Top Headlines
Carnival Cruise Lines, Port of New Orleans agree to new five-year extension
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- Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 10 July 2014 10 July 2014
The Port of New Orleans and Carnival Cruise Lines signed a new agreement that will keep the world’s largest cruise line sailing at least two ships year-round from New Orleans through 2019.
The new agreement supersedes a 2013 three-year extension and offers three one-year options that could guarantee Carnival homeports at least two ships of equal or greater size than the Dream Class and Fantasy Class ships sailing from the Port today through 2022. The new agreement began July 1, 2014.
This is a clear demonstration of Carnival’s belief in New Orleans as one of its top home ports,” said Port President and CEO Gary LaGrange. “We look forward to helping Carnival grow its business in the Crescent City for the long-term.”
“Carnival is excited to continue our outstanding relationship with the Port of New Orleans,” said Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines. “We greatly value the professionalism of our partners at the port, the ease of operating from New Orleans and the tremendous support we receive from the local community and our valued travel agent partners. Our guests – particularly those from Louisiana - love cruising from the Crescent City and we look forward to continuing our New Orleans program for many years to come.”
“Taking a cruise from New Orleans means a vacation both here and abroad,” said Mark Romig, President and CEO of New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, the city’s official leisure travel promotion agency. “Carnival Cruise Lines has been a great partner and the leisure travelers they bring enjoy two vacations as a result.”
Carnival currently has two home-ported cruise ships sailing year-round from the Port’s Erato Street Cruise Terminal which was recently renovated to accommodate the 3,646-passenger Carnival Dream. The Carnival Dream launched seven-day itineraries April 14 from New Orleans with eastern and western Caribbean cruises. The Carnival Dream joined the Carnival Elation, which sails four- and five-day cruises to Mexico. Together, these two ships carry more than 400,000 passengers annually from New Orleans – the most of any cruise line.
A study by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) found that spending by Carnival and other cruise operators in Louisiana tops $399 million, generating 7,548 jobs and $294 million in personal income. CLIA also ranked New Orleans the sixth largest cruise port in the U.S.
MSC Cruises plans to treble UK passengers to 200,000 by 2017, launches agent programme
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 02 July 2014 02 July 2014
MSC Cruises, the Geneva based cruise shipping company, says it has unveiled a new programme that will revolutionise the way it does business with travel agents in the UK as it plans to treble the number of passengers to 200,000 from the country by 2017.
The ‘Serving You’ initiative covers a whole host of trade-friendly measures designed to increase awareness of the cruise line, make it easier to work with and boost sales.
"The comprehensive package covers all areas of MSC Cruises’ relationship with retailers – including commission and marketing payments, improved account management, increased on-the-road sales support, clearer and better targeted promotional campaigns and new group and net-rate schemes," the company said in a statement.
MSC Cruises has also outlined details of comprehensive technological upgrades, including the launch of its new ‘MSC Book’ sales platform for agents, an updated fun and interactive online training programme and a high-tech telephone system at its UK call centre to reduce waiting time.
MSC Cruises executive director UK and Ireland Giles Hawke said “Our aim is to reach 200,000 UK passengers by 2017 – more than trebling our current level of business. We can only do that by engaging with agents and putting them at the heart of what we do. Our ‘Serving You’ programme represents a huge investment. There will be a bigger sales team managing our relationships to bring our brand closer to agents and give them all the help they need to sell. The focus is on developing stronger and deeper ties with the trade, and we have looked at every area of our business to do this. We have made no secret of our desire to become a significant player in the UK cruise market – ‘Serving You’ signals our intent to make the trade our top priority."
Details of the ‘Serving You’ scheme were unveiled today at the inaugural meeting of MSC Cruises’ newly formed Travel Agent Advisory Board, which is made up of representatives from its key agent partners. Much of the groundwork was done from feedback received from agents at an informal meeting earlier in the year. The Travel Agent Advisory Board will meet up to four times a year as part of MSC Cruises’ efforts to strengthen its relationship with the trade.
The investment in ‘Serving You’ comes hot on the heels of MSC Cruises’ recently announced expansion. With four megaships on order, scheduled for delivery between 2017 and 2019, plus options for three more, MSC Cruises is investing more than any other cruise line in its hardware– a staggering €2.8 billion of confirmed orders, potentially rising to €5 billion.
Meanwhile, the ‘Renaissance Programme’ to lengthen and improve the four Lirica-class vessels begins in August. This will see another €200 million invested.
The MSC Cruises ‘Serving You’ programme in full
Account Management
- For 2015 the MSC Cruises sales force in the UK and Ireland will DOUBLE in size
- A 20-strong field sales team – MSC Ambassadors – will be deployed across the country to support key sales periods and campaigns
- A restructured sales operation will ensure each sales channel has its own specialist team – maximising returns for agents of all sizes
Management Information
- MSC Cruises will share certain booking and sales data with key accounts, allowing agents to see how customers holiday and allow them to focus their marketing efforts
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Experience Pricing
- MSC Cruises rolls out its customised onboard experiences onboard from November, giving agent a sales option for all potential clients. With Bella, Fantastica, Aurea and MSC Yacht Club Experiences, there will be an MSC cruise to satisfy all budgets and customer types
Promotional Campaigns
- MSC Cruises will support efforts to drive early bookings with a clearer promotional campaign structure. Best deals and upgrades will always be available for early bookers, making pricing easy to explain to customers
Commercial Agreements
- Tailored commission payments and targeted marketing funds that meet the needs of all business models
- Rewards for generating growth
- Commission on MSC’s shore excursions
New Flights Programme
- Dedicated charters from 2015, serving six Mediterranean ships from Genoa and Venice
- Dynamic packaging flight system using GDS airlines to make MSC Cruises easier to sell
Investment in technology
- Huge infrastructure improvements including the new and bespoke B2B booking system, MSC Book. The system is also a marketing resource, with downloadable collateral including adverts, flyers, images and video
- Improved UK call centre telephone system sees calls routed to the relevant expert automatically
- New e-learning programme, MSC Expert
Deployment Choice
- Greater emphasis on MSC Cruises position as market leader in the Mediterranean – highlighting wide range of destinations, embarkation ports, itinerary choice and durations
Group Scheme
- Secured space and lowest prices in return for commitment from retailers
Net Rates
- New Net Rates partnerships available for 2015
Meyer Werft's STX Finland acquisition moves ahead, may win major order from Norwegian
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 30 June 2014 30 June 2014
Joseph L. Meyer Werft, the German shipbuilder that is a leading builder of cruise liners, and the Finnish government have made progress in talks to jointly acquire the STX Finland shipyard in Turku from its Korean owner, while Cruise Business understands Meyer is about to win an order for two very large ships from Norwegian Cruise Line.
"The buyer consortium has reached a preliminary understanding with the Korean seller about the principal terms of the acquisition. A number of questions, however, still remain open and these will have to be solved, including agreements with other stakeholders," Ministry of Employment and the Economy said in a statement. The shipyard in currently owned by STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, the South Korean company that put most of its overseas assets up for sale in late 2012.
"It is our mutual objective to make such progress in the matter by the end of next week so that further information could be provided then," the ministry said. The Finnish government plans to take a minority stake in STX Finland, which has a shipyard in Turku.
Cruise Business understands that Norwegian Cruise Line is close to placing an order for two 200,000 gross ton ships at Meyer Werft, which would be too large to be built at its yard in Papenburg in Germany. However, they could be built at the shipyard in Turku, which also built the first two 226,000 gross ton Oasis class ships of Royal Caribbean International, the contemporary market unit of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL).
The German shipbuilder is also understood to be in talks for further two 150,000 gross ton ships for Star Cruises.
Fincantieri prices IPO at floor of €0.78 per share, government investment company not selling shares
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 30 June 2014 30 June 2014
Fincantieri, the Italian state controlled shipbuilder, has placed its initial public offering (IPO) at €0.78 per share, the floor of the €0.78 to €1.00 range it had indicated earlier. The company will only offer 450 million shares out of a maximum of 703.9 million that it had planned to sell.
“Fintecna S.p.A., in its capacity as Selling Shareholder, will not sell any Shares in the Global Offering. An Overallotment option for 50,000,000 Shares will be granted by Fintecna S.p.A,” Fincantieri said.
Fintecna is a holding company that belongs to Cassa depositi e prestiti, an Italian investment company in which the government has a 80.1% stake.
Trading in the shares of Fincantieri will start on 3 July.
TUI AG and listed subsidiary TUI Travel plc to merge
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- Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen
- Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines
- Published: 28 June 2014 28 June 2014
The German travel group TUI AG and TUI Travel plc, the London based listed tour company in which the German company is the biggest shareholder, will merge. The merged company would be called TUI AG and it would be domiciled in Germany and listed on both London and Frankfurt stock exchanges.
“If the Merger is consummated, it would bring together the content portfolio of hotels and cruise ships of TUI AG with access to customers through the distribution capability and unique holiday concepts of TUI Travel,” TUI AG said in a statement.
TUI AG owns Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten, the German destinational to luxury cruise operator in full and has a 50% stake in TUI Cruises, the Hamburg based premium market operator. TUI Travel owns Thomson Cruises with five ships that cater for the UK market plus Quark Expeditions, the boutique cruise brand. It is also the owner of Intercruises, the shoreside services provider to the cruise industry. Both copmpanies' travel shops are major retailers of cruises in Europe.
The merger would create a pure play integrated leisure travel Group that is a global leader, capable of delivering a complete end-to-end customer experience, thereby significantly enhancing the Group’s growth opportunities and capability for delivering material financial benefits.
TUI AG owns the most recognised travel brand in Europe. With over 230 hotels and more than 155,000 beds it is Europe’s largest holiday hotelier while its cruise operation is one of Europe’s most successful. Having rationalised its businesses through oneTUI it has ambitious growth plans to double the size of its content.
TUI Travel’s leisure tourism business operates as a single organisation across Europe with a portfolio of tour operator brands servicing more than 30 million customers. Having differentiated itself from the rest of the industry, its growth is focused on the continued development of unique holidays, which are available exclusively through its brands, distributed directly through its own channels with significant numbers of its customers flying on its modern holiday airline fleet.
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