Tag Archives: southampton

NCL to consult trade on TV advertising ahead of ex-UK return

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Norwegian Cruise Line plans to consult with the trade before making a decision on whether it introduces TV advertising in the UK.

Speaking as the line revealed plans to have a ship sailing from the UK for the first time in seven years, Harry Sommer, executive vice president of international business development, said the line would discuss marketing with key agent partners before making a decision.

“I’ve been asked to speak to our trade partners about doing TV ads in the UK, Germany and Spain – our three top European markets.

“I can’t rule it in or out but because so much of our marketing in Europe is with our travel agency partners it is a decision we’d like to make jointly with them.”

The line will base Norwegian Jade in Southampton in 2017 and will offer a series of 11 Western Europe and three Norwegian Fjords sailings between May 12 and June 20 and August 7 and October 16, 2017.

Sommer said the decision to return to Southampton was partly due to “market demand”, but also that it was “reflective of the growth of the company”.

The ship will arrive in Europe after a two-and-a-half week dry-dock. Ports of call featured on its itineraries include Hamburg, Amsterdam, Zeebrugge, Le Havre, Alesund, Geiranger, and Bergen.

Asked why the line wasn’t offering Mediterranean sailings out of Southampton, Sommer said they’d found it difficult to put together a “good itinerary” and instead believed the fly-cruise market was better suited to that part of Europe.

Senior vice president international sales and operations, Francis Riley, said basing Norwegian Jade in Southampton, and Hamburg, where the ship will also offer sailings from, would be a way of “testing it” for the future.

“When we started looking at deployments we said as a team we were ready to have a ship back (in the UK), and we’ve been ready for some time,” he said.

The line’s 2017 programme includes a total of five ships sailing in Europe, NCL’s biggest-ever European deployment.

Norwegian Getaway, which launched in 2014, will return to Europe to sail eight or nine-night Baltic Capitals cruises to and from Copenhagen.

Norwegian Epic will sail in the Western Mediterranean; Norwegian Spirit will offer 10 and 11-night voyages between Barcelona and Venice and Norwegian Star will sail between Venice and the Greek Isles.

Norwegian’s managing director for EMEA, Christian Boell, said: “Not only are we offering the possibility to embark in Southampton but we are also bringing one of our newest and most innovative ships back to Europe.

“We’re convinced that this will encourage continued growth in the UK market, where we have just seen record breaking guest numbers in 2015.”

Northern Europe general manager, Nick Wilkinson, added: “I’m sure these exciting Southampton sailings will be music to our travel partners’ ears.”

“We are back, we’re in Southampton and we are in it to win,” Wilkinson added.

Royal Caribbean signs deal with China’s Forbidden City Imperial Palace to showcase Chinese culture on Ovation of the Seas

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Royal Caribbean and the Chinese Imperial Palace Museum (the Palace Museum) held a joint press conference today at a signing ceremony for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement in the Forbidden City’s Jianfu Palace. 

As part of the agreement, experts from different research fields selected by the Palace Museum will be invited to give lectures of Chinese history and culture to guests on Ovation of the Seas. 

The Palace Museum also will provide professional consultation of the ship’s interior décor and art program. In addition, signature pieces from the collections of the Imperial Palace Museum will be on display to promote the traditional culture and arts of China. Paintings and art pieces created by artists from the Palace Museum will be available for guests to purchase at auctions held onboard.

Ovation of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s newest ship that debuts in April, will be the first to homeport in China immediately after its delivery and will begin service from Tianjin beginning June 2016.

The signing ceremony officially launches the “2016 – Let’s Ovation” campaign in China and marks the countdown to Ovation of the Seas’ maiden voyage in China.

“We are proud of the extensive collection of art and relics that represent the imperial treasures of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and it is our goal at The Palace Museum to showcase the traditional Chinese culture to people all over the world,” said Shan Jixian, Director of the Imperial Palace Museum. “This partnership with Royal Caribbean International and our programs on Ovation of the Seas will help to further these objectives. We are excited to promote the rich heritage of the Forbidden City and China to the guests of the world’s largest global cruise line and we hope to continue to expand on these efforts.”

Dr. Zinan Liu, President of North APAC and China, Royal Caribbean International said: “Cruising is becoming increasingly popular with Chinese travelers and Royal Caribbean’s award-winning and state-of-the-art ships with features found only on Royal Caribbean are very appealing to those consumers looking for a high quality vacation experience. Quantum of the Seas has been very well received by our Chinese guests and we are excited to now bring Ovation of the Seas to Tianjin. Sailing two of the world’s newest and most technologically advanced ships in China demonstrate our leadership and commitment to the market and this partnership with the Palace Museum showcasing China’s rich heritage will bring yet another unique element to our vacation offering.”

Ovation of the Seas will be officially launched in April 2016, when she departs Southampton for Tianjin, China on a 53-day Global Odyssey. She will begin her first homeport sailing season in China from Tianjin in June 2016. Ovation of the Seas, together with Quantum of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Legend of the Seas, will make up the largest fleet of any cruise line sailing in China.

P&O Cruises’ Britannia to host Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway

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P&O Cruises is to host a special episode of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway live from the top deck of its flagship Britannia in Barcelona – and will launch a competition in the New Year for agents to be on board.

Throughout the next series of ITV’s award-winning show, 200 viewers of Saturday Night Takeaway will have the chance to win 100 free cabins on a 14-night cruise from Southampton to the Mediterranean and back, which will include an overnight call in Barcelona where the special episode will be filmed live on board.

The sailing will leave Southampton on March 27, 2016 and call at Cadiz, Barcelona, Civitavecchia (Rome), Ajaccio, Corsica and Gibraltar before returning to Southampton on April 10.

Top TV duo Ant and Dec will be joined for the special show by celebrity guests, and will stage all their usual stunts, performances and competitions in front of the winning viewers, regular passengers and those agents who win a place on board.

The competition for agents to join the sailing and be part of the show will be run exclusively in Travel Weekly in early 2016.

P&O Cruises senior vice president of sales & marketing Paul Ludlow said: “We are delighted that Britain’s most popular Saturday night show will be broadcasting live from Britain’s biggest and newest cruise ship.

“P&O Cruises is an inherently British brand and with Saturday night entertainment being such a popular British tradition, we thought this would be a great partnership. And there is nothing more iconic for great family fun than Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

“This will be a spectacular event and our guests will be able to join in the fun on the evening as Ant and Dec present a memorable show from Britannia in Barcelona.”

Ludlow said the tie-up with Saturday Night Takeaway would really “open up the concept of cruise” to the masses and drive more new-to-cruise sales.

“Over the course of the series, we estimate that Saturday Night Takeaway, and the cruise giveaway and live show on board, will be seen by over 22 million people.

“They will get a glimpse of cruise and the product and it will start a conversation that people might not have had otherwise.

“We expect to see a return from so many million people seeing Britannia. We will be putting cruise into people’s conscious,” he said.

Ludlow said this was the first time P&O Cruises had entered into such a tie-up, but added: “People will have seen P&O as a brand really evolve over the last 18 months to two years.

“It really celebrates its Britishness and represents the best way for Brits to go off and do something quite adventurous but come back to somewhere that understands their tastes and that feels comfortable.”

Commenting on the opportunity for agents win a place on the sailing and the chance to be part of the live show and to meet Ant & Dec, Ludlow said:

“Inherently, most people are going to book a cruise through a travel agent and so we want to involve agents in this, so that they feel as excited as we are about it.

“We will run a competition exclusively in Travel Weekly for agents to win places – so watch this space in the New Year.”

Customers already booked on the 14-night sailing will be contacted and told about the live filming in Barcelona.

The impact on their cruise will be explained and they will be offered the chance to cancel with a full refund, or to carry on as normal. Ludlow said he “expected the majority to stick with us”.

Anyone interested in making a future booking on the sailing will be told what is happening on board before any money has changed hands.

Saturday Night Takeaway’s executive producer, Pete Ogden, said: “I am thrilled to be working with P&O Cruises to shoot a live episode of the series on board Britannia.

“It is a huge undertaking, but I am confident that we will work together to make it a spectacular event.”