Tag Archives: Vacation

Cordelia: International Guests’ Interest in India Grows

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Cordelia: International Guests’ Interest in India Grows

“Over the next two years our focus is on refining and redistributing capacity rather than reinventing the network. Lakshadweep remains a core part of our offering and continues to be one of our most popular destinations,” said Jurgen Bailom, CEO at Cordelia Cruises, which goes from one ship this year to three by the end of 2027.

This year, the Empress will introduce new international itineraries from Kochi, including a five-night Malé and Colombo cruise, alongside a two-night high-seas weekend cruise.

“From Chennai, we will operate five-night Sri Lanka cruises, five-night Visakhapatnam and Puducherry itineraries, and open-jaw 10-night Southeast Asia sailings between Chennai and Singapore in July,” he said.

Heading to Asia

Looking ahead to 2027, the company plans to add more Southeast Asia itineraries with open-jaw seven-night sailings between Chennai and Singapore on the Cordelia Sky, which transfers from Norwegian Cruise Line later this year.

“These itineraries are designed not only for Indian travelers, but also for international guests,” said Bailom.

The Sky will take over the core itineraries currently operated by the Empress, initially sailing from Mumbai when she enters service in October.

“The intent is continuity, not disruption,” he added. “The Sky allows us to operate these high-demand routes at a larger scale, with greater capacity and more balcony cabins.”

The Sky is approximately 25 percent larger than the Empress.

“As our deployment evolves, the Sky will move to Kochi and continue operating the itineraries that the Empress has established there, while benefiting from the ship’s size, speed and operational flexibility,” Bailom said.

The Sun will join the Cordelia fleet in 2027, sailing from Mumbai. The Sky will then move to Kochi, and the Empress will shift to sailing from Chennai on a near year-round basis.

“This creates a balanced, multi-homeport network across India with both domestic and international itineraries.

“The speed capability of the newer ships provides greater flexibility to introduce additional ports from existing homeports,” Bailom said.

International Appeal

“We are seeing growing interest from international travelers who want to explore India and its surrounding regions without the complexity of multi-city travel,” Bailom explained.

“Weeklong itineraries such as Southeast Asia sailings, Sri Lanka routes and extended regional cruises allow us to position cruising as a gateway into India, rather than just a domestic holiday format.”

Bailom said that as of early 2026, the company was well into planning its 2028 deployment.

“Port infrastructure and operational reliability are the primary considerations,” he explained. “A successful itinerary delivers across multiple metrics and blends destination discovery with meaningful onboard experiences.

“We focus on creating well-paced journeys that offer a mix of marquee ports, leisure days at sea and immersive shore excursions, ensuring the overall experience feels enriching rather than rushed.

“From a long-term perspective, success also means repeatability. If an itinerary can be operated reliably across seasons and becomes easy for the trade to sell, it becomes part of the core network.”

Carnival Glory Offering Adults-Only Cruise in Europe

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Carnival Glory Offering Adults-Only Cruise in Europe

Carnival Pride Photo credit Spacejunkie2 https://flic.kr/ps/GkiQt

The Carnival Glory is currently offering an adults-only cruise to the Canary Islands and the Western Mediterranean.

As part of Carnival Cruise Line’s SEA program, the 15-night itinerary departed from the Spanish port of Barcelona on March 25, 2026.

Before returning to the port, the European sailing is set to visit other destinations in Spain, as well as Italy and Morocco.

Highlights of the cruise include stops in Civitavecchia and Livorno, from which guests can embark on shore excursions to Rome and Tuscany, respectively.

The Carnival Glory is also scheduled to sail to Málaga and Tangier, as well as Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

According to Carnival, its adults-only SEA voyages are casino-oriented cruises that feature expanded gambling access, themed parties, bingo events and more.

To get access to the sailings, passengers 21 years old and older need to sign up at a dedicated link to receive an offer to book.

Initially set to undergo a routine drydock in Europe, the Carnival Glory crossed the Atlantic in early March 2026.

With the shipyard stay cancelled, the ship is now set to start its return to North America after the SEA voyage.

Sailing from Barcelona in early April, the 13-night cruise sails to Spain, the United Kingdom and the Bahamas before arriving in Port Canaveral.

Ports of call set to be visited include Alicante, Málaga and Gibraltar, as well as Carnival’s Celebration Key private destination in Grand Bahama.

The 110,000-ton vessel is then set to resume its regular schedule of short cruises to the Bahamas on April 24, 2026.

Sailing from Central Florida on a year-round basis, the Carnival Glory offers three- and four-night cruises to Nassau and Celebration Key.

Carnival is operating additional SEA voyages in 2026, with ships like the Carnival Paradise offering the adults-only sailings through April.

New NCLH CEO: $1.7 Million Salary, Potentially $48+ Million in Stock

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New NCLH CEO: $1.7 Million Salary, Potentially $48+ Million in Stock

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced that it has entered into an employment agreement and restricted share unit award agreement with John W. Chidsey, its new president and CEO.

“His compensation structure is designed to immediately align his incentives with long-term shareholder value creation, with the majority of his long-term compensation delivered in performance-based equity,” the company said in a press release issued on Friday morning.

Under the employment agreement, Chidsey is entitled to an annual base salary of $1,715,000.

Beginning with the company’s 2027 fiscal year, he will participate in the annual bonus plan with a target annual bonus opportunity equal to 175% of his base salary.

For fiscal 2026, his annual bonus is fixed at $2.9 million, which is below his target annual bonus amount, with no opportunity to earn a higher payout regardless of performance results achieved.

The company said in an effort to encourage Chidsey to accept the job, he was granted a one-time target award of 2,139,892 restricted share units with an intended value of approximately $48 million.

The award was structured as a “front-loaded” grant covering four years of annual equity incentives and designed to provide him with a meaningful at-risk equity interest in the company that may be earned over the initial four-year term of his employment, the company said, in a press release.

When determining the value of Chidsey’s four-year “front-loaded” grant, the Compensation Committee reviewed annual equity grant benchmarks among the company’s peers to help establish a grant value intended to appropriately incentivize sustained shareholder value creation while maintaining a competitive compensation level, NCLH said in a press release.

Based on these considerations, the Compensation Committee determined that the annualized intended grant value of approximately $12 million was market-aligned and within the competitive range for similarly situated peers based on size and industry profile, appropriately encouraging Chidsey’s contributions over the next four-year period.

Consistent with the front-loaded structure, the Compensation Committee does not intend to grant Chidsey additional equity awards until 2030. Unlike other similarly situated executives, Chidsey’s employment agreement does not entitle him to participate in the company’s Amended and Restated 2013 Performance Incentive Plan or any successor equity incentive plan.

Additional information:

The approved award was delivered in a mix of a target number of 1,172,638 performance share units with an intended approximate grant date value of $28.8 million, which represent 60% of the total intended value of restricted share units and 967,254 restricted share units with an intended grant date value of $19.2 million, which represent 40% of the total intended value of restricted share units (the “RSUs”).

The RSUs will vest in four substantially equal annual installments on each of the first four annual anniversaries of March 1, 2026. The PSUs will be eligible to “cliff vest” at the end of a four-year performance period, but only if applicable absolute total shareholder return compounded annual growth rate (“TSR CAGR”) targets are achieved. If our TSR CAGR achieved for the performance period is: (i) less than 5%, none of the PSUs will vest, (ii) 5%, 50% of the target number of PSUs will vest, (iii) 10%, 100% of the target number of PSUs will vest, or (iv) 20% or more, 200% of the target number of PSUs will vest. For performance that falls between these milestones, the PSU vesting will be determined based on linear interpolation.

Chidsey must generally remain continuously employed through the date the performance targets are achieved in order to vest in any PSUs becoming earned based on performance, although the award agreement does provide for accelerated RSU and PSU vesting for certain qualifying terminations of his employment.

The company said the new employment agreement was approved by the Compensation Committee of the Board, in consultation with its independent compensation consultant, and is based on the same form of employment agreement that applies to other senior executive officers.