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Icy Strait Point completes new dock, adventure center and restaurant for 2016 season

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 05 March 2016 05 March 2016

For the first time this May, cruise ship passengers will arrive at a newly built floating dock, Adventure Center and Duck Point Smokehouse restaurant at Icy Strait Point, an Alaska Native-owned cruise destination set amidst the wilderness of Chichagof Island near Hoonah, Alaska.

Constructed in partnership with the City of Hoonah, the 400-foot floating dock is 99% complete and will be finished well in advance of the first cruise ship call on May 11. It was built to accommodate the next generation of larger ships anticipated to call on the Alaska market in the coming years.

The 7,000-square-foot Adventure Center is located in front of the dock’s covered trestle. This wood-beam, Tlingit-style building will serve as a welcome center, departure lounge and tour booking center for the more than 20 shore excursions, including whale watching, bear viewing and the world’s largest ZipRider.

Sitting on the waterfront adjacent to the Adventure Center, Duck Point Smokehouse offers outdoor seating on a covered patio, where guests can enjoy the views of Port Frederick and search for marine wildlife from their seats. The menu will feature house-made smoked salmon, fresh Alaska seafood dishes, specialty pizzas and fresh crab tater tots.

“With these new investments, we are confident that Icy Strait Point will offer guests the best arrival experience of anywhere in the world,” said Tyler Hickman, Icy Strait Point’s vice president of operations. “Having eliminated the need to tender, more guests will have more time to experience our shore excursions, delicious dining options and the historic cannery site surrounded by unspoiled Alaska wilderness.”

Icy Strait Point’s restored 1912 salmon cannery is a short walk down the trail or boardwalk along the shore. It is home to a local history museum,Alaskan-owned shops and two other restaurants — the Crab Station and the Cookhouse Restaurant, the cannery’s original dining hall.

This year, Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Crystal Cruises will make 78 ship calls on Icy Strait Point between May and September, bringing nearly 160,000 passengers over the course of the season.

Icy Strait Point is located approximately 35 miles west of Juneau and 25 miles south of Glacier Bay National Park. Alaska Native-owned and operated, Icy Strait Point is also the United States’ only private large-ship cruise destination. With approximately 85% local hire, Icy Strait Point is a certified sustainable responsible tourism venture that holds true to the mission of advancing the economic aspirations and culture of the ”Xúna Kaawu” (the people of Hoonah).

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

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 01 March 2016 01 March 2016

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

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 29 February 2016 29 February 2016

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

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 26 February 2016 26 February 2016

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

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Ports & Destinations Ports & Destinations; Published: 25 February 2016 25 February 2016

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.