Tuesday 17 June 2014

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Ponant sales soar by 50%Compagnie du Ponant has

reported record growth so far for 2014, with the number of bookings in the first five months up a significant 50% year-on-year.

May sales were “particularly exceptional,” according to the French-flag cruise line, with more than 2,200 passengers booked last month alone.

After strong growth in 2013, when revenue topped €100 million for 20,000 passengers, and a fourth yacht - Le Soleal - was launched, 2014 “looks set to be another very promising year”, the company said.

This growth has been attributed to the leverage gained from an expanded portfolio of destinations linked with the impending arrival of a fifth ship, Le Lyrial, due in 2015.

Ponant’s expansion into Australia and New Zealand in the 2014/2015 summer season, to be

followed by Alaska, was cited as a main factor for the success.

Forward bookings, with sales for 2015 cruises launched mid-Apr 2014, six months early, was another factor.

“Compagnie du Ponant has achieved excellent results for the first half of 2014 thanks to all the investments made over the last two years and deployment of a forward bookings strategy,” said ceo Jean-Emmanuel Sauvée.

“The figures underpin the performance of our business model after 25 years of hard work.”

APT leads Berlitz rankapt and European partner

river cruise line AmaWaterways have scooped the pool in the first edition of the Berlitz: River Cruising in Europe travel guide.

The combined fleet took out the top 11 places in the overall ranks, which assesses and rates more than 280 river vessels worldwide.

Ships operated by sister line Travelmarvel received four stars.

Hurtigruten pre-tourstwo new overnight pre/

post-cruise programs have been launched by Hurtigruten, taking pax to explore parts of Norway outside of the cruise port.

Passengers can book an overnight husky adventure in which guests spend the night at the Namdalen Wilderness Lodge, travelling to and from the camp in a husky-dog sled, priced from $2,454ppts on top of cruise fares.

In addition, an overnight tour to a cabin in the wilderness including snowmobile travel across a frozen fjord has also been released, priced from $2,660ppts.

Hurtigruten Norway Classic Coastal Voyages from Kirkenes to Bergen are priced from $1,526pp.

50 Degrees winnerCongrats to Jenny Reeves

from Phil Hoffmann Travel Hyde Park and Lyndall Young of Travel Affare, who have both won a Hurtigruten Northbound voyage for two people in a recent agent incentive from 50 Degrees North.

Credits for AzamaraseleCted Azamara Club Cruises

sailings departing from Oct - Dec this year are offering US$500 onboard credit per room for new bookings made by 24 Jun.

Applicable departures range in length from 7-13 nights & depart in Europe, India & South America.

Guru boosts softwareCruise Guru has rolled out

a range of improvements to its booking software in the wake of last week’s record pax numbers announced by CLIA Australasia.

The company’s primary booking engine CruiseGuru.com.au now allows users to book up to four cabins in one transaction, view cabin availability based on deck plans and adjust pricing to show the total versus price-per-day.

New barometers for sorting search results have also been added including switching travel dates based on fare comparison.

Users can also compare prices for upgrading or downgrading a cabin category, view cruises by destination and access 360° visuals of selected ships.

Tuesday 17 June 2014

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Cruise Calendar

darwinOceanic Discoverer 20 JunMV National Geo. Orion 22 Jun

BriSBanEPacific Dawn 21 JunSea Princess 22 Jun

Travel Daily Cruise Update’s calendar details upcoming port calls of cruise ships at various destinations around australia and new Zealand.

IntroducIng oneSource , your one-Stop Shop for

everythIng prInceSSclIck to

logIn nowwww.wlcl.com.au

Princess debuts OneSourceprinCess Cruises has launched

a dedicated trade website that covers every aspect of a travel agent’s job.

OneSource is accessible now at www.onesourcecruises.com and contains marketing collateral which can be customised to add agency logos, weekly deals, agent concession rates, sales reports, an image library and access to the Princess Academy online learning program.

Customisable collateral includes itinerary flyers, brochures, campaign information & content.

The dedicated sales reports include revenue figures, select sailings and cruise sales performance.

Agents will have access to the Princess image library with hundreds of high resolution photos of the line’s fleet and destinations.

Princess Cruises vice-president Australia & New Zealand Stuart Allison said the 24/7 online resource would be a valuable tool for agents as the company prepared to welcome a record fleet to sail from Australia.

“We’re increasing local capacity by 35% next year and so this website will provide agents with lots of material to help them sell cruises on our expanded local fleet of five ships,” he said.

Princess will base a record five ships in Australia next year, with Golden Princess and Diamond Princess sailing local waters over the 2015-16 summer, and Sun Princess, Dawn Princess and Sea Princess providing cruises year-round.

To access the resource, agents

will need to be registered with World’s Leading Cruise Lines to access the dedicated Princess site via www.wlcl.com.au or from NZ at www.wlcl.co.nz or directly at www.onesourcecruises.com.

meanwHile, it has now been just over a year since Princess Cruises launched its brand new liner Royal Princess, with the ship celebrating its first birthday.

The vessel was named by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge at a ceremony in Southampton (CW 11 Jun).

In its first twelve months at sea, Royal Princess has welcomed 150,000 passengers onboard and cruised more than 120,000 miles over 44 individual departures.

“She’s been a wonderful addition to our fleet and we’re delighted that she’s been so well received by our guests,” Princess Cruises president Jan Swartz said.

The 3,600-passenger vessel is currently cruising in Scandinavia prior to its move to New England.

Passengers onboard late last week for the milestone occasion were treated to a celebratory cake, balloon drop and joined in a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’.

Quantum and Anthem to revolutionise show

experiential entertainment options will be rolled out by Royal Caribbean International aboard its soon-to-debut Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas.

The cruise giant today revealed details of entertainment offerings “far beyond imagination” which will star onboard both ships.

The ships will debut “Vistarama” on its Two70° floor-to-ceiling window, which will combine 18 separate projectors to display any scene, real or imagined, combined with music, light and dance.

Vistarama will also showcase virtual concerts starring famous musicians and special effects, alongside “Starwater” an original production employing human artistry and video mapping.

Impromptu digital performances coordinated by six robot-controlled screens will also take place on every cruise.

Further, critically acclaimed Broadway stageshow Mamma Mia! and an after-party with cast members will be available to pax onboard Quantum of the Seas.

Passengers will be able to book seats at any show in advance on the RCI online cruise planner, with all shows included in fares.

Quantum of the Seas takes to the seas for its inaugural season sailing from Cape Liberty, New Jersey from Nov this year.

Capacity call on cruiseindustry lobby group Tourism

& Transport Forum has reiterated calls for key ports to be given the capacity and ability to enable further growth in the sector.

In the wake of record passenger numbers revealed last week (CU Thu), TTF chief executive officer Ken Morrison again said Sydney and Brisbane berths were inadequate to handle arrivals.

“Long term access to Garden Island in Sydney during the peak summer cruise season remains a key policy priority for TTF along with the need for a dedicated cruise facility close to the mouth of the Brisbane River to cater for larger cruise ships,” Morrison said.

DASH to Norwegiansavings on Norwegian Cruise

Lines’ voyages of three days or more are on sale from now until 21 Nov in the return of the line’s popular DASH sale.

Deals available under the DASH sale include up to US$250 in onboard credit and reduced fares on all NCL ships worldwide.

Cruise heritage dealupsCale cruise line Seabourn

has committed to raise US$1m for UNESCO as part of a new alliance aimed at protecting World Heritage listed sites worldwide.

Through the pact, experts with special knowledge on heritage sites around the world will join Seabourn voyages to conduct talks, while special Heritage shore excursions will also be developed.

Celebrity credit for NZnew Zealand tour firm Grand

Pacific Tours is offering up to $400 onboard credit on Celebrity Cruises select combined cruise/tour departures in 2015, if booked by 28 Jul - phone 1800 622 768.

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business events news

Tuesday 17 June 2014

100 days to a Legend-ary arrival

green thunder and red frogs have been the theme of the Carnival Cruise Lines’ offices for some time now, and last week, the team added 100 balloons to mark the start of a countdown.

June 14 marked 100 days until the arrival in Sydney on 22 Sep of Carnival Legend, the line’s second ship to operate a season based

from Sydney.With an office full of helium,

agents phoning to make bookings may have even been treated to the odd voice or two operating at a higher-than-normal pitch.

Legend will join sister-ship Carnival Spirit, which operates from Sydney year-round, to sail itineraries to the Pacific Islands as well as repositioning sailings from and to the Hawaiian islands.

The ship is currently operating in Alaska & has recently emerged from a two-week drydock in the Bahamas (CU 06 Mar) where it was fitted with features designed for the Aussie market including Hasbro, The Game Show, Dr Seuss at Sea and the popular & exciting Green Thunder waterslide.

Food and coffee to suit Aussie tastes and pricing was also added.

pictured above practically swimming in balloons from top to bottom is Breanne Watson, Daniel Bringas, Jayne Andrews, Lance Dye, Denise Minakowski, Athena Mok, Anton Loeb and Leanne Brooks.

P O R T H O L E

Few Australian farmers would know exactly where their home grown produce ends up, but not for Bathurst-based grower Michael Cook, who found himself enjoying his own work on a P&O Cruise recently.

Cook and his family travelled on last year’s Melbourne Cup cruise aboard Pacific Jewel and made casual enquiries into the origin of some of the local produce while served onboard.

His surprise and delight was palpable on learning his own cauliflowers had made their way from his farm, via the wholesaler, to the ship as part of P&O’s regular fresh produce orders from Australian farmers.

“The quality that we seek when it comes to fresh food to serve our passengers is very high indeed so Michael Cook’s cauliflowers would have lived up to a very high standard,” P&O Cruises’ David Jones said.

pictured below with Cook’s home-grown cauliflowers are P&O Cruises Pacific Jewel executive chef Brent Bonnette and P&O corporate executive chef Uwe Stiefel.

New Lindblad sailingsFour new exploration voyages

have been announced by Lindblad Expeditions to be operated by National Geographic Orion, with three new trips in Southern Africa alongside a new Indian Ocean trip unveiled this week (CU Tue).

The new African journeys range in duration from 13-21 days and will depart in Mar, Apr, Oct and Nov next year.

Each will immerse guests in the nature of the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mozambique, Zanzibar and more.

meanwHile, Lindblad Expeditions has released the first images taken by the new remotely operated vehicle added to the National Geographic Orion in Mar.

The ROV captures footage at depths of up to 300 metres, and complements National Geographic photographers, video chroniclers, expert speakers and dive masters available on all expeditions.

To view the images, CliCK Here.

Extra Anzac departureturKisH tour operator Karavan

Travel has joined forces with Greek cruise line Louis Cruises to launch a new eight-day Gallipoli Centenary 2015 departure to take in Anzac Day commemorations.

Sailing from Istanbul on 18 Apr on the Louis Cristal, the itinerary will dedicate an entire day visiting the Gallipoli Peninsula on 23 Apr.

Dawn Service will be held on the ship on 25 Apr, with the official Anzac ceremonies able to viewed on big screens onboard.

Cruise-only fares start from $2,247ppts inclusive of all meals onboard - book via wholesalers.

CEOs attend SeatradeKeynote speeches will be

presented by global cruise line bosses at the upcoming Seatrade Med Cruise Convention, occurring in Barcelona from 16-18 Sep.

Among the speakers will be CLIA Europe and MSC Cruises chairman Pierfrancesco Vago & MedCruise president Stavros Hatzakos.

Vago will also participate in the opening “State of the Cruise Industry in the Mediterranean” panel discussion, which will also include Louis Cruises ceo Kerry Anastassiadis, Carnival UK ceo David Dingle, Royal Caribbean coo Adam Goldstein and more.