Meet 5 New Cruise Brands

While the major corporations continue to dominate the cruise market, there are several new brands entering service over the next few years. With their new products and ships, they’re adding a fresh perspective to the business. Cruise Industry News has looked at the plans of five of the new cruise lines.

Swan Hellenic
First ship: SH Minerva
Built: 2021
Capacity: 152
Inaugural Cruise: December 29, 2021
Region and Itinerary: Antarctica and South Shetland Islands

Swan Hellenic is returning to the market after a four-year hiatus with new management at the helm. The new cruise line is about to launch service in Antarctica and will be operating in the expedition cruising niche.

It aims to offer “cultural expedition cruising” to remote parts of the globe with its three new purpose-built expedition ships. Sailing areas include the polar regions, where the first ship Minerva will debut on Dec. 29.

According to the company, the vessel and its sister ships were designed with “state-of-the-art features” meant to provide “guests with an elegant, intimate and personal onboard experience delivered by 120 warm, friendly and knowledgeable staff.”

The SH Vega will follow the Minerva, entering service next April, while a third – yet unnamed – vessel will debut in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Ambassador Cruise Line

First ship: Ambiance
Built: 1991
Capacity: 1,590
Inaugural Cruise: April 6, 2022
Region and Itinerary: Northern Europe

Ambassador Cruise Line claims to be the first new British cruise line since 2010. The brand launched in 2021, announcing its plans to offer a “premium-value, authentic cruise experience, sailing for the British market from its homeport of London Tilbury.”

With a program of no-fly itineraries, Ambassador is focusing on the over-50s market looking for a traditional cruising product.

Ambassador’s first ship, the 1,590-guest Ambiance, was built in 1991 and is currently undergoing a major refurbishment in Croatia. Among the vessel’s main features are five restaurants, nine lounges, a swimming pool and a spa.

After the refit, the Ambiance is set to debut on Apr. 6, with an inaugural short-break cruise to Hamburg, before embarking on a mixed itinerary program with sailings to the Norwegian Fjords and the British Isles planned throughout spring.

Margaritaville at Sea
First ship: Margaritaville Paradise
Built: 1991
Capacity: 1,308
Inaugural Cruise: April 30, 2022
Region and Itinerary: Short cruises to Freeport, Bahamas

After doing a deal with Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, the Margaritaville Resorts & Hotels group will operate a new cruise brand in 2022.

Called Margaritaville at Sea, the company will operate the Margaritaville Paradise on short Bahamas getaways beginning Apr. 30.

Currently sailing as the Grand Classica, the 1991-built vessel is expected to undergo an extensive refit at Grand Bahama before entering service for the new brand.

Margaritaville at Sea will sail from the Port of Palm Beach and is set to offer two-night cruises to Freeport in Grand Bahama Island. The product will provide guests with Margaritaville’s authentic culture, entertainment and food, the company said.

Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
First ship: Evrima
Built: 2022
Capacity: 298
Inaugural Cruise: May 6, 2022
Region and Itinerary: Western Europe and Mediterranean

The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection is launching its luxury mega yacht service in 2022. The brand is planning an upscale boutique product, focusing on dining and wellness features, onboard its purpose-built first ship Evrima.

The vessel – set to enter service in 2022 – will offer 10 different dining experiences. Those range from steaks and seafood to fully customized lunches and dinners. Other features on the ship include spa treatments and a marina-style platform with sundecks ensuring direct access to water.

The Evrima also has some of the nicest accommodations at sea, including duplex suites and a 160-square-meter Owner’s Suite with its own private terrace and whirlpool.

The ship’s first cruise is scheduled for May 6 and departs from Lisbon, Portugal. The 11-night itinerary visits seven ports in the region – including Tangier in Morocco – before it arrives in Barcelona, Spain.

Explora Journeys
First ship: Explora I
Built: 2023
Capacity: 922
Inaugural Cruise: May 31, 2023
Region and Itinerary: Europe - Western and Eastern Mediterranean

When it launches service in 2023, Explora Journeys will mark MSC Group’s debut in the luxury market. The new brand will sail global itineraries on mid-sized purpose-built vessels and currently has four ships on order.

According to MSC, Explora Journeys will offer the “highest level of service and amenities,” while utilizing the latest technology to provide “journeys of discovery” through destinations “on and off the beaten path.”

The brand’s first ship Explora I’s first cruise is scheduled to depart on May 31, 2023. For its debut season, the 922-guest vessel is offering a program in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe before crossing the Atlantic for a series of itineraries in North America, the Caribbean and South America.

Margaritaville To Operate Cruise Brand; Does Deal with Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line

Margaritaville Resorts & Hotels will operate a cruise brand in 2022, and announced a partnership with Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line.

The Margaritaville Paradise, the former Grand Classica, will launch service on April 30 after what is expected to be an extensive refit at Grand Bahama.

The Florida-based hotel group has long been rumoured to be looking at entering the cruise industry and now gets in with an existing marine and hotel operations base that can be mixed with its hotel and resorts brand and client database.

The vessel will sail under the Margaritaville at Sea brand, and the hotel group anticipates adding more ships, referring to the Margaritaville Paradise as its first vessel.

The company said the Margaritaville Paradise will continue operating two-night sailings from the Port of Palm Beach to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island.

“To me, the only thing better than being on a beach by the ocean is to be on the ocean. Now you can follow in our wake,” said singer, songwriter and best-selling author, Jimmy Buffett, in a prepared release. 

“Margaritaville at Sea will be a new, exciting, and fun way for guests to escape and vacation in Margaritaville,” said John Cohlan, CEO of Margaritaville. “From oceans to lakes, Margaritaville has an organic tie to the water and with Margaritaville at Sea, we’re able to put our iconic lifestyle, resort experiences, and elevated service directly on the sea. We look forward to seeing guests on, and in, Paradise.”

“We’re excited about this new partnership as we launch Margaritaville at Sea out of the Port of Palm Beach. We are incredibly proud of what we’ve built at Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and are appreciative of our loyal customers and trade partners who have stood by us through so much. We’re excited about this next phase of our evolution, rebranding as Margaritaville at Sea. The collaborative concept will add a different dimension to the cruising industry, appealing to a new audience of travellers,” added Oneil Khosa, CEO of Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, who will serve as CEO of Margaritaville at Sea.

“Margaritaville at Sea will provide guests with Margaritaville’s authentic culture, entertainment, and food en route to a beautiful destination in Grand Bahama Island. The experience will be complemented by an unmatched, personalized approach to guest service from start to finish via valet service and exclusive cruise terminals for smoother embarkation and disembarkation. It’s the perfect partnership in paradise," Khosa said.

While multiple sources in the industry told Cruise Industry News earlier this week that Margaritaville bought the cruise line, Bahamas Paradise denied this and in a statement said the ownership was "100% still the same."

Two cruise lines regroup after Caribbean setbacks

Norwegian Sky outside Havana Port, Cuba.

Two cruise companies affected by sudden upsets in the Caribbean and Bahamas region are slowly regaining their footing.

For Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), the big blow was the abrupt end to U.S. cruises to Cuba in June. NCLH had bet heavily on Cuba's reopening, scheduling not only short cruises on its contemporary Norwegian Cruise Line brand but longer visits by its two premium brands, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

As detailed in a conference call with investors, the U.S. government decision to shutter Cuba with no advance warning hit NCLH third-quarter earnings big-time.

"Given the suddenness of the termination and the lack of lead time we had to make any meaningful fleet redeployment changes, the third quarter bears the largest negative earnings impact from the Cuba travel ban," said Frank Del Rio, the company's CEO.

The hit was more than $47 million.

Overnight, high yielding routes to Cuba for the Norwegian brand turned into low-yielding routes to the Bahamas. And several months later came Hurricane Dorian, which made its own dent in NCLH's earnings through cancelled sailings and reworked itineraries.

Del Rio said Norwegian plans to redeploy half of its Bahamas capacity to higher-yielding areas such as Alaska, the eastern Mediterranean and Asia, and will slowly get out from under the Cuba aftermath.

Even more impacted by Dorian than Norwegian was Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, whose only destination is the Bahamas.

It suspended its two-day sailings to Grand Bahama for most of September, filling in the time by providing much-need relief and evacuation services.

The silver lining, of sorts, is that Dorian forced Bahamas Paradise into a new market, Nassau, which was not much affected by the storm. It now runs one of its ships from West Palm Beach to Grand Bahama and the other to Nassau.

Bookings for Nassau started slow, said Francis Riley, senior vice president of sales and marketing, but are now on par with those to Grand Bahama. Part of the attraction is the Cruise & Stay program where guest can vacation for two or four nights at one of four Nassau hotels:  Atlantis, The Melia, the Comfort Suites Nassau or the SLS Baha Mar.

Bahamas Paradise has a similar program in place on Grand Bahama with the Lucayan, which has reopened, and the Viva Wyndham, which plans to reopen Dec. 10.

Unlike Norwegian, Bahamas Paradise doesn't have plans to go elsewhere, and it is busy selling the Bahamas to Canadians and New Yorkers, who have just started getting the frosty temperatures they can look forward to until next spring.

Bahamas Paradise Steps Up in Freeport; Runs Evacuation, Delivers Supplies

The Grand Celebration from Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line returned to Palm Beach on Saturday morning with more than 1,100 evacuated Bahamian and American residents aboard.

The cruise line spent nearly a full day on Friday clearing potential evacuees, including vetting their visa and passport documentation, as well as landing key supplies.

The ship sailed from Palm Beach on Thursday evening on a humanitarian mission, with 300 first responders and volunteers aboard, as well as 200 Bahamian residents who were stranded in South Florida during Hurricane Dorian.

"Doctors were leaving work to join the ship," said Oneil Khosa, CEO of Bahamas Paradise. "After making the announcement earlier in the week that we were going, we had 300 tons of supplies donated within hours."

Prior to docking in Freeport, the crew had prepared 850 boxed lunches and delivered them to local shelters.

The ship was also loaded with 150 palettes, totalling more than 225,000 pounds of supplies, including water, food, personal hygiene products, medical equipment, generators and more. Four of these palettes were exclusively dog food, according to a press release. 

"Everything is pro bono," Khosa told Cruise Industry News. "We opened up the ship going there and going back."

100 additional Bahamian bins were also transported, sent from family members in South Florida and delivered directly to Grand Bahama Island residents who picked them up in Freeport.

In addition to delivering supplies, medical personnel onboard also delivered a baby when visiting a local facility in Freeport.

Two More Cruises Cancelled Due to Hurricane

Two more cruises have been cancelled due to Hurricane Dorian, as the storm slowly moves toward Florida.

Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, which sails from Palm Beach to Freeport, announced its Sept. 5 sailing aboard the Grand Celebration has been cancelled, making it three cancelled voyages for the company due to the hurricane.

Royal Caribbean International confirmed the Mariner of the Seas' Sept. 2 sailing from Port Canaveral has been cancelled, after initially being delayed by two days. The ship was set to return to port from her August 30 sailing on Wednesday and is now expected back to port on Thursday, Sept. 5. Royal Caribbean is expected to issue another itinerary update midday Tuesday.

Bahamas Paradise: Ship Upgrades and New Vessel Named Grand Classica

Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line announced today that Grand Celebration will set sail with several new guest-focused enhancements later this month, including a new adult-only area, a revitalized casino, and speciality coffee and juice bar.

The ship will return to its regularly scheduled two-night sailings on December 23, 2017, from its homeport in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

The company also announced that its new vessel, set to arrive in April, will be named Grand Classica and will also sail two-night cruises to Grand Bahama Island. The ship is currently sailing as the Costa neoClassica. 

The company has recently signed a three-year agreement with the Bahamas to bring both of its ships to Grand Bahama Island for two-night cruises.

“We are pleased to have been able to assist those in need in the Caribbean. Now we are ready to return to offering memorable cruises to our guests. We are excited to welcome an even better Grand Celebration back to Palm Beach, just in time for the holidays, with several new spaces for our guests to enjoy,” said Oneil Khosa, chief executive officer of Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line. “We are also looking forward to the arrival of our new ship, Grand Classica, in April, and have strengthened our relationship with The Bahamas by signing a three-year agreement to bring both ships to Grand Bahama Island, thus offering daily arrivals to Grand Bahama Island and giving our guests added convenience to fit their schedules.

“Grand Classica will be a wonderful addition and complement to Grand Celebration,” said Khosa. “Having two ships sailing to Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line will be the largest provider of tourism to the island, carrying more than 500,000 passengers annually. It will also give our guests more flexibility and choice.”

Carnival Fascination chartered to FEMA, San Juan departures canceled

Carnival Cruise Line said its ship operating out of San Juan, the Carnival Fascination, will be chartered to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), wiping out four months of cruises.

The move came at FEMA's request, Carnival said. The cruise line had been set to resume its normal seven-day cruise schedule from San Juan on the Carnival Fascination on Oct. 15.

Instead, Carnival said departures from Oct. 15 through Jan. 28 have been canceled. The Fascination will resume regular year-round cruising from San Juan on Feb. 18.

"We recognize how important vacations are, and we sincerely apologize for the disruption this late change in plans has caused our guests and travel partners," a Carnival advisory said. "We value your trust in us and hope you understand that this decision was made after careful consideration of the great need to support the recovery efforts in the region."

Carnival also modified Caribbean itineraries on a variety of ships through Dec. 31 that substitute new ports of call for visits that had been scheduled for St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

Carnival joins Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line in chartering a ship to FEMA for hurricane relief efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In 2005, Carnival chartered three of its ships to FEMA for six months for emergency housing in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Cruise ship chartered for relief mission in St. Thomas

Grand Celebration.

Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line said its ship has been chartered to the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to assist hurricane-recovery efforts in St. Thomas.

The Grand Celebration will head for the storm-stricken destination in the U.S. Virgin Islands with arrival anticipated on Sept. 23. The mission is expected to continue into the later part of December, with Grand Celebration resuming its two-day cruises to Freeport from the Port of Palm Beach on Dec. 23.

St. Thomas was devastated by Hurricane Irma and is in line for more hurricane-force winds from Hurricane Maria. While in St. Thomas, the ship will be used to house National Guard first responders.

"We will be reaching out to all of our guests and travel partners this week," said Bahamas Paradise CEO Oneil Khosa. "We feel badly about this 90-day disruption but believe the extensive needs of the St. Thomas people to be of greater importance at this time."

Guests who have already booked cruises during the next few months through travel partners should contact their agents about rebooking or refunds. Those who booked direct can call the customer service department at (800) 374-4363.

The Grand Celebration, originally the Carnival Celebration, has 750 cabins and space for up to 1,900 guests.

Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line to use Costa ship

Costa Neoclassica

Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line has received approval to add a second vessel cruising to Grand Bahama from the Port of Palm Beach.

Bahamas Paradise said that next year it will add the Costa Cruises ship neoClassica. The neoClassica will leave Costa's fleet in March.

The port commission voted 5-0 to approve the line's plan, which will result in daily cruises to Grand Bahama starting in April 2018. The line currently sails to Grand Bahama every other day.

Bahamas Paradise operates the 1,500-passenger MV Grand Celebration on a schedule that departs the Port of Palm Beach in the evening, spends all day docked in Freeport the following day, and returns overnight to the Port of Palm Beach. The ship sailed for Carnival Cruise Line as the Celebration from 1986 to 2008.

The ship will do the same itinerary to Grand Bahama as the Grand Celebration.

The port projects that with two ships offering two-day cruises at 60% occupancy, it will attract 765,000 passengers.

Ship originally built for Carnival to replace damaged Bahamas Celebration

It's official: Florida's Port of Palm Beach will be getting a replacement ship for Bahamas Celebration, which was damaged after striking an object when sailing from Freeport Oct. 31.

Grand Celebration, built in 1987 as Celebration for Carnival Cruise Lines, is to begin operating as early as February for the newly named Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, the Port of Palm Beach confirmed Tuesday. The ship will depart every other day on two-night Bahamas round-trips and offer cruise and resort vacation packages of four to eight nights.

'This is a tremendous day for the Port of Palm Beach and Palm Beach County,' executive port director Manuel Almira said.

According to port chairman Edward Oppel, the agreement for a new multi-day cruise vessel will generate an average of nearly $3.9m of annual net revenue and significant spending for Palm Beach County.

The 47,000gt Grand Celebration can carry about 1,800 passengers, about the same as the ship it's replacing. Most recently Grand Celebration was named Costa Celebration and, previously under operation by Iberocruceros, Grand Celebration.

It recently underwent a €4.5m refurbishment. Carnival Corp. & plc management referred to the ship's sale during Friday's earnings call. CFO David Bernstein said the sale had a 0.3% impact on overall costs, on an available lower berth day basis, in the fourth quarter

Bahamas Celebration, which grounded on Halloween night outside Freeport with no injuries, had entered Grand Bahama Shipyard for repairs. The vessel was built in 1981 and previously sailed as Prinsesse Ragnhild for Color Line before undergoing a major conversion in 2009 to begin Bahamas cruises from Florida. At 36,000gt, it is smaller than Grand Celebration.

Grand Celebration has 10 public decks and 751 cabins, more than 60% with ocean views. There are 14 terrace suites. The pool deck has five pools and Jacuzzis. Other public areas include a spa and fitness center, five restaurants and a casino.

The Port of Palm Beach said the ship's 950-seat 'performance center' will stage big-name concerts.