Tag Archives: Tianjin

Quantum of the Seas to sail Alaska cruises

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Quantum of the Seas to sail Alaska cruises
Quantum of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean International will send the Quantum of the Seas to Seattle in 2021, giving the cruise line four ships serving Alaska, its largest deployment there.

It will be the Quantum’s first time sailing from the Pacific Northwest, where it will sail seven-day cruises visiting Endicott Arm Fjord, the Sitka Sound and Juneau, among other stops.

The ship will join the Ovation, Radiance and Serenade of the Seas, which will be based in Seattle, Vancouver and Seward, Alaska, respectively.

The Quantum had been based in Asia, where it was sailing from Singapore and Tianjin, China. A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said the company had planned to send the Quantum to Alaska in 2021 before the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Royal Caribbean said last fall that its fifth Oasis-class ship, the Wonder of the Seas, would sail from China when it debuts in 2021

Tianjin Targeting 800,000 Passengers in 2017

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The Ovation of the Seas in Tianjin

With four berths, Tianjin expects around 800,000 passengers this year, and through the first six months of 2017, traffic was up some 102.4 percent.

Customs and border protection has been further refined, reducing clearance times to 10 seconds in some instances with automated terminals.

Earlier this year, the port signed a MOU with Costa to build a supply and distribution center, with Costa committing to year-round voyages from Tianjin through 2019.

Also of note, the MSC Lirica sailed from Tianjin in February, offering a new “Around China” itinerary with interporting in Zhoushan, Hong Kong and Xiamen, as well as calls to South Korea and Japan, according to Da Wu, vice general manager of Tianjin International Cruise Terminal.

Wu hopes his port will offer more diversified products, including cruises to nowhere, to attract new passengers

Zhengdong Zhang, general manager, added: “Similar to MSC’s model, we are exploring opening domestic routes to Dalian, Yantai, Qingdao, Rongcheng and Weihai, creating a product in which passengers only need their national identification card to travel.”

Carnival building two Vista-class ships in China

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Buhdy Bok (left), president of Costa Group Asia, and Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald at the China Cruise and Yacht Industry Association conference, after Donald announced an agreement to build ships in China. Photo Credit: Arnie Weissmann
 

Carnival Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding to build two Vista-class cruise ships in China intended for use by a Chinese cruise brand.

The ships have been discussed in general terms as part of an earlier disclosure of a shipbuilding joint venture between Carnival, China State Shipbuilding Corp. and Italian firm Fincantieri.

The agreement was announced at the 11th annual China Cruise Shipping and International Cruise Expo in Tianjin, China.

The memorandum specifies that the first of the two ships would be delivered in 2022. There is also an option to build two more Vista-class ships. The first Vista-class ship, the Carnival Vista, entered service last May.

Carnival said that the agreement is “non-binding.” If the ships are built, it would be a groundbreaking development, marking the first time that sophisticated cruise ships are built in China for the Chinese domestic market.

A Carnival joint venture in China would operate the new ships as part of plans to launch the first multi-ship domestic cruise brand in China.

If the joint venture is finalized, in all likelihood older ships from Carnival Corp. brands would sail for the new brand in advance of the 2022 newbuild, said Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corp.

Other partners in the operating joint venture include China State Shipbuilding Corp. and the China Investment Capital Corp.

“Being able to offer cruises on China-built cruise ships represents a new opportunity for us to generate excitement and demand for cruising amongst a broader segment of the Chinese vacation market,” said Alan Buckelew, Carnival Corp.’s global chief operations officer.

Separately, Carnival and its Chinese partners announced that the Chinese central government has granted approval for the cruise joint venture to incorporate in Hong Kong.