Thomson Cruises reveals new home ports and two ship revamps

Posted on 24 March, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Phil Davies

Thomson Cruises reveals new home ports and two ship revamps

Dubrovnik is to be the new home port for Thomson Cruises in 2015 as part of an expanded programme including 28 new destinations, including Albania.

Thomson Celebration will be based in the Croatian port running four new itineraries from May 7, 2015.

Thomson Spirit and Thomson Majesty (pictured) will join the Platinum fleet next summer, with an interior makeover and 28 balcony cabins on Majesty and 19 on Spirit.

Thomson Spirit will also be based in the new home port of Marmaris in Turkey.

Thomson Celebration will go child free on its four itineraries from Dubrovnik with new ports of call including Sibenik, Korcula, Rovinj, Split, and Hvar in Croatia; Trieste, Bari, and Brindisi in Italy; and Corinth and Itea in Greece.

New regional airports are being added to serve the Dubrovnik sailings, giving 50,000 seats across the summer from Glasgow, Newcastle and Bristol, as well as Birmingham, Manchester and Gatwick.

New destinations for Thomson Dream incude Elba, San Remo (for Monaco), and La Spezia (for Portofino) in Italy, Sete (for Carcassonne) in France and Tarragona, Spain.

Thomson Majesty will be visiting six new ports, including Ravenna and Lipari in Italy, Durres in Albania, Rijeka in Croatia, Chania in Crete and Kalamata.

The cruises go on sale on April 24.

Thomson Cruises managing director Helen Caron said: “Summer 2015 will be a record year for Thomson Cruises as we introduce a total of 28 new ports of calls, 13 new itineraries and an exciting new home port of Dubrovnik for Thomson Celebration.

“Listening to our customers is at the heart of all our planning, which is why we’re offering more choice and variety of destinations in our some of our favoured locations, and providing our guests the flexibility on their holiday to cruise and stay, with even more hotels introduced to our collection.

“We hope the investment to modernise our ships and give Thomson Spirit and Thomson Majesty the Platinum seal of approval, along with the introduction of balcony cabins, will enhance the overall experience for everyone we welcome on board.”

P&O floats out Britannia in Italy

Posted on 17 February, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Jane Archer

P&O Cruises took more pre-registrations in one day last week for new ship Britannia than in a whole week for Azura before it launched in 2010.

Marketing director Christopher Edgington said pre-registrations, targeted at past passengers only, allowed clients to put their name down for specific cruises but not cabins.

The maiden voyage, a 14-night Mediterranean cruise departing March 14 2015, was in high demand, as was a 12-night round-Britain cruise in July. They open for sale on March 27.

Speaking at Britannia’s float out – the moment when the dry-dock is flooded and water hits the hull for the first time – Edgington said: “Our past passengers are really excited about Britannia. We have created a ship that is right for them and for people who have never cruised by enhancing our signature features and adding exciting new ones.”

They include a new cookery school devised by TV chef James Martin, the Limelight dining and cabaret club, and a Mediterranean-style Market Café serving charcuterie and sweet treats from TV’s Cake Boy Eric Lanlard.

Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar and wine expert Olly Smith, who have venues on other P&O ships, are also part of Britannia’s culinary line-up. Instead of a restaurant, Marco Pierre White is creating dishes for gala nights in the dining rooms,

Hebden Bridge-based agent Louise Hunt, who works for Travel Councillors, won a P&O competition to be Madrina, or godmother, for the float out, at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. A bank worker until last year, Hunt admitted she was both nervous and excited. She said: “This is quite surreal, quite incredible.”

Costa Concordia refloating scheduled to happen in June

Posted on 13 January, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

Italian authorities and Costa Cruises executives held a briefing in Italy updating the progress on refloating the Costa Concordia.

The update comes a few days before the second anniversary of the partial sinking of the Costa ship.

Engineers pulled the Concordia upright last fall and are preparing to refloat the ship before towing it to port to be scrapped.

Project managers are targeting June to move the wreck from Giglio Island to an as-yet-unknown destination. Prior to that, they will attach another 19 sponsons to the hull.

The plan calls for sponsons to be fastened to the ship in April. Then water will be pumped out of the tank-like sponsons, providing buoyancy to raise the ship off its fabricated platform about 30 meters below the surface to a depth of about 18.5 meters.

A total of 2042.5 cubic meters of fuel and 240 cubic meters of sewage were removed from the ship last March, along with 240 tons of material from the seabed, according to the project briefing materials.

Authorities initially contacted 30 salvage companies and are in the process of picking one. The field has been winnowed to companies from Italy, France, Norway, the U.K. and Turkey, with final selection expected in early March.

The project has a $30 million option to retain the Dockwise Vanguard, the world’s largest semi-submersible vessel, as an alternative for transporting Concordia.

About 60% of the direct spending on the recovery (about 261 million euros) has benefited Italy, with another 21% of the benefits flowing to the U.S., 12% to the U.K., 3.8% to the Netherlands and 2.6% to Germany, the project said.

It estimated the overall impact on Italy’s GDP at 540 million euros.