Thursday 28 August 2014

Thursday 28th August

I have just returned from a trip to see both Anthem of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas under construction in Germany - quite an incredible sight, and two new innovative ships on their way!  Here are some of my pics from Quantum of the Seas - see here

And talking about Quantum here is the interview from Travel Weekly with Richard Fain in which he talks about some of the technical innovations that makes the ship unique - read here.

Some of those technical developments are covered here from TTG - including the chance to get from sidewalk to cabin in 15 minutes, and huge strides forward in on-board wifi connectivity - read here.

Over at sister brand Azamara Club Cruises there is a wide range of new initiatives that are aiming to 'woo' the trade, with a new Advisory Board, incentives and events coming up this year - read here.

Of course the new Royal Caribbean ships are not the only new ships in production, and this week we saw the first steel cut for the new Pinnacle Class Holland America Line ship.  She will be 2,600 guests and almost 100,000 GRT when delivered - read here.

There is innovation too at Princess Cruises with a new night time feature on Regal Princess where the Retreat Pool will transform into open air disco The Night Time Lounge - read here.

Meanwhile over in the expedition cruise sector, Fred Olsen Travel have created a new brand dedicated to those cruises in what they are claiming is a first for a tour operator - read here.

And in the river cruise sector we were delighted to see that APT have ordered two new ships for the growing river cruise destination of Burma.  The ships will be delivered in 2016 - read here.

Whilst on the subject of ricer cruising it was great to see th coverage in Travel Weekly this week - read here.

We look forward to seeing some of our cruise line and travel agent partners this weekend in Dover for our first Premium and Luxury Cruise Expo!

Until next week!

Thursday 21 August 2014

August 21st 2014

We start with Norwegian Cruise Line who made the headlines this week.  According to Travel Weekly the cruise line are at a 'tipping point' with the expansion of their fleet and the need to 'get serious' about sourcing more guests outside of North America - read more here

Over at Cunard there was the unveiling this week of some of the big name speakers who will grace their fleet - the line-up includes a former South Africa President, motorsport genius Murray Walker, and actor Robert Powell - read more here.

In the world of river cruising, Scenic Tours (a recent addition to the CLIA UK & Ireland family) has unveiled some exciting new excursions in Europe - read more here - whilst Carnival Cruise Line unveils some new itineraries from Baltimore and San Juan - read more here

One of the big stories on our Facebook page this week was the float out in Germany of the newest cruise ship ion the world - Quantum of the Seas - looking great with its light blue hull - there is a video you can watch here.  Quantum will launch in October.

Over in the digital editions this week - there is plenty of cruise to keep you busy in TTG, including an interview with Azamara Club Cruises UK boss Richard Twynam - read here and a great piece on CLIA Cruise Week and how travel agents can get involved - read here.

One of the big stories in the US this week is the complete transformation of cruise ship entertainment with the arrival of big name acts and Broadway style glitz!  The question Travel Weekly (US) asks is whether this will continue to be included in the fare? Read more here.

Incidentally - one our Facebook page this week we have images of the new Cruise & Maritime Voyages ship Azores, pictures from Dublin of Holland America Line's Rotterdam, and much more!

We end this week with the craze that includes David Beckham and a host of former Presidents ands celebrities: the ice bucket challenge - here wonderfully demonstrated by Carnival Cruise Lines in the US: see here

Until next week!

Thursday 14 August 2014

Thursday August 14th 2014

Another exciting week for the industry as Quantum of the Seas is 'floated out' in Germany ahead of its sea-trials in September.  She is an impressive ship (over 167,000 GRT and over 4,100 guests), with a light-blue hull  - and will feature some ground-breaking new technology.  Read the piece from the Daily Mail here.

Meanwhile, Cunard has announced a big refurbishment for Queen Victoria in January.  The transformation includes public spaces, staterooms and new 'Scrubber' technology.  Read more here.  She will cancel some sailings to make the refurbishment happen.

Staying with Cunard - great to hear that they will be hosting a special exhibition for Lusitania onboard Queen Victoria in May - read more here.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the 'Cool Cruises' survey from Travel Weekly - who did travel agent vote as their favourites?  You can find out through their special supplement here.

In the world of luxury cruise there was the big announcement from Hapag Lloyd this week - they ill be using The Cruise Line to manage their marketing and sales in association with existing Hapag Lloyd sales representative Mike Flannigan: read more here.

In other news - it was great to see three cruise people make the TTG Top Travel Tweeters list for 2014 - Jo Rzymowska (Celebrity Cruises and CLIA Chair), Giles Hawke (MSC Cruises) and our very own Andy Harmer (CLIA) - well done all 3, and indeed the wider 25.  See the list here.

Princess Cruises continues to make the headlines - this week was the announcement about Regal Princess that the ship will be christened by some of the original cast of US hit series The Love Boat: read here.

It is worth checking out last week's TTG (page 30, Aug 7) for details of a new wave of cruise graduates coming out of Southampton (with the support of CLIA of course): read here

It is also worth checking out this week's Travel Weekly (page 22) for some great comment by two members of the CLIA Travel Agent Advisory Council - Simone (IGLU) and Phil (Cruise Village) on cruise training.  Check out the digital edition here.

Until next week!

Thursday 7 August 2014

Thursday August 7th 

Cruise continues to 'go for gold' in a week that saw the Commonwealth Games close in Scotland - but who has been making the headlines this week?

Well there has been a number of cruise events held across the country, including the Silversea 20th Anniversary Lunch on Silver Cloud in London (and other regional celebrations too), and not one but two Oceania ships were in Southampton together - both having returned from a major refurbishment.

In new-build news could it be that Silversea are about to build another new ship - read here - this ultra-luxury sector is about to be boosted by new builds from Regent, Ponant and Seabourn, so could this be a fourth?  We already know that Crystal Cruises new CEO - Edie Rodriguez - is keen to add to that fleet too - read here

The new build news follows the announcement by Princess Cruises of a new 'Royal' Class ship for 2017 - and apparently the ship will feature some 'surprises' too: read more here.  And staying with Princess - there are some continuing changes to their sales team and sales operation too: read more here.  And the line has also announced a partnership with chocolatier Norman Love - read more here. Yum!

And there were two big announcements of extensive refurbishments this week with Celebrity Eclipse due into dry dock in April - read more here - and with P&O Cruises Aurora undergoing a big refurb later this year - including the addition of the union livery, something that is due to be added to the entire fleet - read more here.

In port news - there was delight from Cork as the feasibility of a second dedicated cruise berth gets the go ahead: read here

And finally, in people news - CLIA would like to pay tribute to Dawn Jordan who left bath Travel last week having spent 19 years championing cruise!  We wish her well.  Read here.

Until next week!