Quantum of the Seas to sail Alaska cruises

Quantum of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean International will send the Quantum of the Seas to Seattle in 2021, giving the cruise line four ships serving Alaska, its largest deployment there. 

It will be the Quantum’s first time sailing from the Pacific Northwest, where it will sail seven-day cruises visiting Endicott Arm Fjord, the Sitka Sound and Juneau, among other stops. 

The ship will join the Ovation, Radiance and Serenade of the Seas, which will be based in Seattle, Vancouver and Seward, Alaska, respectively.

The Quantum had been based in Asia, where it was sailing from Singapore and Tianjin, China. A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said the company had planned to send the Quantum to Alaska in 2021 before the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. 

Royal Caribbean said last fall that its fifth Oasis-class ship, the Wonder of the Seas, would sail from China when it debuts in 2021

Tianjin Targeting 800,000 Passengers in 2017

Tianjin Targeting 800,000 Passengers in 2017

With four berths, Tianjin expects around 800,000 passengers this year, and through the first six months of 2017, traffic was up some 102.4 percent.

Customs and border protection has been further refined, reducing clearance times to 10 seconds in some instances with automated terminals.

Earlier this year, the port signed a MOU with Costa to build a supply and distribution center, with Costa committing to year-round voyages from Tianjin through 2019.

Also of note, the MSC Lirica sailed from Tianjin in February, offering a new “Around China” itinerary with interporting in Zhoushan, Hong Kong and Xiamen, as well as calls to South Korea and Japan, according to Da Wu, vice general manager of Tianjin International Cruise Terminal.

Wu hopes his port will offer more diversified products, including cruises to nowhere, to attract new passengers

Zhengdong Zhang, general manager, added: “Similar to MSC’s model, we are exploring opening domestic routes to Dalian, Yantai, Qingdao, Rongcheng and Weihai, creating a product in which passengers only need their national identification card to travel.”

Carnival building two Vista-class ships in China

Buhdy Bok (left), president of Costa Group Asia, and Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald at the China Cruise and Yacht Industry Association conference, after Donald announced an agreement to build ships in China. Photo Credit: Arnie Weissmann

Carnival Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding to build two Vista-class cruise ships in China intended for use by a Chinese cruise brand.

The ships have been discussed in general terms as part of an earlier disclosure of a shipbuilding joint venture between Carnival, China State Shipbuilding Corp. and Italian firm Fincantieri.

The agreement was announced at the 11th annual China Cruise Shipping and International Cruise Expo in Tianjin, China.

The memorandum specifies that the first of the two ships would be delivered in 2022. There is also an option to build two more Vista-class ships. The first Vista-class ship, the Carnival Vista, entered service last May.

Carnival said that the agreement is “non-binding.” If the ships are built, it would be a groundbreaking development, marking the first time that sophisticated cruise ships are built in China for the Chinese domestic market.

A Carnival joint venture in China would operate the new ships as part of plans to launch the first multi-ship domestic cruise brand in China.

If the joint venture is finalized, in all likelihood older ships from Carnival Corp. brands would sail for the new brand in advance of the 2022 new build, said Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corp.

Other partners in the operating joint venture include China State Shipbuilding Corp. and the China Investment Capital Corp.

“Being able to offer cruises on China-built cruise ships represents a new opportunity for us to generate excitement and demand for cruising amongst a broader segment of the Chinese vacation market,” said Alan Buckelew, Carnival Corp.’s global chief operations officer.

Separately, Carnival and its Chinese partners announced that the Chinese central government has granted approval for the cruise joint venture to incorporate in Hong Kong.

MSC Cruises ups its game in China with MSC Splendida

MSC Cruises ups its game in China with MSC Splendida

MSC Splendida in Tunis, Photo Credit Dave Jones

In a substantial boost to its China capacity, MSC Cruises is going to deploy one of its biggest ships there in May 2018. MSC Splendida joins the smaller MSC Lirica, adding the MSC Yacht Club concept and butler service to its China offerings.

The 2009-built MSC Splendida, at 137,936gt, will become one of the largest ships operating in the region. The vessel can carry up to 4,363 passengers in 1,637 staterooms. Some 76% of accommodations have balconies.

MSC Splendida will join MSC Lirica, which has been serving—to great success, MSC Cruises said—the Chinese market since May. The ship recently moved to Tianjin to capture the North China market during the winter season.

Announcing the news in Beijing on Wednesday, MSC Cruises ceo Gianni Onorato said the ship has been one of the most popular in the fleet with Chinese and other Asian passengers cruising the Mediterranean with MSC.

MSC Splendida will undergo significant drydock enhancement in late 2017, ahead of the China deployment, to further improve and customize it for the market.

MSC Splendida also introduces the MSC Yacht Club to the Chinese market. This exclusive 'ship-within-a-ship' concept offers privacy, 24-hour butler service, a dedicated concierge reception and priority boarding and disembarkation.

The move would appear to be a direct competitive response to Dream Cruises' new Genting Dream, which also offers a luxury ship-within-a ship concept, Dream Mansion, served by butlers. That vessel is scheduled to be delivered next month. It will operate from Guangzhou (Nansha) in southern China.

MSC Splendida's itinerary details are to come, but MSC Cruises said the ship will visit destinations in China, Japan and Korea.

The news closely follows the opening of MSC Cruises' Shanghai office with its new management and operations team.

Royal Caribbean sticking with the program in China

Ovation of the Seas in Tianjin, China

Despite falling yields in China, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. won’t be pulling any ships out of the region.

RCCL executives spent most of its second-quarter earnings call discussing China, one of two markets where yields declined in the second quarter. Chairman Richard Fain gave an extended comparison of China’s evolution with development of North American and European markets at earlier stages.

He emphatically ruled out shifting current capacity out of China to Western markets if yields continue to drop next year. “It would require an enormous change in the fundamentals to even consider something like that,” he said.

Several topics were not even mentioned during the call, including the prospects for starting cruises to Cuba and the outbreak of Zika virus in a neighborhood of Miami.

One that did come up was the booking response to geopolitical events in Europe, such as the truck attack in Nice, France, and the attempted coup in Turkey. Royal Caribbean International president Michael Bayley said that by the end of June, North American booking activity for Europe was starting to wind down, so there wasn’t much impact. He said there’s been relatively little reaction from Europeans.

“The European market seems resilient,” he said. Increasingly, when incidents occur, “the recovery is a lot more rapid in both markets, and certainly in the European market,” he said.

Also discussed was the absence of a booking impact from the vote by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. “We saw literally nothing,” Fain said.

Besides China, specifically Shanghai where capacity increased over 100% this year, the other area of global weakness was the eastern Mediterranean. Celebrity Equinox will stay in the Caribbean next summer, rather than do the Mediterranean itineraries it is sailing this year, although Fain said the move was made because of the impact of Celebrity being in the key Caribbean market year-round.

RCCL said net income climbed 23.8% in the second quarter to $229.9 million, a result driven by lower-than-expected fuel expenses.

But unfavorable currency exchange and fuel trends led RCCL to decrease its earnings expectations for all of 2016 by about $43 million, to a range of $1.3 billion to $1.32 billion.

Ovation of the Seas joins Royal Caribbean's fleet following delivery ceremony

Ovation of the Seas joins Royal Caribbean's fleet following delivery ceremony

Richard Fain and Bernard Meyer

There is a new Royal Caribbean ship officially in the fleet, as of today.

Royal Caribbean took delivery of its 24th cruise ship, Ovation of the Seas, in a ceremony held today in Bremerhaven, Germany.  Ovation of the Seas is the third Quantum-class ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain took delivery of Ovation of the Seas from Meyer Werft Yard’s Managing Partner Bernard Meyer at the official handover ceremony.

“Ovation of the Seas is magnificent,” said Richard. “Our thanks to the Meyer Werft team for their ongoing partnership in designing and building awe-inspiring ships with us.”

“It’s wonderful to welcome Ovation of the Seas to the Royal Caribbean family of ships,” said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. “We have once again introduced yet another one of the most technologically advanced cruise ships and the very first that has been built for the China market – a market we continue to demonstrate our commitment to expanding. Quantum Class has redefined the status quo, and we are excited for our guests in China and Australia to enjoy their extraordinary vacations onboard this stunner.”

Ovation of the Seas will now sail to Southampton, U.K., where the ship will offer a series of short getaways before she sets sail on her 52-night “Global Odyssey” culminating in the arrival to her homeport in Tianjin, China.

She will begin her first homeport sailing season in China from Tianjin in June 2016. Ovation, together with Quantum of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Legend of the Seas, will make up the largest fleet of any cruise line sailing in China.

Royal Caribbean signs deal with China's Forbidden City Imperial Palace to showcase Chinese culture on Ovation of the Seas

Royal Caribbean and the Chinese Imperial Palace Museum (the Palace Museum) held a joint press conference today at a signing ceremony for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement in the Forbidden City’s Jianfu Palace. 

As part of the agreement, experts from different research fields selected by the Palace Museum will be invited to give lectures of Chinese history and culture to guests on Ovation of the Seas. 

The Palace Museum also will provide professional consultation of the ship’s interior décor and art program. In addition, signature pieces from the collections of the Imperial Palace Museum will be on display to promote the traditional culture and arts of China. Paintings and art pieces created by artists from the Palace Museum will be available for guests to purchase at auctions held onboard.

Ovation of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s newest ship that debuts in April, will be the first to homeport in China immediately after its delivery and will begin service from Tianjin beginning June 2016.

The signing ceremony officially launches the “2016 – Let’s Ovation” campaign in China and marks the countdown to Ovation of the Seas’ maiden voyage in China.

“We are proud of the extensive collection of art and relics that represent the imperial treasures of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and it is our goal at The Palace Museum to showcase the traditional Chinese culture to people all over the world,” said Shan Jixian, Director of the Imperial Palace Museum. “This partnership with Royal Caribbean International and our programs on Ovation of the Seas will help to further these objectives. We are excited to promote the rich heritage of the Forbidden City and China to the guests of the world’s largest global cruise line and we hope to continue to expand on these efforts.”

Dr. Zinan Liu, President of North APAC and China, Royal Caribbean International said: “Cruising is becoming increasingly popular with Chinese travelers and Royal Caribbean’s award-winning and state-of-the-art ships with features found only on Royal Caribbean are very appealing to those consumers looking for a high quality vacation experience. Quantum of the Seas has been very well received by our Chinese guests and we are excited to now bring Ovation of the Seas to Tianjin. Sailing two of the world’s newest and most technologically advanced ships in China demonstrate our leadership and commitment to the market and this partnership with the Palace Museum showcasing China’s rich heritage will bring yet another unique element to our vacation offering.”

Ovation of the Seas will be officially launched in April 2016, when she departs Southampton for Tianjin, China on a 53-day Global Odyssey. She will begin her first homeport sailing season in China from Tianjin in June 2016. Ovation of the Seas, together with Quantum of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Legend of the Seas, will make up the largest fleet of any cruise line sailing in China.

Princess Cruises to deploy another ship to China

Golden Princess.

The Golden Princess will sail seasonal cruises from Tianjin in 2016, joining the Sapphire Princess in China.

The Sapphire Princess has been sailing seasonally from Shanghai since 2014 and will start sailing year-round from the port in 2016. Both ships carry about 2,600 passengers.

In addition, Princess Cruises will deploy a new 3,600-passenger ship to China in 2017, the cruise line said in May.

Another Carnival Corp. brand, Costa Cruises, will base four ships in China in 2016: the Fortuna, Serena, Atlantica and Victoria. Carnival Corp. announced in April that the Fortuna would be added to its China fleet.

"Our Costa and Princess brands are performing extremely well in China, and these new ship deployments will strengthen our growth position and enable us to carry nearly 1 million passengers in 2016," said Alan Buckelew, Carnival Corp.’s chief operations officer.

Royal Caribbean to deploy Ovation of the Seas in China

Anthem of the seas shown above

Royal Caribbean International said it will deploy Ovation of the Seas to China in 2016. The ship is the second newbuild that will be devoted to the Chinese market.

The 4,000-passenger Ovation will be homeported in Tianjin, near Beijing, adding a fourth port in China to Royal Caribbean’s lineup.

In May, Royal Caribbean will redeploy its Quantum of the Seas to Shanghai from its current homeport in Bayonne, New Jersey. Ovation is also a Quantum-class ship, meaning two of the three Quantum ships will be sailing from China year-round.

No other cruise line has put a newbuild in China, much less two.

 “We are furthering our commitment [to China] by bringing two of the world’s newest and most advanced Quantum-class cruise ships to the region,” Royal Caribbean President Michael Bayley said at a news conference in Beijing.

Ovation of the Seas, the third Quantum-class vessel, is scheduled to enter service in spring 2016. The second Quantum ship, Anthem of the Seas, will make its debut in Southampton, England, on April 22 and will sail from New Jersey after a summer season in Europe.

Bayley said that Royal Caribbean is taking other steps to strengthen its cruise operation in China. It has created a curriculum with Tianjin Maritime College to train culinary and restaurant service employees and hired more than 3,000 students since the academy opened in August 2014, Bayley said.

Also, Royal Caribbean is investigating potential Chinese drydock facilities to revitalize Legend of the Seas as early as 2018 and potential logistics centers in China to supply its ships deployed in the region.

It is also looking at an inbound-tourism business model that would bring thousands of North Americans to visit China.

The addition of Ovation will bring to five the number of Royal Caribbean ships sailing in China by 2016. In addition to Quantum and Ovation, the cruise line has positioned Mariner of the Seas in Shanghai and Voyager of the Seas in Hong Kong. Legend of the Seas will sail from Tianjin in 2016 until Ovation’s arrival, and then reposition to Xiamen.

A 52-day cruise from Southampton to Tianjin on Ovation opens for sale on March 26.

Princess to launch China cruises from Shanghai

By Tom Stieghorst

Princess Cruises will enter the China market for the first time next May, homeporting the Sapphire Princess in Shanghai for the summer.
The 2,670-passenger ship will offer three- to seven-day cruises to South Korea. It is expected to carry 70,000 passengers over a four-month season, mostly from China.

Princess would become the second Carnival Corp. brand sourcing passengers from China. Costa Cruises began sailing there in 2006.

Carnival Corp. has opened offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu to support its operations in China.

The 2014 China season will feature four itineraries: the seven-day itinerary will take passengers to the Korean capital of Seoul, the beach resort of Busan and the island of Jeju before returning to Shanghai; the five-day cruise will call at Jeju and Inchon; the four-day itinerary will call at Busan and Jeju; and the three-day cruise will call at Jeju.