Tag Archives: Tenerife

Seabourn Encore Resumes Service in Europe

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After a 23-month operational pause, the Seabourn Encore is welcoming the passengers back today.

As the third Seabourn vessel to resume revenue service, the luxury ship is launching a series of ten- and 11-night cruises to the Canaries and the Mediterranean.

Sailing roundtrip from Lisbon, Portugal, the first cruise features visits to five ports in the Spanish archipelago of the Canaries, such as La Palma, Tenerife and Arrecife.

The itinerary also includes a call at Funchal, Portugal’s Madeira Island.

Continuing its first post-pandemic season, the Encore is poised to offer additional sailings to the Atlantic Islands until early April. The vessel then repositions to the Mediterranean in time for a summer program in the region.

Designed to offer an ultra-luxury product, the 40,350-ton cruise ship originally entered service in 2016.

As an enlarged version of Seabourn’s previous series of newbuilds, the Seabourn Encore carries 604 guests and features expanded public areas.

According to the Seabourn, the vessel was projected drawing inspiration from the brand’s rich history and yachting heritage and offers modern design elements and innovations consistent with its reputation for understated elegance.

The all-suite ship has multiple dining venues, in addition to a showroom, a spa, several lounges and bars, a casino, and the popular Seabourn Square, the social hub onboard with a club-like ambience.

Seabourn first resumed guest operations in Europe with the Seabourn Ovation. In July 2021, the 2018-built vessel kicked off a series of cruises to the Greek Islands and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Seabourn Odyssey followed later that same month, sailing Eastern Caribbean cruises from Barbados.

Upon the completion of its summer program in Europe, the Ovation joined the Odyssey in the Caribbean, offering its first-ever departures from a U.S. port.

The remainder of the company’s fleet is set to resume service before the second half of 2022.

New ship Arvia will offer the line’s first multi-sensory escape room experience

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The new experience, titled Mission Control, is set underwater onboard a fictional submarine Arvia II, with a series of live-action puzzles.
 
The “expedition” is led by fictional Dr Ryan and has multiple storylines, suitable for all ages, with a film-like plot and motion simulation.

P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow said holidays are “all about new experiences”, and the “immersive” escape room will create “unforgettable action-packed moments with family and friends”.
 
“Mission Control will expand our onboard entertainment offering even further, giving guests an opportunity to create unique bonding experiences they will talk about for years to come,” he added.
  
Arvia’s maiden voyage is a 14-night Canary Islands cruise, departing from and returning to Southampton on 9 December 2020. Ports of call are Madeira, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Cadiz and Lisbon and prices start from £1,449pp.

The hope of winter cruise return raised by the Canary Islands

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Tenerife Shipyards wins contract to upgrade Seadrill's West Bollsta oil platform - PortSEurope

Hopes have been raised for a winter season of cruise ship visits to the Canary Islands.

Cruise lines will have to carry out Covid PCR tests on all travellers before arriving in the archipelago, according to the Canary Islands government.

UK government restrictions currently prevent ocean cruises from operating and lines still await renewed Foreign Office guidance.

On a media call after issuing its half-year results up to the end of July, Saga group chief executive Euan Sutherland said the firm was “ready to cruise again as soon as government guidelines are updated”.

He added: “We expect them to be in the next few days”.

The Spanish islands’ transport and health ministers believe safety rules can be agreed to allow a return of ships from as early as October.

The presidents of the port authorities of Las Palmas and Santa  Cruz de Tenerife have committed to communicating the government health protocol for cruise companies to adopt.

Cruise companies would be required to subscribe to an insurance that covers all the expenses of passengers that may be infected by Covid-19 in order to guarantee both safeties of the residents of the Islands and the ships’ passengers.

“This insurance would cover all the expenses derived from a coronavirus incidence among travellers, such as repatriation, medical expenses and quarantine stays,” a Canary Islands statement said.

All passengers will need to undertake a diagnostic test to show that they are negative for coronavirus.

Passengers must also fill out a form that includes all their movements in the last 15 days before arriving in the Canary Islands to monitor them in case of an incident.

Cruise companies must undertake that their ships do not exceed 60% or 70% of capacity and they expand their sanitary staff on board, with cleaning and disinfection of ships after each trip, to establish a protocol of tracking ships every time they dock in a port on the islands.

Tui is one of five European cruise companies to have shown interest in starting winter cruises.

“Only with this operating company, the Canarian ports would be receiving an average of 1,300 tourists every week, an amount that will increase considerably once the rest of the shipping companies that have already shown their interest in making the Canarian circuit join,” the islands’ government said.

Transport minister Sebastian Franquis said: “For the government of the Canary Islands it is essential to recover this type of tourism because it is a very necessary economic activity at the moment for the archipelago, and we want to recover it with all the health requirements.

“For the government, it is essential to recover winter tourism, not only in air transport but also in maritime transport and gradually recover the hotel plant.

“Therefore, we are making every effort to ensure that between October and November cruise tourism begins to recover normally within what we are experiencing and not to lose the winter tourist season.”