Fewer new ships but many new features

By Tom Stieghorst

It is no secret that cruise lines aren’t taking delivery of as many new ships as they have in the recent past. Executives have explained their strategies as a more measured approach to capacity growth. So deliveries are spaced out, and some lines may get a new ship only once every three or four years.

One consequence is that more new features are being packed into newbuilds than ever before. The innovations come so fast and furious it becomes hard to remember them all.

At a briefing for the media at Cruise Shipping Miami, Princess Cruises highlighted 20 features to debut on its Royal Princess ship coming in June. 

Some, like a larger outdoor movie screen, are evolutions of features that are on many Princess ships already.

Others will be brand new, such as Princess Live, a 300-seat TV studio that will host entertainment ranging from cooking demonstrations to art-house movies from 8 a.m. to midnight. Many of the shows will be piped into cabins via an on-demand video system that will offer guests access to hundreds of movies at no additional charge.

Passengers with smartphones can take an art and architecture tour of Royal Princess. In keeping with its construction in Italy, the ship will have what Princess says is the largest selection of hand-crafted gelatos and Super Tuscan wines at sea.

The ship will also have Princess’ first concierge lounge for suite passengers and touch-screen digital kiosks with face recognition technology that promise to make buying onboard photos faster and easier.

Princess didn’t even touch on some of the standout features already unveiled, like the Skywalk, a glass-bottomed promenade that will extend 30 feet out over the edge of the ship.

The same pattern can be seen at work at Norwegian Cruise Line, which will have a cornucopia of firsts when its Norwegian Breakaway debuts in May. For anyone who wants to see the next new thing, these two ships should keep them well occupied in coming months.

Carnival cancels more Triumph cruises, plus Sunshine sailings

Carnival cancels more Triumph cruises, plus Sunshine sailings

By Tom Stieghorst

Carnival Cruise Lines said it will cancel an additional 10 scheduled sailings of the Carnival Triumph, moving back the date the ship resumes service from mid-April to June 3.

Also, Carnival canceled the first two cruises of the Carnival Sunshine, which was scheduled to emerge from drydock in April after a $155 million refurbishment of the former Carnival Destiny.

Carnival said it is pushing back the re-entry of service for both ships to install additional operating redundancies and fire-control measures, and to broaden the scope of hotel services that can be run off of emergency power supplies.

The changes are the first implementation of measures covered in Carnival's fleet-wide operations review following the Carnival Triumph engine room fire in February.

The Sunshine's first European cruise is now scheduled for May 5. Guests on the two canceled cruises will get a full refund, reimbursement for nonrefundable travel costs and a 25% discount on a future cruise.

Guests on the canceled Triumph cruises will get similar compensation.

Downtown Disney to be transformed into Disney Springs

By Jerry Limone

Disney on Thursday unveiled plans to transform Downtown Disney, a shopping and dining district at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, into Disney Springs.

The re-imagined destination will “draw inspiration from Florida’s waterfront towns and natural beauty,” Disney said.

Construction is slated to begin next month, with new areas opening in phases. The entire project is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

Disney Springs will include four outdoor neighborhoods: Town Center, The Landing, Marketplace and West Side.

The Town Center will offer shopping and dining along with a promenade. Disney describes The Landing as a commercial district “with inspired dining and beautiful waterfront views.”

Marketplace will feature an over-the-water pedestrian causeway and an expanded World of Disney store.

Disney said the West Side neighborhood will “provide an exuberant atmosphere with lively entertainment, along with a series of new elevated spaces that provide both shade and an overlook to the activity below.”

Neighborhoods will be interconnected by a flowing spring and lakefront. Disney also plans a new gateway and a signature water tower for the destination.

Disney Springs will have twice as many shops, restaurants and other venues (about 150 establishments) as Downtown Disney, the company said.

Carnival Dream guests to be flown home from St. Maarten

UPDATED: Carnival Dream guests to be flown home from St. Maarten

By Tom Stieghorst

Carnival Cruise Lines said Thursday morning that while personnel continue to work on a "technical issue" with the Carnival Dream's backup emergency diesel generator in St. Maarten, Carnival is making arrangements to fly all guests home on a combination of charter and scheduled flights.

Carnival also has canceled the March 16 departure of the Dream.

Carnival said it has traced the technical issue to a malfunction during a regularly scheduled test of the emergency diesel generator on March 13. That led to periodic outages in elevator service and restroom services, Carnival said.

"While the ship’s propulsion systems and primary power source were not impacted, in an abundance of caution, we prefer not to sail with guests on board without an operational back up emergency generator," Carnival stated.

The Dream operates from Port Canaveral, Fla., and was on the last leg of a seven-day cruise when the problem occurred, Carnival said.

The ship did not lose power and its propulsion and primary power generators were not affected, Carnival said.

All hotel systems are functioning normally on the Dream, after periodic interruptions to elevators and toilets in the evening hours on Wednesday while the ship was docked in St. Maarten.

CNN reported on the problems, citing passengers who claimed the ship had lost power and didn't have functioning toilets. It quoted a passenger who e-mailed saying guests were not allowed to leave the ship.

In a statement, Carnival said at no time did the Dream lose power. 

Regarding restrooms, Carnival stated, "Based on the ship’s service logs and extensive physical monitoring of all public areas, including restrooms, throughout the night, we can confirm that only one public restroom was taken offline for cleaning based on toilet overflow and there was a total of one request for cleaning of a guest cabin bathroom. Aside from that there have been no reports of issues onboard with overflowing toilets or sewage."

Hotel functions were restored around 12:30 a.m. "The ship has full power but is still at dock while personnel continue to work on the technical issue," Carnival said.

Guests on the current cruise will get a refund equal to three days of the cruise, plus a 50% discount off a future cruise. Guests on the upcoming cruise will get a refund and a 25% discount off a future cruise, Carnival said.

Thomas Cook reviews future of its airline

Thomas Cook reviews future of its airline

By Phil Davies

The future of Thomas Cook’s airline business is under review as part of chef executive Harriet Green’s turnaround plans for the loss-making group.

The disclosure came in the wake of moves to dispose of unspecified non-core assets to bring in as much as £150 million.

Green yesterday announced an additional £50 million of cost savings, taking the total to £350 million by 2015. This helped lift Cook shares almost 16% to 100.75p.

Part of those savings include £65 million from bringing its four airlines, which have 86 aircraft and employ 6,500 people, into one group.

Green would not rule out the disposal of all or part of the airline business.

“Does Thomas Cook need to have an airline in the future?” she told the Financial Times. “We have options. We are reviewing whether we should continue with the airlines that we have.”

The group had “over-complicated the business” through a series of acquisitions, including airlines, said Green.

“In essence, it is not a complex business that shouldn’t demand huge amounts of debt,” she said.

Green believed the group had become weak in its city break and winter sun offers, and would start to offer new products pitched at women and children.

The restructuring includes the closure of 195 high street agencies, contributing to the loss of 2,500 jobs.

New targets include 50% online sales and an earnings before interest and tax margin of 5%, both by 2015.

Cook earns about one-third of its revenues from online sales and the remainder from its outlets, according to the FT.

The group confirmed that a review of its capital structure could result in a future share placing.

“When that review is complete we will decide on what action we should take, if any, including whether to raise new debt and/or equity capital and the amount and structure of any such capital raising,” the company said.

Wyn Ellis, analyst with Numis, told the newspaper: “We wait to see how it progresses: a lot of hard work needs to be done if it is to succeed with its ‘high-tech, high-touch’ approach.”

James Hollins, analyst at Investec, said: “There is no update on a potential equity issue or refinancing...Current trading is stated to be ‘progressing well’ for the key summer period and the full-year 2013 outlook is ‘encouraging’.”

Harriet Green insists 'Cook is not in decline'

Thomas Cook chief executive Harriet Green today hit out at any suggestion the group is in decline.

Green said: "Cook is a super brand in a growth industry."

Having outlined the new strategy for the group yesterday, Green insisted the company would retain a presence on the high street.

"Retail is a very important part of Thomas Cook's future," she said.

"We do not want to be an online travel agent with every piece of product out there and with no assurance.

"Everything on our website will be fully quality assured and checked by Thomas Cook."

Green said: "We have made extraordinary progress in 32 weeks. This company was not very well when I joined. Now we are into transformation. We have a credible, profitable, growth story. The company has to prove it can execute it."

She insisted: "Thomas Cook will grow and grow profitably. We have no intention of shrinking to greatness but it's about being simpler and clearer."

Norwegian Cruise Line unveils magic-themed dinner theater

By Tom Stieghorst

MIAMI BEACH — Norwegian Cruise Line unveiled a magic-themed dinner theater called Illusiionarium for the Norwegian Getaway ship, a ship that will debut in Miami in early 2014.

Speaking at the Cruise Shipping Miami conference, Norwegian CEO Kevin Sheehan said the concept was inspired by magicians, the science fiction of Jules Verne and popular blockbuster movies featuring supernatural characters.

Illusionarium will replace the space occupied by Cirque Dreams on Norwegian Epic and Breakaway. It will have between 230 and 240 seats and the charge will be in the range of $35.

The centerpiece of the restaurant will be a video dome 30 feet in diameter that will serve as a projection screen for mystical places and scenes.

"When we saw some depictions of this, it was unbelievable to me that we could actually pull this off," Sheehan said.

The Illusionarium will offer 12 shows a cruise, two shows a night.

Norwegian also announced it will feature a fireworks show on each Getaway cruise.

Carnival chief says Nassau port project is in the works

By Tom Stieghorst

MIAMI BEACH — Carnival Cruise Lines President Gerry Cahill said the line is working on a port-improvement project in Nassau, Bahamas.

Cahill made the disclosure on the State of the Industry panel at the Cruise Shipping Miami conference.

Carnival has previously partnered to build Caribbean port infrastructure in the Turks & Caicos and on the island of Roatan in Honduras.

Cahill would not discuss the scope or nature of the project, but said Carnival is working with a third party and getting cooperation from the Bahamian government to facilitate it.

In an interview after the panel discussion, Cahill said he wasn't prepared to say more, but that details could be forthcoming in several weeks.

FAA approves Boeing plan to fix Dreamliner battery

By Kate Rice

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved Boeing's certification plan for the redesign of the 787 Dreamliner.

The certification plan is the first step toward returning the 787 to service, and will require extensive testing and analysis.

"This comprehensive series of tests will show us whether the proposed battery improvements will work as designed," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Cook boss Green reveals strategy for the future

By Phil Davies

Thomas Cook today unveiled long-awaited plans for a turn-around in the business involving the sale of non-core assets to raise up to £150 million.

No businesses were identified but ski arm Neilson and Preston-based luxury operator Gold Medal are thought to be among the divisions considered for disposal.

The group said the non-core disposal programme is underway with the opportunity to realise gross proceeds of £100 million to £150 million.

In a brief trading update ahead of half year results being published in May, the group described the UK turnaround as being on track.

Cook said its new profitable growth strategy was focused on “simplification, web innovation, flexible new products and services, enabled by rigorous execution and an integrated IT platform”.

Group chief executive Harriet Green said: "Our business transformation plans are ahead of schedule and already delivering substantially improved performance, which resulted in our recent return to the FTSE 250.

"We have exceeded our initial commitments and today announced a further £50 million of cost out actions, bringing the total profit improvement actions identified already to £350 million, £290 million of which is still to come.

"Stabilising the business has been our priority through addressing our cost and cash challenges, and strengthening the leadership team to create a more effective, aligned organisation focused on rigorous execution."

She added: "We are excited to now reveal our new strategy based on four cornerstone principles; delighting customers with trusted, personalised holiday experiences through a high-tech, high-touch approach.

"Based on comprehensive consumer research we aspire to occupy a unique position in the market through our new strategy, deliver industry leading margins and customer loyalty, whilst maintaining consistent quality that can be trusted.

"We will expand our already successful hotel concepts; and build a new portfolio of flexible, trusted products and services; creating a single gateway for customers to access personalised recommendations, specifically tailored to meet their needs.

"The operational credibility of this strategy rests on the success of our self-help measures to date, our trusted brand and the clear targets and KPI's against which we are ready to be judged.

"We have real options now, with the prospect of delivering improved revenues, strengthened gross margin, better cash flow and disposal opportunities, to build a strong and exciting future for the Thomas Cook Group, worthy of our customers and our heritage."

Cook said the new strategy, which includes raising web penetration to half of all sales, has been based upon extensive research and analysis including a comprehensive, in-depth survey measuring the attitudes and changing needs of almost 18,000 travellers, validated against the experiences of many of its own customers.

The group added: “Building on its trusted brand and 171 year heritage Thomas Cook will deliver personalised holiday experiences through a high-tech, high-touch approach.”

This comes a week after the company under UK boss Peter Fankhauser announced 2,500 job losses and the closure of 195 travel agency branches.

Today the group said the “thorough” UK restructuring was underway to re-shape the organisation to meet customer needs with a target to deliver UK EBIT margin in excess of 5% by 2015.

A transformed approach to hotel purchasing to utilise group scale is already delivering “tangible benefits”.

Cook described its business transformation as gaining momentum with a further £50 million of “cost-out actions” identified bringing the total profit improvement actions so far to £350 million with more to come.

The Northern and Central Europe divisions continue to build on their industry leading positions while Cook is creating a group-wide airline business to improve costs, quality, reliability and customer experience to build a stronger business.

Princess Cruises increases base rate commission

By Lee Hayhurst 

Princess Cruises has insisted its move to pay a basic upfront 10% commission on all bookings is not an admission that the move to a headline rate of 5% in 2011 was a mistake.

The Complete Cruise Solution brand has split from its fellow members of the Carnival UK trade arm by deciding to increase its basic agency payment for bookings for 2014 cruises.

Agents were told of the move this week, with UK director Paul Ludlow saying it came as a result of feedback from the trade.

He told Travel Weekly that despite Princess moving to the headline rate of 5% in 2011, along with P&O Cruises and Cunard, it was never actually that low due to other earning options.

Agents were able to earn an extra 3% on the cruise element when booking air through Princess (a so-called ‘air kicker’) and could also earn more by taking out a group deal.

However, these were both paid after sailing on a quarterly basis and Ludlow said agents told Princess they wanted a simpler arrangement so they know what their earnings will be.

“We were never at 5%,” said Ludlow. “We were always more than 5%, but we chose not to pay those commissions at the time of the booking.

“From the point of view of the sales consultant, they saw 5%, and we had feedback that agents liked the extra earning opportunities, but there was a degree of complexity and they wanted it simplified.

“For 2013 Princess is doing very well and we have our new ship Royal Princess coming into Southampton in a few months' time.

“We are not making these changes for 2013, this is for 2014 onwards. So this is not a knee-jerk reaction because 5% has not worked. This is based on agent feedback.”

Under the previous groups programme, agents could earn up to 6.25% extra commission on the cruise element once they had made 16 bookings on a particular sailing.

This came in the form of a free tour-conductor place on the cruise or the equivalent monetary value – an average of the cruise value of the other 16 bookings.

Under the new arrangement, from March 14 both the air kicker and group programme trade incentive will be removed in favour of the 10% upfront payment.

Ludlow said the change should make selling Princess Cruises more attractive for all agents, even those who were good at exploiting the additional earning in the group programme.

“We are improving commission. From a travel agents’ perspective, they could earn more money at the time of bookings. For all agents this will be attractive," he said.

Asked whether the move to 10% would risk reviving big discounting – something the move to 5% was meant to stamp out – Ludlow replied: “The changes that we are making aren’t about reneging on our 5%, it’s about simplifying the offering in the market.”

Ludlow said there were no plans for P&O and Cunard to follow Princess Cruises’ commission restructuring.

“P&O and Cunard have never had the complexity of the airline kicker and the group commission, so as they haven’t had that feedback regarding simplification, I don’t think there’s any need to make that change,” he said.

Ludlow said he had contacted a number of travel agents about the decision, and that feedback had been "very positive”.

Cunard to celebrate 10th anniversary of QM2 in 2014

By Tom Stieghorst

Cunard Line announced its 2014 deployments, and said its Queen Elizabeth ship will spend the second half of the year in the Mediterranean.

This year, it is spending most of the summer in northern Europe before transitioning to the Med in late August.

Cunard said it will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Queen Mary 2 with two May commemorative crossings that include special events and celebrations.

QM2 will also make 10 crossings between New York and Hamburg that feature two-night tours of Hamburg and Berlin. 

Celebrity invests in New York

By Tom Stieghorst

Having finished the Solstice-class shipbuilding program, Celebrity Cruises has pivoted to focus on yields.

Typical is the campaign unfolding in the New York area, one of 10 urban centers where the demographics match up well with Celebrity’s pitch for "modern luxury."

To goose sales while moving rates upward, Celebrity is making its presence known in multiple ways. It has a list of 1,500 agents in the New York area it will be contacting to get better acquainted.

Representatives have been attending targeted events, such as the New York Wine Expo earlier this month.

Through May 31, Celebrity is offering area agents a bonus commission for sailings of six nights or more of $200 for a suite and $75 for balcony cabins, plus $100 onboard credit for clients. And starting next week, Celebrity will conduct a sales blitz with the goal of face-to-face contact with 750 New York area agents. 

“We’re going to be out for a full week,” said Celebrity’s Northeast sales manager Sheri Pasternak. “We won’t see our families, but it's all good,” she said.

With three sales reps for New York, northern New Jersey and Long Island, Celebrity normally keeps in touch with 300 to 400 area agents. For the March Madness push, Pasternak is getting help from a sales team flown in from Miami for the week.

To capture agents’ attention, there will be extra commission incentives, giveaways, mystery caller contests, and consumer offers exclusive to the New York area. 

“It’s kind of something new for us, that we’re trying,” Pasternak said.  “We don’t have the kind of dollars that our sister company Royal [Caribbean] has for TV, so we’re really doing more local efforts and truly laser-focused.”

The push continues in April, Pasternak said, with “lunch n’ learn” sessions in three or four northeastern cities.

Sailing options from New York will increase this year with the year-round debut of Norwegian Breakaway in May.  That month, Celebrity Summit starts a summer of sevem-day New York-Bermuda cruises, the same route offered by Breakaway.

“We’re up against some hefty competition, and we understand that,” Pasternak said.

But she thinks the time is right for Celebrity’s "modern luxury" branding to break through. 

“Even though we’ve had it for a year and a half, its now just starting to resonate with the consumer,” she said. “So we’re going to continue that even more so, and really get the price that we deserve.”

Travel Counsellors targets Cook employees with 'discovery days'

By Phil Davies 

Travel Counsellors today reported an “unprecedented” rise in job seekers following Thomas Cook announcing the closure of 195 agency branches and 2,500 redundancies.

The homeworking agency says there is a future for “talented travel professsionals” and is organising a number of recruitment initiatives including ‘discovery days’ across the UK.

These will offer an insight to the future of travel and show retail agents that there is an alternative to life on the high street.

Cook staff facing job losses are being invited to annual mini-conferences being held in Manchester, Birmingham and London on April 15-27. A special webcast will also be held.

Travel Counsellors who have previously worked on the high street, and for Cook in particular, will be attending the discovery days and will host the webcast.

Some existing Travel Counsellors have offered to open their homes to those interested in joining so they can see how the company works and answer questions.

“This will give potential recruits the chance to speak directly with people who have been in their position before, and hear why they took the leap to run their own business,” Travel Counsellors said.

The company believes its impressive sales for the start of the year is proving a “compelling reason” for Cook employees to express interest in joining Travel Counsellors.

Average earnings for UK Travel Counsellors are up to £21,000 in the past year, with the top 100 earning £59,871.

Head of global recruitment Simon Burke said: “We have had to reprint a new batch of our information packs as the demand has outstripped our normal supply.

“We are mindful that this is very difficult time for Thomas Cook employees and we want to give them as much support as possible, so this is why we’re going to lengths to ensure they see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Travel Counsellors quoted former Cook employee Donna Horner who said the idea of working from home had worried her but "it really has been the best thing I’ve ever done".

“I’ve never known support like it, not in all the years I worked on the high street. I feel far from isolated, in fact that couldn’t be further from the truth – I felt more isolated when I was working on the high street. 

"Importantly, I do earn decent money. I can understand why some Thomas Cook employees may feel anxious about taking the leap and may want to try to find a job on the high street, but all I can say is taking the step to work for Travel Counsellors have allowed me to truly enjoy working in travel again.”

Airlines work to improve speed and availability of in-flight WiFi

By Kate Rice

Airlines and their in-flight WiFi service providers are upgrading their technologies — both terrestrial- and satellite-based — in an attempt to provide more robust service to a greater number of passengers.

The challenge with in-flight WiFi is that passengers who go online in flight are sharing a finite amount of bandwidth. Moreover, they’re sharing that bandwidth not just with other passengers on that flight.

In some cases, they are sharing it with passengers on other planes being flown at the same time by the same airline, who can be accessing the Internet from the same terrestrial towers or satellites.

Simply having more than 25% of passengers on any single plane online at the same time can seriously degrade WiFi service.

But it appears that is about to change. Airlines are adding capacity to satellite-based WiFi or upgrading their air-to-ground (ATG) services.

Gogo, which has the bulk of the aviation market, currently provides WiFi service to 1,800 planes. It is upgrading from its original ATG technology to an improved version known as ATG-4, which it says will enable up to half the passengers on a plane to be online simultaneously without degrading the quality of service.

At the same time, Gogo is adding satellite-based WiFi to its menu of offerings.
Until now, the company has relied on air-to-ground technology, having built out its own network of data transmission towers across the U.S.

ATG-4 increases speeds by adding a second modem and doubling the number of antennas on planes from two to four. Increasing speed basically means more people can be online without degrading the experience, according to a Gogo official.

So far, the company has installed ATG-4 on 100 aircraft, including one flown by Virgin America. As for satellite-based WiFi, Gogo is also outfitting more than 400 planes flown by several airlines with that technology.

The industry’s two other major players are Row 44, whose biggest U.S. customer is Southwest Airlines, and Panasonic Avionics, which provides WiFi service to several U.S. carriers. Both use satellite-based technologies.

Southwest uses Row 44 technology for both in-flight WiFi and on-demand TV shows and movies, which customers view on their own portable or mobile devices. This means that it can offer WiFi on its new Caribbean service to San Juan.

Some airlines are offering passengers a choice of speeds. United Airlines, for example, which has said it should have 300 mainline aircraft equipped with satellite-based WiFi by the end of this year, is offering its customers a choice of two speeds: Standard speed, which initially will be priced between $3.99 and $14.99 depending on the duration of the flight, and Accelerated speed, priced initially between $5.99 and $19.99.

JetBlue Airways is beginning the installation and certification process for its satellite-based in-flight WiFi. However, it must go through extensive testing and certification by the FAA before customers start using it, according to an airline spokeswoman.

While overall uptake of in-flight WiFi is currently small — under 6% overall, according to documents Gogo has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission — usage can vary widely from one flight to another.

Virgin America, for example, has a huge uptake on its flights because it attracts a younger, more technically sophisticated demographic.

Across brands, there tends to be more WiFi usage on transcontinental flights because longer flights increase the demand for in-flight entertainment.
Major business routes tend to have greater uptake, as well.

Thomas Cook job cuts are necessary, says expert

By Melanie Hall 

Thomas Cook Group’s decision to cut 2,500 jobs and close 195 stores has gone down well in the City as a much-needed restructuring following its “dismal” financial performance, said a leading analyst.

Douglas McNeill, investment director at stockbrokers Charles Stanley, told Travel Weekly that the move, although sad for those at risk of losing their jobs, was necessary.

“The City is pleased to see restructuring taking place,” said McNeill. “No-one is ever keen to see other people losing jobs so the restructuring that is underway is tempered by thoughts about those losing jobs, but it’s beyond question that things needed to change at Thomas Cook.

“I would say that the City has thought something like this was on the cards for quite some time. The management has led the City to expect cost savings without being particularly specific.”

“lt hasn’t required much imagination to realise that a lot of reductions was on the way,” said McNeill, as it is doing less business than it used to.

“Capacity is down this summer season, 4% down at the last count,” he said. “That’s not the first such reduction. Reduction in the winter season was greater than that. Sooner or later, you are going to conclude that you are going to need fewer staff.”

McNeill said that Thomas Cook’s chief executive Harriet Green was instilling confidence because of her plans to cut costs.

“Financial performance has been dismal for quite some time and the share price tells you that the City is confident in Harriet Green’s ability to restructure," he said.

Thomas Cook saw its share price drop by more than 4% yesterday in the wake of the travel group’s mass jobs cut announcement a day earlier.

Shares in the company were down 3.5p to 82.5p but this was more than 15% below its 52-week high of 97.38. At yesterday’s rate, the group’s market capitalisation was £787.92 million.

Cook is to cut 2,500 jobs and close almost 200 agency branches as part of a financial turn around plan. An update on the business transformation plan and new strategy for the group is due to be given by chief executive Harriet Green on Wednesday.

A brief trading update will be given ahead of first half results to be announced in May.

Thomas Cook staff talk of shock and anger at store closures

Thomas Cook staff who have been told their shops have been earmarked for closure have spoken of their shock at Wednesday's announcement.

The company revealed that 2,500 jobs were under consultatation, more than 900 of which will be from the retail estate. The rest will be back office roles at its premises in Accrington, Peterborough, Preston and Egham.

One staff member who wanted to remain anonymous and who was told her shop would soon be closing told Travel Weekly:

"We feel we've been treated absolutely appallingly. We are an A performing store and we were told categorically by our regional sales manager that no shop closures were imminent.

"We have very long-standing staff in our store. We have worked so hard during peaks, including Sundays and evenings with no extra pay, just to make the shop a success.

"We've been told not to tell any customers or staff who aren't in today about the closures, we just have to smile and get on with it. The staff have been left reeling, we feel shocked and sick."

Another staff member wrote on travelweekly.co.uk: "How sad and unfair, I have two kids, rent and I feel like my life has just been put in to overload, what will I do?"

A stream of comments, many purporting to be from staff, on Travel Weekly's original story revealed the depth of anger among many employees who are either facing redundancy or changes to their current terms of employment, as Cook confirmed to Sky News yesterday.

Recruitment consultants have suggested some Cook staff may become homeworkers, while others may be forced to leave the industry.

Fire put out on Norwegian Getaway

By Tom Stieghorst

Construction on the Norwegian Getaway was halted Monday after a fire broke out on the newbuild in its covered drydock building in Papenburg, Germany.

A statement from the Meyer Werft shipyard said the fire led to "significant smoke formation," causing the affected production areas and the visitors center to be evacuated.

Members of the shipyard fire brigade and Papenburg's fire department were called to put out the blaze.

The cause remains unknown. The statement said completion of the 4,000-passenger ship in 2014 "is not at risk according to information currently available."

The Getaway is scheduled to enter service next January in Miami.

Hurtigruten ship runs aground

By Tom Stieghorst

Hurtigruten said a ship with 258 passengers aboard hit an underwater rock and was grounded outside Trollfjord, in Norway.

The Kong Harald took on water as it waited for the tide to rise to be taken off the rock, a company statement said.

All guests were disembarked safely, and the ship then sailed to Svolvaer. It will be taken to a shipyard in Fiskarstrand for repairs, said Hurtigruten, an expedition cruise line based in Norway.

The sailing from March 4 to 12 has been canceled, and all guests will be flown home, the statement said. 

Thomas Cook to cut 2,500 jobs

The back office roles will include staff at the head offices in Peterborough and Preston. The consultation also includes the proposed closure of the Accrington office.

Thomas Cook Group is to cut 2,500 jobs across its back office and retail network.

The group also plans to close 195 stores as part of the restucture of the UK business.

A 90 day consultation begins today over the future of 2,500 jobs, both back office and retail. The group currently employs 15,500 people in the UK.

Stores will close which do "not meet the performance targets of the business" and are in areas where Thomas Cook has more than one retail outlet. 

Peter Fankhauser, chief executive Continental Europe & UK, said:  "It is never easy to make decisions that impact directly on our people, but we also owe it to our customers to shape the business effectively and ensure that, when they book their holiday with us, our administrative costs are as low as possible.

"As we improve and develop our online capabilities, maintaining a strong presence on the High Street is an important part of our omni-channel strategy. Even after these changes we will still have one of the largest retail networks in UK travel.

He added: "It is essential that we operate with the right number of people as we move forward into the next era for our company, allowing us to meet the future needs of our customers more effectively.

"These proposals will mean a stronger Thomas Cook that continues to be a major employer in the UK dedicated to providing excellent holiday experiences to our 23 million customers. We are in consultation with our unions and employee representative bodies to minimise the impact of these changes and I am speaking personally to all employees today to provide information and support through this period of consultation."

100 years of Florida cruising

By Tom Stieghorst

Can it be 100 years since the first cruise from Florida?

Yes it can, according to The Cruise People, a London travel firm that has identified the Key West steamship Evangeline as the first true cruise ship to depart a Florida port in 1913.

With its prominent, upright funnel and boxy profile, the 3,678-ton Evangeline resembled nothing so much as a smaller version of the Titanic, lost in the icy North Atlantic nine months earlier.

That same year, 1912, Henry Flagler’s ambitious extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West was completed. Then, as now, leisure cruises depended on land-based transportation links to prosper. 

But in 1913 railroads, not airlines, brought distant tourists to the departure terminal. The Evangeline was owned by the Peninsular & Occidental Steamship Co, a joint venture between Flagler and his Florida railroad rival Henry Plant (P&O eventually went on to own a modern cruise subsidiary, today's Princess Cruises). The ship was built in Scotland, at the same shipyard that later built the former Carnival Cruise Lines ship Carnivale. 

The Evangeline did a series of eight 11-night cruises, visiting Havana, Kingston, Jamaica, and Colon, Panama, to see the canal, then still under construction.

The fare for the initial season was $110, but that went up to $125 in 1914 when the homeport moved to Jacksonville, Fla.

Today Jacksonville is still a homeport, hosting the 70,367-ton Carnival Fascination. Key West, which will serve as port of call for nearly 300 cruise ships this year, is no longer a home port, its rail connection wiped out by the 1935 hurricane.

Miami, which didn’t receive a regular leisure cruise route until 1935 when ships began going to Nassau, Bahamas, is now the biggest cruise port, not only in Florida but worldwide. Port Everglades and Port Canaveral are second and third. Each is connected to an international airport (in the case of Port Canaveral, buses take passengers from Orlando International Airport).

And now, as then, Florida remains central to the cruise business. The industry’s biggest convention, Cruise Shipping Miami, will open next week at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

According to CLIA, Florida accounted for 40% of the industry’s passenger and crew visits in North America and 35% of direct expenditures.  No. 2 California had about one-tenth as many passenger visits, CLIA says.

The Evangeline was scrapped in 1936, succeeded by the Florida, which by 1952 was doing two-night cruises from Miami to Havana for $42 plus taxes. That all ended eight years later. And for the past half century the cruise industry has prospered in Florida, going almost everywhere but the port of call 90 miles to the south.   

Universal Orlando taking reservations for new hotel

By Jerry Limone

Universal Orlando Resort said the reservations book is open for the Cabana Bay Beach Resort, an 1,800-room hotel scheduled to open in early 2014.

Reservations are being accepted for stays beginning on March 31, 2014.

The hotel, the fourth within Universal Orlando, will “evoke the classic, retro feel of iconic beach resorts from the 1950s and '60s,” Universal Orlando said.

An area located around the North Courtyard will open first, followed later in 2014 by an area located around the South Courtyard.

Guests will have two room options: a standard guestroom or a 430-square-foot family suite that sleeps six. Family suite rates will begin at $174 per night; standard room rates will begin at $119 per night.

Package rates are available with savings based on length of stay. Universal Orlando said that a family of four can stay for seven nights for $47 per person, per day — including accommodations and tickets to both Universal Orlando theme parks.

When complete, there will be two pool complexes with sand beaches, a lazy river, a 10-lane bowling alley, a food court and a game room.

Alice Norsworthy, executive vice president of marketing and sales at Universal Orlando Resort, said that Cabana Bay will be a “value-driven option for families that want to stay within the Universal Orlando Resort.”

Loews Hotels will operate the resort.

Virgin reveals brand for new domestic services

By Phil Davies 

Virgin Atlantic’s new UK domestic services will operate under the name Little Red.

Flights start on March 31 from Manchester with three flights a day to Heathrow followed by six a day from Edinburgh on April 5 and three a day from Aberdeen on April 9.

Services will operate to Heathrow Terminal 1 with bus transfers to connect with Virgin Atlantic long-haul routes to long-haul destinations from Terminal 3.

Fares start at £99 as Virgin seeks to compete head-to-head with rival British Airways on UK routes for the first time.

Virgin won key take-off and landing slots at Heathrow after Bmi was taken over by BA parent International Airlines Group and willI  use leased Aer Lingus aircraft.

BA runs around 52 daily flights between Heathrow and Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow together with services to Scotland from Gatwick and London City airports.

Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson said that Little Red will "go head-to-head with BA to provide domestic flights that deliver Virgin Atlantic's rock and roll spirit as well as real value for money."