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Cafe Carinthia and Champagne Bar to vanish in Queen Victoria refit

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 16 March 2017 16 March 2017

Cunard Line, the premium to luxury market brand of Carnival Corporation & plc group, will send its 2007 built Queen Victoria for a refit in May, when Café Carinthia and the Champagne Bar vanish, deck plans of the ship on the company's website show..

Britannia Club restaurant will be built in the place of the presnt Chart Room bar, which will be located forward, where the café and the Champagne Bar are currently located.

A new Chart Room concept will debut on Queen Victoria as part of the refit. “The new Chart Room will be located on Deck 2 off the Grand Lobby, where Café Carinthia is currently located. The Chart Room will feature illy coffee, Godiva chocolate treats and light bites by day and stellar cocktails by night.”

“Cunard will also introduce a gin and fizz themed menu to the Midships Lounge, including a variety of wines, Proseccos, Cavas and Champagne alongside premium gins and spirits, all blended to create fresh and inspiring cocktails with a modern twist,” Cunard Line said in a statement.

In addition, 43 Britannia Club staterooms in a prime mid-ship location on Decks 7 and 8 will be added. “The new and refreshed staterooms will feature newly-designed carpets, soft furnishings, new flat screen TVs, as well as tea and coffee facilities. The new Britannia Club restaurant will offer guests the flexibility to dine whenever they choose. Located in the space of the former chart room, the new restaurant will be built alongside the main Britannia restaurant on Deck 2,” Cunard Line said.

“Cunard guests are very passionate about their ships, so we have given great consideration to Cunard’s aesthetic integrity and rich 176-year history,” commented Alan McVitty, Director at M Design, who consulted on the redesign. “We drew upon inspiration from archival imagery of not only Cunard’s ships, but of the architectural elements of its buildings in Liverpool and New York.”

The Cunard Grand Suites will be redesigned and reconfigured to maximize space, offering enhanced comfort and entertainment options. The Aquitania, Berengaria, Mauretania and Laconia Suites will have similar square footage to those on Queen Elizabeth at approximately 1,436 sq. ft. Refreshed designs will include a new color scheme that harkens back to the line’s history with its signature Cunard purple.

Created to mirror a luxurious residential apartment, the suites offer fabrics with a variety of rich textures and layers. The Cunard Grand Suites also include: floor-to-ceiling windows and doors, a separate service entrance and hospitality preparation area, a separate snug room with TV, a beautifully-appointed lounge, a master bathroom with sea view, a second bathroom with guest access, a bedroom TV that folds down from the ceiling, a walk-in wardrobe with additional storage units, and a generous dual aspect balcony.

Cunard guests will enjoy five new Penthouse Suites (Q4) on Deck 8 aft which will feature floor-to-ceiling windows, defined living and sleeping space and bathrooms with natural light. New color schemes reflect Cunard’s signature jewel tones of deep red and captivating geometric patterns, the company stated.

Multifunctional Magic Carpet acts as tender station, bar and restaurant

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 14 March 2017 14 March 2017

Magic Carpet, the cantilevered, floating platform that will be a feature of the Celebrity Edge class of Celebrity Cruises, will multi function as a tender station, restaurant and bar, Celebrity Cruises said in a video presentation on the Internet of the new class.

“The size of a tennis court, and reaching heights of 13 storeys above sea level, it is. Majestically situated on the starboard side of Celebrity Edge, it is designed with comfortable seating, a full bar, and space for live music performances – so it truly is a destination itself,” the company said, adding that it would open to several decks and transforms into a new venue depending on where it’s positioned.

“We invite you to soar over the open ocean while you dine, drink, or simply relax,” Celebrity Cruises said.

Ponant explorers to feature underwater lounge

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 14 March 2017 14 March 2017

Construction of Le Lapérouse continues with the laying of the first block, while the first sheet of steel has been cut for Le Champlain, marking the launch of the construction of the second in the series of four Ponant Explorer ships, due to be delivered in Summer 2018 and Summer 2019.

“These four yachts will be fitted with a multi-sensorial underwater lounge, an exclusive design and a world first, which will be revealed in May 2017,” the expedition cruise line said in a statement. These first two ships will be operational for Summer 2018, while the next two ships, Le Bougainville and Le Dumont d’Urville will arrive for the Summer 2019 season.

“This new generation of ships flying the French flag will be fitted with the latest technology and will be certified 1C (Ice class). These flagships will meet the standards of the international Cleanship label (Bureau Veritas), as a result of their innovative green technology,” Ponant said.

Pool deck redesigned to face outward on Celebrity Edge class

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 13 March 2017 13 March 2017

All sunbeds on the Resort Deck, which is the new name of the pool deck, look out to the sea rather than the middle of the deck, where the pool is.

The Celebrity Edge class is the first series of shops the Royal Caribbean group has designed by using 3D technology. Fain said that customers of Celebrity Cruises had required a better connectivity with the sea, which is why it was considered important to completely redesign the pool deck on the new class of ships.

The Resort Deck will feature a 25 yard long pool and further up, there will be Rooftop Garden, which indicates evolution from the Lawn Club on the Solstice class ships. There will be film shows and barbecue in the rooftop garden in the evening.

Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd that owns Celebrity Cruises said the redesign of cabins and public areas required a major structural change whereby the structural frame of the vessel was moved in the area between the cabin blocks from both sides of balcony doors and windows, i.e. the outside of the vessel.

The Celebrity Edge class vessels could be compared to an iPhone: the technologies pre-dated the handset, but in Apple employed these technologies in a new way that transformed the mobile handset market, said Fain.

The use of 3D technology has allowed the designers of the new class of ships to make virtual walks on board the vessels, which has helped to introduce several innovations on board, he said.

Carnival opens fleet operations center in Seattle

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 13 March 2017 13 March 2017

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping company, announced today that it is expanding the commercial maritime industry’s first and most technologically advanced Fleet Operations Centers with the opening of a new facility in Seattle.

The company’s first Fleet Operations Center is located in Hamburg, Germany, with both centers providing real-time support for its 102-ship fleet, the largest in the cruise industry. A third center will be added to the global network later this year when construction is scheduled to be complete on a facility in Miami at the company’s headquarters.

The new Fleet Operations Centers utilize a state-of-the-art tracking and data-analysis platform that enables real-time information sharing between Carnival Corporation ships and specialized onshore teams designed to support fleet operations.

The proprietary system significantly improves communication from ship to shore, providing new capabilities for enhancing the safe passage of ships at sea while improving operational efficiencies and supporting overall environmental initiatives at Carnival Corporation.

The advanced system, which initially captures thousands of data points and provides real-time analytics for 28 distinct parameters for navigational safety from each ship, focuses on the following strategic areas to optimize safety, efficiency and overall fleet performance:

Nautical Operations & Safety – including the capability to see real-time radar visuals, stability conditions, automation, the Safety Management and Command System, and webcams from each ship, along with GPS location, routing, ship conditions and weather data.
Procedural Optimization & Efficiency – including speeds, navigational data and engine conditions.
Sustainability – including fuel and energy usage, emissions levels, water and waste management.

Utilising cloud-based technology from Microsoft, this new system – dubbed “Neptune” – has been in use at the Carnival Maritime Fleet Operations Center (FOC) in Hamburg, Germany, as announced in October 2015. Carnival has been piloting the system with its European cruise line brands in Hamburg and Southampton, England. Based on the system’s success, the company will continue rolling out the system this year to further increase the monitoring capability of its ships sailing in the U.S. and Caribbean, through its Fleet Operation Centers in Miami and Seattle.

The new FOCs will provide an additional layer of support, where the shore-based analytics system will automatically generate alerts to help provide support in addressing any potential safety or weather-related issues across the fleet. Moving forward, the system’s ability to process and analyze “big data” in real time will enable Carnival Corporation and its brands to do predictive analysis with the potential to further improve safety and operations.