Oslo
The Danish repair yard Orskov will not be welcome at next year’s Nor-Shipping exhibition in Oslo if the company chooses to bring its usual exhibition publicity
stunt: Two young girls being body painted by a German artist. After news coverage of the partly naked girls at the ONS exhibition in Stavanger, the management of Nor-Shipping has sent a letter to the Danish Export Group explaining that Orskov is no longer welcome in Oslo. Oslo
Members of the Norwegian parliament are considering the possibility to buy part of the country's coastal ferry- and cruise operation. "One of the ideas that have been considered is if the state should take a stake in the company," Inge Ryan of Sosialistisk Venstreparti told Norwegian media on Wednesday. Ryan underlined that he did not know if this solution is on the Government's agenda.
In late August, Hurtigruten reported an increased loss for the first two quarters of the year. The reported net loss was NOK 186 million, compared with a loss of NOK 34 million last year. The company is also saddled with a gross interest bearing debt of NOK 4,505 million. Hurtigruten is currently looking at different ways to increase profitability, with the sale of operations and assets one of the measures being considered. Hurtigruten has an agreement with the Norwegian state to run the year-round traffic from Bergen to Kirkenes until 2012.
London
Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) was downgraded to SELL from BUY at Deutsche Bank. CL must rethink their strategy the Analysts said. read more .....
Miami
World’s Leading Cruise Lines (WLCL), a marketing alliance between Carnival Corporation & plc’s six brands serving the North American market – Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Cunard Line, Costa Cruises, and The Yachts of Seabourn – has created a new website to provide a one-stop resource for exploring the full range of quality cruising experiences available to consumers today. “Each brand contributed content and imagery, allowing guests and travel agents to more fully appreciate the diverse features and amenities offered by the World’s Leading Cruise Lines, each a leader in its specific market segment,” said Bill Harber, Carnival Corporation’s Director of Marketing.WLCL is part of Carnival Corporation & plc and capitalizes on the array of ships, destinations, durations, and cruising styles that are available for excellent vacation choices. WLCL also provides a number of cross-market opportunities for its brands, including joint research and advertising, trade and affinity group sponsorships, and active participation in a number of cruise industry functions and events.
Stockholm/Miami
Royal Caribbean International will resume to use Stockholm as a turnaround port for short cruises in next summer. Next year's itinerary for the cruise vessel Vision of the Seas includes 15 sailings from Stockholm to Tallinn and St Petersburg. Royal Caribbean introduced short cruises from Stockholm last summer and the capacity was sold out in a couple weeks. Now the company has released the tickets for next year's cruises.
London/Goa
Indian Ocean Cruises, an adventure cruise division of London-based Foresight Shipping, is looking to expand beyond its seasonal October-April cruises from Goa. The line’s 250-passenger Ocean Odyssey was testing Mauritius-based itineraries this summer, Robert Spycher, general manager and business coordinator for the line. Reports posted on the internet Friday said the line has apparently decided to base the ship there seasonally.Spycher could not be immediately reached for comment.
The Ocean Odyssey usually drydocks in the summer after the season in Goa, but Mauritius sailings could provide year-round opportunities for the company, Spycher said. The two-year-old Goa sailings explore the Lakshadweep Islands and Malabar Coast, as well as Cochin, Colombo and Trivandrum. Indian Ocean Cruises wants to add a second ship in 2010 and broaden its marketing efforts to include potential Chinese and Indian passengers, Spycher said. Rosyth, Scotland
Scotland's only year round ferry service to Europe is to be continued by< Norfolkline, part of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, following the previous operator's withdrawal.
"The Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry is of vital strategic importance to Scotland and we are delighted that Norfolkline will be providing a world-class freight and passenger service to continental Europe beginning in Spring 2009. more.....
Miami
the world's largest cruise ship operator, said on Thursday that quarterly profit fell as higher fuel costs offset an increase in revenue yields.
Carnival said occupancy levels for advance bookings in the remainder of 2008 and first half of 2009 were running slightly behind the prior year, but ticket prices were at higher levels.Carnival said occupancy levels for advance bookings in the remainder of 2008 and first half of 2009 were running slightly behind the prior year, but ticket prices were at higher levels.
Miami
Carnival Cruise Lines has cancelled cruises from Galveston after Hurricane Ike caused widespread damage to the region. Passengers on the cancelled cruises were offered full refunds, according to a statement from Carnival on Monday. The Carnival Conquest and Ecstasy were rerouted to New Orleans to disembark guests who initially boarded in Galveston. Those who drove to the port may have lost their cars when much of the city flooded, however.
The Port of Houston was largely without electricity after the hurricane and operating on limited generator power. Port of Houston reported no damage to their facilities. Galveston was still assessing damage from the storm and port operations were suspended indefinitely.
SANTIAGO, Chile
Cruceros Australis introduces “Stell Australis”, a new expedition cruise ship that will be added to the fleet for the 2010 - 2011 season celebrating their 20th anniversary. Cruceros Australis is a company that sails in one of the planet’s most virgin territories; Chilean-Argentine Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
The new ship will have a capacity of 210 passengers distributed in 100 cabins of 17 m2 (183 sq. ft.) each. She will be 89 meters long (292 ft.), and her beam or breadth will be 14.6 meters (47.8 ft.). She will have three lounges for meetings equipped with modern audiovisual equipment, a dining room, an exercise room, and a spacious open deck area allowing the observation of the marvelous southern scenery at all times. Each cabin will have picture windows, independent climate control, a private bathroom, and satellite phone. more ....
St.Nazaire/Milan
MSC Cruises has announced the extraordinary expansion of its fleet with the order of two additional ships from the Aker Yards France at St. Nazaire.
The announcement was made at a press conference today in Milan, attended by Pierfrancesco Vago, CEO of MSC Cruises worldwide, and Domenico Pellegrino, General Manager of MSC Cruises, as well as Jacques Hardelay, General Manager of Aker Yards France. The new ships – due for delivery in 2011 and 2012 - will be named MSC Meraviglia ("marvelous/amazing") and MSC Favolosa ("fabulous") and will be the fifth and sixth sister ships in the "Musica" class, at 93,000 tons and with 1,275 staterooms and a capacity of 2,550 passengers, double occupancy.MSC Meraviglia and MSC Favolosa will join the current fleet for a total of 14 ships and more than 1.4 million passengers carried by 2012. These two ships will complete the development plan that has allowed the company to achieve a series of records: This pioneering concept will give passengers the unique opportunity to explore beyond the public areas with visits to the ship's engine control room, medical center, print shop, laundry, photo lab, bridge and other spaces for a rare insider's view of many areas typically seen only by the ship's crew. Participants will also receive a variety of themed mementos at many of the stops along the route.
For a "mere" $150,oo per person, a three hour tour will give you an opportunity to glimps behind the scene! Well, didn't we have this opportunity in the past for free?
more........ Bergen
Next winter, Norwegian Hurtigruten will lay up the cruise ship Nordnorge, built in 1997. The company, which has tried to sell the vessel without success, will replace it with the Nordstjernen, built in1956, on the Bergen–Kirkenes route next winter. The crisis-hit company hopes that this will save it money.”I think that many passengers understand this. We have also used older ships in Hurtigruten’s traffic earlier and theresults were good. Many people think that it is enjoyable travelling on the older ships”, says Ragnar Norum, Director of Communications and Public Relations at Hurtigruten AS, to NRK.no. For the last five years, the Nordnorge has been sailing in cruise traffic in the Antarctic during the winter, but due to poor profitability, only the Fram, built 07, will sail in the Antarctic nowc. This means that the Nordnorge will be idle and Hurtigruten has decided to lay up the ship. Naples, Italy
Grimaldi Group has signed a €81m ($116.3m) loan from the European Investment Bank that will be targeted at expanding its presence on the motorways of the sea.
The load would be used to help finance three giant new cruise ferries being built by Italian state shipbuilder Fincantieri at a total cost of €600m. It added that the first €81m tranche of credit would go towards financing the Cruise Barcelona, which is due to go into service between Civitavecchia and Barcelona later this month. more........
Miami
The New York-based ship was supposed to head to the Caribbean to visit such popular ports as San Juan and St. Thomas. But thanks to Tropical Storm Hanna, the 2,124-passenger vessel never got further than the Bahamas and will be spending Friday more than 1,000 miles off course in -- get this -- Newport, R.I.The drastic change to the ship's itinerary -- no other ship has been forced so far afield by this week's storms -- has cause a virtual mutiny on board, according to passenger posts on cruise-focused websites.
Turku, Finnland
It was named Project Finnjet, efforts to bring back the famous ferry Finnjet to Finnland. Unfortunately too late and too little funding appropriated. here sad pictures of her beached in alang...her days are numbered. Farewell |
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