Mexico: Acapulco: Calls and Homeporting

Posted on 10 January, 2018 by Spacejunkie2

Norwegian Sun in Acapulco.

Thirty calls are scheduled for the 2017-2018 season for Acapulco. That is a slight dip from last year because Holland America cancelled eight calls when Carnival Corporation did not conduct its destination site inspection, despite being invited by the port, explained Alex Casarrubias, port director. “We are confident that once Carnival, as well as Royal Caribbean, visit our destination, their ships will return,” he said.

“Our top client is Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings with Norwegian, Oceana and Regent,” Casarrubias continued. “Last year we also added the Magellan and Astor of Cruise & Maritime Voyages.

“The Magellan will homeport in Acapulco for three months, starting in February 2019.”

Acapulco was also a homeport in 2010 and 2011 and has since accommodated a number of turnarounds. This season, 90 percent of its traffic is transit calls and 10 percent turnarounds, but those percentages will change next season.

Recent turnarounds for Phoenix Reisen’s Albatros and Artania meant that passengers flew directly to Acapulco from England and Germany.

Casarrubias pointed out that nonstop airlift from Los Angeles started in December and that nonstop flights from Montreal and Toronto are starting in January.

Meanwhile, the Acapulco Cruise Committee’s priority continues to be to showcase Acapulco as a safe destination with top-notch infrastructure and services, he said. “We are in constant communication with the cruise lines and our main priority right now is to get Carnival to do its site inspection so they can confidently resume their cruise operation in our port.”

Passengers will find a “renewed” Acapulco. Grupo Autofin’s $1 billion master plan includes renovations of the Pierre Mundo Imperial and Princess Mundo Imperial resorts, as well as a number of new developments – hotels, shops, restaurants, spas, an eco-amusement park, a tennis stadium, a medical center and more, slated to be completed between now and 2022.

This year will also see the inauguration of a new terminal at the airport.

The most obvious attraction is Acapulco’s stunning landscape, according to Casarrubias, with its lush green mountains and sandy white beaches, in addition to its well-developed tourism infrastructure.

WATCH: Carnival’s New Marketing Video Best of Recent Cruise Line Commercials

Posted on 9 January, 2018 by Spacejunkie2

Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Cruise Line released a new marketing video on its YouTube page today, breaking down what a vacation onboard its ships is all about, and it does so in a refreshingly down-to-earth way, particularly compared to the recent commercials released by competing cruise companies.

Carnival’s spot, embedded below, is relaxed, emphasizing its playful philosophy and history of delivering on its promise of “fun for all” and “all for fun.” It presents a welcome antidote to our lives that are often “too fast” and just “too much.” It even takes a note from the McDonald’s playbook, sharing that it has provided joy for 60 million guests and counting, but the commercial is anything but fast food-like in its approach.

In fact, the video is slow-paced and focused on friends and family. After all, Carnival was indeed started by Ted Arison and passed down to his son Micky Arison. They believe that all people, not just the well-off, have a right to fun, and to have as much of it while on earth, and the commercial perfectly says Carnival is exactly where they can find it.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/BGsWdEoKUYw?rel=0

Comparatively, Royal Caribbean International’s latest commercials are much shorter for television and cram as much in as possible. They speak to a millennial crowd, of which I am included, and they mostly succeed, even though the song in the one below is rather headache-inducing. This variety grabs your attention but sustains on a different level and definitely speaks less to relaxation.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s one below comes somewhere in between with a Pitbull soundtrack that leaves more room to breathe in between the beats. The lifestyle presented is certainly youth-friendly without forgetting older generations and both demographics’ need for some negative space in a vacation as well. The “Feel Free” tagline is a good fit for the brand and for a broad target audience.

FEMA Carnival Charter Cost $74.7 Million

Posted on 8 January, 2018 by Spacejunkie2

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) charter of the Carnival Fascination will cost the agency $74.7 million, according to the contract between FEMA and Carnival Corporation, which was obtained by Cruise Industry News through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The ship was chartered to provide housing for relief staff in the United States Virgin Islands following a number of hurricanes in September.

The charter period runs from October 11, 2017, to February 3, 2018, at a cost of $39.7 million, while a separate provision for port costs and other vessel costs comes in at $35 million, totalling $74.7 million.

By comparison, a 116-day operating period for the 2,056-guest Carnival Fascination would have resulted in gross revenue of approximately $44.2 million (versus the $39.7 million for the charter), calculated using gross revenue per passenger day reported by Carnival Corporation in the fourth quarter of 2016 and analyzed by Cruise Industry News.

By comparison, FEMA chartered the Grand Celebration in a similar deal for $25.8 million.

The contract stipulates Carnival will provide three hot and cold buffet meals per day as well as drink availability (water, coffee, tea, juice) between meals. Staterooms will be cleaned on a weekly basis. In addition, Carnival will provide access to public spaces for FEMA personnel.

The separate $35 million line item includes docking and port fees in San Juan, various logistics provisions, waste removal, fuel costs, incremental costs related to crew compensation, and the “refurbishment of the ship at the end of the charter period to bring the ship to the same standards as the beginning of the charter period.”