More Northwest Passage News – Other Cruise News: Prestige Cruise Holdings’ Vancouver-Montreal Cruises – Titanic II An Unlikely Prospect

by Kevin Griffin
Last week Crystal Cruises surprised the market with news that it would sail its 68,870-ton Crystal Serenity through the Northwest Passage from Seward to New York in 2016. This week, we bring you a reminder that the World of Residensea’s 43,524-ton residential ship The World has already done this, having transitted from Nome to Nuuk in 2012 without the publicity a cruise ship generates. And speaking of passages from west to east, two Prestige Cruise Holdings ships, the 30,277-ton Regatta and 28,803-ton Seven Seas Navigator, will be cruising from Vancouver to Montreal this autumn via Alaska and the Panama Canal. And finally, as Clive Palmer’s companies run into more legal problems in Australia, completion of his Titanic II becomes an even less likely prospect.
More Northwest Passage News
Last week we brought the news that Crystal Cruises was planning to send its 1,090-berth Crystal Serenity through the Northwest Passage from Seward to New York in 2016.

Le Soleal – Compagnie du Ponant

At the time we said that Canada’s Northwest Passage had seen many new operators come into play in recent years, but until 2013 with small ships of below 10,000 tons.
The largest cruise ship to have done this so far was Compagnie du Ponant’s 10,944-ton Le Soléal in 2013.
However, Christopher Wright of Mariport Group in Canada brought to our attention the fact that the 165-residence condominium ship The World had already done the passage in 2012, with about 200 passengers plus her crew of 260.
So here is a revised list of the largest ships to have transitted the Northwest Passage, or which are planning to do so:

The World, which bills itself as “the largest privately owned residential yacht on earth,” stopped at either end of the Northwest Passage, in Cambridge Bay August 30 and in Pond Inlet on September 5.

The World at Cambridge Bay (Photo courtesy of Nunatsiaq Online)

As we said last week, while the first commercial cargo ship did not transit the Northwest Passage until 2013, passenger ships have been doing it for thirty years now. Of these, The World is definitely the largest to date.
Meanwhile, from the other end of the world, Gerd Wilmer of Landmark Travel, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ agent in Australia, reminded us that Hapag-Lloyd’s Bremen and Hanseatic are classed German Ice Class E4, which equates to Ice Class 1A Super rather than just 1A as we indicated last week.
OTHER CRUISE NEWS
Prestige Cruise Holdings’ Vancouver-Montreal Cruises
This autumn sees two cruise lines owned by Prestige Cruise Holdings offering interesting extended cruises from Vancouver to Montreal by way of Alaska and the Panama Canal.
Oceania Cruises’ 684-berth Regatta leaves Vancouver on August 19 for a 39-night cruise that takes her to Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Victoria, Astoria, San Francisco, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Huatulco, Chiapas, Puntarenas, Cartagena, Norfolk, New York, Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, Saint John, Halifax, Sydney, Corner Brook, Quebec and Montreal, where she arrives on September 27.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Navigator

A couple of weeks later, Regent’s all-inclusive 490-berth Seven Seas Navigator leaves Vancouver, on September 1 in her case, for a shorter 31-night cruise that takes her to Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau, Sitka, Victoria, Astoria, San Francisco, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco, Chiapas, Puntarenas, Cartagena, Grand Cayman, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, Norfolk and New York, Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, Saint John, Halifax, Sydney, Saguenay, Quebec and Montreal, where she arrives on October 2.
The similarities in port calls stem from the fact that the two lines share a common itinerary design group.
Both ships will again be offering similar cruises in 2015, so guests are able to plan well in advance.
Titanic II An Unlikely Prospect
In April 2012, a century after the loss of the 46,328-ton Titanic on April 15, 1912, Australian billionaire Clive Palmer announced that he would be building a replica of that long-lamented ship, which had hit an iceberg at speed and sank in the course of her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.
Last week came news from Australia that Citic Pacific and Sino Iron, Palmer’s partners in two iron ore mining projects near Cape Preston, Western Australia, were suing him in Queensland Supreme Court for what they allege is wrongful use of Citic funds.

This comes after Palmer’s May victory in the West Australian Supreme Court that saw him win a claim for about $400 million in royalties from Citic.
Citic Pacific have now accused Palmer of paying cheque 2046, for $10 million on the Cape Preston port administrative account at National Australia Bank, to Cosmo Development Pty Ltd, and cheque 2073 for $2.167 million to Media Circus Network Pty Ltd, neither of which companies have anything to do with the running of the associated port at Port Palmer.
Palmer denies illegal use of the funds, claiming that he had the right to use them for whatever use he wanted as they were paid in return for service provided by his subsidiary Queensland Nickel at Townsville. Palmer had purchased Queensland Nickel in 2009. It had been agreed however that the account itself could only be used for “the day-to-day expenses of operating, maintaining and repairing” the port.
The $10 million cheque was paid on August 8 and the smaller one on September 2, just before the last Australian election, when Palmer formed the Palmer United Party, himself won a seat as a member of parliament and three of his followers won seats in the Australian senate.
All this brings to mind the Australian billionaire Sir Alan Bond, who won the America’s Cup for Australia back in 1983, the first time in 132 years it had been won by anyone other than the New York Yacht Club. Bond had also been an owner of Queensland Nickel. At his peak, he paid $53.9 million for the Van Gogh painting “Sunflowers.” In 1992, Bond’s empire collapsed and he ended up spending four years in jail for the wrongful use of an astonishing $1.2 billion of funds that were siphoned of from 53%-owned Bell Resources into Bond Corporation before the latter went bankrupt.
Although Palmer’s Blue Star Line signed a memorandum of understanding with CSC Jinling in May 2012 to build the Titanic II in Nanjing, no order has ever been placed. Two months later, however, in July 2012, Palmer’s Asia Pacific Shipping Enterprises contracted with CSC Jinling for four 64,000-ton bulk carriers to carry nickel ore from New Caledonia, Indonesia and the Philippines to Queensland Nickel’s refinery in Townsville.
All four ships were for delivery this year.
In May, Blue Star Line announced that delivery of the Titanic II would be delayed from 2016 to 2018. The company was forced to use the name Blue Star, as Cunard still owns the right to use and does use the White Star Line name. White Star was the operator of the original Titanic.

While some money has been spent o this project and Deltamarin has been paid to come up with a concept for the 21st century, present events make it seem less likely that this unlikely project in the first place will ever be completed.
(Kevin Griffin is managing director of specialist cruise agency The Cruise People Ltd in London, England. For further information concerning cruises mentioned in this article readers can visit his blog)

Holland America’s New “Pinnacle” Class – Other Cruise News: New Policy Coming For Hapag-Lloyd Cruises – Cruise & Maritime Takes Over Transocean’s Operations

by Kevin Griffin
This week we have a look at the latest order for Holland America Line’s first “Pinnacle” class vessel in comparison to other ships, particularly the line’s own “Signature” class ships Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam, their competitor’s “Celebrity Equinox” class, and the “Costa Luminosa” class, the basic platform of which will apparently be used in the new design. Elsewhere, we have a look at an impending change of marketing policy at Hapag-Lloyd Cruises and the takeover of Germany’s TransOcean Cruises by UK-based Cruise & Maritime Voyages.



THIS WEEK’S STORY

Holland America’s New “Pinnacle” Class
Beyond the names of the interior designers, no new information has yet been released on the first of Holland America Line’s new “Pinnacle” class ships, although images have been floating around the Internet for some months now. Originally ordered from Fincantieri in October 2012, along with a 4,000-passenger vessel for sister brand Carnival Cruise Lines, for delivery in 2015, the Holland America ship has now been delayed until mid-February 2016.

Holland America’s new “Pinnacle” Class ship

The new “Pinnacle” class ship (whose name will end in “dam”) will be the first new Holland America ship in more than five years and the largest ship yet built for the line.
With a beam of 115 feet, she would not be able to transit the present Panama Canal locks but she will be able to transit the new wider locks that are now under construction.
This new class of ship will measure 99,700 tons and have 2,660 berths, within striking range of arch-competitor Celebrity Cruises’ 2,850-berth “Equinox” class.
According to sources, while being larger versions of the “Signature” class vessels Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam, the new Holland America design is actually based on the platform of the 92,720-ton “Costa Luminosa” class, although with a lower passenger space ratio (the measure of gross tons volume per passenger).
The hull has been lengthened and widened, two more decks added forward and certain other changes made, including lowering the lifeboats, the elimination of the atrium in the Costa design and the relocation of the Tamarind Restaurant from a forward position on the “Signature” class to one aft on the new “Pinnacle” ship.
The relevant comparisons are:

Compared to the “Signature” class (which can transit the present Panama locks), the new class will be 15% larger in volume but carry 25% more passengers. This will mean they will have a passenger space ratio of only 37.5 tons per passenger compared to 41.6 for the existing “Signature” class.
While the lower PSR follows recent industry-wide trends for mainline ships to dip below 40, this ratio does not compare well with her predecessors (it is a reduction of almost 13% on the “Signature” class), nor with the “Celebrity Equinox” class (12% less space per guest on HAL) nor even the “Costa Luminosa” class (8.5% less).

Statendam – Holland America Line

While some might question the use of a Costa platform for a Holland America Line ship this has actually been done before. In the 1990s, Fincantieri built two classes of ship, the two 1,288-berth “Costa Classica” sisters for Costa Cruises (1992/93) and four 1,260-berth “Statendam” class ships for Holland America (1993/96), using the same basic hull design.
These ships have been so successful that all six are still in service with their original owners two decades later.
Meanwhile, a new interior designer for Holland America, Adam Tihany, has joined Bjorn Storbraaten, who designed the public rooms for Holland America Line’s “Signature” class, to ensure that the new “Pinnacle” class will meet the expectations of previous Holland America Line clients, some of whom are questioning whether the new ship, with 25% more berths, will be one step too far in terms of size for Holland America.

Celebrity Equinox

As Celebrity has proven with its “Celebrity Equinox” class, this number of passengers need not be a drawback, although the Celebrity ships have a higher tonnage.
As it happens, the “Pinnacle” class capacity is also within 40 berths of that most famous of existing ships, the 2,620-berth Queen Mary 2, although with a tonnage of 148.528, the Queen Mary 2 offers a very generous 56.7 tons per passenger, more than half as much again as the new “Pinnacle” class.
This increase in ship size has been allowed by the newly-planned locks at Panama, and for those interested this is the comparison of maximum dimensions allowed in the existing locks and the new locks, due to open in 2015:
Existing Panama Canal locks:      963 x 106 feet (39.5 feet maximum draft)
New Panama Canal locks:             1200 x 160 feet (49.9 feet maximum draft)
The new dimensions would even allow passage of ships such as the Oasis of the Seas and the Queen Mary 2, were it not for the fact that the existing bridge at Panama City does not have enough height to allow them to pass underneath. The maximum air draft (height from waterline to topmost part of the ship) for the Panama Canal is limited to less than 190 feet. While Oasis of the Seas and Queen Mary 2 both need well over 200 feet.
OTHER CRUISE NEWS
New Policy Coming For Hapag-Lloyd Cruises
With the introduction last year of the new internationally-marketed 516-passenger Europa 2 and the redelivery this year of the German-market 684-passenger Columbus 2 to Oceania Cruises, where she will resume service as Insignia, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is about to change the way it markets its fleet from next year.

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Europa 2 – Photo Christophe Dedieu at Vesseltracker.com

Starting with the new 2015 brochures as they are released, the ultra-luxury cruise ship Europa 2 and 184-passenger expedition ship Hanseatic will be marketed internationally, while the 408-passenger ultra-luxury cruise ship Europa and 164-passenger expedition ship Bremen will be reserved for the German market, reverting to using German only on board.
From its inception, the Europa 2 has been conceived as an international ship, to be marketed with menus, daily programs and announcements (thankfully, very few) being made in both English and German. Likewise, the Hanseatic has a long history of participation in the English-language market, dating back to the time when Radisson Seven Seas Cruises included this ship in its own portfolio.
On the other hand, the Europa and Bremen have always been sold primarily in the German-speaking market, with a limited number of cruises set aside for each ship each year that would be operated in both German and English. These “international cruises” will be dropped.

The 164-passenger expedition ship Bremen

All in all, the English-language market still gains, however, as the two ships dedicated to the international market are the top-rated cruise ships in the world.
The five-star-plus Europa 2 has scored the highest ranking for any ship in the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships, while the five-star Hanseatic is the highest-rated expedition ship in the world.
Cruise & Maritime Takes Over Transocean’s Operations
The market was taken by surprise last week by the announcement that UK-based Cruise & Maritime Voyages would take over the tour operations of TransOcean Cruises and enter the German market.

Astor – The Hanse Bar

Cruise & Maritime first opened a Munich-based ship management office in early 2013 to look after the logistics for its river ship, the 160-berth Vienna I, under the Signature River Cruise brand.
Under the agreement with Munich-based Premicon AG, Cruise & Maritime assumes immediate responsibility for the charter, operation and marketing of the 600-passenger cruise ship Astor, including her 7,000-passenger summer 2014 program from Kiel, Bremerhaven & Hamburg.
The agreement also includes the charter of four European river cruise ships: the 176-berth Belvedere, 150-berth Bellefleur, 180-berth Bellejour and the 80-berth Sans Souci, operating on the major rivers of Europe.

The 600-passenger cruise ship Astor

The vessels will continue to be marketed as a German-speaking product under the TransOcean brand with distribution channels unchanged, although selected future sailings will now be designated as international.
This news follows the announcement early in 2013 that Cruise & Maritime was opening an office in Sydney to support the charter and operation of the Astor for three winter seasons (November though May) commencing this winter with Australian program based on Fremantle. The Astor has replaced the program that was once operated by the now-defunct Classic International Cruises.
Cruise & Maritime is part of the Greek-based Global Maritime Group and operates two ocean vessels of its own, the 800-berth Marco Polo and the 700-berth Discovery. Combined Cruise & Maritime ocean fleet passenger carryings are projected to exceed 70,000 passengers in 2014 representing a growth of almost 100% since 2010.
(Kevin Griffin is managing director of specialist cruise agency The Cruise People Ltd in London, England. For further information concerning cruises mentioned in this article readers can visit his blog

Mid-Size Newbuildings Take On New Importance – Other Cruise News: Small Ship Fleets Continue To Evolve – Carnival To Charge For Live Concerts

by Kevin Griffin
The recent delivery and orders for several new midsize ships signify a change in cruise ship development, one that harks back to the traditional days of cruising and make the big new ships begin to look like circuses. At the same time, the small ship market continues to evolve, with the smallest Seabourn ships soon to go to Windstar Cruises. Meanwhile, elsewhere, Carnival Cruise Lines continues the trend of adding extra charges to mainline cruises, with the addition of live concerts at a charge on board eight of its ships in the Caribbean and Mexico.




THIS WEEK’S STORY

Mid-Size Newbuildings Take On New Importance

The delivery of Oceania Cruises’ 66,048-ton Marina and Riviera (1,250 passengers each) in 2011 and 2012 and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ 42,830-ton Europa 2 (516 passengers) last year, together with orders for a pair (with options for four more) of 47,800-ton ships, capable of carrying 925 passengers each, by Viking Ocean Cruises, of which the first, Viking Star, is to enter service in May 2015, have begun what we hope is a new trend in the market.

Prinsendam in New York
photo credit Andy Newman/Holland America Line

This trend is to more vessels in the more traditional size sector between 40,000 to 60,000 tons.
This trend has been reinforced recently by the latest order from Seabourn, which calls for a vessel of 40,350 tons capable of carrying 604 cruisers.
This is one-quarter more tonnage and one-third more passengers than the largest existing Seabourn ship, meaning a slightly lower passenger space ratio, about 9.55 less than the most recent ships.
What is interesting about the new ship, especially since Holland America took over management of the Seabourn brand, is that in tonnage terms she will actually be larger than Holland America’s 38,100-ton Prinsendam, with her 835 passengers.
Interestingly, Prinsendam once operated as Seabourn Sun and was actually the first mid-size Seabourn ship, especially when compared with the original 212-passenger trio of Seabourn Legend, Seabourn Pride and Seabourn Spirit.

Seabourn Pride in Malaga

Within the same general bracket is Douglas Ward’s measure for midsize cruise ships at Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships (750 to 1,750 passengers), and although some of the ships cited carry fewer in numbers, they are of about the same tonnage.
Whatever the exact measure, there is a clear increase in the number of ships being built in this range.
The simple comparison is

The days of megaships such as the 5,408-passenger Oasis of the Seas are not over of course, as while Royal Caribbean has more recently come up with the more moderate 4,180-passenger Quantum size, it continues to experiment with the Oasis in Europe and has indeed ordered another Oasis class vessel from STX France.
But the latest rumour is that Royal Caribbean will not exercise its option for yet another of the class.

Oasis of The Seas

In the long run, however, it is quite possible that ships of this size may find another home in the Far East market.
What is key about the new mid-size fleet, however, is that they mark a return to the traditional style of cruising and are clearly differentiated from the megaships that are so popular today, so much so that on an architectural scale, the new mid-size ships can be compared concert halls, as opposed to the football stadium-scale of the big ships, just as in their day, the small luxury ships once called themselves boutique.
Clearly the market for cruising is now dividing itself between the megaships and a resurgence of mid-size ships. This is interesting when it is noted that the public can pay for a day on one of the new midsize ships, where things are both more exclusive and more inclusive, what one might pay for a week on a megaship, where many of the extras cost money and the cruise line seems constantly to be trying to dip its hand into one’s wallet.
As one commentator put it some time back, it’s not what it costs to get on the ship, it’s what it costs to get off.
Essentially, the new midsize ships are developing into the First Class of 21st Century cruising while the megaships are becoming the Tourist Class.

OTHER CRUISE NEWS

Small Ship Fleets Continue To Evolve

With Seabourn’s sale of its three smallest vessels, the 212-berth Seabourn Legend, Pride and Spirit to Windstar Cruises, will soon join the 148-berth sailing ships Wind Spirit and Wind Star and 312-berth fleetmate Wind Surf, likely as Star Legend, Star Pride and Star Spirit.

Wind Star out of Portofino

Indeed, Star Pride enters service for Windstar this spring. Following renovation, she will set sail this May in the Mediterranean. The Legend will follow a year later, in April 2015 and the Spirit a month after that, in May 2015. After a summer season in the Mediterranean, the Star Pride will move to the Arabian Gulf and then to Southeast Asia for the winter.
One interesting prospect is that, although nothing yet has been said about this and itineraries have so far been announced only for the Star Pride, Windstar could well decide to bring one of the former Seabourn trio into the Alaska trade.

former Spirit of Oceanus, now Sea Spirit

In the Alaska market, while Un-Cruise Adventures has filled part of the gap created by the demise of Cruise West in 2010, the replacement has not been complete. The Un-Cruise fleet consists of seven ships of 22 to 88 berths each, with the s.s. Legacy as flagship, while Cruise West also had seven vessels, but in the range of 60 to 114 berths, with the Spirit of Oceanus as flagship.
The role that was once played by the Spirit of Oceanus has not yet been filled in the Alaska trade, and one wonders if this might not happen in 2015 when Windstar will have its next two former Seabourn vessels coming available.

Carnival To Charge for Live Concerts

Over the past several years, in order to try to keep ticket prices down, the cruise lines have added more and more in the way of extra-tariff amenities, services and facilities. Among the best-known of these are extra-tariff restaurants and coffee shops, bridge, galley and engine room tours that used to be free of charge but now must be paid for and now, with this latest move, some elements of the entertainment.
Last week, to set themselves apart, Carnival Cruise Lines announced that it had started recruiting name entertainment to appear on its ships in port, under the banner of Carnival Live. Tickets will cost $20 to $40 per passenger while they will range from $100 to $150 for the VIP experience, which includes an artist meet and greet, photo opportunity, seating in the first three rows and a commemorative laminated concert pass.

Carnival Liberty: the Theatre

Tickets can be purchased through Carnival’s online shore excursion reservation system.
Performers and bands scheduled to perform in this new program include Chicago, Daughtry, Foreigner, Gavin De Graw, Jennifer Hudson, Jewel, Kansas, Lady Antebellum, LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride, Olivia Newton-John, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Trace Adkins and 38 Special.
In all, fifteen artists will perform some forty-nine concerts on eight ships while docked in Cozumel, Nassau and Catalina Island. Artists will join the ship while in port, perform in the main theatre and then depart after their shows. Bands have been chosen through a survey of Carnival’s own passengers concerning their music choices.
Styx will kick off the series with an April 7 show on board Fantasy in Nassau.
It is estimated that this series alone will net Carnival several million dollars a year in extra revenues. A full list of 2014 Carnival Live concert dates can be found on Carnival’s website.

(Kevin Griffin is managing director of specialist cruise agency The Cruise People Ltd in London, England. For further information concerning cruises mentioned in this article readers can visit his blog)

Funchal Re-Enters Service On Sunday – Other Cruise News: American Cruise Lines Orders Four Riverboats – The Sunborn Gibraltar

by Kevin Griffin
This Sunday sees Portuscale Cruises’ rebuilt traditional liner Funchal depart Lisbon on her first cruise for her new owners in a revitalization of the Portuguese passenger fleet. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, American Cruise Lines have announced orders for four new riverboats to be delivered between 2015 and 2017. And in Gibraltar, final touches are being put to the 15,000-ton floating yacht hotel Sunborn Gibraltar.
THIS WEEK’S STORY
Funchal To Re-Enter Service
Portugal’s new cruise line, Portuscale Cruises, is about to place the 580-berth 1961-built Portuguese liner Funchal back into service next Sunday, when she departs Lisbon on a 7-night New Year’s cruise from Lisbon to Madeira and Morocco. Among the rebuilt veteran’s first passengers will be cruise ship guru Douglas Ward from the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships, ready to give her his first rating under her new owners.

The whole Portuscale fleet has now taken on very traditional colours, with the ships now sporting black hulls and red boot-topping separated by a narrow band of white

The whole Portuscale fleet has now taken on very traditional colours, with the ships now sporting black hulls and red boot-topping separated by a narrow band of white, such as used by the North Atlantic liners of the Cunard Line and many others.
At the same time, Portuscale has introduced traditional yellow funnels capped with black tops and carrying the Portuscale logo.
As well as the Funchal, which has always been owned in Portugal, the Portuscale fleet includes the 600-berth Lisboa, known until recently as Princess Danae, the 554-berth Azores, built as Swedish American Line’s Stockholm and until more recently called Athena and the 334-berth Porto, which last operated as the Arion.
Portuscale has been successful in regaining a good bit of the business that was lost when predecessor Classic International Cruises went into receivership at the end of 2012. Much of this activity consists of charters to local operators in Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France, the UK and Ireland. The new line’s first cruises have also now been announced for the UK

Funchal with the old Classic International Cruises’ colours (Photo D.R.Carneiro)

Newell’s Travel of Falmouth will charter the newly-rebuilt Funchal for a series of four cruises from Falmouth, aimed at residents of the UK’s West Country.
The first, a 9-night cruise to Gibraltar and Tangier, will leave on April 22, with a 10-night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords to follow on May 1. Later in the year, Funchal will return to Falmouth for a 12-night cruise to the Canaries, Madeira and Casablanca, leaving on August 11, and an 8-night cruise to the French wine country departing on August 23.
Between these dates, among others, the Funchal will be working for French charterer Terre Entière, which will offer a 7-night Norwegian Fjords cruise from Gothenburg on July 21 and a 13-night Baltic round voyage cruise from Zeebrugge departing on July 28. On October 10, the French tour operator will be offering an 11-night Mediterranean itinerary round trip from Marseilles.
OTHER CRUISE NEWS
American Cruise Lines Orders Four Riverboats
Last week American Cruise Lines announced ordered for four new riverboats destined for American waterways, the largest such order ever placed in North America.
With the first vessel expected to be delivered in 2015, the first two ships will be destined for the Mississippi River, where the line introduced its 150-berth Queen of the Mississippi last year, and the Columbia and Snake Rivers, where it operates the 120-berth Queen of the West.

Queen of The West

American Cruise Lines presently operates six ships, four of which are coastal cruisers that sail along the coasts of New England, Chesapeake Bay and the US South, as well as in Alaska’s Inside Passage.
The new additions will bring the fleet to ten vessels.
The first two new riverboats will carry between 150 and 200 passengers. Like the Queen of the Mississippi, they’ll feature larger cabins than other riverboats sailing in North America as well as private balconies with cabins. All four are due to be completed by 2017.
American Cruise Lines’ first riverboat, Queen of the Mississippi, was newly-built in 2012 and entered service in the same year that the American Queen Steamboat Company brought the 436-passenger American Queen out of lay-up to sail on the Mississippi. There had not been a vessel operating overnight trips on the river since 2008.
American Cruise Lines’ new orders are no doubt a “glove down” to Viking River Cruises, who have been talking about introducing two US-built and US-flag rive craft built to their Viking Longships design. Viking River now operates dozens of river ships in Europe and worldwide.
All four of the new riverboats have been ordered from Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Maryland, an affiliate of American Cruise Lines.
The Sunborn Gibraltar
Finnish-based Sunborn Marine’s 189-room five-star floating yacht hotel Sunborn Gibraltar is due to open in February, after she is delivered from the Gibraltar shipyard Gibdock for a full hull blasting and coating. The vessel arrived in Gibraltar on board a heavy lift ship in June. Originally intended for Barcelona, Sunborn more recently decided on Gibraltar, where she will become the territory’s first five-star hotel.

The 466-foot Sunborn Gibraltar

The 466-foot Sunborn Gibraltar, built by the Boustead Naval Shipyard in Lumut, Malaysia, resembles an ultra-luxury cruise ship or mega yacht. Although she can move under her own power, she has been designed for use alongside, and features her own heavy-duty mooring arms. She will be berthed alongside Gibraltar’s Ocean Village complex.
Currently being fitted out, the new vessel will have a casino, spa and fitness center, cocktail lounges, fine dining restaurants and a ballroom. Conference and event space will be available for up to 540 delegates. Some 90% of the 189 guest rooms offer outdoor space, while all will have full-height glazing to capture Mediterranean views.
Also due to open in 2014 is the Sunborn London II. Located next to the ExCel London exhibition centre this vessel will be an existing custom-built 400-foot Sunborn hotel yacht, equipped with 153 guest rooms including six larger Royal Suites.
With over 107,000 square feet of floor space spread over five decks, Sunborn London II will feature spacious hotel facilities including a large open reception area with lobby bar, excellent conference and event facilities, and a 200-seat restaurant with wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling windows giving impressive views of Canary Wharf.
The previous Sunborn London, a 354-foot unpowered vessel built in Finland in 1998, was the world’s first custom-built luxury yacht hotel, and was equipped with 103 suites and two Royal Suites. She was moved from Finland to London in the early 2000s but sold to Nigerian owners in 2008.
That vessel’s replacement, the Sunborn Princess, has been berthed at the Naantali Spa Resort in Finland since 2002 and will now move to London to become Sunborn London II. Her tenancy at London’s Royal Docks will be under a fifteen-year contract.
(Kevin Griffin is managing director of specialist cruise agency The Cruise People Ltd in London, England. For further information concerning cruises mentioned in this article readers can visit his blog)

Last Voyage of the Saga Ruby Rerouted – Other Cruise News: Finland Secures Finance – Limit at Tampa – Cruising’s Slow Recovery

December 16th, 2013 by Kevin Griffin
Last week news broke that the Saga Ruby, on her very last cruise after a career spanning forty years, was stranded in the Canaries on her way to the West Indies, with generator problems that would preclude the operation of her air conditioning in the Caribbean. Instead, she will now cruise to the Mediterranean. In Finland, troubled STX Finland has secured the financing that will enable it to complete its second ship for TUI Cruises. Tampa reveals that it has an air draft limitation that will preclude it from accepting mega ships. And New York-based PhoCusWright reports on a slow recovery in the mainstream cruise market.
THIS WEEK’S STORY
Last Voyage of the Saga Ruby Rerouted
Friday the 13th seems to have taken its toll on Saga Shipping, which has been forced to reroute a 31-night cruise to the Caribbean on board the 655-berth Saga Ruby due to a faulty generator that would affect the ship’s air conditioning.

Saga Ruby – Photo courtesy cruises.co.uk

The ship left Southampton on December 7 and was in Tenerife when the news broke. Instead, she will complete her final voyage for Saga around the Mediterranean, where she can operate normally with her five good generators. On returning to Southampton on January 7, Saga Ruby is due to be sold to Asian buyers who plan to turn her into a hotel.
Saga Shipping managing director Robin Shaw flew to Tenerife to inform the 557 passengers on board of the itinerary change. Passengers who didn’t wish to carry on, understood to number fewer than thirty, have been flown back to the UK and given a full refund, while those that elected to continue have been given 40% refunds.
The diverted cruise is now expected to include Monaco on Christmas Eve, spend Christmas Day at sea and New Year’s Eve in Gibraltar and make a number of calls in Spain, Italy, France and Portugal.

Saga Rose

Saga first entered the cruise market in the late 1980s, chartering a Russian ship, the 548-berth Russ, as well as taking group space for its own clients with other cruise lines.
For many years, Saga was one of P&O Cruises’ largest suppliers of cruise passengers but after the two companies fell out over terms, Saga began to concentrate more on operating its own ships.
In 1996, it acquired the 584-berth Saga Rose, which had been built in 1965 as Norwegian America Line’s Sagafjord, from Cunard Line, and in 2005, the Saga Ruby, the former Vistafjord, built in 1973 and by then operating as Cunard Line’s Caronia.

Cunard Line’s Caronia now Saga Ruby

The Saga Rose was retired in 2010 and sold for breaking up.
This leaves Saga with two more modern ships. The 706-berth Saga Sapphire was built in 1982 as Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ last Europa and was once the top scoring cruise ship in the world, while the 456-berth Saga Pearl II was built in 1981 as the first Astor, and spent many years working for DSR Deutsche Seerederei, predecessor to AIDA Cruises.
Both of the present ships were built in Germany, and while well-maintained are also now more than thirty years old. Before the present recession, Saga had actually been mooted, among others, as an eventual potential source of new orders for cruise ships of their own design.
OTHER CRUISE NEWS
STX Finland Secures Finance
STX Finland last week announced that it had secured the financing it needed to complete construction of the second new 2,500-berth cruise ship for German-based TUI Cruises. A sister ship to Mein Schiff 3, now under construction and scheduled for delivery in Spring 2014, Mein Schiff 4 will also be built at the Turku shipyard.

Mein Schiff 3

With no other orders on its books at the moment, STX Finland’s troubles began in 2012 when it lost the order for the third Oasis class ship for Royal Caribbean International to STX France.
STX Finland lost out to STX France when it was unable to come up with financing for the project from either the Finnish Government or its South Korean parent.
Following this, in September this year, STX announced that it would shut down its Rauma shipyard, with the loss of 600 jobs, by 2014. The financing for the second TUI ship will ensure that STX Finland will be able to keep the Turku yard open until 2015.
While MEIN Schiff 3 was floated out last month, her sister ship Mein Schiff 4, is now under construction for delivery in spring 2015. Both are sophisticated and highly innovative 99,000-ton cruise ships. They will measure 968 feet long and 118 feet wide and will have 2,500 lower beds and a crew of 1,000.

Allure of The Seas

The new ships will consume around 30% less energy then other cruise ships of a similar size. It has recently been announced that TUI Cruises will base Mein Schiff 3 in Malta.
Meanwhile, STX France in St Nazaire has announced that the third Oasis class ship is proceeding apace. Eighty huge blocks are now being assembled at St Nazaire at record speed due to a new crane that can lift much larger components. Assembly time with this new crane will be cut by 30% and delivery is scheduled for Spring 2016.
While Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas were completed by STX Finland, the St Nazaire ship will measure about 4,000 tons more than the first pair and will be about six feet longer.
Airdraft Limit at Tampa
Last month we ran a story on how the Port of Montreal is going to be able to accept larger cruise ships after Hydro Quebec raises a couple of power transmission lines that cross the St Lawrence River between Quebec and Montreal, bringing the permitted air draft to reach Montreal from 156 feet to 170 feet.
Now comes news from Tampa of a similar problem there but at a higher height.
According to the “Tampa Bay Times,” that port has a limitation of 181 feet for cruise ship access, caused by the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which was opened in 1987. This means that mega ships such as the Oasis of the Seas and Queen Mary 2 cannot pass beneath.
According to the Times, other than rebuilding the bridge, the port faces two options – to build a new cruise terminal west of the bridge or to watch Tampa lose any mega cruise ship business to other Gulf coast ports.
It will be up to the Tampa Port Authority, the Manatee County Port Authority and officials in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties to plan for the future.
Reportedly, a recent study by the State of Florida concluded that more than half the world’s cruise ship fleet would be mega ships by 2016-17, which could cause a problem for Tampa with its 181-foot limitation.
Miami and Fort Lauderdale having no bridges, this is not a problem for them. And although some states are raising bridges such as the Bayonne Bridge in New Jersey to accommodate the massive cargo ships of the future, Tampa’s Skyway would have to be totally rebuilt, ruling that out as an option.
By comparison to Tampa’s 181 feet, the maximum airdraft allowed under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York is 228 feet and under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco 220 feet.

Star Princess in San Francisco

Meanwhile, building a new cruise terminal for mega ships west of the Skyway would require funding and have to clear a number of environmental hurdles.
The alternative is Tampa Bay doing nothing, making the best of handling what will one day be older, smaller ships sailing around the Caribbean.
What is potentially worrying for Tampa is that, along with Key West, the port was for decades a main point of connection for sailings to Cuba and if that market reopens it might be shut out of being able to take mega ships cruising to Havana and other ports in Cuba. For now, however, the Tampa Port Authority is still expanding its cruise business, hoping to surpass a million passengers in 2015.
Cruising’s Slow Recovery
Major cruise line revenues have stagnated in the wake of the past two year’s incidents, but are expected to begin a slow climb again next year, according to a study by US travel research company PhoCusWright. At the same time, the growth in online cruise distribution is projected to slow dramatically, the study added.
Here are some key findings from the report:
Cruising continued a steady shift towards web-based channels with a 26% increase in 2012, when $2.4 billion in cruise revenue came through online channels. Online growth in 2013 is expected to slow dramatically to 6%.
In 2012, 16% of cruise sales were contracted online, compared with 13% the year before. Online penetration is forecast to grow just 1% in 2013 and to reach 20% in 2015.
Cruise fare revenue growth in 2012 was the lowest it’s been since 2010, with a 4% increase bringing revenues to $15 billion.
Cruise revenues are projected to stay at $15 million in 2013. The lack of growth is due to incidents like the loss of the Costa Concordia in 2012 and the Carnival Triumph fire in 2013.
Revenues are projected to increase at a faster rate in the next two years, with 3% growth in 2014 and 6% in 2015, to top $16 billion.
(Kevin Griffin is managing director of specialist cruise agency The Cruise People Ltd in London, England. For further information concerning cruises mentioned in this article readers can visit his blog)

Seabourn’s New Order Changes Balance With Silversea – Other Cruise News : QE2 On The Way To Asia – Anthem of the Seas For Southampton?

by Kevin Griffin
Last week Seabourn announced that it was ordering a fourth ship of the Seabourn Odyssey class, which will serve to replace most of the capacity lost by the sale of its original trio to Windstar Cruises, with deliveries over 2014 and 2015. Meanwhile, Silversea has increased its fleet of expedition ships to three. Elsewhere, QE2 Shipping has placed a contract with COSCO Shipyard Group for conversion of the Queen Elizabeth 2 into a 400-room floating hotel, to be based at an as yet unnamed major city in Asia. Meanwhile, rumours seem to indicate that Royal Caribbean International intends to base its new Anthem of the Seas at Southampton from 2015.
THIS WEEK’S STORY
Seabourn’s New Order Changes Balance With Silversea
Seabourn and Silversea have usually fought head-to-head for primacy in the smaller-ship ultra-luxury sector. But Seabourn’s pending sales of the three smaller ships and the latest letter of intent with Italy’s Fincantieri for a new ultra-luxury cruise ship for delivery in the second half of 2016 will change the overall balance.
After a five-year gap, the new ship will be a follow-on from the new 450-berth trio that the line introduced in 2009-11 with Seabourn Odyssey, Sojourn and Quest, and will be the fourth ship of this class.

Seabourn Quest

Arch-competitor Silversea seems to be going down a different road from Seabourn, however.
Unlike Seabourn, Silversea built only one ship of its latest class, the 540-berth Silver Spirit, and never ordered any more.
It will soon therefore be outgunned by Seabourn in the 450/550-berth ultra-luxury range four ships to one by Seabourn, although overall it will be able to offer a few more berths:

Also unlike Seabourn, however, Silversea has been investing in expedition ships, an area outside Seabourn’s area of expertise. Starting in 2007 with the 132-berth Finnish-built Prince Albert II, renamed Silver Explorer in 2011, it added the 100-berth Silver Galapagos three weeks ago and will introduce the 128-berth Silver Discoverer in March 2014.

Silver Explorer ex Prince Albert II

The Silver Galapagos was one of eight original Renaissance small ships, built in 1990 in Italy. The Silver Discoverer had been sailing as the Clipper Odyssey for Zegrahm Expeditions. She is one of a very small number of Japanese-built cruise and expedition ships, having been built for Showa Line by NKK Tsu (now Universal Shipbuilding) in 1989 as Oceanic Grace.
In all, this adds three ships but only 360 berths to Silversea’s inventory, brining the total number of lower berths to 2,268, or about 25% more than Seabourn.
While Silversea will be up to eight ships, including the three expedition ships, Seabourn’s fleet will be streamlined to just four Seabourn Odyssey class ships after it disposes of its smaller 212-berth trio to Windstar Cruises. Seabourn Pride is to become Star Pride in April 2014, Seabourn Legend will follow as Star Legend one year later and Seabourn Spirit will become Star Spirit in May 2015.

Seabourn Pride in Malaga. She will become Star Pride in April 2014

These timings also mean that Seabourn will be at three ships for a year before the latest newbuilding enters service in 2016.
Ironically, the three Seabourn ships will not be moving far as new owners Windstar Cruises are on Seattle’s Fourth Avenue, only a little over a mile away from Seabourn’s head office on Elliott Avenue, where they lodge with Holland America Line.
Windstar is a division of Xanterra Parks & Resorts, based in Greater Denver, in turn part of Denver-based Anschutz, while Seabourn is a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival Corp & PLC. Silversea is still family-owned and based in Monaco.
OTHER CRUISE NEWS
QE2 On The Way To Asia
The Dubai-based QE2 Shipping LLC last week announced the appointment of COSCO Shipyard Group to refurbish the former Cunard Transatlantic liner Queen Elizabeth 2 into a luxury floating hotel. In this £62m conversion, her 900 cabins are to be converted into 400 larger suites ranging from 650 to 1,600 square feet in size.
While the transformation is under way, memorabilia is to removed from the ship and stored in a secure warehouse in Singapore, to be reassembled after the renovation is complete.
Ownership of the Queen Elizabeth 2 has meanwhile been transferred to a consortium of investors in QE2 Shipping, which will also oversee the ship’s management as a hotel. The chairman of the new company, Khamis Juma Buamim, is as well chairman of Dubai’s Drydocks World LLC.

The ship has been at Dubai, where an initial idea to convert her into a floating hotel locally never went ahead, since 2008.

The ship has been at Dubai, where an initial idea to convert her into a floating hotel locally never went ahead, since 2008.
The QE2 has now been brought back to class with Lloyd’s Register and it is intended that she will soon depart from Dubai under her own power for COSCO’s Zhoushan shipyard, south of Shanghai, for her conversion work. She is then scheduled to be delivered as a floating hotel in 2015.
It had been hoped QE2 would leave Dubai in a “gala sail off” on Friday, with stops at Singapore and Hong Kong before arriving at the Chinese shipyard. At the moment, however, she is still in Dubai and the company has not yet provided any new timetable.
The winning bidder, COSCO Shipyard Group, is a joint venture between China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) and Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine. The group specializes in ship repair and conversion, newbuilding and offshore unit construction. Three other Chinese shipyard groups were also invited to tender. Khamis Juma Buamim said: “No other ship can match the QE2’s prestige, or her legacy.
She is an absolute icon of maritime history, one of the best and most powerful ships in the world. Therefore, our decision on a partner was critical. We are pleased to be working closely with COSCO Shipyard for the technical repair and refurbishment process, which will be carried out with the utmost respect to the QE2’s heritage and splendour.”

Sun Princess

Although, this will be the first cruise such conversion project in a Chinese shipyard, Sembcorp has done similar work at its Sembawang shipyard in Singapore, one of Asia’s best-known shipyards for passenger ship work.
The recent modernization by Sembawang of Princess Cruises’ 1,950-berth Sun Princess for the Japanese market was successful enough that Princess Cruises has awarded a further project to Sembawang for modernization of its 2,674-berth Diamond Princess, work on which is to commence in March.
Meanwhile, under the title “Project New Life,” seven international firms have been invited to submit design proposals for the QE2’s interior refurbishment. Proposals from US companies BG Studio, Jerde Partnership and Wilson Associates, UK-based Benoy, the Finnish firm Dsign Vertti Kivi, Italy’s Santarossa and Singapore’s Ong & Ong will be showcased on the official QE2 website for public review between October 15 and November 15, 2013. The winning proposal will be announced on November 30.

QE2

Daniel Chui, president and chief executive of QE2 Shipping and managing director of Oceanic Group of Singapore, partners in the conversion, said: “The ship’s redevelopment is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any interior design professional to create what will become one of Asia’s major waterfront tourist attractions. The goal for the final design is to preserve the soul of the QE2 – many of the original furnishings and much of the décor will be incorporated – while creating a modern luxury hotel. The key to this project is to keep the essence of the QE2. It’s an iconic ship that still has a lot of emotion attached to it.”
Other work will see a revamp of the ballroom as well as the refitting of seven restaurants, ten lounges, a cinema, a maritime museum displaying QE2 memorabilia and a shopping mall. The future location of QE2 in Asia following the refurbishment has not yet been announced.

Carnival Cruise Lines’ ship in Long Beach. In the background the Queen Mary (Photo A. Newman)

The former 70,327-ton former Cunard flagship carried almost 2.5 million passengers and completed more than 700 Atlantic crossings during her forty-year career with Cunard Line. The 81.237–ton Queen Mary of 1936, is now a floating hotel at Long Beach, California, while the 83,673–ton Queen Elizabeth of 1940 burned at Hong Kong in January 1972 while being converted into a floating university.
Cunard Line’s present flagship, the 148,528-ton Queen Mary 2, which marks ten years in service in 2014, is the fourth Cunard Transatlantic Queen.
Anthem of the Seas For Southampton?
Rumours have been making the rounds for the past few weeks suggesting that the company may be about to unveil the employment of Anthem of the Seas, the second unit in its 167,800-ton Quantum class, from Southampton in the Spring of 2015, when she is scheduled for delivery from Meyer Werft in Germany.
If true this will give the UK its first North Star pod, whose design is apparently based on those on the Millennium Wheel in London.

Independence of the Seas

For a while, future berth reservations for the French port of Le Havre showed Anthem of the Seas arriving from Southampton in 2015 or heading for Southampton after calling at the French port. Not featuring in the same advance 2015 lists is the Independence of the Seas, the current Southampton-based ship, although the 3,114-berth Adventure of the Seas, which is also operating a series of cruises from the UK this year, is included.
It seems the Le Havre lists have now been switched back from Anthem to Independence but that may just be to keep a cover on the news.
The reported 2015 Anthem itineraries reflect those now being operated by the Independence of the Seas so it could well be that Royal Caribbean International is planning for the 4,100-berth Anthem to replace the 3,634–berth Independence, thus upping the berth capacity on its main UK-based ship by 12.5%.
At the same time, Royal Caribbean would be pipping out P&O’s new Britannia, which at 141,000 tons and 3,600 berths will be smaller than either Royal Caribbean ship, as the largest ship based in the UK. Britannia will also be slightly smaller than Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 at any rate, but Anthem of the Seas would definitely usurp both as the largest ship calling on Southampton.

Britannia. The new P&O flagship. The 141,000-ton 3,611-berth cruise ship is scheduled to enter service in March 2015

Nevertheless, it would be an interesting day when all of Anthem of the Seas, Queen Mary 2 and Britannia are all in Southampton together, as among them the three ships can carry in excess of 10,000 passengers.
On another point, the Quantum class vessels have been designed as “winter ships,” with what would be outdoor activities on most ships taking place instead under a glass roof. The class also features more multi-functionality of indoor areas than most other ships do.
This raises another interesting question, as while Independence of the Seas served year-round from Southampton at first, more recently her winter departures have been cut back. Perhaps the Anthem could be a return to year-round cruising from the UK for Royal Caribbean.
Quantum of the Seas, lead unit of the class, is scheduled to operate out of Bayonne, New Jersey, from late 2014, when she is due to be completed. New York too requires winterized ships for year-round service, something that has been developing in a number of areas over the past decade of so.
Without disclosing any details, meanwhile, Royal Caribbean International has scheduled a media event to be held in London on November 21.
(Kevin Griffin is managing director of specialist cruise agency The Cruise People Ltd in London, England. For further information concerning cruises mentioned in this article readers can visit his blog)

How Berlitz Rates The Ships For 2014 – Other Cruise News: Star Orders New Ship From Meyer Werft – Seven New Names

by Kevin Griffin
Last week we announced the arrival of the 2014 issue of the Berltz Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships by Douglas Ward. This week, we have a look at how the new guide rates those ships, with the top five scores in each category. Elsewhere, after standing by the sidelines for several years while concentrating on its half-interest in Norwegian Cruise Line, Genting has finally ordered a large new cruise ship for its Star Cruises operation. And among them, NCL, AIDA and Royal Caribbean have together revealed seven new cruise ship names.
THIS WEEK’S STORY
How Berlitz Rates The Ships For 2014
Last week we revealed that the 2014 Berlitz Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships had awarded Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Europa 2 the top rating, the first new ship to claim the title in fourteen years. Other ships that have held this honour have included the Royal Viking Sea (now Albatros), Royal Viking Sun (now Prinsendam) and Sagafjord (sold for breaking up last year). In this year’s guide, five completely new ships area also reviewed for the first time.
It’s the first time since 1989 that two ships belonging to the same company (Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Europa and Europa 2) have achieved a 5-star-plus rating – the last time, twenty-four years ago, it was Royal Viking Line’s Royal Viking Sea and Royal Viking Sky.

Berlitz Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2014

Some interesting findings from the 2014 guide:
- eleven out of the top twelve 5/5-star-plus cruise ships are in the small (251-750 passengers) or boutique-sized (50-250 passengers) categories, proof that good things come in small packages.
- half of the top ten large ships (more than 1,750 passengers) belong to Celebrity Cruises. These are of course their Solstice class vessels.
- Cunard Line’s three Queens comprise the three top-rated large ships – Queen Mary 2 (in Grill Class), Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria.
- Seabourn dominates the combined small and boutique ships categories, with six vessels in the top twenty, namely Seabourn Quest, Odyssey, Sojourn, Legend, Spirit and Pride (but none scoring in the top five in either category – see below).
- five of the top ten are Silversea vessels.
The compete rankings for the top five ships in each category (scores are out of 2,000) are:

How Berlitz Rates The Ships For 2014: the compete rankings for the top five ships in each category (scores are out of 2,000)

Only five of the twenty ships named, namely those of Cunard and Celebrity in the large ships sector, are owned by one of the big three cruise ship groupings. Cunard is part of Carnival Corp & plc (which also owns upmarket boutique and small ship operator Seabourn, now run by Holland America) while Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd owns Celebrity.
Also interesting is the fact that none of the all-inclusive Regent Seven Seas ships appears here, although the two newest ships from its non-all-inclusive affiliate Oceania Cruises do.
A new App version of the Guide is also now available for Apple devices and can be used as a perfect cruise planning tool. Filter and search options help potential cruisers choose a vessel and voyage according to their needs. Criteria include cuisine, entertainment, accommodation, size of ship and many others.
Expanded from 704 to 752 pages, and now in its 29th year, the 2014 Berlitz Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships  (£17.99 in the UK, $24.99 in North America) as well as an eBook, will be available in November through Amazon and reputable bookstores. The corresponding App is available from Apple through the iTunes App store.
OTHER CRUISE NEWS
Star Orders New Ship From Meyer Werft
Genting Hong Kong has entered into an agreement with Meyer Werft shipyard for the construction of a new 3,364-berth 1150,000-ton cruise ship for its Star Cruises operation. Valued at €707 million euro, the new vessel will be designed to cater for the unique demands of Asian clientele, in particular China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Superstar Gemini (Ex Norwegian Dream, ex Dreamward)

The last ship to be added to the Star fleet was the 1,532–berth Superstar Gemini, the former Norwegian Dream, which entered service for Star at the end of last year, but despite a $50 million refit, this ship is now twenty years old.
She has been based at Shanghai this summer and this week begins cruising from Sanya on Hainan Island to ports in Vietnam.
Star’s largest ship is the 1,974-berth Superstar Virgo, which entered service in 1999, and along with sister ship Superstar Leo (now Norwegian Spirit) was one of the ships that started the whole Freestyle Cruising idea, with multiples choices and times for dining venues.

SuperStar Virgo in Singapore – Photo Stefano Fermi

Other Star cruise ships include the 1,529-berth Superstar Aquarius (ex-Norwegian Wind) and 1,418-berth Superstar Libra (ex-Norwegian Sea). Another ship, the 1,009-berth former Viking Line cruise ferry Star Pisces, refurbished earlier this year, offers 1-night overnight dining and gambling cruises from Hong Kong.
Although Star is currently the market leader in the Asia-Pacific region, with five ships, it is facing tougher competition than ever before from the likes of Royal Caribbean, Costa and Princess, who have all established Asian subsidiaries and sent several large ships to exploit the local market.
Seven New Names
Norwegian Escape (delivery October 2015) and Norwegian Bliss (delivery early 2017) are the names chosen for the two new 163,000-ton Breakaway Plus ships ordered from Meyer Werft by Norwegian Cruise Line. A third ship, the 143,500-ton Norwegian Getaway (delivery January 2014) is also under construction at Meyer Werft for year-round service from Miami.

AIDA Cruises has announced AIDAprima as the name of the first of two 125,000-ton ships now under construction at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan.

AIDA Cruises has meanwhile announced AIDAprima as the name of the first of two 125,000-ton ships now under construction at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan.
She will sail year-round from Hamburg on 7-night European Capitals cruises to Southampton (for London), Le Havre (for Paris), Zeebrugge (for Brussels) and Rotterdam (for Amsterdam and The Hague).
Her maiden voyage will be an 86-day cruise leaving Yokohama on March 22, 2015, for Hamburg, where she will arrive on June 16. This largest of German cruise ships will attract a lot of attention at the 39 ports in 22 countries where she will call.
Meanwhile, over at Royal Caribbean International, four names have been held aside for new ships. Royal Caribbean is building a third Oasis class ship at STX France (delivery June 2016) and also has under construction at Meyer Werft in Germany three ships of the Quantum class, whose first two names have been assigned as Quantum of the Seas (delivery late 2014) and Anthem of the Seas (delivery March 2015).
The third is to be delivered in May 2016.
Which of the new Oasis class and Quantum class ships will get these names we don’t know, but the names are Ovation of the Seas, Passion of the Seas, Pulse of the Seas and Vantage of the Seas. We can’t say that we particularly like Pulse of the Seas – will Bean of the Seas be next?
(Kevin Griffin is managing director of specialist cruise agency The Cruise People Ltd in London, England. For further information concerning cruises mentioned in this article readers can visit his blog)