The last cruise frontier?

Maldives: The last cruise frontier?

By Tom Stieghorst
*Insight In a recent interview, I asked Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman Richard Fain what travel destination was on his bucket list, and after a moment’s thought he said, “the Maldives.”

The islands in the Indian Ocean are so remote that Fain felt like he could get away from everything by going there.

Indeed, the Indian Ocean may be the most out-of-the-way cruise destination you’d ever want to experience. With the rise in expedition cruises to the Antarctic, the Indian Ocean may be the last frontier.

Among the lines going to the Maldives are Costa Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Princess Cruises and Seabourn Cruises.*TomStieghorst

Seabourn describes the islands as “tiny specks in a vast expanse of ocean.” Male, the main inhabited city in the chain, is described by Conde Nast Traveler as “a combination of the Robinson Crusoe paradise of childhood dreams and a honeymoon destination fit for the Hollywood A-list.”

What is there to do there? “Absolutely nothing,” Fain said.

Most of these lines visit the Maldives on an itinerary from southern or eastern Africa to India or Southeast Asia. It is a long, thin route that involves lots of sea days, a long flight from North America — unless you’re on a world cruise — and a considerable expense.

Seabourn’s cruise next January sandwiches a visit to Male and Colombo, Sri Lanka, in the middle of eight long sea days on a voyage between South Africa and Singapore.

Princess has a 46-day journey on its schedule that takes visitors to the Maldives on an “odyssey” from Australia to South Africa.

Oceania Cruises plans to be there Dec. 3 and 4 on a 30-day cruise from Dubai to Cape Town, South Africa. In the next few years Silversea Cruises has four voyages with the Maldives on the itinerary, including a 17-day trip between Singapore and Mombasa, Kenya, next March.

In 2016, Silversea’s new expedition ship, the Silver Discoverer, will offer a 17-night cruise that starts in Phuket, Thailand and ends in Male, after stops in Myanmar, India’s Andaman Islands and Yala National Park in Sri Lanka.

So the next time a client says they’ve “been there done that” when you suggest an ocean cruise, you might respond with, “Have you thought about going to the Maldives?”

Biggest, newest ships can thrive in Europe, Asia: Goldstein

Goldstein - 'In the Mediterranean, Europe and Asia-Pacific, the largest ships can be viable and thrive'Goldstein – ‘In the Mediterranean, Europe and Asia-Pacific, the largest ships can be viable and thrive’

Oasis of the Seas turning around in Barcelona this month and Quantum of the Seas going to China next year show that Europe and Asia can handle cruising’s biggest and newest hardware. As Adam Goldstein, president and coo of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., put it: ‘In the Mediterranean, Europe and Asia-Pacific, the largest ships can be viable and thrive.’

When Oasis of the Seas made its inaugural call at Barcelona two weekends ago, it generated three times the media response of anything the company has ever done in the region, Goldstein said. Apart from the publicity, the operations were impressive—a ‘great accomplishment’ by the Port of Barcelona.

‘It clearly shows Europe is capable right now of supporting the biggest ships in the world and the infrastructure exists to support Allure of the Seas for a full season next year,’ Goldstein told Seatrade Med in Barcelona last week. ‘We now have the opportunity to deploy our biggest and best new ships here. This bodes well for the Mediterranean.’

It’s the culmination of a sequence of development. The current Oasis ‘micro-season’ paves the way for Allure’s full season. Going step by step over time gives everyone the chance to acclimate.

‘The infrastructure that exists to handle 6.4m passengers wasn’t here 20 years ago,’ Goldstein said. ‘The fundamental capability to accommodate growth in the Mediterranean is available if there’s adequate planning.’

From a source market perspective, Europe remains ‘a mainstay of the business for us and the industry. We’d all like to see the macroeconomic situation in Europe be better than it is,’ he added. However, the good news is that Spain is showing signs of recovery.

The market is growing, although at a slower rate. ‘We’re able to generate profitability here. It’s really attractive to cruise in Europe. The business is doing well,’ Goldstein told Seatrade Insider during an interview in Barcelona.

Last year cruises in Europe attracted nearly 1m non-Europeans, demonstrating resilience following the global recession.

And Asia is emerging as the third major cruise operating region of the world.

After the recent deal to sell Celebrity Century to China’s Ctrip.com International, it’s too early to tell how the relationship will develop. ‘We’re in discussions to see,’ Goldstein said. ‘They’re already a producer for us. We hope to maintain and build the relationship.’

The fact that Quantum of the Seas will operate year-round from Shanghai is ‘remarkable. It’s an amazing development for the Royal Caribbean International brand and the company to so quickly have one of our newest ships operating in China.

‘I don’t think anybody foresaw something like this,’ he said, adding that just 10 years ago, China was ‘a gray spot on the map’ for the cruise industry.

Next year Royal Caribbean will have four ships there, counting also Mariner of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Legend of the Seas.

Royal’s preview of Quantum draws praise

By Tom Stieghorst
Quantum of the SeasPAPENBURG, Germany — A little more than two months from completion, the Quantum of the Seas looms large over the flat north German countryside at the Meyer Werft shipyard here.

The powder-blue-and-white ship now has its basic structure but awaits all of its interior appointments plus a few special features such as the North Star observation arm, which has yet to be installed.

But the ship was complete enough last week for Royal Caribbean International to open it to a small group of reporters and about 50 travel agents for a sneak peek at the next big thing to sail the high seas.

Royal officials are increasingly confident that in the Quantum, they have a ship that will give the groundbreaking Oasis-class vessels, which the line introduced in 2009, a run for their money.

“I think you’re going to have two reactions,” Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman and CEO Richard Fain told agents a day before the three-hour tour of the 167,800-ton work in progress. “You’re going to think the ship is magnificent, and you’re going to say, ‘It will never be done on time.'”

In fact, more than one agent agreed with Fain’s assertion. Michael Detrick, managing director for Adelman Travel in St. Louis, said he had expected interior work to be further advanced and the ship to look less like a construction site.

The guts of the Quantum at this point are still raw insulation, naked steel, unfinished carpet and open pipe and cable runs. But several areas were finished early, including a few cabins, to give visitors a sense of the final product.

Detrick said one of his favorite features on the ship are the interior cabins, which offer floor-to-ceiling electronic views of the ocean. “The virtual balcony cabins are phenomenal,” he said.

In an interview, Fain agreed, saying they were one of the innovations he’s most pleased with. (Read more with Fain, In the Hot Seat.)

“They just work,” he said.

Quantum of the Seas interior cabinAgents had mostly praise and only a few reservations after traipsing through the Quantum in hard hats and boots while Fain described some of the vessel’s signature elements to them.

“It was a very impressive reveal,” said John Lovell, president of Vacation.com. “I love all the technology. It’s really going to appeal to young people, especially the millennials that we’re all trying to attract.”

Atop the ship are two novelties that depend on view: the Ripcord by iFly skydiving machine and the North Star observation gondola. Sandwiched in between is the multipurpose SeaPlex, an indoor activities hub for everything from bumper cars to basketball.

“That’s going to be a home run,” Lovell predicted.

Others agreed.

“I see it as a space where parents and kids will come to play together,” said Alex Sharpe, president of Signature Travel Network and a father of three.

Sharpe said the Quantum will buttress Royal Caribbean’s reputation as the leader in innovation and deliver great value for the money.

“It’s clear why the big Royal ships get the premiums they do,” he said.

Sharpe said he’s concerned that some of the features will be so popular that Royal might not be able to handle all the demand. The SeaPlex, for instance, will be catnip for meetings and incentive groups, he predicted.

Fain said his team was confident that everyone who wants to try something will be able to do so over the course of a seven-night cruise, although it might be harder to squeeze everyone in on short introductory cruises.

In admissions to the North Star, for example, attendants will give first preference to those who haven’t done it, Fain said.

A significant change with the introduction of the Quantum will be the elimination of the main dining room in favor of four smaller, themed restaurants, each seating about 430 diners. A fifth complimentary restaurant with 128 seats will be reserved for suite guests.

RCCL Chairman and CEO Richard Fain“I’m very impressed with Dynamic Dining,” said Uf Tukel, co-president of WMPH Vacations in Delray Beach, Fla. “Having those different themed restaurants, those are going to be stunning to look at.”

Noting that dining at all five restaurants will be included in the cruise fare, he said, “Typically, they’re the kind of experience that might cost more.”

Although far from completed, the restaurants had certain features already in place, such as a striking pair of louvered lenticular screens that display photos of regional America in the American Icon Grill.

Food and beverage director Cornelius Gallagher also teased some of the more exotic dishes, including one at the experiential Wonderland restaurant that involves chocolate chili foam cold-fried in liquid nitrogen. When diners eat it, smoke comes out of their noses, Gallagher said.

The tour concluded with a preview of Two70, a three-story aft room that will showcase an innovative 3-D projection system and a sextet of 100-inch, robot-controlled video screens.

“The Two70 is just ridiculous — tech-wise, art-wise, functionality-wise,” said Andy Albright, president of National Agent’s Alliance in Burlington, N.C., a life insurer that buys a large volume of incentive cruises. “It’s unbelievable what they’re going to get out of that room.”

Paul Largay of Largay Travel in Waterbury, Conn., said the homeporting of the Quantum and its sister ship the Anthem of the Seas in New York, combined with some of the new check-in technology Royal has developed, will make them very convenient for his customers.

“That’s a huge attraction just because of the logistical considerations,” he said.

Largay said the various uses of technology on the ship were very impressive. “I think the general public is going to love that,” he said. “They’re going to wonder where it has been all their lives.”

Of the ship overall, Largay said, “I think it is going to be a new standard.”