Costa Concordia Update: Cruise Ship Removal May Take Up to 10 Months

According to the officials involved in the recovery of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, it may take up to 10 months to remove the capsized vessel from the sea. The rough sea off the Tuscan Coast has been indicated as the prime reason for the consistent delay of the recovery operation.

Officials have put a hold on both the operation of removal of oil from the ship’s fuel tanks and search for the missing people after finding that the ship has Though there is no hope of finding any missing passengers alive, the officials are still reluctant to give the final death toll for the disaster. According to the reports, their main goal is to prevent the incident from translating into an environmental disaster.

The experts said that it would take approximately 28 days to remove the fuel from 15 tanks of the capsized ship. After that they would remove the 350 cubic meters of diesel, fuel, and other lubricants from ship’s engine room.

The whole process might take up to 10 months or more. This means that the ship would be visible from the coast of the Island of Giglio for the entire summer tourism season.moved four centimetres over six hours.

Source: marineinsight.com

Cruise lines spending top dollar on comedians

By Dean Johnson

“Boat comedian.’’

For years, that was the comedy community’s ultimate insult.

“If a guy was a hack comic,’’ said Don Gavin, a veteran Boston comedian, “that was the derogatory term we all used.’’

“At one point,’’ said Michele Balan, a 2006 finalist on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing’’ series, “comics thought that when you agree to perform on cruises you put yourself in a career coffin.’’

“American Idol’’ guru Simon Cowell didn’t help that impression, according to Gary Walker, Celebrity Cruise Lines manager of entertainment and cruise programs, “when he told an ‘American Idol’ contestant a few years back, ‘You’d be OK on a cruise ship.’

“That woke up the entire cruise industry to what people think of all cruise line entertainment,’’ Walker added, “even though it’s really comparable to what you’d find at Las Vegas or Branson, Mo.

“So the lines really went a step further to book the kind of talent that would appeal to all demos, especially the people who go to comedy clubs,’’ Walker said. “Now we look for comedians with totally fresh material, who are a bit edgier and more contemporary.’’

“We’re spending top dollar to get great comedians,’’ said Bret Bullock, vice president of entertainment for the upscale Crystal Cruises. “These aren’t your father’s comedy clubs anymore.’’

The Carnival Cruise Line now has a Punchliner Comedy Club on every ship and celebrity comedian George Lopez is their official patron comic-presenter.

“Last year we did 21,000 comedy shows,’’ said Mark Tamis, Carnival’s senior vice president of guest operations. “We had 5.6 million audience members for our shows, and had a roster of 135 comedians, year round. Over the last six months, we’ve asked our guests what they like most about our cruises, and comedy is almost always one of the things they mentioned.’’

Nearly all the big cruise lines have followed suit if not quite with the same a-comedy-club-on-every-ship goal. “Comedy is a vital part of every cruise,’’ said Bullock. “Our guests take Crystal Cruises to escape and have a good time, and what better way to do that than with laughter?’’

Balan had been doing comedy for 20 years, and avoiding cruise lines, until she performed two years ago at the Nantucket Comedy Festival. Cruise industry people in the audience liked what they heard and approached her.

“I told them I was not ready to end my career,’’ she quipped. “But they just kept coming back to me saying, ‘Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it.’ So I did, even though I went kicking and screaming, and now I love it.’’

Source:   articles.boston.com

Early January and post-Concordia figures show cruise is still buoyant

Without doubt it’s been a tragic week for the cruise industry with the capsizing of the Costa Concordia. With all the media reporting it seemed likely that bookings and enquiries would suffer. With 150,000 searches for deals this past week alone, including a high proportion for March departures, cruise seems to be weathering the storm, reports cruise.co.uk, UK’s online cruise travel agent.

In the two weeks before the incident, visitors to www.cruise.co.uk were up on the previous year with 100,000 unique visitors, making 157,000 searches for cruise based information. In the seven days since the incident there has been roughly the same number of hits, with searches for cruise ship videos up a whopping 150%, with over 45,000 videos viewed. The Company has seen a significant increase in people who want to see what Costa is all about too, through its customer videos and reviews.

Up to 13th January, The big UK and American brands such as P&O accounted for 25% of the clicks to the site followed by Royal Caribbean with 21% and Cunard third with 9% - the three have over 55% of the enquiry market. In addition to specific brand enquiries, 24,000 cruise reviews were queried on the web site in the first two weeks– showing real life experiences. These real life reviews including pictures and video show that once again consumers look to people like themselves for real opinions and guidance on what‘s best.

Even after the Concordia incident, this past week showed only a slight change with 25% of searches on P&O and 20% on Cunard. A welcome sign for the Carnival Corporation and its UK based operation and showing that these brands are still strong in the market place.

As an indicator to the strength of the market, over the last three weeks, 70% browsers were looking for cruises in the first seven months of the year with both March and July showing the biggest percentage number of hits – possibly showing the market is being led by late bookers and those who need to go during the kids’ summer holidays.

Commenting on the results, Seamus Conlon, Managing Director of cruise.co.uk said, “Like everyone in the industry we’re truly shocked and saddened by the Costa Concordia accident last week but already our figures show that the accident is having little or no effect on bookings for the key brands.

“Early January showed that P&O, Cunard and Royal Caribbean are still top with British browsers but we’ve also noticed that the interest in the luxury brands such as Seabourn, Holland America and Oceania has risen 100% over this time last year.

“River Cruising is up 50% s showing strong growth with more interest in both the specialist operators and the less well known destinations such as the Far East and Russia. This could be as result of the increased interest from the press over the past year. ”

Source:  traveldailynews.com

SATS-Creuers appointed operator of Singapore's international cruise terminal

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) announced that SATS-Creuers Cruise Services Pte Ltd, a joint venture between SATS Ltd. (SATS) and Creuers del Port de Barcelona S.A. (Creuers), has been appointed the operator for Singapore’s International Cruise Terminal (ICT) for a ten-year term, with the option to renew for an additional five years. This is the result of an open tender that saw keen competition among three quality bidders. The two other bids were submitted by Marina Cruise Terminal Group and Singapore Cruise Centre Pte. Ltd.

The assessment of all submitted bids was based on a rigorous set of criteria spelt out in the Tender Documents. These included the strength of their business plan, financial considerations, track record and credentials, as well as the quality of the proposed management team.

“My congratulations to SATS-Creuers for being appointed the operator of the ICT. This is but another step, albeit an important one, in our on-going journey to build Singapore into a cruise hub for the region,” said Ms Ong Huey Hong, Director for Cruise at STB.

On winning the ICT tender, Mr Tan Chuan Lye, Acting CEO of SATS, said, “We are honoured to be chosen as the terminal operator for the ICT by Singapore Tourism Board. We understand the pivotal role of the new ICT in the growth of Singapore’s cruise industry. SATS and Creuers will leverage our respective strengths and competencies in aviation gateway and cruise terminal operations to offer innovative, quality services to the cruise lines, while enhancing the travel experience of cruise passengers at the various touch points within the ICT.”

Mr Carlos F. Domingo-Pages, Managing Director of Creuers , remarked, “Creuers has accumulated extensive and in-depth knowledge of the cruise industry and has been instrumental in increasing Barcelona’s cruise passenger traffic to become the largest cruise port operator in Europe. Together with our partner SATS, we intend to collaborate with STB and the industry stakeholders to grow and anchor Singapore’s position as the premier regional cruise hub and the leading homeport for major cruise lines.”

Presently constituting only nine per cent of the total global cruise market share by revenue[1], Asia holds much potential for development as a new region for cruising. Singapore’s cruise passenger throughput has grown steadily, registering an annual compounded growth rate of 4.3% from 2006 to 2010. In 2010, Singapore welcomed over 1 million cruise passengers. STB remains committed to working collaboratively with all industry partners to support the long term growth of the cruise industry in Singapore and the region.

When opened, the ICT will double Singapore’s berth capacity and accommodate the new generation of larger cruise liners. It is expected to commence the initial phase of operations in the second quarter of 2012.

Source:  traveldailynews.com

Norwegian Cruise Line to Introduce New Youth Program

By Theresa Norton Masek

Norwegian Cruise Line plans to replace its current Kid’s Crew program, which has been in place since 1999, with a new program that will be introduced on Norwegian Gem in mid-February. The rebranded program will then roll out to the rest of the fleet.

“We’ve already taken family programming to the next level by offering Nickelodeon experiences on some ships,” said Norwegian CEO Kevin Sheehan. “In fact, close to 150,000 children sailed on our ships in 2010 and that number continues to rise.”

The revamped program will divide children among new age groups: 3 to 5 years old; 6 to 8 years; 9 to 12 years; 13 to 14 and 15 to 17 years. There will also be programming for babies and toddlers ages 6 months to 2 years.

The new curriculum is being produced in conjunction with The King’s Foundation and Camps, a U.K.-based organization that provides sport and activity programs. More focus will be placed on sporting activities, arts and crafts, theater and technology. Activities will change every 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the age group, and will be set within blocks of programming time in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Norwegian also has engaged Cirque Du Jour, a New York-based company that specializes in teaching children circus skills such as scarf juggling, ball juggling, plate spinning, clowning and acrobatics. Circus workshops and shows will also be offered for the entire family.

The company also is increasing the ratio of staff to children and establishing new criteria for the hiring of counselors, including the requirement of a college degree in recreation or child care or the equivalent experience.

The line currently offers Nickelodeon family events on three ships: Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Jewel and Norwegian Gem beginning mid-February.

Source:  travelpulse.com