Tag Archives: Marseilles

CMV Targets French Market with New Brand

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Jules Verne

Launching a new French brand, Cruise & Maritime Voyages is targeting 10,000 guests per year aboard the Jules Verne which currently operating as the Astor. Service is set to begin in early 2021 following a recent announcement at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Clement Mousset and Cedric Rivoire-Perrochat are at the helm of the new French brand which will operate under Croisières Maritimes and Voyages banner.

The timing may be ideal, as there is no current mainstream French cruise brand following the demise of Croisières de France.

Mousset has been named general director and was previously heading up Celestyal Cruises’ efforts in the French market. Rivoire-Perrochat has been named marketing and operations director and is the former director of France for CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association).

The brand will build a 10 to 15 person team based in a Marseilles office, according to the company executives.

The plan is to offer a premium product to the French market on a year-round basis on the 550-guest ship.

“On our ship, you will find no shopping complex, no climbing wall, no circus. You will feel like you’re on a ship,” Mousset said.

The French product will also feature select adults-only departures, while six per cent of staterooms will be for the solo traveller market.

Cruises will run an average of 12 nights with a target price of 190 euro per person per day. 

The ship will arrive in Le Havre for a two-night preview cruise next April, while an inaugural cruise will sail from Le Havre to Marseilles with stops in various French ports.

Other itineraries will be far-ranging, including sailings to the Baltic, Black Sea, Mediterranean, and a long world cruise in early 2022. Sales are expected to open in early 2020. The first revenue sailing is scheduled for May 1, 2021

Allure’s full European season a response to strong UK demand

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By Dave Jones

The world’s largest cruise ship will spend a full season in Europe for the first time in 2015, with strong UK demand to thank.

Following a year in which many cruise companies reduced their European activities, the news that Royal Caribbean will sail Allure of the Seas from Port Everglades in Florida – where it sails alongside its sister ship Oasis of the Seas on primarily Caribbean focused voyages – to Europe is welcome indeed.

Having carried more than two million passengers on Caribbean cruises since its introduction in 2010, the vessel will return for the first time to the continent where it was constructed and will sail from the Spanish port of Barcelona between May and October 2015.

This will follow on the rudder of Oasis of the Seas’ mini-Mediterranean season, which is scheduled for autumn of this year.

Once it has arrived in Barcelona, Allure of the Seas will offer UK and European passengers a chance to enjoy seven-night cruises calling at Palma de Mallorca, Marseilles, La Spezia (for Florence and Pisa), Civitavecchia (for Rome) and Naples.

According to Dominic Paul, head of Royal Caribbean International sales outside of North America, bringing Allure of the Seas to Europe is a “bold move”, but the cruise line is confident of success.

Speaking to Seatrade Insider, he explained that this confidence comes not only from the merit of its Oasis-class ships, but also in the strength of the UK cruise market and prospects for growth here.

Next year is looking exciting indeed, with Royal Caribbean also planning to home port its new vessel Anthem of the Seas in Southampton once construction has been completed.

Stuart Leven, the Royal Caribbean’s managing director for UK and Ireland, added: “The company is showing a big commitment to the UK market in 2015.

He added: “I believe the combination of an Oasis-class ship with all its on-board options and the great cruise destination of the Mediterranean will be a very compelling argument for both those who haven’t cruised before and also cruisers who have never experienced Oasis.”