Thursday January 30
Since we are still in WAVE season (although many would
simply call it 'Heavy Rain' Season) there is still some great advice for travel
agents in the press and blogs this week, including this from Cruise Adviser
(that includes some comments from our very own Andy Harmer): read here
Let us start with river cruising - and the recent addition
of river cruise products for Cruise & Maritime Voyages, and the take-over
of TransOcean Kreuzfahrten in Germany that will see the company rapidly increase the
amount of river cruise guests according to TTG: Read here
Over on the oceans, it was profit announcement time for
Royal Caribbean who showed profits increased last year to $530.6 million from
$432.2 million in 2012 largely thanks to strong late demand in Asia and Europe. You can read more here
Talking profits and official news, the parent company of
Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania are aiming to raise £250 million through
the selling of shares – you can read it here
On slightly more non-legal terms was the Cunard announcement
of a change to its in-room amenities to British perfumers Penhaligon: read here
Over on the general travel pages was a very interesting story of how cruising has become the 'must have' holiday experience for many luxury buyers - which is great news: worth reading here. The announcement follows further research on how we are all eyeing exploration for our next holiday - which includes cruising according to Celebrity Cruises and Ben Fogle; and you can read that here
Meanwhile it has been a great start to the year for Giles
Hawke who is now Executive Director for UK, Ireland and Australia for MSC
Cruises: read here
The other big news for the week was our very own
announcement of our theme for the 2014 Selling Cruise Conference that is Make
It Happen: as reported by Travel Weekly (read here), and also by TTG (read here).
CLIA UK & Ireland have lots more announcements coming
soon – so in the meantime... see you next week!