Liverpool cruise liner Black Watch scoops string of awards ahead of first transatlantic sailings to Canada in decades

Posted on 26 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Fred Olsen cruise liner, MS Black Watch at the Pier Head, Liverpool

Fred Olsen’s transatlantic Liverpool cruise liner Black Watch has scooped a string of awards voted for by passengers.

The ship, which will undertake a record 14 cruises from Liverpool’s Pier Head this year, topped three small ship categories in Cruise Critic’s prestigious UK Cruisers’ Cruise Awards 2015.

The 28,631 gross tons liner, which carries 804 passengers, was named best for service, best for shore excursions and best for value.

The awards are based on reviews submitted on the Cruise Critic website by UK-based holidaymakers who cruised during 2014.

Black Watch was built as Royal Viking Star for the now defunct five star-rated Royal Viking Line’s long distance ocean cruising, and will sail the first Liverpool – Canada transatlantic crossings since 1971 this year.

The spacious liner will undertake two return voyages from Liverpool Cruise Terminal to Canada in May and August, the first direct sailings to Canada since Canadian Pacific’s flagship SS Empress of Canada closed ocean liner services from her Liverpool homeport 43 years ago.

Nathan Philpot, sales and marketing director for Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, said: “At Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, we believe in providing the very best customer experience that we can on our cruise holidays, from start to finish. We are renowned for our ‘service with a smile’ on our smaller, more intimate ships, which is why 58% of cruise guests choose to return to the ‘friendliest fleet afloat’ each year – one of the highest repeat rates within the travel industry.

“We would like to thank all those valued cruise guests who voted for Fred Olsen, and we look forward to welcoming you on board with us again in the very near future.”

Black Watch’s cruise season from Liverpool begins next month with a 13-night sailing to the Canary Islands at Easter followed by a further 13 cruises, including a two-night Dublin mini-cruise in December, a 25 night voyage to the Adriatic and a journey through the Norwegian Fjords in May.

Her sister ship Boudicca was Fred Olsen’s previous Liverpool cruise liner.

Cuba cruise operator sees doubling of inquiries since rules relaxed

Posted on 10 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

The Louis Cristal sailing for Cuba Cruise in Havana.

The No. 1 operator of cruises to Cuba reported last week that phone inquiries had doubled since new U.S. regulations regarding travel to Cuba were issued two weeks ago, and 50% of the calls were coming from U.S. citizens.

Website traffic has tripled, said Dugald Wells, president and CEO of Calgary, Alberta-based Cuba Cruise.

Wells said that immediately following the surprise announcement of a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations, Cuba Cruise also saw an uptick in bookings from residents of Canada, its top market.

“In some part, we attribute that to people saying, ‘I want to see Cuba before it changes,’” Wells said.

Cuba Cruise is in its second season of sailings around Cuba, using the 35-year-old Louis Cristal, a ship it chartered from Cyprus-based Louis Cruises. The Cristal carries some 960 passengers at double occupancy. It is currently running about 60% capacity, which Wells described as “break-even territory in our second year of operations. Obviously we’d love to sail full.”

(At least one other cruise operator, Star Clippers, offers sailings from Cuba, but a spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.)

Cuba Cruise has a jump on numerous U.S.-based cruise companies that have to varying degrees expressed interest in sailing to Cuba, but until the U.S. government-imposed embargo is lifted, those lines have no immediate plans to start going there.

In a recent forum for travel agents on the Freedom of the Seas, Michael Bayley, president of Royal Caribbean International, said, “Obviously, the latest announcement about the liberalization of relations is of interest to us.”

But speed bumps lie ahead.

Bayley said Royal has a team studying the possibilities, but most of the ports in Cuba are incapable of handling ships of the size of the Freedom of the Seas. The one exception, he said, is Havana, but that port has serious infrastructure issues.

“At the moment, there’s effectively been no change for our industry,” said Bayley who estimated it might be three to five years before major cruise companies go to Cuba.

Operators of smaller ships are somewhat more optimistic. Edie Rodriguez, president of Crystal Cruises, said that if conditions were right, it would be relatively easy to add a port call in Cuba.

Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean’s president, said that most of the ports in Cuba are incapable of handling ships of the size of the Freedom of the Seas. The one exception, he said, is Havana, but that port has serious infrastructure issues.

“We’re able to switch itineraries very quickly,” Rodriguez said. “We’ll just swap out a port.”

But like other cruise executives, Rodriguez said the Cuban infrastructure was an obstacle. “The roads are so bad you’d have to go very slowly,” she said. “Our guests would not be happy about that.”

Wells agreed that the infrastructure lags. “Cristal is the biggest ship we can safely maneuver into and out of these ports we go to,” he said. “So we’re kind of limited in our future growth by the infrastructure.”

But some facilities are good, including a terminal in Havana that was upgraded for Pullmantur before the Spanish line was acquired by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and stopped sailing into Cuba.

And all the terminals in Cuba are well located, Wells said.

“These passenger terminals may be dated and frayed, but they’re right in the middle of town,” Wells said. “You walk off the ship and cross the road and you’re in that postcard with the cobblestone streets and the old American cars and the big churches. It’s fantastic.”

Currently, fewer than 5% of the passengers sailing with Cuba Cruise are U.S. citizens. Those who are come through two tour operators, Road Scholar and Insight Cuba, which have Treasury-approved people-to-people programs in one of 12 travel categories, such as education or athletics.

Previously, such trips involved detailed documentation, reporting and approval from Treasury officials. Now, under general licenses, there is less paperwork required.

“It’s much less onerous than it was, but you still need to be part of a group that is under the auspices of a [company] that operates such tours,” Wells said.

Cuba Cruise does offer a way to book directly through its website. However, after booking, travelers must register with the nonprofit Fund for Reconciliation and Development and receive back a participant letter of authorized travel. The cost is $75.

For agent bookings, Cuba Cruise has been paying 12% commission, but it is increasing that to 15% for the balance of its season through mid-March. It pays 8% on shore excursions.

Wells said he expected to be competitive even if Cuba opens to larger cruise companies.

“We’re focused on the destination,” he said. “We’re going into smaller ports. Our entertainment program is 90% Cuban and a couple of Canadian acrobats from Cirque du Soleil. We’re really working hard to present a program that is an authentic, somewhat in-depth exploration of Cuba as a destination.”

Cruise Lines Focus on Meetings at Sea

Posted on 11 November, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

Onboard meetings are a lucrative market for travel agents

Relatively few travel agents are sales specialists in the lucrative meetings market. That could change, however, as cruise lines increase their focus on attracting meetings business and develop specific tools and services to help agents tap into the market.

Meetings are big business in the U.S., according to a study released earlier this year by PricewaterhouseCoopers US. The study, which quantified the size of the U.S. meetings market in 2012 and updated a similar survey conducted in 2009, sized the market at 1.8 million meetings that drew 225 million participants and generated $280 billion in direct spending. The participant volume represented a 10 percent increase over the results in 2009.

Given the sheer scope of the market, it is no surprise that the cruise industry is embracing onboard meetings by designing vessels with state-of-the-art meeting space and high tech audio/visual capabilities that rival — or exceed — what is available at land-based resorts.

“Over the past several years, there has been an explosion in the popularity of conducting meetings and conferences at sea,” says Lori Cassidy, director of global corporate meetings, incentives and charters for Royal Caribbean International. “For the past three years, our line has shown consistent double-digit growth in group meetings at sea.”

Why the upswing in corporate and special interest bookings? When comparing a land-based resort to a similar-class cruise ship and including costs for meals, entertainment, presentation equipment and meeting space, an all-inclusive meeting on a cruise ship can shave 20 percent to 30 percent off the cost of the event.

“Cost savings are historically in the double-digit range, considering the wide scope of inclusive amenities and experiences aboard a cruise ship,” says Ron Gulaskey, global director of corporate, incentive and charter sales at Celebrity Cruises. “These benefits, along with the seamless support we offer agents both in selling tools and event planning, make meetings at sea a no-brainer.”

Tax breaks are a major incentive for businesses considering booking a meeting at sea. According to IRS tax codes, any ship that holds a meeting program within the North American region (including the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Pacific Islands, Canada and Mexico) will qualify for a tax deduction.

While this can become a major selling factor for agents whose clients are looking for the biggest bang for their meeting buck, there are many caveats to the tax code. The best approach is for agents to consult with the cruise line directly for clarification on applicable tax deductions — if that is the client’s goal.

Another major selling point is the novelty and fresh perspective a meeting at sea offers corporate clients.

“Taking people to an environment they don’t experience often or have never been to shifts their perspective altogether,” says Jo Kling, co-founder of Landry & Kling. “They’re not in a hotel ballroom, thinking: ‘Here we go again.’”

How to Get Started
There is considerable help available for agents interested in getting involved in booking meetings at sea.

One resource is the Landry & Kling. The company was founded in 1982 as a distribution channel linking the cruise industry and corporate America. Landry & Kling arranges meetings at sea for its own clients and works with travel agents who want assistance on booking onboard meetings based on a revenue sharing program. The company’s website contains numerous documents on tax implications and cost savings available to clients who book meetings at sea.

Inspirational Journeys, another company that specializes in arranging corporate meetings at sea, also has information on its website regarding tax implications of onboard meetings.

Travel agents can also get help from individual cruise lines.

Holland America Line (HAL) prides itself on taking a highly personalized, concierge-style approach to helping travel agents plan and sell meetings at sea, according to Eva Jenner, vice president, North America, of field, charter and incentive sales for HAL and Seabourn. One key service offered is a pre-cruise conference call with all critical shipboard managers, the booking travel agent and a representative of the client, to ensure that everything goes as planned onboard.

While the market for meetings at sea is booming, many travel agents are unaware of the meetings facilities and services available onboard.

“Perhaps the biggest challenge our cruise line faces is getting agents who haven’t sold a meeting at sea onboard a ship,” Cassidy says. “Once they see what we can bring to the table, they get it.”