Shipyard De Hoop scoops Celebrity Cruises expedition ship contract

Posted on 5 December, 2017 by Spacejunkie2

A rendering of Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Flora, which is being built by Shipyard De HoopCelebrity Cruises has struck a contract with Shipyard De Hoop for the design and construction of an expedition cruise ship.

The 5,635 GT 100 passenger-capacity vessel, to be named Celebrity Flora will have a keel laying ceremony later this year and is due to be delivered in May 2019.

De Hoop said the cruise vessel is “optimised for experiencing the land and marine environment of the Galapagos in high comfort”. Celebrity Flora will be the first vessel to be built to two-compartment damage stability regulations and additionally complies with the relevant damage stability requirements planned for implementation during 2020. De Hoop said the vessel also commits to specific Galapagos National Park Directorate Regulations, whereby explicit environmentally low-impact features were applied.

As this vessel is expected to be stationary – in a bay or near one of the islands – for 66% of the operational time, “considerable thought went into the design and selection of equipment, allowing the ship to perform efficiently under dynamic positioning (DP)”. Combined with a zero-speed stabiliser system, the DP system will choose a heading to minimise the roll and heave motions on the vessel, significantly improving passenger comfort.

The power and propulsion plant of Celebrity Flora is duplicated and housed in two separate engine rooms.

De Hoop said the introduction of an advanced propulsion system, its hull configuration (improved with CFD calculations) and specially designed diesel engines, guarantee an average 25% reduction in hull resistance, 15% reduction of overall fuel consumption and equivalently fewer air emissions.

The ship’s bow shape features a straight, wave-piercing stem, with an integrated bulb at the waterline. De Hoop said, “This characteristic bow both reduces resistance in waves when in transit and saves energy when staying in position, due to the highly efficient short bow thruster tunnel.”

Cruise ‘breaking through glass ceiling’ as it goes mainstream

Posted on 27 November, 2017 by Spacejunkie2

Image result for norwegian bliss construction

The cruise industry is “breaking through the glass ceiling” and is finally being recognised as a mainstream holiday.

David Dingle, Clia Europe’s deputy chair, also said the number of UK cruise passengers will hit two million by 2020.

He said: “We are getting to that two million figure. We hit 1.9 million passengers in 2016, so I definitely think we will hit two million by 2020.

“We are really breaking through the glass ceiling. I think we are at the stage where cruising is being recognised as a mainstream holiday.

“Whether we see the same year on year growth yield as we did this year that will unfold, but at the moment we are seeing further growth.”

The cruise industry is undergoing a “significant” new shipbuilding programme following the financial slump in 2008.

“During that period there has been a lag in the introduction of new capacity,” Dingle said. “So as much as anything we are going through a catching up exercise.”

There are 72 ships on order all of which are set to be built before 2025. The value of that order is $50billion.

All the major lines, including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises and Carnival, have ships launching in 2018.

Marella and AIDA Cruises, Germany’s largest line, also have new vessels due to launch.

“The year of 2017 has been a very good year for yield growth but whether we can have that much growth year on year remains to be seen,” Dingle added. “At the moment they are good indicators.”

Dingle pointed to the role of the trade press in helping to boost the cruise sector and also highlighted how comedian Rob Brydon might not have fronted a P&O Cruises television advertisement campaign “five or 10 years ago”.

Celebrity building the Flora, a small ship for Galapagos cruises

Posted on 16 November, 2017 by Spacejunkie2

The Celebrity Flora will debut in May 2019.FORT LAUDERDALE — Celebrity Cruises has designed a new ship for use in the Galapagos, a rare newbuild in the market and at 100 passengers the smallest ship parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has ever built.

Celebrity president Lisa Lutoff-Perlo said that only in a market with such high demand and limited supply would the economics of building a ship of that size make sense for a brand like Celebrity.

“On a per-berth basis, it’s really hard to get a return on these ships,” Lutoff-Perlo said. “The Galapagos is different.”

The Vista will be the Flora's top-deck area. — The Vista will be Flora’s top-deck area.

The number of ships that can operate in the Galapagos is restricted by the Ecuadoran government and the size is limited to 100 passengers or less, so prices tend to be relatively high.

A seven-night Galapagos cruises on the Celebrity Xpedition is listed on Celebrity’s website starting at $4,399 per person.

The news was announced at CruiseWorld, Travel Weekly’s conference here.

The new ship, named Celebrity Flora, will be built in a Dutch shipyard and debut in May 2019. Lutoff-Perlo declined to say how much it will cost but said it is a fraction of Celebrity’s bigger ships.

The Celebrity Flora will take over itineraries now offered on the 100-passenger Xpedition, which will take on itineraries of two smaller ships, the 48-passenger Celebrity Xperience and the 16-passenger Celebrity Xploration. The two small ships will likely be sold, Lutoff-Perlo said.

A rendering of the Darwin Deck Bar on the Celebrity Flora.

Although it will carry the same number of passengers, the Flora will be twice the size of the Xpedition, allowing for more features. “We’re able to do more outdoor spaces and more public space for our guests,” Lutoff-Perlo said.

It will have a small pool, which Xpedition does not, and two restaurants and two lounges, where Xpedition has one each. There will be more crew space so the Flora will have one naturalist for every 12 guests, up from a 1:16 ratio on Xpedition.

Opting for a new ship enabled Celebrity to design storage space in the hull for three Zodiac boats that are stored on deck on the Xpedition. The Flora’s two 1,288-square-foot Penthouse suites will be the largest in the Galapagos.

The design of the ship will be consistent with the new Celebrity Edge and other larger Celebrity ships, but with an emphasis on the neutral, natural and organic, Lutoff-Perlo said. Lounges, suites and restaurants will have floor-to-ceiling windows to facilitate wildlife viewing.