Tag Archives: Carnival Glory

Carnival Cruise Lines testing new dining room experience

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Updated: Carnival Cruise Lines testing new dining room experience

By Tom Stieghorst

Carnival Cruise Lines said it will test two new dining concepts on the Carnival Glory starting Dec. 8, in what could be a fleet-wide revamp of its main dining room.
The new dining products, called American Table and American Feast, were developed with input from Union Square Hospitality Group of New York.

American Table will be offered on “cruise casual” nights. It includes a new style of service, new menu and table decor, and is designed to evoke a modern restaurant experience with an emphasis on exceptional American cuisine, Carnival said.

There will be a cocktail menu, an entree with ties to the port being visited during the meal, a “from the grill” entrée and a special dessert menu.

On Carnival’s more formal “cruise elegant” nights, it will offer American Feast, which has been designed to create the feel of an elegant, elaborate special occasion “celebrated by all guests in the restaurant with courses served table-side in elaborate style,” Carnival said.

The pilot program will be extended to Carnival Liberty beginning in January, and Carnival Imagination and Carnival Inspiration starting in February, with the intention to roll it out fleet-wide in the second half of 2014.

Union Square Hospitality Group is an outgrowth of Union Square Cafe, founded in 1985 by Danny Meyer, who is now CEO. In addition to the original restaurant, it now runs Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard and Shake Shake, as well as a catering and consulting practice.

Carnival senior vice president for operations Mark Tamis said Union Square’s role was primarily one of inspiring the Carnival team to create the new concepts.

Carnival to leave Norfolk in 2014

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Carnival to leave Norfolk in 2014

By Tom Stieghorst
The Carnival Glory will be homeported in MiamiCarnival Cruise Lines is shuffling several of its ships in 2014, and one result is that Norfolk, Va., will no longer serve as a cruise ship homeport.

The Carnival Glory will stay in Miami year-round after November. It had been originating cruises in Norfolk in the spring and fall seasons out of a $36 million terminal opened in 2007.

The switch would leave the terminal largely unused by the cruise industry. Glory became the only ship homeported in Norfolk after Royal Caribbean International relocated a ship from Norfolk to Baltimore three years ago.

Carnival’s decision to keep the Glory in Miami also means it will not return to Boston, where it is currently offering a series of voyages through July.

In other deployments, the newly refurbished Carnival Sunshine will only stay in New Orleans for the upcoming winter, rather than year-round. It will move to year-round sailing from Cape Canaveral in April 2014, bumping the Carnival Dream to do seven-day cruises from New Orleans full time.

The Carnival Liberty, currently based in Miami, will shift in April to do year-round five- and eight-day Caribbean cruises from Cape Canaveral, as well.

The Carnival Pride moves from Baltimore to Tampa for seven-day cruises from December 2014 to April 2015, replacing the Carnival Legend, which departs from Tampa for Australia next August.

Carnival Corporation’s fourth quarter profits fall by 55%

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Carnival Corporation’s fourth quarter profits fall by 55%

By Melanie Hall

Carnival Corporation’s profits fell by 23% in 2012, with a 55% drop in the fourth quarter, following its “most challenging” year after the Costa Concordia tragedy in January.

The company revealed its full year and fourth quarter earnings today, which showed that its net profits in the 12 months to November 30 were $1.47 billion, down from $1.9 billion at the same time last year.

Its fourth quarter profits are down from $217 million in 2011 to $98 million in 2012, a drop of 55%, although Carnival Corporation’s chairman and chief executive Micky Arison said that the quarter’s earnings “were better than anticipated”.

Commenting on the full year’s earnings, Arison said: “As a result of the Costa Concordia tragedy in January, the past year has been the most challenging in our company’s history.

“However, through the significant efforts of our brand management teams, we were able to maintain full year 2012 net revenue yields – excluding Costa – in line with the prior year.”

Arison added that unfavourable changes in fuel prices and currency exchange rates reduced earnings by $300 million compared to the prior year.

During the fourth quarter, Carnival reached an agreement on the construction of two new cruise ships – a 2,660-passenger ship for its Holland America Line brand to be delivered in 2015 and a 4,000-passenger vessel for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand to be delivered in 2016. Both are the largest ships ever built for those brands.

Carnival has forecast a decline of 2-3% in its revenue yields in the first quarter of 2013 but has predicted it will improve during the remainder of next year for the North American brands and Costa, although it said its European brands continue to be hit by a “deteriorating economic environment”.

“We remain well positioned for a recovery in 2013 and beyond evidenced by the demonstrated resilience of our global portfolio of cruise brands as consumers continue to capitalize on cruising’s superior value versus land-based vacation alternatives,” said Arison.

“We continue to focus on a measured growth strategy through the introduction of two to three new ships per year and the development of emerging cruise markets in Asia.”