Tag Archives: cunard

Queen Victoria Cruise Ship To Get Multi-Million Upgrade

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Cunard Line is continuing its fleet upgrade with a multi-million refurbishment scheduled for January 2015.

The Queen Victoria will have a dry-dock at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. The shipyard is also the same place where sister ship Queen Elizabeth recently had its upgrade.

Queen Victoria’s multi-million dollar refit will ensure this much-loved ship remains in tip-top condition for her World Cruise in 2015 and beyond, said David Dingle, CEO for Cunard Line.

The refurbishment will include 9 brand new single staterooms which will offer an even wider range for cruisers sailing single. More shade will be offered by new sun awnings near the ships open deck pool. Another large part of the refit will be new environmentally friendly filters for the ships propulsion systems.

When a cruise ship gets a major upgrade it usually includes all the hotel spaces which the Queen Victoria will receive. New carpets and flat TV’s will be installed to freshen up the vessel. Also hotel departments including the gift shops will get a new fine jewellery and watches sections along with a new layout.

Queen Victoria’s dry-dock was originally scheduled for December 2015 but due to a propulsion unit bearing problem the dry-dock has had to be brought forward to January 2015. The propulsion issue has caused Cunard to cancel two cruises in January, a 12-day cruise to the Canaries departing January 3rd and a five-day cruise to Amsterdam departing January 15th. Passengers booked on those cruises have been informed and the cruise line is offering a $175 onboard credit. Passengers can choose another cruise or get a full refund of their booking.

While we are sorry to be cancelling the two cruises, we are looking forward to welcoming all those affected back aboard a Cunard ship in the near future, perhaps on Queen Victoria or Queen Elizabeth, both of which will be sailing in 2015 fresh from their make overs, Dingle said.

The Queen Victoria will be all set for its world cruise starting on January 20th 2015. The ship will offer guests all the latest onboard features which will be added during the upcoming dry-dock in Hamburg.

£2.4bn poured into Britain’s coffers last year

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Cruise news

: £2.4bn poured into Britain’s coffers last year with more than 1m passengers getting on boardIndustry’s

contribution to country’s economy highlighted at Barcelona convention

Ship shape: the port at Southampton welcomes a cruise liner

The cruise industry contributed £2.4billion to Britain’s economy last year, with passengers spending an average of £80 a day each during visits to UK ports such as Southampton and Dover

Latest figures compiled by CruiseBritain show that in 2013 there was a 10% year-on-year increase in cruise embarkations, to 1.04 million, and a 20% increase in day visits, to 866,000. The spend includes crew expenditure, cruise line purchases, ship repair, and employee salaries.

“Cruise tourism is a valuable source of income to ports and destinations across Britain and is increasingly being factored into local and regional tourism,” said Daren Taylor, chair of CruiseBritain, speaking at the Seatrade Med convention in Barcelona.

In the Mediterranean, while other tourism sectors have seen no increase in performance, cruising has grown in volume by 43% since the global recession struck in 2008.

Across the region, there were 27 million passenger movements: 19 million in the Western Med, five million in the Adriatic, and – reduced by concerns over violence in the Middle East – three million in the Eastern Med.

Referring to the fact that most cruise calls to ports in Ukraine have been cancelled this summer, David Dingle, chairman of Carnival UK, said political conflict in the Black Sea area dates back centuries. “They are a fact if life we just live with,” he said.

A proposal to provide an alternative to dredging a new channel for cruise ships visiting Venice was submitted to the Italian government this week.

Lagoon show: a cruise ship sails past St Mark’s Square in Venice

A £101million floating jetty, capable of handling up to five ships at a time, would be set up in the sea near Bocca di Lido, and passengers would be transported into the city’s cruise terminal by a large, environmentally-friendly catamaran.

Carnival’s David Dingle still believes the deep channel proposal to be the preferred option, and told Seatrade Med: “What we want is certainty, but we want to do the right thing by all the stakeholders in this debate.”

P&O Cruises and Cunard raise commission

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P&O Cruises and Cunard raise commission

P&O Cruises and Cunard are raising their commission levels from 5% to 7.5% across all products

 

An email has been sent out to agents informing them of the change, which will take place on December 9.

The email said: “Great News! As part of our commercial transformation and Agent Matters programme, we are delighted to announce that we are improving travel agent commercial terms for both P&O Cruises and Cunard.

“In recent months we have appointed a new commercial directorship team and just some of the initiatives we have implemented are to extend our Mediterranean fly cruise programme earnings which allows agents to earn commission on flight packages, we have implemented a new fare structure to support you to sell cruises earlier in the booking curve and tested various agent initiatives across the market.

“As a direct result of agent feedback and the success of the above initiatives, we have developed a new travel agent remuneration package following months of consultation with you, our trade partners. We believe travel agents are critical to our business and the new commission structure recognises the absolute value we place on travel agent partners.

“A new base rate of commission payment has been agreed, together with tailored marketing support for individual agents. A base rate of 7.5% commission will be paid to all agents for both brands from 09 December, 2013 and covers all departures from this date onwards.

“Please also join us in welcoming Jeremy McKenna to the team as our new Head of Sales. Jeremy will start on 02 January, 2014 and will lead the business efforts working with our trade partners. Jeremy brings with him a wealth of sales and commercial experience leading teams in customer centred environments and can’t wait to get started in his new role!”

Sales and distribution support director Chris Truscott said the cruise operator would also be offering tailored marketing support to individual agents as well as the commission increase.

He added:  “The new commission structure recognises the absolute value we place on agents, who are critical to our business, and is part of a much wider process of positive change for both brands.”

Complete Cruise Solution, the trade sales and marketing arm of P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises and Cunard announced plans to cut commission from 15% to 5% back in 2011.

The move was met with fierce opposition from agents. In March this year Princess increased commission on the cruise element of bookings for 2014 departures back up to 10% but at that time there was no change for P&O or Cunard.