offers a 16-night sailing to Auckland, New Zealand via Honolulu and Christmas Island, or a 22-night sailing that finishes in Sydney.
Another regular operator to and from Australia is Classic International, first with Funchal, but now with Athena, offering an annual autumn departure from Athens for Fremantle and a March return voyage that can be booked as liner voyages. This year Athena leaves Athens’ port of Piraeus on November 14 for a 34-night voyage to Fremantle through Turkey, Cyprus and Suez via Colombo and Singapore. After a season of Australia-based cruises, she will then leave Fremantle on March 14 for a reverse voyage that finishes 35 nights later in Nice. Fares compare very well with P&O and Cunard.
A longer passage, offered by Cunard Line, is RMS Queen Mary 2, leaving Southampton on January 11 for a 57-night voyage to Sydney via the Med, Suez, Singapore, Hong Kong, three ports in Japan and two in New Zealand. Equally, Southampton to Auckland is 53 nights. Coming the other way, Queen Mary 2 leaves Auckland March 2 for a 51-night passage back to Southampton by way of the Far East, Indian Ocean and Cape of Good Hope, and leaves Sydney on March 6 for a 47-night trip back to the UK.
Queen Victoria will be sailing the other way, leaving Southampton on January 4 for a 47-night voyage to Australia via New York, San Francisco, Honolulu and New Zealand, or a 55-night passage to Fremantle. Those wishing to disembark in Auckland may also do so after 40 nights. And North Americans may sail from San Francisco, which she leaves on January 26, for Sydney in 40 nights.

South America
Certain South American countries boast a large Italian population that can be traced back to the era of ocean liners, especially SpA "Italia," as it was known, and then Costa. Italian liner companies always considered their South American connections to be almost as important as their North American ones and this holds true right up until to-day. Every year, Costa and MSC Cruises send several ships to Brazil and Argentina for the winter (nine this year) and in the process offer a seasonal liner service, out from Europe in the autumn and back in the spring.
MSC will offer half a dozen outbound South American sailings this autumn, with two returning to the UK in the spring. First, on October 5, 2009, MSC Lirica leaves Genoa for Santos, Brazil, via Madeira, the Canaries and ports in Brazil, a voyage of 18 nights. On March 12, 2010, she will return from Santos via a similar route, returning to Genoa on March 29. MSC Melody, meanwhile, leaves Genoa for Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, on October 23 (a short 14-night voyage) and returns from Bahia on March 13, 2010, another quick 14-night trip back to Genoa.
And on November 2, MSC Musica leaves Venice for Santos via Madeira and ports in Brazil, another 18-night voyage. On March 17, 2010, she will return from Santos via a similar route, arriving at Venice on April 4. MSC Armonia, leaves Venice for Buenos Aires on November 15 (21 nights) and leaves Buenos Aires for Venice on April 29, 2010 (also 21 nights). These are the four sailings that will return to Italy next spring, but two more MSC ships will also leave Italy, but return to Dover next spring.

South America to UK Sailings
New this year, two MSC ships will return from Brazil to the UK next spring. On October 26, 2009, MSC Opera leaves Venice for a 17-night voyage to Rio de Janeiro via the Canaries and ports in Brazil. And on May 3 2010, she returns from Santos via a similar route, but this time in 18 nights to Dover, thus offering British passengers a direct sailing from South America. And on December 1, 2009, MSC Orchestra leaves Genoa for Santos via Madeira, the Canaries and Brazilian ports, a voyage of 17 nights. On April 20, 2010, she will return from Santos via a similar route, also to Dover, offering British passengers a second direct sailing from South America, this one in 16 nights. Return dates in April and May will also allow more flexibility to those planning to travel from Brazil to the UK next spring.
Where MSC have half a dozen ships headed for South America, Costa will be sending three. Costa Magica will make an 18-night crossing from Savona to Santos on November 18 and Costa Concordia will perform a similar voyage just four days later, on November 22. Then Costa Victoria will depart Savona on December 3 for a 19-night voyage to Buenos Aires, her base for the winter. And like the MSC ships, all three will return to Italy next spring.
Royal Caribbean, meanwhile, will be sending Splendour of the Seas and Vision of the Seas to Brazil, both from Lisbon, while Oceania will offer Insignia from Barcelona, for three more South America sailings this autumn, producing a total of a dozen crossings this autumn.
For those who don’t live like lemmings, however, and can’t cope with such seasonality, Grimaldi Lines offer a sailing every 10 days between Tilbury and Buenos Aires in 12-passenger cargo ships that also call in Brazil. This has been so successful that passenger accommodation on their Buenos Aires ships is now sold out many months ahead of sailing.

Far East and India
Viceroy of India, we mentioned, was a well-known P&O ship, but outbound Britons can now join P&O’s Aurora at Southampton on January 5 for a 21-night voyage to Mumbai, or 27 nights to Singapore or 35 nights to Hong Kong. They could also catch Cunard’s QM2 on January 11 for a 27-night voyage to Singapore or 34 nights to Hong Kong. And for those who wish to leave earlier, Voyages of Discovery offers a November 28 sailing from Barcelona to Mumbai (24 days), Singapore (39 days) or Hong Kong (65 days) in  Discovery.
For Canadians and Americans, the February 1 departure of Arcadia from San Francisco offers a 38-night sailing to Hong Kong with stops in Sydney, Cairns and Kota Kinabalu, shades of both the old Matson and American President Lines.
For those wishing to sail back to the UK from the Far East, Cunard’s Queen Victoria leaves Hong Kong on March 9 for a 44-night passage to Southampton, or Singapore on March 23 for a 30-night voyage. Also from Hong Kong, on March 12, Britons can catch Arcadia home to Southampton in 34 nights via Bangkok, Singapore, Mumbai and Athens. The same voyage also offers a 20-night opportunity from Mumbai to Southampton, leaving on March 29. Equally, Aurora offers a March 17 sailing from Singapore to Southampton, taking 33 nights by way of the Indian Ocean and Cape of Good Hope.

South Africa
There was a time when voyages to and from South Africa were more common, but for the moment, there are only a few opportunities. MSC offers one Durban sailing this autumn. On November 24, 2009, MSC Sinfonia leaves Leghorn for Durban via Naples, Suez, the Seychelles and Madagascar, a voyage of 20 nights. She then returns on April 1, 2010, from Durban, on a 21-night passage back Leghorn via Mauritius, the Seychelles, Suez and Naples again, one of the few liner offerings to South Africa these days other than a twice-monthly cargo-passenger service between Antwerp and Cape Town and two UK sailings a year by the mail ship RMS St Helena.
Although South African opportunities have been less frequent recently, the activities of pirates off Somalia have convinced some operators to avoid the Suez Canal on some future voyages, and we are likely to see more such opportunities in 2011. One such opportunity is now being offered in P&O’s Aurora on April 4, 2010, when she leaves Cape Town for Southampton on what will be a 15-night voyage via Walvis Bay, St Helena and Madeira.
So not every ship in the cruise world goes round and round the same five or six ports every seven days. Lots sail the world and if you pay attention there are plenty of opportunities to be had to cross the ocean like our ancestors and parents did, enjoying the voyage for what it is with many days at sea rather than the mad whirlwind of a port a day. It does take a little more planning now; you can’t call your travel agent and say "book me on the next boat to Sydney, Lou," as the opportunities come and go. But it’s worth the extra work if you can do it.
(Source: By Mark Tré – Cybercruises.com)

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The Middle Way – A Return to Medium-Size Ships?

Crystal Cruises, Fred Olsen, Louis, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas | Posted by cruisepeople
Jul 25 2008

In the head-long rush to build ships that carry 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 people that give cruise lines the economies of scale that allow them to keep fares down, and with a proliferation of small ship deliveries, the medium-size cruise ship has been largely neglected. There will soon be fifty ships above 100,000 tons, of which half a dozen will exceed 150,000 tons and three will be above 200,000 tons.
As the many "Cape" size and Panamax cruise ships have been delivered over recent years, the Handysize fleet has been aging. However, the 2000′s have also shown the first signs of a resurgence in delivery of medium-size ships carrying between 500 and 1,500 passengers.

The Luxury Market
For many years, it was considered that the luxury market could support only relatively small ships, starting with a pair of Sea Goddesses in 1984 at 112 passengers, the first pair of Seabourn ships in 1988 at 212 guests and then the first pair of Silversea ships in 1994 at 296 berths. Even Radisson Seven Seas limited itself to ships of between 160 and 354 berths.
The only exception in the luxury business was Crystal Cruises, formed in 1988 by NYK to build the 940-berth Crystal Harmony, delivered in 1990 (and transferred to parent company NYK in 2005) and sister ship Crystal Symphony in 1995. For many years, while the mainstream lines kept producing larger and larger ships, Crystal offered the main choice for those seeking new ships in the up-to-1,000 berth range.

Renaissance Cruises
Then, in the upper premium market, along came Renaissance Cruises in the late 1990s with plans for eight 684-guest ships for delivery in France between 1998 and 2001 (the latter ships of this series could carry a few more). Unfortunately, Renaissance went out of business in 2001, but the hardware they had created survived. This was not the first group of eight ships Renaissance Cruises had produced, as it had earlier had eight 114-passenger ships built in Italy, backed by Norwegian shipowner Fearnley & Eger.
With the bankruptcy of Renaissance Cruises in 2001, the whole fleet was laid up and for a while a whole string of theses ships could be found laid up one behind the other at the French port of Marseilles, their builders having taken repossession. Eventually, these ships all found new employment and today three each can be found with fledgling Oceania Cruises and veteran operator Princess Cruises, while the remaining two now sail for the newly-formed Azamara Cruises.

Mid-Size Luxury Ships
Meanwhile, there has been a slow resurgence of mid-size vessels. First, in the luxury market, Regent Seven Seas Cruises entered the game. Starting with its 490-berth Seven Seas Navigator in 1999, it then introduced the 732-berth Seven Seas Mariner in 2001 and the 714-berth Seven Seas Voyager in 2003. These were soon followed in 2003 by the Crystal Cruises, with its 1,080-berth Crystal Serenity.
More recently, Apollo Management’s 2007 takeover of both Oceania Cruises in the mid-range and Regent Seven Seas in the upper range has made more funds available for the construction of new medium-size cruise ships. Oceania has ordered two new 1,260-berth ships in Italy for delivery in 2010 and 2011, with an option for a third, and there is speculation that Regent Seven Seas may soon resume its own newbuilding programme.
Elsewhere, Seabourn has ordered two new ships in Italy with an option for a third in the new 450-berth Seabourn Odyssey class, the first two for delivery in 2009 and 2010, and Silversea have ordered a 540-berth vessel, with option for a second, also in Italy, with the first, the Silver Spirit, for delivery in 2009.

The Future?
All very well say some, but these newbuildings, with the exception of those to Oceania, are all for delivery to luxury lines.
Nevertheless, because a number of older medium-size ships are due to be retired in 2010 they will no longer meet Safety of Life at Sea requirements, some European mid-market operators, including Fred Olsen Cruises Lines and Saga in the UK, Club Cruise in the Netherlands, Phoenix Reisen in Germany and Louis and easyCruise, have all investigated the possibility of building new medium-sized cruise ships in yards in France, Italy, Greece and South Korea.
To date, because of restricted credit markets, the only orders placed have been those for Oceania. But the designs exist and there is certainly demand from those that can afford to pay more than most mass-market fares and would prefer to travel in hundreds rather than thousands.
The whole experience in the large new ships is more geared for the young new holiday-maker than the experienced cruiser. Port congestion and crowding alone can be a serious drawback with to-day’s mega-ship crowds. And just like "premium economy" as opposed to "club class" on the airlines, there are many people willing to pay a little bit more but not a whole lot more.
While a return to medium-size ships may seem a bit like a vision of things to come, there is no doubt that it will occur, especially as the world market grows beyond 20 million cruisers and cruisers seek more than that mass-market experience.

(Source: By Mark Tré – Cybercruises.com)

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Single Occupancy on Ships

Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Deilmann Cruises, Fred Olsen | Posted by cruisepeople
Aug 03 2007

There are still a few cruise ships available which have single accommodations.

Cunard Line’s  Queen Elizabeth 2 apparently has 109 at present.

Fred Olsen’s pre-stretch Balmoral was to have 59 but now  with stretch 78.  Boudicca has 46,  Black Watch 36,  Black Prince 29 and Braemar 23.

Peter Deilmann has 39 in Deutschland.

Transocean has 26 in Arielle.

Costa Concordia and Costa Serena each has 21 singles. Costa Europa has 18,
Costa Fortuna and Costa Magica 14, Costa Marina13 and Costa Classica and Costa Romantica 6.

Hebridean Spirit has 18 and Hebridean Princess 11.

Page & Moy has 18 in Ocean Majesty.

Louis has 14 in Orient Queen and 9 in  Perla.

Funchal has 12 and Princess Danae 7.

Lindblad has 10 in Endeavour and Gap has 8 in Explorer.

This information kindly provided by Kevin Griffin of The Cruise People, Ltd., London and The Leading Cruise Agents of The UK.

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Fred Olsen 2008 Programme

Atlantic Crossing, Caribbean, Fred Olsen, Mediterranean, Northern Europe, World | Posted by cruisepeople
Jul 23 2007

With the introduction of Balmoral in January 2008, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines will, for the first time, offer a fleet of five ships. Coupled with the lengthening of both Balmoral and Braemar , this will mean a greater capacity than ever before for the cruise line and the opportunity to offer a wider choice of cruise destinations and departure ports.

Highlights of the new brochure include:-

· Two epic long voyages – Black Watch’s 97-night world cruise and Balmoral’s 104-night world voyage

· Mediterranean fly/cruises, based in Civitavecchia (Rome) – both Balmoral and Braemar will operate a season from this port

· Caribbean fly/cruises based in Miami – Balmoral will operate this programme in March and April 2008 and Braemar from mid-November 2008 to April 2009

· Boudicca’s first regional cruise programme, with cruises from Leith and Newcastle in summer 2008

· Boudicca’s Caribbean fly/cruise season based in Barbados from November 2008 to April 2009

· Balmoral’s cruise in autumn 2008 to Canada and New England, and two cruises from New York.

The extensive 2008-9 cruise programme also offers the greatest ever number of ports of call at 306 in 116 different countries, with around 21 ports new to Fred. Olsen. Included in these are:

CHINA: Shanghai, Tianjin and Xingang
JAPAN: Yokahama and Kagoshima
USA: San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Seward, Skagway, Ketchikan
CANADA: Vancouver
RUSSIA: Petropavlovsk
INDIA: Chennai
SOUTH KOREA: Incheon

Lol Nichols, general sales manager for Fred. Olsen said:- “The extension of our fleet has allowed us much more scope for innovative cruises and itineraries. We can offer more long cruises and a host of new ports of call with the increased capacity at our disposal.

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BRAEMAR to be Stretched

Fred Olsen, News | Posted by cruisepeople
Jul 21 2007

Fred Olen is to lengthen its Braemar.  The work will be carried out by Blohm + Voss Repair GmbH Hamburg which will be handling a similar project on the company’s latest acquisition, Balmoral, later this year.The project involves adding a 31.2 metre extension in the mid-section of the ship, and extending the fore and aft sections on deck 8. This work will increase the amount of premium accommodation by providing more cabins and suites with balconies and will increase the capacity of the ship from 727 to 977 (an additional 250 passengers). Extra public space includes a bar designed on the concept of a British pub.

In addition to further balcony suites, the new deck 8 space will accommodate a new restaurant along with an Observatory Lounge similar to those found in other Fred. Olsen ships. There will also be plenty of extra deck space, and a second swimming pool which will also have an area for children to play safely.

Mike Rodwell, Managing Director for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said: “This project to lengthen Braemar has been on the drawing board for several months, and I am delighted that we are now able to announce it will be going ahead. There will be no disruption to schedules as we had pencilled in this period in our 2008 itinerary planning in anticipation that this work would be carried out.” He continued: “Fred. Olsen intends to maintain its strong position in the UK cruise market and this additional capacity will allow us to grow our market in keeping with the increasing demand for cruise holidays.”

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