Cruise ship Costa Allegra adrift off Seychelles

The Costa Allegra has over 1,000 people on board (file photo)

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An Italian cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board is without power in the Indian Ocean following a fire. No one has been injured.

The Costa Allegra is adrift in the dark more than 200 miles southwest of the Seychelles, near Alphonse Island.
Tug boats are on their way to the liner but will not reach it until around 1500 GMT on Tuesday.
The ship is from the same fleet as the Costa Concordia, which capsized off the Italian coast in January, killing 32.
Costa Cruises said in a statement that the fire broke out in the electric generators' room. It did not spread and there were no injuries or casualties.
Inspections of the state of the engine room are on-going, the company says.
Ship immobilised The liner has sent out a distress signal, Costa Cruises says, and all passengers and crew not involved in fighting the fire assembled at the muster stations.
There are no electric lights on board the ship as the batteries are being used to keep essential machinery going.
The Italian authorities have directed three merchant ships and two fishing vessels towards the stricken liner.
The authorities in the Seychelles say they have sent two tug boats and a coastguard ship to the scene.
The closest vessel to the ship - a French fishing boat - is likely to reach the Allegra at around 2300 GMT, ahead of the tug boats.
A plane from the Seychelles flew over the cruise ship and confirmed that there was "no danger for the people on board," according to Commander Cosimo Nicastro of the Italian coast guard.
Cmdr Nicastro told the BBC that it took the crew a few hours to extinguish the fire.

Although the ship is in the middle of the Indian Ocean, there are "no problems for the passengers".
However the ship probably needs to be towed to a Seychelles port, he said.

There are 636 passengers and 413 crew on board the Costa Allegra, which left Madagascar on Saturday.
It was due to arrive in the Seychelles on Tuesday.
Further destinations on its itinerary include Alexandria and Naples in the Mediterranean.
Somali pirates are known to operate in the area where the ship is adrift, though they have never seized a cruise liner.
A facility on Costa Cruises' website allowing people to track the Allegra's position says that "data transmission is temporarily suspended".
The Costa Concordia ran aground off the Italian island of Giglio on 13 January.
The Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, has been accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before all those aboard were evacuated. He denies any wrongdoing

Cruise passengers robbed on excursion in Puerto Vallarta

By Donna Tunney

Carnival Cruise Lines suspended a guided nature-trail excursion in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after 22 passengers sailing on the Carnival Splendor were robbed at gunpoint during the tour on Feb. 23.

There were no injuries and all passengers returned safely to the ship, Carnival said in a statement.

“Numerous authorities were notified and responded to investigate, as well as assist the affected guests. The tour in question has been suspended until further notice.”

Carnival said it is working to reimburse robbery victims for lost valuables and assist with lost passports or other forms of identification that were stolen.

“Carnival sincerely apologizes to its guests for this very unfortunate and disturbing event and is providing its full support and assistance,” the cruise line said.

The 2,974-passenger Splendor was operating a seven-day cruise that departed Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 19.

Puerto Vallarta, a city of 255,000, is located in Jalisco state. The most recent U.S. State Department travel warning concerning the region tells Americans to “deter nonessential travel to areas of the state that border the states of Michoacan and Zacatecas.”

Michoacan is located to the south and Zacatecas to the northeast of Jalisco. The warning does not specifically mention Puerto Vallarta.

Princess Cruises last June suspended calls to Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan, citing security concerns, but announced last October it would include both destinations on six Sapphire Princess cruises in winter 2012-13.

At the time, Princess said it could alter its decision to include Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan closer to departure, if its comfort level with the destinations changes again.

Holland America Line had extended its suspension of Mazatlan port calls through March 2012, replacing the visit with an overnight in Puerto Vallarta.

Meanwhile, Puerto Vallarta is poised to host a major trade show, Tianguis Turistico 2012, March 25 to 28 in Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit.

Puerto Vallarta’s conference center will serve as the venue for the trade show, meetings and press conferences.

CEO says media 'massacre' could destroy Costa brand

By Donna Tunney

Costa Cruises’ bookings are down 35% year over year since the Costa Concordia accident in Italy on Jan. 13, the line’s chairman and CEO, Pier Luigi Foschi, told Italian newspaper La Stampa earlier this month.

The Foschi interview raised a specter that has not been openly discussed: that all the negative publicity surrounding the Concordia incident could ultimately sink the Costa brand.

“Our brand has been massacred by the media,” Foschi said, and even though “the company is solid, with a net worth of several billion euros,” Costa Cruises “could fail as a [brand].”

In an annual filing last month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, parent company Carnival Corp. stated that booking volume across its brands had dropped by 20% in the immediate aftermath of the Concordia incident. But that figure did not include Costa Cruises itself. In its filing, Carnival Corp. said only that Costa’s bookings were down significantly.

In a follow-up to Foschi’s statements to La Stampa, Costa issued a statement explaining, “Our chairman and CEO replied to a question regarding the possibility of bankruptcy of our company. He actually replied that although the company is financially very strong and the company will not go bankrupt, there is no certainty about the brand.

“This declaration was caused by the enormous attack of the mass media on Costa Crociere, most of it unfair and unverified. However, it is necessary to clarify that this is a remote possibility because it is our intention to work hard to do everything in our power to save the brand and to restore our credibility.”

The Concordia hit a rocky reef as it sailed north from Civitavecchia and quickly took on water. The half-submerged ship remains off the coast of the island of Giglio, where salvage crews are trying to remove its 500,000 gallons of fuel.

Twenty-one people have so far been confirmed dead in the incident, and at least 11 remain missing.

Cost of WiFi at Signal at sea

Signal at sea

By Donna Tunney

WiFi costs per minute

Each cruise line has its own per-minute prices for Internet service. Below is a sample of prices cruisers will pay to connect on the high seas:

 
Carnival Cruise Lines
• 45 minutes: $29
• 120 minutes: $59
• 240 minutes: $89
• 360 minutes: $159
• Rate without a prepaid package: 75 cents per minute

Crystal Cruises
• 120 minutes: $50
• 600 minutes: $200
• 1,500 minutes: $300
• Rate without a prepaid package: 74 cents per minute

Cunard Line
• 120 minutes: $47.95
• 240 minutes: $89.95
• 480 minutes: $167.95
• Rate without a prepaid package: 75 cents per minute

Royal Caribbean International
• 60 minutes: $35
• 100 minutes: $55
• 150 minutes: $75
• 250 minutes: $100
• 500 minutes: $150
• Rate without a prepaid package: 65 cents per minute

Clients book cruise vacations because they want to relax, visit interesting destinations and have fun. But that doesn't mean they won't stay connected to family and friends while they're away.

Many expect to tweet, text, check email and post pictures to social media sites from the middle of an ocean.

Indeed, the number of iPads, iPhones and other Web-enabled mobile devices in use by passengers at a shipboard lounge often matches the number of rum punches and martinis on the bar.

For cruise lines, it sounds like a simple win-win situation: They invest in an infrastructure to provide reliable Internet connectivity at sea, making them competitive with land resorts, and the rewards come with per-minute rate packages that contribute to onboard revenue streams.

Bow-to-stern WiFi-enabled ships, a rarity even a few years ago, are commonplace now.

But the rocket science behind the technology that enables at-sea Internet service is complicated. Speed and reliability vary from ship to ship, and more than a decade after Internet service was introduced onto cruise ships, slow connections and breaks in service can still perplex passengers.

In simple terms, shipboard access to the very big Internet relies to a great degree on a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), a system of above- and below-deck equipment and devices that serve as conduits to satellites 22,000 miles above the Earth's equator.

A VSAT antenna coupled with the amount of bandwidth a cruise ship has available tell the story of onboard Internet connectivity.

Using a VSAT system, data request signals, which occur when someone tries to access a website from a computer onboard a ship, must travel to an orbiting satellite, bounce to an earth station and then travel back to the satellite before returning to the shipboard computer.

It's a 44,000-mile, roundtrip journey, and while experts say it takes only a half-second for a signal to reach a satellite from a shipboard antenna, the start-to-finish connectivity process is considerably slower than a land-based routing.

Unplugged, but plugged in

Given the prevalence of wireless Internet on ships today, it's surprising to recall that the first big ship built with a dedicated Internet cafe, the Norwegian Sky, debuted a dozen years ago. The Carnival Valor, which launched in 2004, was the first to offer wireless Internet throughout the ship.

"It used to be that just company presidents and CEOs needed Internet access, but now it's everyone," said Vicky Garcia, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Cruise Planners/American Express. "We don't know how to disconnect, even when we're on vacation.

"You may not be actually 'working,' but you're posting a photo on Facebook and answering email," Garcia said. "It's funny how everything has become so viral, like people posting photos of themselves from a cruise even after they've had too many drinks."

And more cruise clients, she added, are asking about the cost of Internet connections before they leave on a cruise.

"Teenage kids for sure are asking, especially if they got stung before," she said. "We had some kids on a cruise, and it was like sticker shock when they saw the prices at the Internet cafe."

Connection rates, Garcia added, "come up a lot" in predeparture conversations with customers.

"We see it on our message boards: agents asking about various cruise line policies so they can tell their clients. It isn't just corporate clients asking, either; it's everybody."

Internet pricing is fairly level across different cruise lines, give or take a few cents. Most lines will offer several prepaid Internet packages in addition to a nonpackage, per-minute rate. The more minutes a passenger buys, the cheaper the per-minute rate (see chart at left).

For example, a 100-minute Internet package on Norwegian Cruise Line costs $55, or 55 cents a minute. In some cases, passengers who don't buy a package can expect to pay 95 cents or more per minute.

Joyce Landry, CEO of cruise meetings and incentives firm Landry & Kling, said the newer ships have "stem-to-stern WiFi, while older ones still might have hotspots," meaning locations on the ship, like a lounge or library, where passengers must go to access connectivity.

Anyone who has cruised on a ship that provides Internet service is likely to have seen the MTN logo on the dome that houses a VSAT antenna on the decks of the vessels. Looking like giant, white light bulbs, they're hard to miss.

MTN Satellite Communications has a corner on the cruise ship market, with every major brand using the Miramar, Fla., company's VSAT system. It also provides a growing portion of satellite-based TV service on cruise ships.

Its infrastructure of geostationary satellites and earth stations provides service to some 600 vessels worldwide, including cruise ships, ferries, cargo ships and government vessels, plus offshore oil rigs and government and commercial aircraft.

"We don't own the satellites, but we lease satellite capacity on a long-term basis from the satellite operators," said Brent Horwitz, senior vice president and general manager of MTN's cruise and ferry business. "The largest ones are Intelsat, SES and Telesat."

The need for speed
The unpredictable and sometimes snail-like speed of connectivity can be frustrating to cruise passengers. Shipboard speed is routinely compared to the old dial-up systems, but there are several issues that determine how fast or slow a connection at sea will be, Horwitz said.

According to Horwitz, the speed of connectivity largely depends on how much bandwidth the cruise line is buying for each ship.

"Satellite capacity is more costly than on land, hundreds of times more costly," he said. Obstacles to speedy connectivity are not unlike what consumers experience in their homes, Horwitz said.

"Even if you have DSL cable at home, it depends on how many people are online," he said. "It also depends to a very great extent on whether the cruise line is effectively using optimization devices that compress files and accelerate the signal." An example of a compressed file, he explained, would be a zip file that can contain many documents or images, such as passenger data that has to be sent to an onshore corporate office.

There are two frequencies that the cruise industry uses to bounce signals onto satellites: C-band and Ku-band.

"The majority of large ships will use C-band," he said. "Ku-band is more susceptible to 'rain fade,' when bad weather interferes with signals to the geostationary satellite.

"The trend is for zero tolerance for down time in 2012, so most ships have dual-antenna systems, sometimes in both frequencies," Horwitz added.

MTN has several earth stations, including its largest in Holmdel, N.J., which covers most of the Western Hemisphere. Earth stations receive and respond to data requests that first hit a satellite.

"It's an enormous infrastructure making the global connectivity possible," he said. In addition to Holmdel, MTN has smaller stations in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington state, which handles the Pacific region. Other stations are in Spain, the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany and Hong Kong.

"Above the Earth, we have 32 satellite beams that we access; the North and South Poles are the only areas not covered," Horwitz said.

"What's happening is that the cruise lines no longer really see other cruise lines as their primary competitors," he said. "Land-based resorts are the primary competitor, and what the cruise lines are doing now is upgrading these networks and building out the WiFi infrastructure. They are investing in more bandwidth and using the latest acceleration and compression techniques available."

He noted that, with cruise lines under pressure to increase onboard revenue, "Internet access is on their radar screen."

In the not-too-distant future, Horwitz predicted, the overall onboard connectivity experience is going to improve because of the cruise lines' actions as well as improvements in satellite technologies.

Regardless of the different factors that affect Internet speed, the absence of a direct competitor to MTN in the cruise market isn't one of them, he said.

"We have a few competitors, but in the cruise industry space we are the leading provider," Horwitz said. "We've created an equation that makes sense for the cruise industry."

Bill Martin, chief information officer for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL), agreed.

"MTN is focused on our industry," Martin said. "They are not the only provider of the service; there are some much larger than MTN that [primarily] supply oil rigs, freight carriers and the military. But because there are other players out there, it keeps MTN honest."

The cost of connectivity

Martin said his company continuously looks for ways to provide better Internet access, but it's all about the cost of bandwidth.

"I'd love to tell MTN that they are way too expensive, but it costs a lot of money to [maintain their infrastructure]," he said. "I'm not at liberty to say what it costs us, but it's extraordinarily expensive."

Basically, Martin said, a large ship will buy 4 megabytes of download speed.

"I have twice that much in my own house," Martin said. "It's about half of what the average home would have with high-speed DSL, which would provide at least an 8-megabyte download."

But on cruise ships, data is highly optimized, or compressed, he noted.

Norwegian Cruise Line's Ross Henderson, vice president of onboard revenue, was willing to reveal some cruise line expenses.

"In terms of cost, satellite equipment is a one-time capital expense," he said. "Full WiFi installation for a 3,000-passenger ship would probably cost around $400,000 -- that's for bow-to-stern access. Then you have the ongoing monthly fee for bandwidth, but I don't have those numbers."

He said that the cruise lines get a cut of the Internet access costs that passengers pay for.

"There is a profit margin on the per-minute packages," he said. "It's challenging to figure it out, and I don't have those numbers, either."

On Norwegian ships, the per-minute price without buying a prepaid package is 75 cents. The line offers a three-tier package, he said, and if a passenger buys a 250-minute plan, the per-minute rate drops to the "37- or 40-cent range."

According to Henderson, less than half of Norwegian's passengers use the Internet onboard. "More people will use it on longer cruises," he added.

Nonetheless, he said, guests use a big chunk of the available bandwidth, and so does the crew. Corporate use is less than that of either the guests or the crew, Henderson said.

"We have ability to allocate certain segments of the [bandwidth] pipe; we try to give first preference to guests."

Henderson said passengers have become accustomed to being charged for Internet time by the minute but said the industry might someday charge by the megabyte.

"It could allow for more bandwidth in that scenario, because by minute, one person could be using more bandwidth than another person, but they're paying the same thing," he said.

The problem, Henderson added, is that "guests are not fully knowledgeable about the size of the Web page [they might be trying to access] and wouldn't know how many megabytes to purchase. But people are becoming more savvy about that."

RCCL's Martin said he increasingly divides passengers into two categories.

"There are technology natives: [younger people] who grew up with the Internet and have no memory of life without it. And then there are people like me, tech immigrants, who have learned to live in the tech world.

"For 'natives,' they have a hard time understanding what the world is like without being connected."

And it's true that keeping the price of access high indirectly limits its use, Martin said.

"Bandwidth is expensive to increase," he said. "It's a constrained resource, there's only so much available that we can provide. If we thought guests would buy more of it, we'd be happy to provide it. We're trying to strike that balance."

Meanwhile, the communication needs of passengers continue to evolve, according to Eric Merz, director of guest technology at Carnival Cruise Lines. He noted that just a few years ago, there were fewer passengers with laptops and WiFi-enabled mobile devices.

"Five years ago the primary social media tool was Myspace," he said. "Today, people connect through Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp ... and the list keeps growing."

Merz said that about a quarter of the line's passengers use its Internet services, "but it can vary by itinerary and time of year."

While the connectivity speed can be an issue, Merz said that the majority of guests, especially repeat cruisers, "understand the difference [between land and sea service], so we rarely get complaints about the time it takes to connect with the Web."

A Carnival Legend returns

By Lee Hayhurst |  

Carnival Cruise Lines has announced a return to cruising in UK waters for the first time since 2008 with the deployment of Carnival Legend to Dover.
The 2,600-capacity ship, which was named in 2002 by Dame Judi Dench in Harwich, will operate 17 cruises from the Kent port between April 22 and October 31 2013.
The decision to bring a ship back to the UK reflects Carnival’s ambitions to significantly grow brand awareness under new managing director Adolfo Perez.
Carnival was forced to put plans to establish a permanent base in the UK on the backburner when the financial crisis hit in 2008 after it named Carnival Splendor in Dover.
But Perez said the line believes now is the right time to re-establish its global expansion with the UK being one of its key markets outside of the US.
“Our goal is to grow the cruise market by attracting new-to-cruise,” said Perez. “The fact we are putting a ship in the UK’s backyard gives us access to UK guests and our marketing campaign is going to drive the brand.”
As well as Baltic cruises Legend will also sail in the Norwegian Fjords and around the British Isles as well as some Mediterranean cruises.
The positioning of the ship in Dover and the British Isles cruise, with ports of call in Scotland and Ireland, means Carnival will be able to showcase its product to more agents.
Carnival expects there to be an international mix of guests onboard its ex-UK cruises, but to be sourcing more UK passengers than it has ever done in the past.
A brochure featuring the UK deployment is due out in May and Perez said he would be looking for trade support.
“We realise how important the trade is for us to be successful in the UK so we have been in discussions with many trade partners here and we are very excited about working closely with the trade,” he said.

Venice plan would reroute cruise ships away from city center

By Donna Tunney

Prompted by the increasingly vocal concerns of preservation groups and environmentalists, officials in Venice have put forward a plan to reroute cruise ships away from the city center by dredging a new channel from the Lagoon of Venice directly into the busy Marittima passenger terminal.

Such a move would mean that cruise passengers no longer would sail into or out of the San Marco Basin and the scenic Giudecca Canal, within shouting distance of venerable landmarks such as the Piazza San Marco and St. Mark’s Basilica. (Click on the image to view a map of the proposed move.) 

An agreement was reached in December between the Venice Port Authority and the city of Venice to study the creation of the channel, which could be completed within 18 months. The proposal gained a new urgency following the Costa Concordia accident on Jan. 13.

Venice is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and the group called on the Italian government to “act quickly to develop alternative plans for maritime traffic” around Venice.

In a letter to the Italian environment minister, Unesco assistant director-general for culture Francesco Bandarin wrote, “The tragic accident [involving the Concordia] reinforces long-standing concerns over the risk that large cruise liners pose to sites inscribed on [our] World Heritage list, particularly the Venetian Lagoon and the Basin of San Marco.”

Given the fragile structure of the medieval city, Unesco warned, the ships “cause waves that erode the foundations of buildings.”

Other groups would like to see a more radical resolution than the proposal for a new channel. Among them is a London-based group called Venice in Peril.

“The problem is that the ships keep getting bigger and bigger,” said Nicky Baly, the group’s director. “The deep dredging [required] to accommodate the draft of these ships is causing irreparable damage.”

According to Baly, the dredging is “breaking up the structure of the lagoon, and the sea level is rising. A city built in the Middle Ages is not designed to cope with the size of these ships, and they are threatening the fabric of the city, the most beautiful city in the world. The Concordia disaster is a tragedy, but it’s good that now everybody is talking about Venice. That’s very, very good.”

The 3,200-passenger Costa Concordia remains half-submerged off the coast of Italy’s Giglio island after hitting a rocky reef shortly after departing Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. Sixteen people died, and 16 are missing and presumed dead.

The accident happened in the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, and salvage crews are trying to recover some 500,000 gallons of fuel from inside the crippled vessel.

An official with the Venice Port Authority, while agreeing that cruise ships ought to be routed away from the city center, was eager to point out the differences in geography and navigational procedures that he said precluded a similar accident from happening in Venice.

“The safety of vessel traffic is guaranteed,” said Stefano Nava, a president assistant with the port authority. “Before even entering the lagoon, all ships must wait for two Venetian [harbor] pilots. They assist and support the commander during the navigation, and only after the pilots board the ship does it move from the sea into the Venice Lagoon.”

After a ship enters the lagoon, two tugs, one at the bow and one at the stern, “take charge” and guide the vessel until it is moored.

And, Nava said, the bed of the lagoon is mud, “so there’s no possibility of damage to a hull.”

Nava added: “The cruise ship sector is the last evidence of the special link between Venice and its historical maritime heritage. It is evident that today it seems necessary to mitigate or eliminate any [potential] problems.”

Cruise companies did not respond to queries requesting their views on the proposed route change.

Cruise ships currently enter the Lagoon of Venice from the northeast and travel west through the San Marco Basin and the Giudecca Canal to the sprawling Marittima cruise port, in the far southwest corner of the city.

Under the channel proposal, cruise ships would enter the lagoon from the south and follow the route that cargo ships use to reach the mainland port of Marghera.

Instead of turning left into the cargo port, cruise ships would utilize the new channel and turn right into Marittima, bypassing the San Marco Basin and the Giudecca Canal.

Marittima can accommodate up to seven ships, with a maximum ship length of 1,115 feet, Nava said. Two other cruise ship docks are located just inside the Giudecca Canal.

The Basilio and the Marta berthing stations have total lengths of 1,123 feet and 1,526 feet, respectively, added Nava, who said multiple smaller ships typically use them.

It isn’t clear whether the Basilio and Marta docks would remain in use if a new channel opens.

Nava said the creation of the new channel would cost at least $40 million, depending on the scope of required environmental safeguards that could accompany the project.

The Venice Port Authority also is exploring a longer-term — and more extreme — option for safeguarding the city from cruise traffic.

According to Nava, an offshore port could be built at Santa Maria del Mare, located on a narrow island southeast of Venice and outside the lagoon. But it would be operationally problematic for cruise lines, he noted, since passengers would have to be transported from the disembarkation site to ferries that would bring them into the city center.

Nava said the idea has little to no hope of becoming reality.

“At the moment, there’s no support,” he said, adding that the construction of a new port would require approvals from a slew of Italian agencies and ministry offices. No cost estimates are bouncing around, either.

But a cruise port well away from the city is exactly what Venice in Peril would like to see, even as it acknowledges the obstacles.

“It won’t happen,” Baly said. “It would cost billions.”

Baly’s group doesn’t support a new channel, either, since it requires deep dredging of the lagoon.

“This shouldn’t be just a financial decision,” she said. “The best thing would be to move the ships out. It’s really all a question of how Venice is going to manage its tourism. It already has 18 million visitors a year.”

More than 20 major cruise lines visit the city each year. In 2011, cruise ships brought 1.7 million cruise passengers into Venice.

This year, close to 200 cruises are scheduled to begin in Venice, according to departure schedules listed on Seasite.com, the online cruise database operated by Landry & Kling, a Miami-based cruise meetings and incentives firm.

Hundreds more will call at the port for a day and in some cases an overnight.

U.S. updates Mexico travel warning

By Gay Nagle Myers

The U.S. State Department updated and expanded its travel warning for Mexico due to growing drug violence and the spread of cartels.

The warning, dated Feb. 8, replaces a warning that had been in place since April 22, 2011.

The updated warning advises against nonessential travel to areas within 16 Mexican states, including Veracruz and the border areas of Aguacalientes and Zacatecas, and Colima and Michoacan.

No advisories are in effect for the state of Quintana Roo (Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya and Tulum), the Riviera Nayarit, Mexico City, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and Guanajuato (San Miguel de Allende and Leon).

Travelers are advised to stay within the tourist areas of Acapulco, Ixtapa, Mazatlan, Monterrey and Zihuantanejo.

Cruise lines agree to mandatory safety drills before departure

By Donna Tunney

Cruise lines worldwide agreed on a new emergency-drill policy requiring mandatory muster for embarking passengers prior to departure from port.

CLIA, the European Cruise Council and the Passenger Shipping Association put forward the new policy with the support of their member cruise lines.

The new policy takes effect immediately.

According to a CLIA statement, on rare occasions when passengers arrive after the muster has been completed, they will be promptly provided with individual or group safety briefings that meet the requirements for musters applicable under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.

The formal policy is designed to help ensure that any mandatory musters or briefings are conducted for the benefit of all newly embarked passengers at the earliest practical opportunity.

The change in policy follows the Jan. 13 Costa Concordia accident in Italy, where 16 died and 16 more are missing.

The cruise industry announced in Jan. 27 that it would undertake a Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review, including a “comprehensive assessment of the critical human factors and operational aspects of maritime safety.”

Thomson Airways plans to cut 600 cabin crew

By Ian Taylor |  Feb 15, 2012 10:00AM GMT

Thomson Airways plans to make more than 600 cabin crew redundant - almost one in four of those working at the airline.
The Tui Travel-owned carrier informed officials of the Unite union on Tuesday and will begin a 90-day consultation with staff and their representatives this month.
Thomson declined to confirm the number of jobs at risk or to give further details, but in a statement said: “This is a result of our continuing drive to become more efficient which includes changes to the aircraft fleet.”
The carrier is replacing its 23 Boeing 757s with smaller Boeing 737s and said: “Boeing 737-800 aircraft require fewer cabin crew and are replacing the 757s when they come up for renewal.”
The 737 carries almost 50 fewer passengers than Thomson’s 235-seat 757s. However, this would not by itself explain the projected loss of more than 600 jobs.
Unite has strong hopes it can maintain a policy of no compulsory redundancies at the airline. Regional officer Kevin Hall said: “We are confident we will be able to mitigate the number of redundancies substantially through voluntary redundancies and accommodating changes to contracts.”
He said: “These are preliminary discussions. The company wants cost savings and there are a number of areas it believes it can make significant savings. But this is not a company that came in for a punch-up. This is a company looking ahead.”
Hall declined to give more details ahead of Unite issuing a statement on Wednesday.
However, sources suggest Thomson might be content with a smaller reduction in jobs in return for changes to cabin crew contracts.
A company spokesman said: “Thomson Airways is committed to mitigating the impact of these changes on cabin crew and is working in partnership with the trade union to achieve this.”

As tensions rise, Mideast tourism sustains injuries

By Michelle Baran

Tourism was among the victims last week as conflict and tensions across North Africa and the Middle East surged, capped by violent clashes between opposing factions in Syria and Egypt.

One look at the week's headlines -- violence in Syria, arrests in Egypt, Israel threatening to quash Iran's nuclear program -- and it was clear that retailers, suppliers and tourism boards dedicated to promoting and selling North Africa and the Middle East faced a daunting public relations crisis.

"There's always a correlation between media coverage and bookings," said Malia Asfour, director of the Jordan Tourism Board North America.

Jordan, where tourism accounts for 14% of gross domestic product, saw tourist arrivals from the U.S., its No. 1 source market, drop 12.9% in 2011 compared with 2010. (Click here to view of a map of the drop in U.S. arrivals in select Middle East countries.)

Jordan, which has experienced relative peace and calm of late and was hoping to emerge from its 2011 tourism slump this year, is exemplary of how damaging it can be to reside in the wrong neighborhood.

"I'm hopeful that 2012 is going to be better than 2011," Asfour said. "I'm counting on 2013 [tourism numbers] being back to 2010."

Jordan borders Syria, for which the U.S. Department of State on Feb. 6 issued a travel warning advising U.S. citizens to leave Syria immediately due to escalating violence and a deteriorating security situation there. The same day, the State Department suspended all embassy operations after a particularly bloody weekend. News media reported more than 200 deaths due to violence in the city of Homs, a figure cited by opposition groups that have been rising up against the government of President Bashar al-Assad since March 2011.

While Syria is not a dominant tourism destination in the region, the clashes come just as the country had been starting to improve its tourism profile and increasingly attract visitors. Between 2005 and 2010, Syria saw a 14% year-over-year growth rate in tourism, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

Meanwhile, tensions in Egypt, one of the region's most mainstream tourist destinations, have also been escalating. Last week, Egyptian authorities announced that 19 Americans working for nongovernmental organizations would be prosecuted, prompting the U.S. to threaten to withhold $1.5 billion in annual aid aimed at helping Egypt transition to democracy.

That threat followed news reports that two female U.S. tourists and their Egyptian guide had been kidnapped by armed men in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, then later released.

"Anyone who tells you that Egypt business is up is obviously being facetious," said Ashish Sanghrajka, president of Big Five Tours & Expeditions. Sanghrajka said Big Five's Egypt business was still off pre-revolution, 2010 levels by a "considerable amount."

Egypt's tourism industry suffered a major blow in 2011 following the at-times violent Jan. 25 revolution, which resulted in the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak. The country welcomed about 54% fewer U.S. tourists in 2011 than in 2010, according to the Egyptian Tourist Authority.

And while prospects for 2012 appear brighter than 2011, "right now, with Egypt, it really is day to day," Sanghrajka said. "There's definitely a demand for Egypt. We're getting calls from people who want to go, but they're being very cautious. They're just waiting for the elections. They're waiting for all of [the political strife] to subside."

Indeed, as with Jordan, those who sell Egypt last week were predicting a recovery toward the end of this year and into 2013.

"Egypt is hurting," said Abercrombie & Kent CEO Geoffrey Kent. Nevertheless, he predicted, "Egypt will come back."

Kent said he anticipates a turnaround by this time next year.

Bright spots amid turmoil

Despite the unrest and uprisings, not all destinations in the region have been hit equally hard. For example, agents and tour operators report positive bookings to Israel, Turkey and Morocco.

"I find that my people that go to Israel, they're going anyway, regardless of what's going on, and there are many people like that," said Pamela Jacobs, a vacation planner at Los Angeles-based TravelStore who is bullish on the region.

"There are things in the Middle East that are nowhere else in the world, and there are people that are going to go see them," Jacobs said.

Israel welcomed 3.4 million tourists in 2011, compared with 3.45 million in 2010, which Haim Gutin, the Israel Tourism Ministry's tourism commissioner for North and South America, described as "pretty incredible in view of the Arab Spring on top of the global economic downturn. Tourism to Israel from the U.S. fell 6%, to 611,000, in 2011 compared to 650,000 U.S. travelers in 2010."

Gutin added: "The concept of 'Who is still going?' is just so far from reality. The hotels are as full as they normally are in February, restaurants are bursting, flights are full and all is completely unchanged."

Sanghrajka said that Morocco has actually benefited from the displacement of travelers to places like Egypt.

"Morocco is where we've been surprised," Sanghrajka said. "There has been a tremendous increase in inquiries and bookings."

Turkey, too, appears to have successfully removed itself from the negative press of its neighbors to the south.

"We do terrific business with Turkey," said John Burgess, manager of the leisure travel division at Preferred Travel in Naples, Fla. "That hasn't been affected in the least."

And there are travelers who will continue to travel to Egypt and Jordan, regardless of tensions.

For example, A&K said it sees three categories of Americans that are still determined to head to these destinations no matter what: politically aware travelers who want to show support for the democracy movement; returning travelers who want to be among the first to see the newly restored Avenue of the Sphinxes in Luxor; and first-time travelers attracted by the exceptional values.

A bumpy road ahead

It's impossible to predict just where all the hostility and political wrangling in the Middle East is headed. In the meantime, parts of the tourism industry that are invested in the region find themselves in wait-and-see mode.

"We're not yet seeing a full recovery to the region, but we are seeing a few positive signs," noted Mike Schields, managing director for groups and emerging markets at the Globus family of brands.

Globus is projecting that it will be flat overall for the Middle East in 2012, he said.

"It's still relatively early in our booking year, so that could change," he said. "Egypt is down fairly substantially from the pace it was on in 2010, but we're seeing increases in business to Israel and Jordan, both religious and secular [travel], to offset that difference."

Despite everything, Globus remains "bullish on the region," according to a company statement, having even introduced a new six-day Wonders of Jordan product for 2012. "We have plans to expand our vacation offering even more in the coming year," the company stated.

A key turning point, Sanghrajka said, will be the presidential elections in Egypt in June.

"What has to happen now is these elections, and they need to actually go through and finish the process," he said. "We can all stand here on the side and cringe in terms of who comes into power, but we can't control that. What tourists have to see is that the will of the people is being done."

Sanghrajka said that once the elections have been held, there will be an acceleration in the return of tourists.

In the meantime, Burgess said, "Honestly, I wouldn't go [to the region] now. It's a comfort issue. The most important aspect of a client-agent relationship is trust. I've had a couple people ask if I would go now, and I've been perfectly honest: I wouldn't."

Tui claims to have outperformed the market in January

Tui Travel claims to have “significantly outperformed” the market in the peak January selling period for summer holidays.
Sales volumes are now ahead of the company’s 9% capacity reduction, and is 35% sold to date, described as in line with the previous year.
Capacity has been cut for North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, with some of this reduction offset by increased capacity in the Canary Islands.
“Turn of year trading has been ahead of expectations and we are particularly pleased with our online performance,” Tui said.
The average selling price is up 8%, reflecting cost base inflation of approximately 5% and the continued increase in differentiated content.
“We have continued to increase the proportion of holidays sold online with 42% booked online for summer 2012, up six percentage points versus the prior year.”
All inclusive bookings are up by seven percentage points to make up 55% of bookings to date for the first summer that First Choice becomes exclusively all inclusive.
The ‘all in’ holiday concept is proving attractive, particularly in the current economic environment.
“As we continue to expand our differentiated offering, which traditionally books earlier, these products have accounted for 64% of bookings to date, up seven percentage points on the prior year,” Tui said.
UK bookings for this winter have improved since early December, with volumes continuing to move towards a capacity reduction of 9% and there is less left to sell against this time last year.
The booked load factor is currently 71%, described as being broadly in line with last year.
“We are pleased with our price performance, with average selling prices up 5% in light of inflationary cost increases and increased differentiated sales,” Tui said.
“Demand for differentiated products continues to be strong with volumes up 15%. These products now account for 62% of our sales, up 12 percentage points on prior year.
“As anticipated, North Africa remains challenging with volumes down 23%. Across our programme strong demand in the lates booking period has resulted in improved load factors for November, December and January.”

Carnival tightens cancellation policy

Carnival tightens cancellation policy

By Donna Tunney

Carnival Cruise Lines modified its cancellation penalties for voyages of at least six days, excluding Europe cruises.

Passengers who cancel their cruise 75 to 56 days prior to departure are now charged a cancellation fee equaling the minimum deposit on the voyage.

Passengers who cancel their cruise 55 to 30 days prior to departure are charged 50% of the cruise fare.

Previously, the date ranges were from 75 to 46 days prior to departure for forfeiture of the deposit and 45 to 30 days prior to departure for forfeiture of 50% of the cruise fare.

The change places Carnival in line with cancellation policies of other cruise lines, Carnival said. The new policy is effective with new bookings made on or after Jan. 30, 2012.

Update: Kidnapped tourists freed in Egypt, reports say

The two female U.S. tourists and their Egyptian guide who were kidnapped by armed men in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Friday have been released, news agencies are reporting. 

The two women, ages 60 and 65, were part of a group that was returning from an excursion to St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai when the abduction took place, a police chief told CBS and the Associated Press.

There were three other people aboard the tour bus who were left behind by the gunmen, who reportedly headed into nearby mountains in a pair of vehicles. The two women were among a party of five returning from the monastery to the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Legionnaires' disease causes Saga Holidays deaths

Two elderly British holidaymakers have died while on holiday in Spain after contracting Legionnaires' disease.

The men died after staying at the Diamante Beach Hotel in Calpe, Saga Holidays said. One died in hospital on Thursday while the other was found dead in a hotel room.
A further three people remain in hospital in Spain while another has been discharged.
Five other people who recently stayed at the same hotel have been treated in hospital in the UK and all but one have been discharged, the operator said.

All people affected are in their 70s and 80s.

A Saga spokesman said: “It was reported to us on Saturday, January 14 that a customer who had stayed at the Diamante Beach Hotel in Spain was being treated for pneumonia caused by legionella.
“When that happened we immediately sent out a scientific expert to Spain and informed our guests there and offered to move them to a different hotel.
"We also contacted people who had stayed at the hotel in the previous month telling them to contact their doctor if they were experiencing flu-like symptoms.”

He added: “Five people who had since returned to the UK had been to the doctors and were confirmed as having contracted legionella. Four were discharged and one is still in hospital in the UK and responding to treatment.
“In Spain there were five people treated in hospital, one was treated and discharged and three are responding to treatment in wards. One gentleman was treated in the intensive care unit and passed away.”
He said the company moved all clients to a new hotel after their expert conducted tests on water samples.
Saga will reportedly be offering compensation to holidaymakers who contracted the bacterium and has suspended sending clients to the hotel.
“This is clearly a very upsetting time for families and staff. We have sent extra people to Spain to support them in any way we can. We treat people on our holidays as part of the family and this is a great tragedy and our condolences go out,” the spokesman said.

Social media listen plots impact of Costa cruise disaster

by Lee Hayhurst

A social media ‘listen’ conducted exclusively for Travolution by digital marketing specialist Shorthose Russell has suggested the impact of the Costa Concordia tragedy may be less serious than feared.

The results of the test underline the dominance of Tripadvisor-owned Cruise Critic which saw the vast majority of posts and chatter about cruising associated with the sinking of the ship.
Costa Concordia hit rocks off the Italian coast on the evening of January 13 and has since lain stricken on its side. It could be there for up to 10 months as salvage work continues.
To date 17 people have been confirmed dead and 15 are still missing and the ship’s captain has been arrested and is awaiting trial on manslaughter charges.
Shorthose Russell retrospectively conducted the listening exercise over the period January 6 to 27, finding two spikes in activity relating to the ship on the 14th and again on the 27th.
This secondary spike coincided with news of an €11,000 compensation offer to survivors and appears to have been a major topic of interest among dedicated cruisers on Cruise Critic.
Analysis of which forms of online media featured the most chatter revealed microblogging (Twitter) represented the vast majority of posts (3,269).
This initial burst of activity largely consisted of people signposting their followers to news of the disaster as awareness of what had happened became more widespread on the Saturday morning.
Many posts related to people blaming the captain for the accident, Shorthose Russell said.
Interestingly the level of chatter returned to pre-incident levels very quickly before the upturn on January 27, suggesting interest quickly waned despite the 24-hour rolling news coverage.
In terms of influence traditional media outlets, social networking and forums came a lowly second third and fourth behind Twitter while video and photo-sharing sites were, maybe surprisingly given the visual nature of the incident, in a distant sixth.
However, a more detailed analysis of activity on individual sites placed Youtube in second behind Cruise Critic.

Shorthose Russell said that when disasters like the Concordia sinking happen, video content is becoming increasingly important, as was demonstrated last year when right wing gunman Anders Behring Breivik ran amok in the Norwegian capital Oslo, killing 69.
What was thought to have limited the impact of this content in the Concordia incident is the relatively older demographic of cruise customers meaning they are less likely to be equipped to take video; however, some footage has emerged and been widely shared online.
Looking at the sentiment of the online chatter, the Shorthose Russell analysis found just 5.29% was rated ‘negative’, with the vast majority being ‘neutral’ – a reflection of the sort of sentiment included in most tweets about the disaster.
Negative sentiment was skewed by a post on Huffington Post about the Concordia sinking that prompted a heated row between Italian and German posters.
Positive sentiment was limited (just 0.16), but largely consisted of posting heartfelt message of support and condolence.
The exercise also looked at what was being said more generically about cruise holidays.
Here a similar pattern of volumes of mentions was found, except the secondary spike on the 27th was far more pronounced.
This was almost entirely down to Cruise Critic and a debate about compensation - clearly a hot topic of debate among experienced cruise customers.
Again, Cruise Critic was far and away the most influential site and similar levels of positive and negative sentiment were recorded, although 90% was rated ‘neutral’.
Peter Joyner, Shorthose Russell head of public relations, said what was notable by its absence was negative sentiment expressed about cruising from outside of the established online cruise community.
Although he said this does not rule out the likelihood that previously held negative views were endorsed by the incident, just that the disaster did not prompt people to express and disseminate them online.
“What we seem to have picked up here is that for those people who don’t cruise the incident hasn’t prompted them to go online and express their fears and negative feelings about cruising.
“Among those who do cruise it has not put them off in the slightest but clearly, as we saw from the increased activity around the compensation issue, how the cruise line reacted to the event appears just as significant as the event itself.”

Shorthose Russell launched Delve last year, the UK’s first social media listening agency which is accredited to use technology developed by US-based Alterian.

Trade brands £4m government UK breaks campaign 'scandalous'

By Lee Hayhurst |  Feb 03, 2012 08:47AM GMT

Plans for a government television campaign questioning why Brits would go abroad this summer during the Olympics has been branded “scandalous” and a waste of public money.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced the £4 million push yesterday – the biggest ever domestic tourism television campaign.
The advert will use the strapline: “There's so much happening in Britain in 2012, why on earth would you want to go abroad!"
Hunt admitted yesterday that the Olympic Games is likely to put many usual inbound tourists off coming to London because they fear the City will be too busy and chaotic.
But the latest attempt to persuade British visitors to make up any shortfall by promoting domestic holidays over foreign trips has been slammed by the outbound travel trade.
Kane Pirie, managing director of leading online travel agent Travel Republic, said: “This is a scandalous waste of public funds, not least as it is totally futile.
“The government is in danger of positioning itself between UK voters and their most loved annual treat - a break in the sun at least once a year.
“With eye-watering increases in hidden holiday taxes this year - both APD and Atol – the government seems hell bent on crippling the outbound travel industry. Using some of those taxes to openly campaign against us is the last straw for me.
“We have created 250 precious jobs in the UK, the sector is a massive national employer, but where is the government action to support us?”
Travel Counsellors chairman David Speakman described the campaign as “another irrelevant decision, from an incompetent minister in a dysfunctional Government”.
“Why should taxpayers have to pay £4m to be persuaded to stay at home to watch the Olympics on television (as there are no tickets) when it would have made more sense and been more cost effective to give £4m worth of free Olympic tickets to the public.
“Once again we see a public servant spending taxpayers’ money that he would not have spent in that way if it had been his own money. I despair at the waste and the incompetence of politicians.”
Steve Endacott, On Holiday Group chief executive, added: "What an outrageous message.
“I naively thought we had a democracy in this country where we have a choice of staying in the rainy, expensive UK or going abroad for guaranteed sunshine and great value.
“Ok, yes, I'm exaggerating but if it's ok for the Government, then it's ok for me."
And Hays Travel managing director and founder John Hays said: "In this age of austerity and government cuts, to spend money on a national TV campaign that will have dubious results is hardly a good use of taxpayers' money."
Bookable Holidays director Jason Dwyer said he believed the campaign may have the opposite effect to the one intended.
“People go away to get away and I think the London Olympics is no exception. Whatever convincing the government wants to do to get people to stay in the UK it will have the opposite effect and simply remind people to hurry and book a holiday before they all sell out.
“London will be mayhem and any opportunity to get as far away as possible will be welcomed.”
John Bevan, UK managing director of Voyage Privé, said: “It’s all well and good telling people to stay in the UK, but with the drop in the euro many destinations are suddenly much more affordable close to home.
“And let's be honest; eating out and entertaining the family in England is not cheap. So I think that the old favourites, Spain and Greece will really benefit this summer.”
Midcounties Co-op travel general manager Sue Reid said she would have backed the campaign if the government had directed people to book their domestic break through an agent.
 "A lot of people think that you can't buy a UK holiday from a travel agent, so we'd be alright with the government's message about staying in the UK if they also pushed consumers to us.
“So their message about not going abroad should involve travel agents. We want to sell the product that the UK tour operators want us to sell."

Costa accident hurts Royal Caribbean's booking levels

By Donna Tunney

The Costa Concordia accident on Jan. 13 has had a “significant impact on bookings in the near term,” said Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in its 2011 financial report on Thursday.

RCCL's U.S. brands are Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity and Azamara.

“Overall booking volumes from North America have fallen by low to mid-teen percentages versus same time last year for the last few weeks. In Europe, where media coverage hasbeen more extensive, the decline has been higher, though results vary significantly by country. In aggregate, the company's other markets, including Asia-Pacific and Latin America, are down slightly,” the company stated.

The impact on bookings has been greatest in the first three quarters and “wanes as the year progresses,” the company said.

RCCL, the world's second-largest cruise operator after Carnival Corp., said there has been “no material change” in cancellation activity, but that new bookings have been affected.

Carnival Corp., in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 30, reported that booking levels across its brands, not including Costa, had dropped by a “mid-teen” percentage.

RCCL’s net income for 2011 was $607.4 million, up from $515.7 million in 2010.

Revenue rose to $7.5 billion, up from $6.8 billion.

For the fourth quarter, net income was $36.6 million, up from $31.9 million in 2010. Revenue increased to $1.8 billion, up from $1.6 billion. Net yields increased 3.5%.

Concordia: Search for missing officially called off

Concordia: Search for missing officially called off

Italian officials have permanently called off the search for bodies aboard Costa Concordia - the conditions inside have became too dangerous for the divers.

"We have definitively stopped the underwater search inside the ship," a spokesman for the fire brigade on the island of Giglio was quoted as saying by AFP.

A total of 17 bodies have been recovered, and 15 people remain missing.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, remains under house arrest facing charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.

Advertising watchdog rap for Tripadvisor

Advertising watchdog rap for TripAdvisor

A complaint about the authenticity of TripAdvisor reviews has been upheld by UK watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority.

The complaint by online reputation specialist KwikChex Ltd centred on the site’s claims of the authenticity and trustworthiness of its reviews.

Tripadvisor had claimed the site featured more than “50 million honest travel reviews and opinions from real travellers around the world”.
But Kwikchex and two other hotels challenged this arguing the site could not guarantee that its reviews were genuine or from real travellers.

Tripadvisor has always maintained that its trustworthiness is demonstrated by the high levels of traffic that the site gets and that its community helps to weedle out fake or spurious reviews.
It also claims to constantly monitor reviews itself and utilise “highly effective fraud detection systems, and dedicated substantial resources to identifying and minimising any non-genuine content”.

The website claimed the small number of fake reviews that do get through its processes meant their impact was negligible because travellers read dozens of reviews before making a decision.
It added that there was a “healthy scepticism” of user reviews in general and that “mitigated the effect of any fraudulent content that might occasionally come to a user’s attention”.

In its submission Tripadvisor said due to the non-transactional nature of its model it was not possible to verify every reviewer by reference to credit card or reservation details.
However the ASA upheld the complaint saying: “We told TripAdvisor not to claim or imply that all the reviews that appeared on the website were from real travellers, or were honest, real or trusted.”

The ruling stated: “...we understood that reviews could be placed on the site without any form of verification, and that whilst TripAdvisor took steps to monitor and deal with suspicious activity, it was possible that non-genuine content would appear on the site undetected.
“We noted that TripAdvisor allowed hoteliers a ‘right of reply’ to critical or negative reviews posted on the site and that they believed that users of the site had a healthy scepticism as a result of their experience of review sites more generally.
“However, we did not consider that consumers would necessarily be able to detect and separate non-genuine reviews from genuine content, particularly where a hotel or other establishment had not received many reviews, and nor did we consider that a hotelier’s response in itself would go far enough to alert consumers to, and moderate, non-genuine content.”

Kwikchex has issued a second separate complains against Tripadvisor claiming that third party sites that use Tripadvisor reviews to promote their product are breaking existing rules if they are not able to verify the author of those reviews.

Since the UK investigation started Tripadvisor has already stopped using the word “trusted “ to describe itself on its website. 

Mexico projects 52 million tourists in 2012

By Gay Nagle Myers

More than 52 million tourists will visit Mexico this year, forecasted the Mexican Ministry of Tourism.

Predictions followed a solid holiday season and strong winter occupancy thus far, particularly in the resort areas.

The number of air arrivals in December was was up 13% over December 2010.

A total of 1.07 million international travelers visited Mexico last month, with U.S. visitors up 10.6% over the same month a year ago.

Year-end figures for 2011 are not yet tallied.

“We envisage that 2012 will be a record-breaking year for Mexico in terms of tourism numbers,” said Rodolfo Lopez-Negrete, COO of the Mexico Tourism Board.

“The board will continue to market directly to non-traditional markets in Europe and Asia as well as the U.S. and Canada,” he said.

A key focus this year will be an awareness campaign targeting travel to the five states that comprise the ancient world of the Maya: Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas and Yucatan.

CEO says without port gambling, NCL could leave Bermuda

By Donna Tunney

Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Kevin Sheehan told the Bermuda Sun that the cruise line wants to open its casinos while in port, and said Norwegian's future in Bermuda could hinge on it. 

Sheehan said that while Norwegian would like to extend its commitment to the destination beyond 2013, “We will have to wait and see what happens with the casinos and how the new ship performs. We will look at the operating costs and the casino situation. That could alter the decision for the long term.”

Added Sheehan: “We have made a commitment to Bermuda for the next two years and we would like to see it grow.”

Cruise ships are required to keep their casinos closed while in a Bermuda port, but Sheehan said that evening operating hours onboard a Norwegian ship would not compete with any Bermuda businesses. Guests have been asking to gamble onboard while in Bermuda, he added.

Bermuda’s minister of transport, Derrick Burgess, has said in recent months that the island government would address the shipboard gaming issue.

The Norwegian Star and the Norwegian Dawn will operate a series of Bermuda cruises this summer from New York and Boston, respectively, and the line has confirmed that the 4,000-passenger Breakaway, which launches in 2013, will offer Bermuda cruises from May to October of that year from New York.

CAA confirms April 'too soon' for Atol reform

Jan 31, 2012 12:00PM GMT

The government's planned Atol reform will not be implemented in full from April, the Civil Aviation Authority has admitted.

CAA consumer protection group director Richard Jackson said the reforms would come in in April, but businesses will not be expected to fully comply until October.

He told the parliamentary transport select committee today: "It will be difficult for the industry to be ready by April because it can't move finally until the Department for Transport announces its decision.

"I will be surprised if all the changes will come in in April. There will be a sensible implementation phase. We will wait until probably October 1 for all the changes required to be made to systems."

Disney Wonder to sail out of Miami

By Donna Tunney

Disney Cruise Line for the first time will homeport a ship in Miami, starting in December.

The 2,700-passenger Disney Wonder will operate mostly four- and five-night sailings through May 2, 2013.

 

The Disney Fantasy, which will enter service in March, and the Disney Dream will continue to sail a variety of Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries from Port Canaveral, Fla.

The Disney Fantasy will operate eastern and western Caribbean sailings, while the Disney Dream will sail three-, four- and five-night cruises to the Bahamas and Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.

The cruise line, which unveiled its 2013 schedule on Jan. 24, has added more destinations to its European lineup, including Venice and the Greek islands.

Beginning June 1, 2013, the 2,700-passenger Disney Magic will return to the Mediterranean with new itineraries, including a four-night option and 12-night sailings in addition to seven-night itineraries.

The new 12-night sailings visit destinations such as Venice and Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast on one itinerary and Ephesus, Turkey, and the Greek isles on another. All cruises depart from Barcelona.

Additionally, Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney will offer passengers land-sea vacations in the Mediterranean. Available on select departures, three- or four-night land packages will be offered in Barcelona and Madrid prior to the cruise.

The 2,700-passenger Disney Magic, which will begin sailing from Galveston, Texas, in 2012, will continue to sail from that port through May 2013 before redeploying to Europe.

In Alaska next year, the Disney Wonder will operate a series of seven-night cruises from Vancouver to Tracy Arm, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan, starting May 27.

Beginning May 27, 2013, the Disney Wonder will sail seven-night cruises from Vancouver to Tracy Arm, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan.

MSC: OUT with Worrall Thompson, IN with Paul Rankin

1. MSC: OUT with Worrall Thompson, IN with Paul Rankin

   Official Press Release
   
   MICHELIN AWARD WINNING CHEF PAUL RANKIN TO SET SAIL WITH MSC CRUISES
   
   It is with regret that MSC Cruises announces that Antony Worrall Thompson will no longer be performing a series of culinary demonstrations on board MSC Splendida next month.
   
   The company is however delighted to inform its guests that Michelin award winning chef Paul Rankin will be joining MSC Splendida in Barcelona on Sunday 5th February 2012. A series of appearances at sea on Monday 6th February will then see him showcase some of his best loved dishes – and a selection unique to MSC.
   
   One of the UK’s most popular chefs, Paul Rankin won Northern Ireland’s first Michelin Star, whilst his trailblazing Cayenne in Belfast is among the country’s top restaurants. A regular on TV shows such as Ready Steady Cook and Ten Mile Menu and the writer of numerous best-selling books, Paul is also a passionate supporter of local produce, so much so that in 2002 he launched The Rankin Selection, a range of traditional foods now stocked in supermarkets throughout the UK.
   
   
   
   Paul will be joining MSC Splendida on her 8 day, 7 night cruise departing 4th February 2012 (Genoa, Barcelona, Valletta, La Goulette (Tunisia), Civitavecchia (Rome), Marseille, Genoa).
   

Delivery of Oceania's new ship delayed three weeks

By Donna Tunney

Oceania Cruises pushed back the launch of the Riviera to May 16, due to delays at the Fincantieri shipyard near Genoa, where the 1,250-passenger ship is under construction. The inaugural cruise had been scheduled for April 24.

Oceania said that affected guests would be contacted through their travel agent, or directly if they didn’t book through an agent, to discuss alternative cruise dates. The line is protecting agency commissions on the missed sailings.

“We sincerely regret any inconvenience that this may cause our guests,” stated Kunal Kamlani, president of Oceania. “We are working very closely with the shipyard to ensure Riviera is completed to meet Oceania's high standards of quality and service.”

According to Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono, labor strikes at the shipyard are responsible for the delay.

“All of us at Fincantieri are committed to producing a superior quality ship, and we will deliver a truly magnificent vessel to Oceania Cruises without further delays.”

The new maiden voyage is a 10-day cruise that includes an overnight aboard ship in Venice before visiting Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kotor, Montenegro; the Greek islands of Corfu, Crete, Santorini, Delos and Mykonos; Athens and Monemvasia, Greece; and Kusadasi, Turkey.

Guests booked on canceled sailings will have the option of rebooking another cruise and receiving a future cruise credit, which ranges from $250 to $1,000 per guest depending on category of accommodation. In the event guests do not wish to rebook, they will receive a full refund.

Medical emergency delays Royal Caribbean cruise

By Donna Tunney

Royal Caribbean International’s Explorer of the Seas will arrive a day late to Cape Liberty, its homeport in Bayonne, N.J., on Jan. 28 due to a medical emergency onboard the 1,185-passenger ship.

According to the cruise line, an ill passenger required urgent medical treatment in a hospital, so the ship altered course to its closest port of call, San Juan.

The U.S. Coast Guard evacuated the sick passenger Jan. 25, and the ship is now headed back to New Jersey.

The delayed arrival will impact the itinerary of the cruise departing Jan. 28. The ship will spend Jan. 29 and 30 at sea, and a planned call at Labadee, Royal Caribbean's private destination on Haiti, has been canceled.

Costa clarifies compensation policy for Concordia passengers

By Donna Tunney

Costa Cruises clarified its compensation policy for passengers who were aboard the crippled Costa Concordia, which hit a rocky reef and capsized off the Italian coast Jan. 13.

The line said it would refund the full cost of the cruise, either directly or through the passengers’ travel agencies.

It also will reimburse all travel expenses incurred both reaching the port of embarkation and on the homeward journey, including any independent arrangements made for transfers.

Additionally, onboard expenses will be refunded, any credit card charges will be credited to the account and any cash deposits will be refunded, Costa said.

Costa also will reimburse any medical expenses incurred as a result of the accident.

It said that “every effort will be made to return the valuables left in the cabin safe,” and that information on the return of personal belongings and other forms of compensation will be communicated.

The embattled cruise line came under fire in recent days after a media outlet in the U.K. mistakenly reported that Concordia passengers, who evacuated the vessel in what’s been described as a chaotic and unorganized way, were being offered only a refund and 30% off a future Costa cruise. Other media have picked up the erroneous report.

“The 30% future cruise discount, in addition to a full refund, is intended for guests [who were] scheduled to sail on Costa Concordia from Jan. 14 onward,” the line stated.