Celebrity Apex to home port in Southampton in the 2024 season

Posted on 2 November, 2022 by Spacejunkie2

Celebrity Cruises’ second Edge-class ship, Celebrity Apex, will homeport in Southampton for its entire 2024 season.

Apex – which will be the first Edge-class ship to sail out of Southampton – will replace Celebrity Silhouette and offer four- to-13-night sailings from May through November 2024.

Itineraries include a 12-night Norwegian Fjords and Arctic Circle cruise, as well as sailings to Ibiza and the Mediterranean.

Following feedback from its travel partners, the line has announced its UK deployment two weeks in advance of the launch date for the first time, to allow agents to pre-register interest from guests.

To support the trade in selling the vessel, the line will host 600 agents onboard Apex in 2023, across a range of ship visits and seminars.

Agents will also have access to a suite of training and marketing tools via Celebrity Central, including webinars; digital “Be the first to book” banners; fact sheets; talking points; itinerary flyers; and print adverts.

New training modules featuring Apex will also be available on Celebrity Passport. Agents selling Apex can also earn up to £20 per booking on all 2024 bookings via Celebrity Rewards.

From 1 November to 5 December 2022, agents can earn up to £50 Celebrity Rewards points per booking on all 2023 sailings, across all stateroom categories.

Lisa Lutoff Perlo, president and chief executive of Celebrity Cruises, said: “Having one of our award-winning Edge Series ships sailing from Southampton will offer an experience like no other from the UK.

“Celebrity Cruises continues to redefine cruising, taking our guests to the world’s best places on the world’s best places.”

The line’s vice president and managing director EMEA, Jo Rzymowska, said the UK “has always been integral to the success” of the company, and homeporting Apex from Southampton “underlines our commitment to this market”.

“There is a huge appetite from UK guests who share our curiosity for people, places and cultures, and our passion for opening up the world through a love of travel.

“We invest a lot in the training of our travel partners because what’s really important to us, is that they can talk about what makes Celebrity different and what makes us unique, therefore they’re not just selling a big white ship. And that is really important.

“I’m looking forward to welcoming even more of our guests onboard Celebrity Apex when she raises the bar for cruising from Southampton in 2024.”

MSC Euribia to sail from Southampton in 2023

Posted on 27 October, 2022 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Cruises has revealed that the new ship MSC Euribia will offer sailings out of Southampton from October 2023 and throughout winter 2023/24.

Itineraries will include visits to destinations such as Amsterdam, Bruges and Paris. There will be five-night options, from £359pp, seven-night cruises starting at £499pp and a 21-night itinerary departing on 5 January 2024 and calling at Casablanca, the Canary Islands and Lisbon, with prices starting at £2,399pp.

Launching in 2023, MSC Euribia is set to be “a truly sustainable ship”, the line said.

It will be the second ship in the MSC fleet to be powered by liquefied natural gas. The hull artwork, designed by artist Alex Flämig and called#SaveTheSea, was chosen to represent “MSC Cruises’ message of dedication to helping protect the marine ecosystem”, according to a statement.

MSC Euribia ‘leading sustainability’

MSC Cruises UK & Ireland managing director Antonio Paradiso said: “We are committed to offering the best possible experience for our guests from the UK and Ireland and that is why our newest ship, MSC Euribia, will be in the UK during 2023 and 2024.

“Since our first full ex-UK season back in 2018, we’ve seen a huge demand for stress-free, no-fly cruises from Southampton on board MSC Virtuosa.

“Basing MSC Euribia in the UK will help us to build on this success by offering our UK customers the chance to experience one of the most impressive cruise experiences offering leading sustainability technology and cutting-edge design features.”

Fred. Olsen Cancelling Some Winter Cruises Due to Lack of Demand

Posted on 26 August, 2022 by Spacejunkie2

Fred. Olsen Cruise Line announced it is cancelling four winter cruises on the Bolette due to a lack of bookings.

In addition, the next cruise on the Balmoral is cancelled due to a propeller issue and the company also noted that none of these challenges is due to the resignation of Chairman Fred. Olsen Jnr. decided to step down after spending 35 years in the cruise industry.

The company said it continues to be proud of its family-run business with both Fred. Olsen and Anette Olsen remain on the board.

“We got through the pandemic which was the most difficult time for the travel industry, and cruise lines in particular. During this time, we invested in our business by buying two beautiful new ships. Like every travel company, trying to get back to normal, we are still having to navigate some choppy seas along the way,” said Peter Deer, managing director, in a prepared statement. “Our job during this is to look after our guests and crew and ensure we provide a wonderful experience. I sincerely apologise to all guests who are affected on cruises this winter. I hope you will give us the chance to put this right for you.”

In regards to Bolette’s cancellations, the company said: “This is always a quieter period for cruising and this small number of sailings did not quite reach the guest numbers we were hoping for, especially in light of the current high fuel prices we are all facing. With most of our crew remaining onboard (and the remainder taking their planned leave), we will use this time to bring forward some routine technical work which we had planned to do in 2023 – it will also leave us with one of our ships in the north of the country and one in the south for most of the winter.”

The company said that cancelling these cruises was not an easy decision its team has been speaking with affected guests to help them find an alternative cruise to look forward to.

The Bolette will return on December 21 2022 for her planned Christmas cruise to Norway.

The company also made the decision to move her full winter schedule from Tilbury to Dover and Southampton, and any guests who are affected by this have been contacted over the last couple of days.

Making matters worse, the company also said it had an issue with one of the propellers on the Balmoral this week.

“These things happen of course, but the timing really couldn’t be worse,” the statement read. “As a result, she will need to go into a very short drydock in Newcastle which means we have been left with no alternative but to cancel her next cruise which was due to depart from Rosyth on Monday. We have been looking after these guests today, explaining their options. Balmoral will be sailing again from Southampton on 11th September and the rest of her schedule will remain unchanged.”