Baie-Comeau expects 13% rise in volume on 10th anniversary season

Baie-Comeau Cruises, which promotes the destination in the Province of Quebec in Canada, says its 10th season is looking quite promising. At least 8,866 cruise guests and crew members are expected to stop over at the port—13% more than in 2015. Eleven ship visits are scheduled, including an inaugural visit by Phoenix Reisen’s Amadea.

“In total, Baie-Comeau and its Manicouagan partners should welcome at least 52,757 cruise guests and crew members from around the world at the end of 2016. That’s sure to benefit the region’s economy,” said Reina Savoie Jourdain, President of Baie-Comeau Cruises.

“We are also delighted to have the opportunity to welcome a German Cruise Line again—that’s a new market for Baie-Comeau. We will be welcoming this cruise line for a second consecutive year. They had a great experience last year.”

Moreover, on 15 September, for the first time in Baie-Comeau Cruises’ history, two ships - Seabourn Quest and Pearl Mist - will be coming into port at the same time.

After MedCruise, Princess enters partnership with Cruise Baltic

Soon after Princess Cruises had unveiled a partnership with MedCruise, the Los Angeles based company has entered in a similar agreement with Cruise Baltic to develop its business in that region.

Princess Cruises attended a Cruise Baltic meeting in Helsingborg in December 2015, where details were presented to the Cruise Baltic partners and representatives filmed as part of the proposed programme of activity.

 “By taking this initiative - a first for us with a cruise line - we are showing yet again our commitment to the network’s vision statement of ‘creating the world’s best cruise experience’ and our goal of attracting even more visitors to the Baltic Sea region,” said Claus Bødker, director of Cruise Baltic, in a statement.

“Our port and tourist destinations will work closely with Princess Cruises on this project, resulting in the cruise passengers benefiting from enjoying an enhanced guest experience.”

The programme of joint, on-going initiatives being developed will include: the preparation of welcome videos for guests; creating exclusive shore excursions and experiences when ashore in each port; the production of user-friendly walking maps; the provision of expert guides

MedCruise and Princess Cruises in partnership project

MedCruise, the organisation that promotes the Mediterranean as a cruise destination, and Princess cruises, which is part of Carnival Corp & plc, say they have decided to develop a partnership project.

“The joint project gives the opportunity to 17 MedCruise port members to direct benefit, be promoted and educated, via a number of initiatives that will finally reach the guests of the Holland America Group,” the two said in a joint statement. Princess Cruises is operationally part of the Holland America Group.

Ten initiatives are developed in this context: welcome videos for cruise guests, local experts port presentation videos, speaker series, exclusive guest experience in every port, new tour programs and framework, partnership port guides & walking maps, port welcome & departure experience, local artist exhibit & sale, cooperative marketing & public relations, film project.

The first phase of the project concluded in Barcelona the second week of February, where MedCruise port members, and associate partners at the respective destinations gathered in a Mediterranean style scene set by Princess Cruises to shot videos sharing experiences and the beauties of the destination to be explored by cruisers at their ports and destinations.

Bilbao awards tender for the new cruise terminal

Alan Lam reporting

The port authority of Bilbao has just awarded the tender for its planned cruise terminal to Excavaciones Viuda de Sainz, S.A., a special purpose consortium formed by Giroa, S.A.U. The €4.6 million terminal has a scheduled eleven-month completion period. Another company, Prosertek, S.L., has been given the contract for planning and the construction of the moving gangway.

The new two-floor (plus a mezzanine) terminal will have a usable space of 3,200 square metres. It has been conceived as a rectangular glass building, covered by a light zinc roof with six skylights to enhance interior brightness.

Central to the design, the port’s focus is on facilities and services for embarking and disembarking passengers. The building has been conceived with passenger and luggage flows in mind. It is is designed in such a way that that it opens towards the vessels, providing a direct passenger access between the terminal and the ship, via a finger gangway.

“The design has been carried out after exhaustive study and analysis of the functional demands of this type of building,” said the port in a statement. “Special attention has been given to the data provided by the major cruise lines in relation to international vessel safety and security norms, together with references from the best terminals in the world. Functionality, durability, easy maintenance and safety have been key in the choice of materials.”

In 2015, its first year of operation, 43 cruise ships called at Bilbao, including Celebrity Eclipse, Britannia, Anthem of the Seas which visited this small cruise port on its maiden voyage. Together they brought a total of 70,541 passengers to the city; about half of them were British, with 17% being German and 13% American.

Early indication suggests that 2016 will be an even better year for Bilbao, with about 55 cruise calls anticipated so far. This is largely thanks to the new cruise pier, which has meant that the port can offer three berths, with no restriction.

In recent years, infrastructure and transport links have improved dramatically in this region. With the new terminal, the port clearly aims to attract more turnaround calls. Indeed it is increasingly attracting the attentions of cruise lines.

Dubrovnik announces new $100 million cruise terminal development

John Pagni reports

The concession contract for the development, construction and operation of a new cruise terminal in Dubrovnik was announced on mid-February. State-owned Dubrovnik Port Authority has granted a 40-year concession to Dubrovnik International Cruise Port Investment, jointly-owned by Turkey's Global Port Holdings and Bouygues Batiment International, part of the French construction giant.

Work will begin in the Gruz area of Dubrovnik port, adjacent to the DPA's office building, in September-October this year and is scheduled to be completed before the end of 2018 at a cost of around $100 million CBR has found out. In return, DICPI's partners will get a 40-year concession.

DIPCI for its part will remove existing buildings including a large supermarket and clear the area to construct a modern cruise terminal, multi-storey garage and Dubrovnik's international bus station in Gruz, which is in the heart of the port area and just three kilometres from Dubrovnik's main attraction: the UNESCO World Heritage Site Old Town. As the statement pointed out "Due to its high potential and strategic location as the only plot available in the central city area, the project's has attracted interest from several major international and local banks" and will have no problem raising the required finance.

Dubrovnik is rated a must-see 'Marquee Port' with around 600 calls a year bringing 860,000 passengers last year and is ranked 10th in the world and third in the Mediterranean in cruise turnaround numbers. This development is also hand-in-hand with similar projects to raise capacity at Dubrovnik Airport and build a a highway between it and the city, which will raise cruise numbers in the future.

GPH CEO Saygin Narin said "Our main goal is to support sustainability of Dubrovnik by creating a second attraction after the Old Town and reduce congestion, particularly in the high season.. The project will contribute to this as it includes the garage and a cruise sightseeing bus park."

Dubrovnik will be GPH's tenth cruise port/terminal operation in addition to those in Barcelona and Malaga (both Spain); Lisbon (Portugal); Akdeniz-Antalya, Bodrum and Ege Ports-Kusadasi (Turkey); Adria-Bar (Montenegro); Valetta (Malta); and Singapore. It estimates that in 2016, it will handle over 5 million passengers yearly corresponding to about 19% of the Mediterranean cruise market and the top rank in that area.

Victor Stefanescu, BBI's Southern Europe Director said "State and city partners will help us to revitalize this new part of the city giving a strong impulse to for the development of the Pearl of the Adriatic (as Dubrovnik is known and marketed as).