Fathom to lose only ship as Adonia rejoins P&O fleet

Posted on 24 November, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

Small ship Adonia is to rejoin the P&O Cruises fleet in 2017 after just a year operating for US-based social impact sister brand Fathom.

Parent company Carnival Corporation confirmed that the 710-passenger vessel would be returning to Southampton-based P&O Cruises for next summer.

Adonia moved across to Fathom in May to launch the first US departures from Miami to Cuba in more than 50 years.

The ship was revamped during a period in dry dock in the Bahamas and has also been running alternate seven-day cruises to the Dominican Republic, using Amber Cove, Carnival Corporation’s dedicated port on the north of the Caribbean island.

The corporation announced earlier in the month that social impact excursions pioneered by Fathom brand in the Dominican Republic are to be extended to six of the group’s other cruise lines including P&O Cruises.

The shore trips include helping at a womens’ chocolate-making co-operative and at a craft-making business using recycled paper.

The company said at the time that it was also exploring additional opportunities globally and with sister brands to bring the Fathom concept on board and on shore to deliver “engaging, purposeful experiences” to a broader audience of travellers.

A spokesman said last night: “The Fathom experience has been expanded across our many Carnival Corporation brands sailing to the Dominican Republic and beyond, and the Adonia is being scheduled to sail in the UK for the summer season for our P&O guests.”

Fathom (P&O Adonia) visiting Cuba

Carnival Corporation has requested approval from Cuba to sail there with other brands from June 2017.

The spokesman said: “We plan to continue sailing to Cuba for many years to come based on the success of our first cruises to the country, which have proven extremely successful.

“Fathom continues to receive some of the highest ratings in the company based on guest surveys, and we hope to expand the Fathom experience to other markets in the future.”

However, demand for Fathom’s Cuba cruises outstripped interest for the Dominican Republic sailings.

Prices for sailings to Amber Cove have been discounted from $449 to $299 for an outside cabin for departures up until May 21, 2017, while the lowest priced Cuba sailings currently cost $999 for an inside cabin.

P&O Cruises senior vice president Paul Ludlow said: “The Fathom experience has been expanded across our many Carnival Corp brands sailing to the Dominican Republic and beyond and we are extremely pleased to have Adonia, our well loved small ship, here for our guests beginning with the summer season, sailing a range of discovery itineraries.”

Carnival CEO says Trump likely to be pro-business

Posted on 17 November, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald with Travel Weekly editor in chief Arnie Weissmann at CruiseWorld. Photo Credit: Jamie Biesiada

Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald said that the election of Donald Trump as president has the potential to be good for the cruise industry, but he also said he hopes that Trump will do “the right thing” internationally.

Donald made the comment during a conversation with Travel Weekly editor in chief Arnie Weissmann at CruiseWorld, an annual Travel Weekly event in Fort Lauderdale that brings together travel agents and travel suppliers.

Asked by Weissmann for his response to the election, Donald quoted Secretary of State John Kerry, who several years ago said that there are no winners or losers after a U.S. presidential election. “The next morning we all wake up as Americans” who work on problems together, Donald said.

More specifically, Donald said, “On the surface, President Trump will be pro-business. At the same time, I hope he does the right thing internationally. Most of our business is outside the U.S.”

In a follow-up about Cuba, Donald said that despite Trump’s campaign rhetoric about reversing President Obama’s openings toward Cuba, “I’m cautiously optimistic that bringing the two countries together is the right thing to do.”

Earlier this year, Carnival Corp.’s Fathom brand became the first line to regularly shuttle passengers between the U.S. and Cuba in over 50 years.

Donald said Carnival continues to work on a private destination in the Bahamas but isn’t ready to announce anything. Carnival executives have said in the past they have a potential site picked out on Grand Bahama Island.

“We want the right one on the right terms,” Donald said. “We think we have something coming soon, but we don’t want to count the chickens before they hatch, so to speak.”

Donald took the chance to show the audience of several hundred travel agents clips from the new Carnival-produced Saturday-morning network TV shows, such as “Vacation Creation” and “Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin.”

He also regaled the group with a tale of highlights from his rise to CEO of Carnival Corp. He said his initial introduction to Carnival Corp. chairman Mickey Arison was engineered by board member Uzi Zucker, a Bear Stearns partner who also served as an adviser to a private equity firm of which Donald was a part.

He also told about his ambition as an 11th-grader to be a very specific level of manager at a specific type of Fortune 50 company. He said the teachers at the all-boys Catholic high school in New Orleans he attended on scholarship constantly reminded their students to think big.

“Three times a day they told us, ‘Gentlemen, prepare yourselves. You’re going to run the world.'”

Japan’s MHI Scuttles Cruise Shipbuilding Plans After Losses on Carnival Ships

Posted on 19 October, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

The AIDAPrima was delayed several times at MHI before its delivery in March 2016, more than a year behind schedule.

TOKYO, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd has abandoned its ambition to build European cruise liners and will stick to making smaller ferries and other medium-sized passenger ships after racking up losses on a venture to build two large vessels.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Japan’s No.4 shipbuilder, booked 238 billion yen ($2.3 billion) in extraordinary losses in the three business years ended March 31 due to cost overruns and delays in the construction of two 100,000-ton class cruise liners for Europe’s Carnival Corp.

“We thought we could somehow manage it, but it showed us that we need a stringent decision making process and risk management, MHI Chief Executive Officer Shinichi Miyanaga said at a press briefing in Tokyo on Tuesday.

The construction of the vessels for Carnival was plagued by faulty engines, late design changes and onboard fires. That delayed delivery by more than a year and increased construction costs for the first of the two liners by almost four times to nearly $2 billion, MHI said in a report.

In the future, MHI’s passenger ship unit will build smaller vessels, such as 40,000-ton cruise ferries, that it can manage with its current workforce and domestic supply chain.

Currently, more than 90 percent of the world’s cruise liners are built in European shipyards.

MHI is more skilled at building merchant vessels, mainly liquefied natural gas carriers.

Earlier this month, a media report said MHI was downsizing its shipbuilding operations due to a slump in orders. Shipyards worldwide, including in Japan, South Korea and China, have been hurt by a slump in demand as a result of oversupply.

Global orders last year fell to 2,197 ships from 2,888 in 2014, according to the Shipbuilders Association of Japan. (Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Himani Sarkar)