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MSC Cruises publishes 2022 summer programme

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 17 December 2020 17 December 2020

MSC Cruises, the Geneva based cruise shipping company, has published its programme for the summer 2022 season with sales opening today for the Caribbean and Mediterranean, whilst Northern Europe will open soon.

The programme that runs from April to November entails 19 ships, of which 10 will be based in the Mediterranean, five in Northern Europe, two in the Caribbean and two in Asia.

Western Mediterranean – five ships offering 7-night cruises

MSC Seaside offers departures on Saturday from Genoa to Civitavecchia, Palermo, Cagliari, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia, Marseille;
MSC Splendida departs Genoa on Saturdays, calling Marseille, Barcelona, Ibiza, Naples, Livorno;
MSC Seaview will depart Genoa each Sunday to offer MSC Cruises hugely popular itinerary to Naples, Messina, Valletta, Barcelona, Marseille;
MSC Fantasia offers itineraries departing on Sunday from Genoa to Marseille, Barcelona, La Goulette, Palermo, Civitavecchia;
MSC Meraviglia departs from Barcelona on Saturdays, sailing to Cannes, Genoa, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, Palma de Mallorca;

Eastern Mediterranean – five ships offering 7- night cruises

MSC Musica will offer cruises from Venice on Saturdays to Bari, Santorini, Chania, Corfu, Dubrovnik;
MSC Armonia offers sailing on Sundays from Venice to Brindisi, Mykonos, Piraeus, Corfu, Kotor;
MSC Lirica departs Venice with cruises to Split, Santorini and Mykonos, Dubrovnik, Ancona;
MSC Sinfonia departs on Saturday from Venice, calling at the Greek Islands of Mykonos and Santorini, Kotor, Sarande and Bari;
MSC Opera will homeport in Trieste will sail on Saturdays to Bari, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Split;

The Caribbean – two ships

MSC Seashore, the Company’s flagship, will homeport in Miami and offer two alternative itineraries to Eastern or Western Caribbean offered every other week, always calling at Ocean Cay;
MSC Divina will homeport in Port Canaveral, sailing to Ocean Cay, Nassau with 2, 3- or 4-night cruises and Ocean Cay and Mexico with 7-night cruises. MSC Divina will also offer a 12-night cruise at the start of the summer season, embarking in Miami, visiting Jamaica, Aruba, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ocean Cay finishing at Port Canaveral.

Autumn 2022 - Special long cruises from Genoa

MSC Splendida offers 9-nights from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean – Genoa, Malaga, Casablanca, Lisbon, Barcelona and Marseille. calling at Casablanca and Lisbon.
MSC Poesia offers 11-nights from Genoa to the Canary Islands, Madeira and Casablanca.
MSC Orchestra offers a new 11-night itinerary from Genoa to Greece and Turkey, with MSC Cruises returning to Istanbul with an extended stay in port.
MSC Lirica offers four 11-night cruises from Genoa, calling in Rome, Limassol in Cyprus with an overnight stay in Haifa, allowing two days to visit the Holy Land: Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem and on the way back calling Crete and Olympia.

Northern Europe – five ships

MSC Grandiosa will spend her first season in Northern Europe offering two alternative itineraries every other week from Kiel on Saturdays and Copenhagen on Sundays (7 night to Baltic Capital and 7 night to Fjords);
MSC Poesia: homeporting in Warnemuende will offer cruises from 7 to 21 nights, visiting the Baltic capitals, Fjords and Greenland;
MSC Orchestra will offer mixed cruises from 10 to 14 night from Hamburg to Iceland, Ireland, North Cape and Spitzbergen;
MSC Preziosa will serve two alternative itineraries from Kiel on Sundays to the Baltic capitals or Fjords;
MSC Magnifica will be based in Southampton offering 2 to 14-night cruises to a range of destinations including the Baltic capitals, Fjords as well as the Mediterranean Sea and Canary Islands.

ASIA – two ships

Summer 2022 will see MSC Cruises deploying two ships in this region for the first time – with MSC Virtuosa, one of the Company’s newest ships joining her sister-ship MSC Bellissima. Detailed itineraries for both ships will be released later.

Swan Hellenic extends partnerships to India

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 16 December 2020 16 December 2020

Swan Hellenic, the Nicosia based expedition cruise line, said it has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Travel Planners (E.I.) Pvt. Ltd., based in India, to provide a direct presence in the Indian subcontinent.

“Travel Planners (E.I.) Pvt. Ltd. offers the highest standards of service and efficiency, with over 30 years’ experience across the travel and tourism sector in India. Serving a niche of discerning travellers who are sports lovers, wildlife and expedition enthusiasts, the company is a strong choice to provide Swan Hellenic customers in India with the highest standards of tailored service,’ the company said in a statement.

The strategic agreement is in line with Swan Hellenic’s long-term approach of establishing a direct presence in every market worldwide to offer the close personal service to which it is committed. “Significantly increasing Swan Hellenic’s direct presence in Asia, it follows a similar agreement with TAM Wing Kun Holdings Limited, covering Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia,” the company said.

Royal Caribbean International sells two ships for further trading

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 16 December 2020 16 December 2020

Royal Caribbean International, the contemporary market unit in Royal Caribbean Group, said it has sold two ships for an undisclosed buyer.

The 1990 built Empress of 48,653 gross tons and Majesty of the Seas that was built two years later and which measures at 73,941 gross tons, have been sold to a buyer based in Asia-Pacific that will release details for future sailings at a later time, the company said.

Empress was the first ship designed for three and four night cruises, with initial sailings visiting The Bahamas from Miami. Empress also made history as the first cruise ship to sail out of Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey when Royal Caribbean opened the terminal in 2004. In 2017, the ship took center stage again when she set sail on the global cruise line’s inaugural cruise to Cuba.

Majesty of the Seas was the third and final ship of the Sovereign class was more than twice the size of the average cruise ship of the time when it debuted. The ship was first employed on seven night Western Caribbean cruises from Miami.

The two older units of the class that were built as Sovereign of the Seas (1987) and Monarch of the Seas (1991) were sold for scrap earlier this year. Both Majesty of the Seas and Empress were built at Chanters de l'Atlantique in France.

Fred. Olsen Cruises postpones service restart

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 16 December 2020 16 December 2020

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, the UK based destination focused cruise operator, said it has decided to postpone the restart of operations of three of its four ships

“The new timetable shows that new ship Borealis will now be the first of the fleet to sail, and will embark on her maiden cruise with Fred. Olsen – the six-night ‘Scottish Lochs and Isles’ cruise - on 23rd April 2021 as originally planned,” the company said in a statement..

“Bolette will follow on 29th May and Balmoral on 9th June. Due to having an extensive fly-cruise programme, Braemar will remain in lay-up until 2022,” it added.

Braemar had been intended to operate a series of Caribbean fly cruises with Havana as the turnaround port in the 2021/22 season. On 28 August, the company said that all its four ships would restarted service by the end of April 2021.

“Initially, we believe it may be more complex for us to operate the planned fly cruise programme and we will therefore instead focus on our extensive ex-UK itineraries during 2021,\ Managing Director Peter Deer said in the statement.

TUI’s cruise operations suffer deep loss in Covid-19 aftermath

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 10 December 2020 10 December 2020

The cruise operations of TUI AG, the German travel company that is listed in London, have made a deep loss in the financial year to 30 September in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company said in a statement.

TUI AG owns 50% of TUI Cruises, which operates a brand of the same name in the German market plus the luxury and expedition market brand Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten. The company is 100% owner of Marella Cruises that caters for the UK market.

Revenues fell to €472.6 million from €965.8 million and underlying EBIT became negative by €322.8 million compared to being positive by €366.0 million in the 2019 financial year.

TUI Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises resumed partial operations from Germany at the end of July, operating a reduced fleet with European itineraries. This was made possible by Germany’s decision to permit cross-border travel in EU states and Schengen Area from mid-June, underlining the advantage of our diversified markets.

“In combination with already comprehensive hygiene measures on board our fleet, extensive COVID-19 preventative protocols have been introduced as part of our mandatory safety measures. COVID-19 testing is now included within our German cruise packages and a negative result is compulsory for customers and crew prior to departure,” the company said.

Average daily rate obtained by TUI Cruises fell to €141 from €174, while the figure for Marella Cruises decreased by £3 to £146 and that of Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten by €40 to 601

There remains considerable uncertainty regarding the likelihood and nature of further lockdowns and travel restrictions over the next few months, the distribution of an effective vaccine and the shape of the economic recovery. “As a result the TUI Executive Board refrains from issuing new guidance for the Financial Year 2021 under the current circumstances,” the company stated

The company expects FY21 to be a year of transition and for the Group to return to profitable growth from FY22 onwards. “The additional financing package agreed strengthens our position and provides us with sufficient liquidity reserves in this volatile market environment, balancing out the presumed travel restrictions until the beginning of the 2021 Summer season,” it said.

“We are actively streamlining the business through targeted cost cutting, whilst prioritising growth spend on digitalisation initiatives. We will be selective in our investment strategy which will be supported by disposals and we will be focused on asset light structures. Our trusted, leading brand with differentiated products is strongly positioned to benefit from the expected market consolidation. Our digitalisation transformation, underpinned by cost control, and balance sheet discipline will drive our return to healthy financial metrics and profitable growth,” TUI said.