Tag Archives: Belfast

Ambassador Cruise Line Is Britain’s New Cruise Operator

Posted on by
Reply

Ambassador Cruise Line is launching service with its new Ambience, set to be followed by the Ambition in 2023.

Highlights of the ship’s inaugural season, according to Head of Destination Management Michelle Lupino told Cruise Industry News. Include the 12-night Round Britain and Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration departing May 26; a 34-night Grand Canada, Greenland and Iceland Experience departing on Sept. 12; and the 42-night Escape the Winter Cuba and Treasures of the Caribbean voyage sailing on Jan. 5.

“These destinations have been picked for their diversity, popularity and leaning towards longer duration voyages with a blend of marquee and more remote and less-visited ports of call,” Lupino noted.

‘Careful’

Lupino said that every Ambassador itinerary involves “careful consideration and planning.”

 Itinerary creation includes a variety of elements such as a “balance of ports versus time at sea, destination highlights, destination infrastructure, availability, costs and more.”

Ambassador’s itineraries range from two to 42 nights and cover various regions.

“Sailings closer to home may allow us to include more ports within the cruise duration, however, we must be mindful of the length of stays and if they will give a full guest experience,” she said. “Longer cruises require in-depth review, time zone changes to consider and a variety of regulations and requirements, so they can take more time to plan while we consider all the factors to include established favourites interspersed with new destinations.”

Port Selection

When creating itineraries, Ambassador factors in what ports will appeal to its guests, the availability and suitability for the ships, sailing times, speeds, fuel requirements and the seasons that give the best experience and will create consumer demand.

A successful itinerary offers both a range of destinations and enough time to enjoy the onboard experiences.

“While we recognize destinations are key to our itineraries, we want to ensure our guests also enjoy scenic cruising of rivers and fjords, providing a balance of time at sea and ashore. Successful itineraries create consumer demand for Ambassador, and we look to receive feedback from guests that will confirm demand for our future plans,” Lupino noted.

Ambassador’s first ship, the Ambience, will soon be joined by a second ship, the Ambition in 2023, which is the former AIDAmira.

“The Ambition, like her sister ship the Ambience, will offer no-fly sailings, part of our core brand offering. In addition to London Tilbury, she will also offer a summer 2023 program of regional departures from ports such as Newcastle, Dundee, Belfast, Liverpool, Bristol and Falmouth, enabling guests across the UK to have a shorter distance to travel to the ship,” said Lupino.

Having both the 1,590-passenger Ambience and 1,428-passenger Ambition operate from regional ports will give Ambassador’s guests “a greater choice of sailings and ships on which to enjoy them,” she added.

Lupino told Cruise Industry News that the full 2023-2024 itinerary program for the Ambience and Ambition was expected to be announced in the second quarter of 2022.

Port space as the industry grows is a concern for ambassadors.

“Many regions have limited cruising seasons, and so availability is always something that we are aware may cause us to reconsider our programs. many ports of call are now introducing ‘out of season’ possibilities which we are happy to consider if they fit within our plans.” 

Photo: Ambience in Valletta (Photo: Valletta Cruise Port)

P&O and Cunard to Drydock at Harland & Wolff

Posted on by
Reply

Harland & Wolff has been awarded a drydock contract for two cruise ships from P&O Cruises and Cunard.

The two Carnival Corporation ships will drydock for a total of 33 days as the Aurora and Queen Victoria will both visit the Belfast facility.

They are two of a projected 24 Carnival Corporation ships to drydock in the second quarter.

The work due to being undertaken on both ships are standard drydocking operations that will give Harland & Wolff the opportunity to demonstrate to the wider cruise industry, its skills, capabilities and expertise in these types of projects, the company said, in a press release

The Queen Victory will drydock from May 2 to 19 and will be the largest cruise ship ever to have drydocked in a UK shipyard and the only Cunard ship to have ever drydocked in Belfast.

The Aurora will visit from June 9 to 23.

Harland & Wolff, group CEO John Wood, commented: “When acquiring the assets of Harland and Wolff (Belfast) in December 2019 and in a pre-pandemic period, the cruise industry was one of our key target markets.

“Our facilities are ideally placed to capitalize on these types of large projects whilst we continue servicing our smaller but regular clients. We have now secured contracts in four out of our five markets; commercial, cruise & ferry, renewables and energy – we now look forward to completing the final milestone of securing a defence contract in the near future.”

Carnival UK, vice-president maritime David Varty said: “We are delighted to be able to have these two ships at a UK shipyard with such a long heritage and reputation and we very much look forward to supporting the UK maritime industry and working closely with the Harland & Wolff team on this project.”

Third Princess Ship Resumes Service as Sky Princess to Sail From Southampton

Posted on by
Reply

The Sky Princess is the third Princess Cruises ship to resume revenue service.

Based in the United Kingdom, the vessel is departing Southampton today, starting its “Summer Seacation” program.

The Sky Princess is offering a four-night cruise the first in a series of domestic UK cruises, which will run through late September. Along with the Regal Princess, the Sky Princess is now offering scenic voyages and regular cruises around the country, ranging from three to seven nights.

The itineraries include stops in ports such as Liverpool, in England; Belfast, in Northern Ireland; Greenock, in Scotland; and more.

After the UK program, the vessel is set to return to Port Everglades. Starting in November, the ship is sailing three-, five-, seven- and 14-day cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

A Royal-class ship, the Sky Princess entered service in 2019 and was said to be an evolution to the platform used for previous Royal-class ships, the Royal, Regal and Majestic Princess.

The new and enhanced features include a digitally enhanced escape room called the Phantom Bridge and the Wakeview pool located on the ship’s aft decks. Other changes are a new café, redesigned lounges, additional Jacuzzis, and the new Sky Suites.

Featuring the largest continuous private balconies at sea ever offered by any cruise line, the two Sky Suites have a sleeping capacity for five guests and are located on one of the ship’s highest decks.

The 143,700 ton, 3,660-guest ship was also the first in the fleet to be built from the ground up with the Ocean Guest Experience Platform, powered by Princess’s MedallionClass technology. 

With the Sky Princess now in service, three Princess Cruises vessels have resumed guest operations. The first ship to welcome passengers back was the Majestic Princess, which launched a series of Alaska cruises on July 25.

A few days later, on July 31, the Regal Princess started to offer domestic sailings in the UK.

Princess is now preparing its return to the Caribbean, Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, Hawaii the California Coast. By November 28, a total of eight ships will be sailing to those destinations from Port Everglades, Los Angeles and San Francisco.