Shipbuilding: Fincantieri Looking Forward
Fincantieri’s orderbook counts 33 cruise ships for 13 different brands, demonstrating the effectiveness of its product and customer differentiation policy, Luigi Matarazzo, general manager of the merchant ships division, told Cruise Industry News. For 2021, six ships have been delivered so far: four from the group’s Italian yards: the Valiant Lady, the Viking Venus, the…
MSC Cruises Is Looking for Green Opportunities
“Our core focus at the moment is on decarbonization,” said Linden Coppell, director of sustainability at MSC Cruises. Solutions encompass energy efficiency both for the company’s fleet of current ships and orderbook extending through 2027, with five LNG newbuilds. “The solutions for the existing fleet and existing engines include bio fuels, using existing infrastructure,” she…
Mardi Gras Upping the Food and Beverage Game for Carnival
As the Mardi Gras is a new class of ship for Carnival Cruise Line, there are more dining venues than on any other ship in the fleet and the distribution of some venues is different, according to Cyrus Marfatia, vice president of culinary and dining. “We did a lot of research among past guests,” he…
Itinerary Planning: Princess Resuming Core Programs
“We aim to get back to our core itineraries with pretty much the same ratio of ALBDs (available lower berth days) across the trades,” Deanna Austin, chief commercial officer for Princess Cruises, told Cruise Industry News. “With bigger ships the relative percentage of guests on our main trades in Alaska, the Caribbean, Europe and Mexico…
Carnival Corporation: More Efficient and Sustainable
“Our number one goal is reducing our emissions,” said Bill Burke, chief maritime officer at Carnival Corporation. That goal is a 40 percent reduction in the company’s carbon emissions by 2030 when compared to a 2008 baseline, with carbon levels peaking for Carnival in 2011. It’s a combination of efficiency and sustainability, Burke said. That…
Royal Caribbean Awaiting Approval for China Cruises
Once the Chinese government gives its approval for international cruises, the market will bounce back strongly, Dr. Zinan Liu, chairman, Royal Caribbean Cruises Asia, told Cruise Industry News. Meanwhile, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has given the company the green light to restart cruises to nowhere aboard the Spectrum of…
MSC Food and Beverage Bringing ‘More Options and Choices’
The new MSC Virtuosa features five specialty restaurants including two new specialty dining concepts: HOLA! Tacos & Cantina and Indochine., according to Jacques van Staden, vice president of food and beverage. Staden said that the HOLA! Concept offers a street-food style Latin American and Mexican dining concept while the Indochine restaurant is the company’s original…
Ambassador Cruise Line: In With the New
A new cruise line with a host of familiar faces in management is what Ambassador Cruise Line brings to the British cruise market. Former executives of Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), a cruise line that went into administration nearly a year ago, have teamed up to launch a new brand with a ship that was…
Carnival Investing in Connectivity Experience
“Stable, fast, affordable, and easy to connect to and use,” said John Harshaw, vice president of global infrastructure, describing the connectivity experience aboard the Carnival Cruise Line fleet. Harshaw said Carnival had been consistently making what he called significant investments to enhance shipboard internet access across its fleet. “This includes accessing high-capacity links, deploying resilient…
Renewed Interest in Shore Power for Cruise Lines and Ports
Shore power is gaining traction again with several ports announcing new installations. The renewed interest is driven by environmental concerns combined with legislative requirements and financial incentives in the form of grants. In Florida, Miami-Dade County signed a letter of intent with six cruise lines and Florida Power and Light in February to bring shore…
TUI Cruises Ramping Up Service
“We are confident we will have a minimum of three ships and up to four in service in Southern Europe by the end of the summer and three ships sailing from Northern Germany,” said Wybcke Meier, CEO of TUI Cruises, in an interview with Cruise Industry News for the 2021 Summer edition of the Cruise…
V. Ships Leisure Excelling at Planning and Saving for Clients
As purchasing manager at V.Ships Leisure, Silvia Rondelli oversees the planning and procurement of technical spares and consumables on a daily basis, plus purchasing for major overhauls, drydocks, annual service and emergency maintenance for a wide variety of cruise line clients. “We work closely with MARCAS, the marine supply chain aggregator, which is our strategic…
Plantours: Hand-Picked Ports and Unique Deployment
Plantours likes to pick remote locations for its itineraries aboard the Hamburg. But the pandemic has changed this strategy a little. “At the moment, it’s really difficult to plan because we face many restrictions all over the world. We don’t know what the future holds and how we’ll be able to cruise,” said Oliver Steuber,…
MSC Cruises Takes Leadership Role in Itinerary Planning
“We took a leadership role, going back into service last August with protocols and the approvals of the Italian, Greek and Maltese governments,” said Achille Staiano, vice president of global sales for MSC Cruises. “The protocols we put in place have proven that they work very well,” he continued. “Our guests are virtually traveling in…
Holland America: Diversified Portfolio of Itineraries and Deployment
“We are planning at least three years out and further but our goal is to open up cruise products at least two years in advance for the public to purchase. We are definitely pushing this window out as much as possible to try to get our cruise offerings available to the public as soon as…