MSC announces UK return with Magnifica season

Posted on 14 November, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

by Natasha Salmon

MSC will return to the UK in 2018 with Magnifica sailing its first full season ex-UK programme.

The ship, which launched in 2009, will make Southampton its home for eight months from April until November.

The company also revealed it will operate its first world cruise in 2019.

UK managing director Antonio Paradiso announced the ‘big UK comeback’ at their All Star of the Seas event held on Sunday November 13 onboard the MSC Fantasia in Barcelona.

Paradiso said: “We are coming back to the UK with our ship Magnifica for a whole season, it is a big comeback for us and we are very excited.

“It marks a new dedication from MSC to the UK market and how we want to be one of the most popular cruise lines in the country.

“We have created itineraries that make the most of the British Isles and the best of what are customers can experience out of their own country.

“I am really excited, this is game on for us. I want us to become one of the top three cruise lines in the UK.”

There will be five new itineraries out of Southampton including a 14-day sailing calling at Le Havre, La Coruna, Leixoes, Lisbon, Malaga then Amsterdam and Hamburg.

A North Sea sailing will travel to Stavanger, Bergen, Olden and Alesund in Norway plus a round-UK sailing calling at Southampton, Newcastle, South Queensferry in Edinburgh and Invergordon.

Following the UK sailings, the Magnifica will then host the company’s first ever world cruise from January 2019.

The 119-day itinerary will visit 32 countries with 49 ports of call with some destinations including Panama, San Francisco, Melbourne and Petra in Jordan.

Paradiso said: “This will open up a whole new market for us and it is something we have waited a long time to do.

“We wanted to reduce days at sea so during the 119 days there will be no more than five consecutive days at sea.”

Bookings for the ex-UK Magnifica sailings will be available in early 2017, no set date has been released yet.

New look QM2 sails into Southampton after £90m ‘remastering’

Posted on 23 June, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

Cunard flagship Queen Mary 2 sailed into Southampton early this morning following a 25-day refit costing around £90 million.

The so-called ‘remastering’ of the 12-year old ship sees 50 new cabins added, including 15 for single travellers.

Ten additional kennels have been added for passengers taking their pets on transatlantic sailings, complete with a lamp post from Liverpool and a fire hydrant from New York to make dogs “feel at home”.

The work at a shipyard in Hamburg has seen a redesign and refurbishment of the Queens Grill and Princess Grill suites and restaurants, as well as Britannia cabins, with the remainder of the accommodation to be fully completed by the end of the year, according to Cunard.

A new speciality restaurant, The Verandah, has been introduced while the Kings Court buffet area has been completely restructured.

The redesign of key public spaces and restaurants includes transformation of the former Winter Garden into the Carinthia Lounge.

Queen Mary arrives in Southampton after Major Refit.

The ship’s exterior has been repainted, using more than 15,000 litres of paint applied to the hull alone, and “significant technical enhancements and structural changes” have been carried out.

More than one million man hours went in to the refurbishment over the 25 days with 55,200 square metres of new carpets laid – the equivalent of 10 football pitches.

A total of 4,000 new framed pictures have been brought on board as part of the refurbishment.

Cunard senior vice president, Simon Palethorpe, said ahead of the ship departing for New York later today: “Cunard’s passion for delivering a service and experience that both meets and exceeds guest’s expectations is transforming the way we travel by sea.

“Remastering Queen Mary 2 honours the heritage and iconic status of our magnificent ship to take our passengers forward into a new era of ocean travel.”

Cruise chief targets ‘pirate’ shore excursion operators

Posted on 20 May, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

Photo courtesy of Dave Jones

by Hollie-Rae Merrick

Cruise lines need to educate agents about the value of selling shore excursions to stop “pirate third-party operators stealing guests”, the boss of the world’s largest cruise company has claimed.

Carnival Corporation chief executive Arnold Donald told the Clia conference in Southampton that there was scope to improve the promotion and sales of both onboard and destination-based experiences.

“There has only been one year since 2006 that onboard revenues didn’t go up,” he said. “Despite any changes in the industry, onboard revenues have continued to grow.

“Those changes include shore excursions where you have a lot of, what we call pirates, but they call themselves independent operators, stealing our guests on shore excursions that they ought to be booking with us.

“It’s a missed opportunity for us.”

Donald said that working with agents would help customers differentiate between shore tours provided through cruise lines and others.

“Some of those tours aren’t the same,” he added. “They may go to the same places but they aren’t the same.

“They may not have the same insurance, they may not have the same quality guides and consumers buying online doesn’t know all that. We have to do a better job at that.

“There are so many opportunities on this.”

Donald went on to praise the performance of the UK market which he described as “robust” and performing well.

He claimed the UK was on a “positive trajectory from a Carnival standpoint”, but admitted that the industry needed to “manage smarter and not panic on price”.

He said it was important to “hang in there a little bit longer on price” to help drive up the average cruise fare.