Tag Archives: Carnival Corporation

Royal Caribbean Cruises to buy Adonia from P&O Cruises

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Royal Caribbean Cruises to buy Adonia from P&O Cruises

Azamara Club Cruises is to buy P&O Cruises’ ship Adonia, taking its fleet to three ships.

The 30,000-ton ship will join Royal Caribbean Cruises’ upmarket Azamara fleet in March 2018.

It will be renamed Azamara Pursuit and will join two similar-sized ships – Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest.

The 704-passenger ship will undergo refurbishment before Azamara takes delivery. Information about deployment and itineraries will be released in October.

Adonia’s last cruise for P&O will be on February 23 to March 9 starting and ending in Barbados.

Guests booked on any Adonia cruises after March 2018 will be contacted directly either by P&O Cruises or their travel agent.

Adonia returned to P&O’s fleet in Southampton in June after a year on secondment to social impact brand Fathom when it ran the first US sailings from Miami to Cuba in 50 years.

Most recently, the adults-only ship has been running a series of “discovery” itineraries with P&O, including a seven-night cruise to Bordeaux, Honfleur and Guernsey.

P&O Cruises senior vice president Paul Ludlow said: “During her time with us Adonia has captured the hearts of many thousands of P&O Cruises guests. She has ventured into new ports of call around the globe and has negotiated Icelandic Fjords, European rivers and Caribbean coves. We will ensure that these discovery itineraries are continued on other ships in the fleet.

“With almost six months until Adonia leaves the fleet, we will ensure that each of the cruises in her final season with us are extra special and celebratory.”

President and chief executive of Azamara Club Cruises Larry Pimental said: “We are pleased to expand our portfolio by 50%, allowing us to visit even more regions of the world through the acquisition of this sister ship.

“Our loyal guests and travel partners have asked for this expansion for a long time; we are very pleased to deliver this to them.”

Last year, Pimentel described extra capacity in the luxury cruise sector as “too much, too quick and too fast” and warned it would drive down prices.

Earlier this month Silversea Cruises announced it would launch a new ship in 2020 and unveiled plans to build two more.

Ritz-Carlton also revealed its plans to enter the cruise sector with three yachts, while Celebrity Cruises has three ships on order, Ponant has four, and Crystal Cruises, Scenic, Seabourn and Star Clippers also have new vessels set to launch.

Carnival Announces Digital Streaming Channel

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Carnival Announces Digital Streaming Channel

PHOTO: A Carnival Cruise Line ship in Galveston Harbor. (photo via Flickr/Jerry and Pat Donaho)

The Carnival Corporation announced Monday it is launching the world’s first over-the-top digital streaming channel from a travel provider.

OceanView will be completely free to access on land and at sea and will feature a unique mix of travel content for viewers around the world. Original shows from Carnival’s OceanView channel are now available on major digital streaming platforms Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku.

The OceanView channel will be found on the Ocean.com website and more than half of the Carnival Corporation’s 103 cruise ships by late October. The digital streaming channel will feature more than 100 Ocean Original episodes, including the company’s four original series and its two direct-to-digital streaming series.

Carnival will celebrate the official availability of OceanView Thursday and will also demonstrate its new PlayOcean interactive gaming platform, which includes two new mobile apps and onboard, location-based experiences for guests.

“One of the great things about our cruise vacations is that we connect people, places and cultures around the world through extraordinary experiences on state-of-the-art ships to more than 760 global destinations – and over the past year we have been bringing that unique experience to life through original storytelling that breaks perceptions by showcasing why cruise holidays are the fastest-growing segment of the vacation sector,” Carnival Corporation chief experience and innovation officer John Padgett said in a statement. “Our original programming is already a big hit on network and cable TV. With the launch of OceanView, we are excited about making our authentic experiences accessible to people around the world through digital media. Our ultimate goal is to continue generating broad awareness of cruising as a great vacation and exceptional value, and to inspire consumers to consider cruising as a vacation option.”

GO and Local Eyes, the two direct-to-digital streaming original series, will run 10 minutes per episode without commercials. GO follows explorer Trek Thunder Kelly on his many adventures using visually stunning cinematography, and Local Eyes explores unique destinations with the help of residents and host Anji Corley.

OceanView also includes programs from the company’s One Cruise Experience Access Network original content portfolio. Guests will be able to watch episodes of Vacation Creation”(ABC), Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin (ABC), The Voyager (NBC) and Good Spirits (A&E Networks).

AIDAnova Keel Laid

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Image result for aidanova cruise ship
AIDANova has had her Keel Laid at Meyer Werft Germany.

Carnival Corporation marked the official start of construction for a total of seven cruise ships that will be fully powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) with today’s keel laying of the AIDAnova at Meyer Werft in Germany.

The ship will be delivered to AIDA in late 2018.

n the presence of AIDA President Felix Eichhorn, Bernard Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft, and Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft, two trainees named Louisa Tröbner (AIDA Cruises) and Martin de Boer (Meyer Werft) placed the traditional lucky coin under the first of a total of 90 blocks.

AIDA President Felix Eichhorn said: “One of the main tasks AIDA Cruises sets itself is to make cruises sustainable. With AIDAnova and its sister ship, we are sticking to this course with our pioneering work. Thanks to our trailblazing green cruising design, the use of only LNG in the cruise industry will become a reality in 2018.”

Keel Laying

“We thank Carnival Corporation and AIDA Cruises very much for their trust and their pioneering decision to implement LNG technology on board. The corresponding infrastructure is now being developed at numerous ports. Carnival has made a decision benefiting the environment that is highly important for the cruise industry,” added Bernard Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft.

Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation, together with Bernard Meyer, CEO Meyer Werft, Michael Thamm, CEO Costa Group and Carnival Asia, David Dingle, Chairman Carnival UK (P&O Cruises UK), Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises, and Felix Eichhorn, President of AIDA Cruises, – gave the official “full steam ahead” signal, ringing in a new era of the commercial use of low-emission LNG in cruise travel. The seven LNG ships for cruise brands Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Carnival UK, and AIDA Cruises will be built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg (Germany) and Turku (Finland) and commissioned between 2018 and 2022.

In AIDAnova’s launch season, the ship will offer trips around the Canary islands.

starting in December 2018. Its twin ship with over 180,000 GT and 2,600 staterooms is set to be commissioned in the spring of 2021. Using LNG prevents almost completely