Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas Resumes Service Following Drydock

Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas Resumes Service Following Drydock

Royal Caribbean International’s Explorer of the Seas is re-entering service today following a 21-day drydock in Spain.

Sailing from Miami, the Voyager-class vessel is resuming a program of six- to eight-night cruises to the Southern and Western Caribbean.

For its first voyage after the refit, the 2000-built cruise ship is offering a six-night itinerary to Jamaica and Grand Cayman that includes George Town and Falmouth as ports of call.

Before returning to PortMiami, the Explorer is also set to visit Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island destination in the Bahamas.

In addition to routine maintenance and technical overhaul, the Explorer of the Seas received new waterslides during its recent stay at the Navantia shipyard.

Named “The Perfect Storm,” the pair of slides were added to the ship’s 13th deck on an area previously occupied by sun loungers.

The drydock work scope also included hotel upkeep, as well as minor upgrades and class work.

As the second ship in Royal Caribbean International’s Voyager Class, the Explorer of the Seas originally entered service in 2000.

With a capacity for 3,100 guests, the Explorer was also one of the first ships to offer the Royal Promenade, Royal Caribbean’s trademark indoor boulevard surrounded by shops, bars, and restaurants.

In 2015, the ship underwent a major refurbishment that added new features, such as the FlowRider surf simulator and a 3-D movie theatre.

While new cabins and suites were added to different parts of the ship, the existing staterooms were also equipped with “virtual balconies” during the refit. According to Royal Caribbean, the large screens added were designed to bring the live ocean and destination views into the interior of the cabins.

Completing its winter season in the Caribbean, the Explorer of Seas is set to kick off a summer program in the Mediterranean on May 8.

No Concerns in the Caribbean for Royal

No Concerns in the Caribbean for Royal

Oasis of the Seas

The new Symphony of the Seas will help propel the Caribbean to a record year of cruise capacity.

Despite the uptick in ships and passengers, capacity and pricing is not a concern for Royal Caribbean International.

“After the hurricanes in September, we saw that softness for about four to six or seven weeks but that recovered and picked up and we're in a good booked position for Q1,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, on the company’s Q4 2017 earnings call. “And overall we're feeling pretty good about the Caribbean for 2018.

“We’re fortunate because we've got the Symphony of the Seas coming into the Caribbean towards the end of the year. We have also got Celebrity Edge and we're introducing Mariner of the Seas after an extensive modernization and revitalization and we're putting that product into the short market, so that’s quite a lot of volume that’s coming into that market. We're actually very excited about what that product’s going to do, the bookings are going very well and it’s still outside of its typical booking window because it’s a short product. So overall, we're feeling okay about the Caribbean.”

As for the booking window, the company opened 2019 deployment four months earlier than in previous years.

Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises, noted the booking window continues to impress.

“Now you may recall that a year ago I said and I'm quoting, that the booking window has stretched as far as we will ever want and I don’t expect to announce another record level bookings a year from today,” Fain said. “Well I wasn’t terribly accurate, here we are a year later and we're announcing another record level bookings.”

CFO Jason T. Liberty advised that other companies in the Caribbean marketplace may have pricing challenges, but those incidents are not indicative of the entire market.

“There are occasions sometimes when a new product enters the market from competitors and they may have some challenges initially and you may see some fairly aggressive pricing going into the market,” he said. “That can be disruptive but it's very localized.”

Norwegian Bliss to sail from Miami in winter

Norwegian Bliss to Cruise the Caribbean after a Alaskan season.

After spending its inaugural season in Alaska, the Norwegian Bliss will sail week long Caribbean cruises from Miami in winter 2017-18.

Beginning on Nov. 17, 2018, the Bliss will depart each Saturday on cruises that will call in St. Thomas, Tortola and Nassau.

Norwegian Cruise Line will bridge the Alaska and Miami deployments with a five-day sailing from Vancouver to Los Angeles, four round trip Mexican Riviera cruises from Los Angeles, and a 14-day Panama Canal cruise from Los Angeles to Miami.

A rendering of the Haven observation launge on the Norwegian Bliss.

The Bliss will journey through the Panama Canal’s new locks, along with calling in Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, Mexico; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; and Cartagena, Colombia.

The Bliss is slated to enter service in June 2018, sailing Alaska cruises from Seattle.

Carnival sending a second ship to Tampa

Carnival Miracle joins Splendor at Tampa

Carnival Cruise Line said it will deploy a second ship year-round from Tampa, designating the Carnival Miracle for seven-night Caribbean cruises from the port, starting in 2018.

Also, Carnival said it will put a bigger and newer ship, the Carnival Splendor, in Long Beach to do seven-night Mexican Riviera cruises.

The 2,124-passenger Miracle will join the Carnival Paradise in Tampa and will do extended stays in Cozumel, along with a broader array of excursions there.

The 3,006-passenger Splendor will replace the Carnival Miracle, joining the Carnival Inspiration and Carnival Imagination in Long Beach, where Carnival is in the process of expanding its terminal.

The Splendor will sail a 13-day Panama Canal cruise departing Miami on Jan. 14, 2018, and become the first Carnival ship to use the new locks opened this year.

Carnival said the Splendor will also sail two 14-night round trip Hawaii cruises in 2018 from Long Beach.

Bogus agent admits revenge attack on NCL

Bogus agent admits revenge attack on NCL

A penniless ex-nurse was able to set up a bogus travel agency to book and take eight luxury cruises for herself worth £55,000 in five months, a court heard.

She devised the scheme to take revenge on Norwegian Cruise Line after she was bumped off a cruise which she had paid for after losing her passport in Rome.

Kay Hooper, 58, booked penthouse accommodation on all-inclusive deals and spent up to 10 days a time cruising in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Bermuda and Canada after setting up a bogus business called Travel Connections at her rented home.

Hooper was able to book the trips without even paying a deposit because she told NCL her business was part of the Freedom Travel Group, a subsidiary of Thomas Cook.

She planned to carry on the scam and had booked a total of 54 cruises costing more than £300,000 in total running throughout this year and into 2017.

The cruise line only realised what was going on after she had been on eight cruises in various parts of the world between April and September 2015.

Hooper is a retired nurse who was living on a £270 NHS pension, and various benefits. She has no savings and was living with her husband in a rented house in Torrington, Devon.

She admitted fraud when appearing at Exeter Crown Court and was jailed for 20 months, suspended for two years, given a six month curfew and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge, the North Devon Journal reported.

Recorder Mr Timothy Rose made no order for compensation after being told the cruise company is suing Hooper in the civil courts for the £55,493.05 cost of the cruises and £113,827.25 in unpaid deposits for the cancelled trips.

He told her: "You turned yourself into a form of fictitious travel agency and directed your attention against a particular company with which you had previously been a customer.

"You told the police this was because of the way you had been treated when you had problems on a cruise and felt you had been abandoned without help in Rome, although you did receive £750 compensation for this.

"These were quite greedy offences, as is apparent from the fact you took luxury holidays which you did not pay for in penthouse state rooms. There is no doubt at all this was a sustained piece of dishonesty.

"It was moderately sophisticated and required some computer literacy to set it up, but you were bound to be found out in the end."

The judge said he was suspending the sentence because of Hooper's previous unblemished record, poor health, and family responsibilities.

Michael Brown, for the prosecution, said Hooper used an online form to obtain an Abta number in February 2015 and used it to book the eight cruises on ships including the Norwegian Spirit, Norwegian Epic and Norwegian Star.

She also booked further trips for herself or members of her family, but all were cancelled when the cruise company uncovered the scam in October. NCL discovered the fraud after chasing payment for the holidays.

Brown said: "This extraordinary behaviour and fraudulent activity went on over a period to time. It was a sophisticated, planned, and arguably calculated fraud."

Richard Crabb, for the defence, said Hooper suffers from ill health and has been treated for anxiety and depression. She believed sunshine would help her recover.

He said the scheme was always going to come to light and Hooper is now being sued by the cruise company and has offered to repay it at a rate of £50 a month out of her pension and benefits.

He said she is a principal carer for her 87-year-old mother, who spends four days a week at her house.

Cruise companies reducing Mediterranean presence

Ongoing instability in the Mediterranean region is prompting cruise companies to trim capacity there, with the latest example coming from Celebrity Cruises, for summer 2017.

Celebrity said it will keep the 2,850-passenger Celebrity Equinox in Miami next spring after it completes its winter cruise schedule, instead of returning to the Mediterranean, where this summer it will operate cruises out of Athens and Barcelona.

The move will draw down Celebrity’s Europe deployment next summer from five ships to four and give it a year-round ship in the Caribbean for the first time since 2010.

Other companies also plan to move capacity out of the Mediterranean and into the Caribbean.

Carnival Corp. in a June 28 conference call said it expected a 10% capacity reduction in the Mediterranean region next year, and a 5% increase in Caribbean capacity.

“We are rebalancing our portfolio to optimize the current demand environment,” Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald said.

The moves come as the Mediterranean was again rocked, this time by a failed coup attempt in Turkey and the truck massacre in Nice, the third major terrorist attack in France in the past nine months.

Cruise lines had already largely stopped calling in Istanbul after a series of terrorist attacks there this year. After the coup, many cruise lines also suspended calls elsewhere in Turkey, such as Kusadasi.

Most are in a wait-and-see mode, such as Carnival Cruise Line, which replaced the Carnival Vista’s calls in Kusadasi on July 17 and 20 with sea days and said it will evaluate future calls there “in the coming days.”

Some travel agents said client demand for Europe remains healthy.

“For us, our European business is still very strong,” said Jeffrey Bateman, vice president of operations at Crown Cruise Vacations in Princeton, N.J.

Bateman said most of his clients on Equinox cruises that had been scheduled for Europe next summer had rebooked other Celebrity European cruises.

Prices have been softening for Europe, according to a survey by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Patrick Scholes, who said advertised prices for cruises in southern Europe in June fell 1.3% year over year, compared to a 7.4% increase in May.

Frank Del Rio, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, said cruise lines remain reluctant to drop Europe in the summer.

“Analysts ask me, why don’t you put the ship in the Caribbean in the summer instead?” he said. “Well, because even a bad year in Europe is better than a good year in the Caribbean, especially in the summer.”

In 2014, a mass migration of ships from Europe to the Caribbean led to a pricing bloodbath. Donald said that’s unlikely in 2017, when Carnival’s expected Caribbean capacity growth will be 5%. In 2014, it was 20%.

The Equinox will add to the overall capacity in the Caribbean, but several travel agents liked having more itinerary options for Celebrity in the summer.

“I view the year-round vessels in the Caribbean as a plus,” said Valerie Harris, a CruiseOne franchisee in Atlanta. “They lend a hand with creating and maintaining a cruise line’s presence in the region, which in turn may establish brand loyalty.”

Empress of the Seas to sail short cruises from Miami

Royal Caribbean International said the Empress of the Seas will offer short cruises out of Miami, beginning in March.

The 1,600-passenger ship, built in 1990 as the Nordic Empress, is returning to Royal Caribbean from Pullmantur as part of a fleet reduction of the Spanish cruise line. Pullmantur and Royal Caribbean are sister lines.

Royal Caribbean said the Empress will offer four- and five-night cruises to Nassau, Bahamas; Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico; Grand Cayman; and Key West, Fla.

The ship will stay late in the evening at many destinations, and will overnight in Cozumel on select cruises.

Royal Caribbean currently offers short cruises to the Bahamas from Miami on the Majesty of the Seas.

MSC Seaside bookings open

The MSC Seaside is scheduled to sail its maiden voyage in December 2017.

MSC Cruises said it has begun accepting bookings from repeat customers for MSC Seaside, a new ship that will be based in Miami.

Guests who are members of MSC’s Voyager Club will get their standard 5% discount, plus a bonus Classic drink package applicable to first and second guest in a stateroom. Bookings for the general public open Dec. 29 with the same drinks package offer.

The 4,100-passenger ship is expected to sail week-long Caribbean cruises; its first cruise is scheduled to leave Dec. 21, 2017. Prices start at $589 per person, MSC said.

Seaside will feature a unique 360-degree ocean level promenade on Deck 8 that will include indoor/outdoor shops and restaurants, as well as a buffet area and a pool, which are traditionally located on a cruise ship’s higher decks.

Norwegian Cruise Line toughens cancellation terms

Norwegian Escape, Getaway, and Breakaway.

Norwegian Cruise Line announced new terms for canceling booked cruises that will require earlier decisions about backing out of trips and impose higher penalties on cancellations.

The changes, which take effect on bookings made after Jan. 1, are complex. But on one common product, the cruise or cruise tour of 7 days or longer, the least costly cancellation will require forfeit of 25% of the cruise fare for bookings cancelled 76 to 89 days from sailing.

The current policy is loss of deposit for bookings cancelled 56 to 75 days before sailing.

Cancellations 60 to 75 days out come with a 50% penalty, those from 31-60 days a 75% penalty and within 30 days, 100% penalty.

The current schedule penalizes cancellations from 29 to 55 days out at 50%, and those from 15 to 28 days at 75%.  Currently, when guests cancel within 14 days of sailing, they lose their full fare.

Standard deposits will be $100 per person on cruises of two to six days, $250 on cruises seven to nine days and $400 on voyages 10 days or longer.

Final payment will be due 75 days from sailings of two to six days and 90 days on longer voyages. Holiday sailings will require final payment 120 days from sailing, except for the Norwegian Sky.

Caribbean cruise pricing strengthens, analyst says

Norwegian Star in Cabo San Lucas By Dave Jones

Prices have substantially risen for cruises in the Caribbean, according to a survey taken by Wall Street brokerage Susquehanna Financial Group.

In a report published Dec. 14, analyst Rachel Rothman said first-quarter prices in the Caribbean are up 13.8% at Carnival Corp., 7.6% at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., and 26.1% at Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. Rothman noted that the comparison at Norwegian is skewed by the replacement of the Norwegian Pearl and Epic with the newer Getaway and Escape in the Caribbean.

For the second quarter, the survey showed Carnival’s Caribbean pricing is up 15.7 %, while RCCL and NCLH are down 5.8% and 6.6%, respectively.

In the Mediterranean, Carnival’s first-quarter pricing is up 23% but Norwegian Cruise Line is down 6.5%. The report noted that Royal Caribbean and NCLH's Oceania and Regent Seven Seas brands don’t offer Med cruises in the first quarter.

Viking Star to sail Caribbean cruises from San Juan

Viking Ocean Cruises said its first sailings in North America and the Caribbean will occur from September 2016 to February 2017, when the Viking Star will sail from San Juan.

The ship will make a series of nine 11-night round trips from San Juan, visiting Tortola, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

Prior to arriving in San Juan, the Viking Star will do several re-positioning cruises, starting with a 15-day Bergen to Montreal trip that departs Sept. 18.

From Montreal, the ship will do a 13-day voyage up the St. Lawrence River, through the Canadian Maritime and New England to New York.  A 15-day Eastern Seaboard itinerary departs New York for San Juan on Oct. 18.

At the end of the season, the Viking Star will offer an 18-day San Juan-to-Barcelona cruise that departs Feb. 25, 2017.

Since its debut in April, Viking Star has been sailing in the Mediterranean and elsewhere in Europe.

Virgin Cruises tasked with offering distinctive experience on smaller ships

Virgin Cruise Concept Drawing.

Virgin Cruises’ decision to order ships that are smaller than those commissioned recently by its future competitors has prompted questions about whether it will have enough room to fashion a distinctive onboard experience.

The line, part of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group business empire, in June ordered three ships from the Fincantieri shipyard for delivery after 2020, when it plans to launch weekly Caribbean cruises.

The ships will each be about 110,000 gross tons and carry 2,860 passengers at double capacity, Branson revealed at an appearance in Miami last month along with Virgin executives.

That capacity is far less than recent orders, for example, for as much as 6,000 passengers for Carnival Corp.’s Aida Cruises brand in Germany, 5,400 for Royal Caribbean International, 4,500 for MSC Cruises, 4,200 for and 3,954 for Carnival Cruise Line.

All those lines sail at least one ship from Miami, the homeport where Branson said Virgin will launch its line.   

When it comes to setting prices, larger ships provide economies of scale that can help reduce fares while still generating profits.

“Virgin is in a very difficult position to differentiate themselves from everybody else. The key for their success is how they differentiate their onboard product.” — Art Rodney, Crystal Cruises founder

Tom McAlpin, president and CEO of Virgin Cruises, said that while pricing has not been disclosed, it will likely be above the cheapest fares advertised for seven-day itineraries.

“We’re not going to be a budget brand,” McAlpin said in an interview. “What Virgin has done in the past has been to give you a better experience at the same price point.”

To do that, it helps to have a generous amount of public space to work with. Virgin has not disclosed its onboard activities or designs yet but has emphasized that it will stand apart from the pack.

A key measure for new ships is the space ratio, which divides gross tonnage into the number of passengers carried. The higher the ratio, the more room for larger cabins and public spaces.

Mark Conroy, who helped design several ships as president of Regent Seven Seas Cruises in the 1990s, said the key question is how big the cabins will be on Virgin Cruises.

 “There is only so much square footage, particularly outside space, that needs to be divided between technical space, public spaces and staterooms,” Conroy said. “The technical space is pretty standardized, so then it becomes a balancing act between public space and suites and cabins. The larger you make the suites/cabins, the less space you have for public room.”

Art Rodney, one of the founders of Crystal Cruises, said that at 38.5, the Virgin ship’s space ratio is “no better than and in some cases worse than other large ships,” such as the MSC Divina or Royal Princess, both of which have space ratios of 40.

“Virgin is in a very difficult position to differentiate themselves from everybody else,” Rodney said. “The key for their success is how they differentiate their onboard product.”

McAlpin agreed, saying the “different programmatic elements” will set Virgin apart.

He said the ships are still in the design phase and urged potential passengers to weigh in on Virgin’s website to say what they would want to see and do on a Virgin vessel.

But McAlpin also said that if the ship is smaller than its competitors, that will make it different too.

“If everyone out there is building ships of one size and you have a different size, it does provide a level of differentiation,” he said.

McAlpin cited consumer research as the main factor in deciding how big to build. He said those surveyed expressed concerns about being on a mega ship with thousands of fellow passengers.

“We believe a slightly smaller ship gives us a good platform,” McAlpin said. “It’s big enough to provide us with a variety of experiences but small enough to provide a more intimate atmosphere.”