Tag Archives: tui

TUI: Thomson to Get Mein Schiff 1 and 2

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TUI Group reported today interim results for the first six months of its fiscal year, ending March 31 2015, including news regarding the Mein Schiff 1 and 2, which are heading to Thomson Cruises in the near future.

Cruise delivered a “significant increase” in profitability for the company, according to results.

“Hotels and Resorts is performing well and Cruises continues to grow, with the launch of Mein Schiff 4 this June and improved fleet performance by Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten,” said Chief Executives of TUI Group, Friedrich Joussen and Peter Long,

Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten delivered a significant turnaround based on an improved operating performance, said the company, while TUI Cruises continued to deliver growth with an improvement of €15m year on year following the successful launch of Mein Schiff 3.

The report also stated: “In the framework of exercising our purchase option it was agreed that Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 will be moved to Thomson Cruises in the next few years in order to continue the modernisation of the UK cruise operations. These two steps will complete our growth and modernisation roadmap in the cruise segment.”

Thomson is already scheduled to get the Splendour of the Seas next spring, and will retire the Island Escape later this year.

Former Tui boss Wimbleton to head Cruising Excursions

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Former Tui boss Wimbleton to head Cruising Excursions Cruising Excursions has announced a change in shareholders, of directors and the appointment of former Tui Specialist and Activity managing director John Wimbleton as chairman.

Managing director Simon Purchase has relinquished his shareholding to a group of industry stalwarts including White Hart Associates partner Chris Photi and former Ola Holidays director Richard Knight, and left the company to “pursue other commercial directions”. Ola ceased trading last November.

Cruising Excursions, which is widely credited for revolutionising the way cruise excursions are sold in the UK, has meanwhile promoted general manager Simonne Fairbanks, who has been with the business since start-up in 2011, to chief operating officer and appointed her to the board of directors, which also includes Wimbleton and Knight.

It is understood the board is also looking for a chief executive officer from outside the industry.

New Cruising Excursions chairman Wimbleton was at First Choice then Tui for 22 years and currently holds various industry positions including as chairman of Scott Dunn and as non-executive director of European Travel Ventures and as a travel industry advisor for Catalyst Corporate Finance.

He said: “I’ve watched and been impressed by cruisingexcursions’ rapid growth over the years – it launched with 240 excursions at 60 Med ports and now has around 10,000 excursions at more than 700 ports worldwide.

“I believe this company will continue to go from strength to strength – virtually every month it has exceeded its targets.”

He said building the company’s direct business would be one of his focuses.

“The trade has embraced the concept of pre-selling cruising excursions but there is a huge untapped consumer market out there and I look forward to directing investment in addressing this area in the next stage of growth.”

Photi said: “John Wimbleton is a travel industry professional with over 35 years experience in tour operating and distribution at board level, with extensive international experience.

“He has the exact credentials to lead cruisingexcursions.com in the next stage of growth, which includes expansion in the European and International markets.”

Cruising Excursions is currently on sale with 99% of the travel trade, including Tui, Global Travel Group, Thomas Cook and Advantage and accounts for 50% of the company’s overall sales.

Agents receive up to 16% commission with the average agent sale being around £280 thanks to multi package products. The company has recently expanded into Europe and the website is available in French, German and Dutch versions. There is representation in the USA and is expanding rapidly in Australia thanks to a deal with the appointed GSA Harvey World Travel.

Gaining perspective with a look back at RCCL, Carnival Corp.

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Gaining perspective with a look back at RCCL, Carnival Corp.

By Tom Stieghorst
*InsightLooking back 10 years at the two biggest cruise companies is one way to gauge how far the industry has progressed and gain some perspective on the problems of the day.

In 2003, the problems included terrorism, war, flu and the SARS respiratory virus. “A perfect storm,” Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman Richard Fain called it in his annual letter to shareholders that year.

On the shipbuilding front, RCCL made its first new order in 3½ years, for an “Ultra Voyager” class ship that would evolve into the Freedom of the Seas. The letter mentioned short cruises from Los Angeles had been restored, and a brand-new terminal in New Jersey called Cape Liberty was inaugurated.*TomStieghorst

Celebrity Cruises had launched a marketing campaign with the theme of ordinary people being treated like celebrities, the Serenade and Mariner of the Seas were added to the fleet and RCCL’s joint venture with First Choice Holidays, Island Cruises, had just turned profitable.

RCCL was hoping to regain the investment ratings on its debt that it had lost after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Flash-forward to 2013. Terrorism, war, flu and SARS, while not vanquished, were not hot-button issues. In his letter to shareholders, Fain says RCCL ordered no new ships for 2017 to keep capacity growth modest.

Royal isn’t sailing from Los Angeles anymore, but its Cape Liberty terminal in New York Harbor is more important than ever. Royal built six ships after Serenade and Mariner, with a seventh, Quantum of the Seas, due in November.

RCCL’s stake in Island Cruises was sold to Germany’s TUI, which is a 50-50 partner with RCCL in TUI Cruises. And the company is still trying to earn back its investment grade rating.

For Carnival Corp., 2003 was the year it finalized its landmark merger with P&O Princess Cruises. It was preparing to take delivery of seven ships in a nine-month stretch, including Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2.

“I have never, in my 35 years in this business, been more excited and enthusiastic about the future of our company,” Carnival Corp. Chairman and CEO Micky Arison wrote.

Ten years later, the mood is less ebullient. Arison’s letter in the annual report is a bit retrospective; it notes his retirement as CEO of the company he has steered for three decades and salutes Carnival veterans Howard Frank and Pier Luigi Foschi, who also stepped down from executive roles in 2013, leaving the company’s day-to-day direction in the hands of a relative newcomer, Arnold Donald.

Arison’s letter says Donald brought “a fresh perspective and a new energy to our company. … His skills are ideally suited to lead the next stage of Carnival Corp. and PLC.”