P&O Cruises takes delivery of ‘step change’ Britannia

Posted on 23 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

By Phil Davies

P&O Cruises new vessel Britannia is a “mega step change” for the company, according to chairman David Dingle.

Speaking as the ship was presented to the company by the Italian Fincantieri shipyard near Trieste, Dingle said the ship would propel the line forward to meet the needs of new and returning customers alike.

Before vowing that “Britannia will once again rule the waves”, Dingle said: “This not just a ship for Britain, it’s a ship for a new Britain. A more vibrant, more exciting Britain.”

Dingle congratulated Fincantieri for their hard work and said the partnership between the shipyard and Carnival had helped to shape the cruise industry.

“Cruising has become a vibrant expanding part of the mainstream holiday business and our two businesses, Fincanteiri and Carnival, as market leaders in our different industry sectors, have played a role in this.

“Taking delivery of a ship is just the beginning for now we must attract passengers to Britannia not only this year but for the next 30 years and we will, because we know it’s contemporary, groundbreaking ships which attract others into cruising.”

He said he believed the new ship would help push the number of UK cruisers to the two million mark, as well as showing that the “UK was an established part of Carnival’s continuing growth.”

Britannia is the fifth P&O Cruises ship to be built by Fincanteiri, and the largest ship built for the brand.

Diversification and Norwegian’s bottom line

Posted on 18 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2


By Tom Stieghorst

The benefits of diversification in the cruise industry will be evident this week when Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings reports its results for the fourth quarter and calendar year 2014 on Tuesday.

Norwegian, until recently a single-brand company, is heavily tied to the Caribbean in the fourth and first quarters. According to analyst Rachel Rothman, of Susquehanna Financial Group, Norwegian’s results will be pulled down by its high exposure to the Caribbean relative to its competitors Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Norwegian does not benefit from growth in Asia, which is also helping those two companies, Rothman notes.

In a positive light, Norwegian is aided by not having any cruise brands that do business in currencies other than the dollar. That means the relatively strong dollar affects it less than Carnival, with its Costa, Aida and P&O subsidiaries, or Royal Caribbean, which owns Spain’s Pullmantur and France’s CDF.

From that perspective, Norwegian’s recent acquisition of Prestige Cruise Holdings is ideal. The two Prestige brands, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises, both do business in U.S. dollars, so their results won’t be a drag because of currency exchange.

And as destination-oriented luxury lines, Oceania and Regent do relatively less sailing in the overcrowded Caribbean and have more itineraries in Asia, although neither is set up to source business there.

Rothman expects Norwegian to earn about $76 million in the fourth quarter and about $508 million for 2014. The company is building ships just about as fast as is practicable, which should help it diversify its itineraries further away from the Caribbean to areas like Brazil in the winter.

Norwegian has come a long way in a short time. Tuesday’s results may show it has further to go.

Carnival Breeze and Liberty will sail from Galveston

Posted on 14 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

To make way for the new Carnival Vista when it is deployed in Miami in November 2016, Carnival Cruise Line will shift the Carnival Breeze to Galveston, Texas.

Also, Carnival will position the Carnival Liberty in Galveston in 2016. It has just repositioned Carnival Freedom to Galveston, where it is aggressively courting new business.

“Miami and Galveston are among our most popular points of embarkation, and deploying our newest, most innovative ships to these home ports speaks volumes about our confidence in growing these markets,” said Christine Duffy, Carnival’s president.

The Carnival Triumph and Magic, currently sailing from Galveston, will be redeployed with details to be announced at a later date.

Prior to the start-up of year-round service from Miami, Carnival Vista will operate a pair of voyages round trip from New York, beginning with a three-day cruise Nov. 4-7, 2016, followed by an 11-day voyage departing Nov. 7 and visiting Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua and St. Maarten.

Carnival Vista will then offer an 11-day transit cruise from New York to Miami from Nov. 18-29, with calls at Grand Turk, Bonaire, Aruba and St. Maarten.

Its first cruise from Miami will be a four-day cruise to Grand Turk, departing Nov. 29. Thereafter it will do alternating six- and eight-day Caribbean itineraries, mixed with a few one-time, one-off voyages, Carnival said.