Shipbuilding & Repair: 360 Degree Horizon
While the order flow may fluctuate, cruise lines are staying in close contact not just with the yards that are building their ships, but also with the other building yards. “Everybody is keeping all doors open,” according to one yard source. “While owners may have preferential relationships, orders can never be taken for granted, and…
New Ships: Liberty: Proven Design
Giuseppe Messina knows that a lot can go wrong when building a cruise ship. That’s why Fincantieri’s project manager for Carnival Cruise Lines’ newbuildings (which recently completed the $450 million Carnival Liberty in Monfalcone) places such high priority and importance on one thing: proactive risk management. “As you can imagine, designing and building a project…
Shipbuilding & Repair: Worldwide Repair Business
While cruise-ship building is concentrated at four yards in Europe, repairs and refurbishments take place on a broader scale, usually near where the ships are sailing. But the repair business may be consolidating into fewer yards as well, as the builders are also looking to get into the repair and maintenance side of the business;…
Company Profile: Royal Caribbean International : More Freedom
The Freedom of the Seas will be a very powerful vacation offering when she enters service next spring, according to Adam Goldstein, president of Royal Caribbean International. “It is a fantastic product,” he continued. “We are confident it is the right product for the right time.” Goldstein said that the Freedom-class of ships will give…
Ship Review: Bella Costa Magica
We chose Costa Magica for our cruise this year because it had been 10 years since we sailed the Mediterranean (also on Costa) and that was prior to the Carnival acquisition. The itinerary was attractive and it also afforded us a few days in as Civitavecchia is the homeport. The ports of call were Savona,…
Destination Focus: Asia/Pacific: To Grow Aggressively or Patiently?
The cruise industry may be sailing in the wake of a tremendous growth forecast for the Asia/Pacific region predicted by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), which estimates that Asia/Pacific will see nearly 400 million international tourist arrivals annually by 2020, compared to 153 million in 2004. Anticipated to increase at a rate of 6.5 percent…