Tag Archives: Asia

Marella Cruises will offer voyages to Canada

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A new 14-night East Coast Adventure sailing, departing Port Canaveral in October 2023 and calling at Newport, Bar Harbor, Saint John, Sydney, Halifax and Boston, will go on sale on 21 July, along with the line’s full winter 2023 programme. 

Speaking to TTG on Tuesday (28 June), managing director of cruise at Tui UK and Ireland Chris Hackney said the new itineraries will “bring North America to life”.

“It’s a great time of year to go to Canada, and we’re really excited to go there for the first time,” he added.

“We’re going to different parts of the US and offering a nice range of options. It brings to life the different destinations, whether it be the south, the north, it will be very appealing to customers and it will help tick off those bucket-list holidays.”

Discovery will also offer a 12-night Stateside Discovery sailing, departing Port Canaveral and calling at Miami, New Orleans, the Dominican Republic and Barbados.

Meanwhile, the line’s newest ship, Marella Voyager, will offer three Caribbean itineraries from Barbados in winter 2023, including an eight-night Paradise Islands sailing in November 2023, which calls at Tortola, Saint Maarten, Saint Kitts, Antigua and Dominica.

Elsewhere, Marella Discovery II will homeport in Singapore and offer a 14-night Eastern Experience sailing, calling at Laem Chabang, Phu My, Malacca, Langkawi and Patong Bay.

“We have operated in Asia in the past, but this time we will homeport out of Singapore, where the ship will overnight, giving customers the opportunity to experience the destination in the day and the evening,” Hackney added.

“In the past, we have received really good feedback from customers on being in a place like Singapore, where you’re centrally located in such a vibrant city, so we think it will go down really well.

“Everything is really exciting, and these new itineraries allow us to bring in some new destinations, we have a lot of customers who ask when we’re going back to Asia and it’s great to be able to bring it back for next winter for customers to see some fantastic parts of the world.”

Norwegian Cruise Line Could Be Set To Move Some Asia Capacity

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With uncertainties still surrounding operating cruises in parts of Asia, Norwegian Cruise Line could be poised to redeploy ships in the near future, according to NCLH President and CEO Frank Del Rio, speaking on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

Despite what Del Rio said were cruises selling at very high prices, there is still a risk.

“And so we will likely take some chips off the board in the coming weeks to balance that risk-reward, likely at the Norwegian brand, which has more flexibility in where it can achieve good pricing and accelerate the bookings, much faster than Oceania and Regent can, because of the longer booking curve there,” Del Rio said.

The Norwegian Sun has a scheduled Asia program for the 2022-2023 season, while the newly-refurbished Norwegian Spirit is scheduled to sail in Australia and New Zealand.

“The good news is that we heard from the Minister of Tourism in New Zealand that they expect New Zealand to open up no later than October to cruising. That opens up that whole Australasia area for us (including) Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti. And we hear good commentary coming out of some Asian countries, some Asian ports, (but) not China. And we’re not very big in China as you know,” he continued.

Del Rio said he was hopeful for Asia and also South America, where Argentina, Uruguay and Chile will be open to ships.

“The world is reopening perhaps at different paces. But it is reopening. And that’s good news for us.”

Hong Kong Bans All Cruises for Next 2 Weeks

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Hong Kong has announced the introduction of new COVID-19 restrictions, which include bans on incoming flights from eight countries, weekend indoor dining, banning of all cruises and more.

The two big cruise lines that operate in Hong Kong have already reacted to the new regulations by cancelling their cruises.

Royal Caribbean Hong Kong has issued an update through their social media channels that said the Jan. 6, Jan. 9, Jan. 12, Jan. 14 and Jan. 17 cruises on the Spectrum of the Seas have all been cancelled due to the authorities’ update.

“We fully expect to welcome back our guests onboard Spectrum’s Jan. 21 cruise,” the cruise line said.

Guests affected by the cancellations are invited to either transfer to a later sailing or apply for a full refund.

Dream Cruises said it’s cancelling all itineraries between Jan. 9 and Jan. 19 due to the government directive.

Affected guests are invited to either transfer, receive a future cruise credit with additional onboard credit or cancel receiving a full monetary refund.

“This cancellation is due to the government’s directive and not as a result of any COVID-19 related incidents on board the ship,” the cruise line said.