Miami: Cruise Records To Continue
“This season we will have 22 different cruise brands operating and five newbuilds,” said Hydi Webb, director at PortMiami, which is coming off setting a world record with 8.2 million cruise guests in its 2024 fiscal year. She said that 2025 would bring around 8.4 to 8.5 million guests, and there was a combination of…
Royal Caribbean Gearing Up for Huge Allure Drydock
Royal Caribbean is ready for a $100 million-plus drydock for the Allure of the Seas this year that will see the ship in drydock for 42 days and out of service for 48, with 14,000 different tasks set to be completed in Cadiz, said Kevin Douglas, vice president, technical projects and new build, in an…
MSC USA: Readying for Big Moves
“We’re excited about how the product is positioned in the U.S. market with very clear points of distinction, with our European style and American comfort, and how we bring that together,” said Lynn Torrent, executive vice president and chief commercial officer. Torrent said MSC had tweaked the product for U.S. passengers and was gaining ground…
Sun Princess Food and Beverage: ‘Authenticity and Quality’
Maintaining authenticity and quality, Princess Cruises’ Vice President of Food and Beverage Sami Kohen said the cruise line has a team of chefs that are constantly traveling on the ships. “We have six chefs and each have three ships under their belt,” he told Cruise Industry News aboard the new Sun Princess. “And whenever we…
Port of Seattle Expecting Record Year
“Over the next two years, we will have three new brands sailing out of Seattle: Cunard, MSC and Virgin,” said Linda Springmann, director, cruise and maritime marketing for the Port of Seattle. “We will set new (cruise traffic) records this year and next,” she added. For 2024, Seattle posted 275 calls and 1.75 million passengers,…
AIDA Set for Evolution Drydock Program
“We are looking forward to the largest fleet modernization program in our company’s history,” Steffi Heinicke, senior vice president of guest experiences and onboard revenue, told Cruise Industry News. Three ships are going into drydock, starting with the AIDAdiva which will dock into the Chantiers Naval shipyard in Marseille from February to March. For the…
Carnival Cruise Line: Reinventing Fun
The addition of five new ships through 2033 will provide Carnival Cruise Line with opportunities to innovate further and continue building on the Carnival (fun) experience, Christine Duffy, president, told Cruise Industry News. “New ships also give us the opportunity to diversify our offering across our 14 U.S. homeports as we plan new deployments, appealing…
Carnival Corporation: Multiple Initiatives Drive Efficiencies
Carnival Corporation is 10 percent below its all-time greenhouse gas emissions peak in 2011, despite having 30 percent more cruise capacity, said Vice Admiral Bill Burke, chief maritime officer. The company is so confident in its new ships and efficiency efforts for its fleet that it has moved up its carbon intensity reduction goal by…
Adora Leading the Way in Chinese Cruise Market
The Adora Magic City will homeport out of Shanghai for 2025 while the Adora Mediterranea will use a variety of turn ports next year, including Tianjin, Qingdao, Xiamen and Guangzhou. The company is the number one operator in China by capacity, with two ships cruising year-round and a third newbuild set to debut in early…
Princess: Food and Beverage ‘The Ultimate Experience’
Princess Cruises has been making significant enhancements to its dining options across the fleet while also introducing new culinary and beverage experiences aboard its newest ship, the Sun Princess, Sami Kohen, vice president of food and beverage, told Cruise Industry News. “These are unique times for Princess,” he said. “We are going above and beyond,…
Hong Kong’s Kai Tak: LNG Soon Available
The Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong will have LNG bunkering available starting early next year. “Worldwide Cruise Terminals (WCT) helped make this possible by extensive lobbying and conducting Hong Kong’s first quantitative risk assessment (QRA) for LNG bunkering in 2021,” said Jeff Bent, managing director of WCT, which runs the cruise terminal. In…
Virgin Voyages: Smooth Operations; Investing in Leaders
“Normally the day starts with troubleshooting,” said Captain Edward Perrin, vice president of marine operations at Virgin Voyages, who was monitoring potential protestors trying to disrupt cruise traffic in Amsterdam on a Tuesday morning in August. Overseeing the marine department, Perrin manages nautical matters, safety, security, environmental, policies and procedures and maritime compliance. “Every day…
Fincantieri Managing a Record Orderbook and The Future
“The cruise market has bounced back and with all the orders that have come recently, shipowners, especially startup ventures, may find it difficult to find available building slots,” said Luigi Matarazzo, general manager of the merchant ships division of Fincantieri. “We are very proud of our orderbook which this year added three new very large…
Viking’s Food and Beverage Formula
Viking Cruises seems to be on a steady course ahead for food and beverage, replicating its concept across 10 ships, and seemingly also for the next 10 ships. The formula for the fleet has two parts, traditional and Norwegian, with a personal touch by Viking’s founder and chairman Torstein Hagen. The traditional side features The…
TUI Cruises Pursuing Sustainability Innovations
When TUI Cruises introduced its newest ship, Mein Schiff 7, this summer, she became the first cruise ship to be methanol ready. Meanwhile, the ship is operating on low-emission marine diesel with a maximum 0.1 percent sulfur content, said Lucienne Damm, head of sustainability at TUI Cruises, and is equipped with catalytic converters for up…