About Spacejunkie2

I love all things Cruise and add that to my hobby Photography I'm in dreamland, I'm an exTravel agency owner with the inside contacts, so I will try to keep you updated in all things travel related with a side serving of images and other maritime stories.

German Market Growth to be Driven by TUI

Posted on 2 May, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

Mein Schiff 3 photo credit Spacejunkie2 (flickr)

The cruise brands catering to the national German market have an estimated capacity of 2.1 million passengers (double occupancy) in 2023, forecast to grow to 2.5 million by 2020, according to the 2023 Cruise Industry News Annual Report.

The growth will mainly be driven by TUI Cruises which will launch three new ships over the time period, boosting its annual passenger capacity from approximately 600,000 to nearly 1 million.

TUI is focused on the German premium market along with Phoenix Reisen and Plantours. In the luxury segment are Hapag-Lloyd and Sea Cloud.

AIDA is the largest national brand today with an estimated annual passenger capacity of about 1.4 million, but has no new builds on order, and barring any further retirements of ships, will maintain its position, dominating the contemporary market segment.

These brands offer a German-language products. In addition, other European brands also market in Germany, including MSC and Costa, as well as North America-based brands.

Germany is the single largest national cruise market in Europe.

Norwegian Cruise Occupancy Ramp Accelerates to Above 100%

Posted on 2 May, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings had an average load factor of 101.5 per cent in the first quarter, according to company executives speaking on the corporation’s first quarter earnings call.

“We reached load factors of 101.5 per cent in the first quarter, exceeding our guidance and breaking triple-digit levels for the first time in three years with some voyages exceeding occupancy above 115 per cent,” said Harry Sommer, incoming president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.

“With this significant achievement, we have also nearly closed the occupancy gap versus 2019 levels,” he said.

For the second quarter, Sommer said he expects 105 per cent occupancy on average across the fleet.

“This average is slightly below 2019 levels as a result of our strategic shift to longer, more immersive itinerary at the Norwegian Cruise Line brand, naturally resulting in fewer thirds and fourths, which is what historically pushes passenger occupancy above the 100 per cent mark, all while enhancing margin over time,” he explained.

Most Recent Occupancy Rates:

Q1 2022: 48%
Q2 2022: 65%
Q3 2022: 81%
Q4 2022: 87%

Resco Launches New Itinerary Planner Module

Posted on 29 April, 2023 by Spacejunkie2

Resco has launched a new itinerary planner tool, which the company said is a new revolutionary tool that enables the planning department to plan cruise itineraries well in advance based on various factors related to the ship, ports, sea routes and fuel.

“It allows you to manage itineraries of a ship for an entire season from a single dashboard,” according to a company statement.

The new software module allows cruise lines to select the most appropriate routes between ports, considering fuel consumption and cost, distance, ETA, canals and straits, special zones and fuel types.

It also allows the user to manipulate segments to decide on the most optimal itinerary, by altering ETD/ETA, adding or reducing sea days or port stay duration, inserting, removing or replacing ports, choosing an alternative route or using a radius port search.

It can also effectively manage port status and agent collaboration, by raising and tracking berth reservation and port cost-info requests with port agencies.