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Costa Cruises' entire fleet back in service this year

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 14 February 2022 14 February 2022

Costa Cruises continues its gradual restart plan for 2022. From 5 March, the date on which the new Costa Toscana, star of the recent edition of the Sanremo Music Festival, will set sail for her first cruise, an increasing number of the company's ships will return to service, joining those already sailing. Next summer, the company's entire fleet will resume operations, with all four of the new ships delivered in recent months – Costa Toscana, Costa Smeralda, Costa Firenze and Costa Venezia – deployed in the Mediterranean. Also, for the summer period, with the hope of favorable regulations, the company is planning to carry out again shore excursions in free mode, and, in light of the gradual relaxation of the measures in place, is working to be able to make them already available as early as this spring.

Costa's program includes a total of more than 1,800 cruises from spring 2022 to winter 2022-23, allowing guests to discover 179 destinations around the world, with cruises lasting from 3 to 127 days. All these cruises will feature the new product innovations the company has been working on in recent months, with an innovative range of shore excursions and an outstanding gastronomic offer featuring world-class chefs.

"We are seeing the growth in demand for holidays, and I am sure that this trend will increase further in the coming weeks," said Roberto Alberti, SVP & Chief Commercial Officer of Costa Cruises. "We think our offer is the best ever, thanks to elements that combine unique experiences, both onboard and ashore. Our rich itinerary program suits for every need and includes some great new features, such as cruises to Turkey. Our cruise experience has been profoundly enriched and will allow guests to discover destinations in an authentic way, also thanks to extended stops in some ports. Furthermore, our guests will be able to enjoy their vacations on a fleet with latest generation ships, which combine sustainable innovation with entertainment, hospitality and well-being”.

After Costa Toscana, Costa's restart program includes Costa Favolosa on April 28, with "mini cruises" in the Mediterranean, Costa Venezia on May 1 from Istanbul, with a new and unique one-week itinerary in Turkey and Greece, and Costa Smeralda on May 7, offering a one-week itinerary in the western Mediterranean. Costa Pacifica will resume operations on June 4 from Bari, exploring Greece and Malta. The two-week cruises to the Canary Islands and the Azores, originally planned with the Costa Pacifica in April and May, will be carried out by Costa Luminosa, while Costa Fortuna will return operating in Northern Europe on June 12.

After the winter season in South America, Costa Diadema will also return to the Mediterranean, offering a cruise to Lisbon on May 5, as well as Costa Fascinosa, which will be leaving on May 1 for a cruise to the Azores, dedicated to Costa Club members. Back from the Caribbean, Costa Deliziosa will resume her Mediterranean cruises from April 15, while Costa Firenze, having completed her season in Dubai, will be positioned in Genoa on April 7, to begin her program of cruises in Spain, Italy and France.

In summer 2022, the sister ships Costa Smeralda and Costa Toscana, powered by liquefied natural gas, together with the Costa Firenze, will offer week-long cruises in the western Mediterranean, while Costa Venezia will continue with her new itinerary in Turkey and Greece, departing from Istanbul. Costa Pacifica, Costa Deliziosa and Costa Luminosa will be operating in the Eastern Mediterranean with one-week cruises. Four ships, Costa Fortuna, Costa Favolosa, Costa Fascinosa and Costa Diadema, will be deployed in Northern Europe, visiting the Baltic capitals, the Norwegian fjords, the North Cape and Iceland.

The ships of the Costa fleet will take guests to discover the most beautiful destinations in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe in safety, thanks to the Costa Safety Protocol, the health protocol developed by the company together with scientific experts and the authorities.

"In 2021 we safely recorded on our ships more than 1.5 million passenger movements, achieving a truly unique and exceptional record considering the context in which we operated. We also reached previously unprecedented levels of customer satisfaction, thanks to the efforts and investments we have made since the restart of our operations. I am confident that the return to free shore excursions, which we are planning for next summer and which we hope can be anticipated as early as next spring, will be an extra incentive to choose a Costa cruise," added Roberto Alberti.

Costa's program will be rich and complete also in winter 2022-23. Costa Firenze will be deployed on week-long cruises to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, departing from Dubai. Costa Venezia will be operating from Istanbul, with 11-day cruises to Turkey, Israel and Egypt, while Costa Diadema will be offering two-week cruises to the Canary Islands, calling also in Lisbon. Costa Pacifica and Costa Fascinosa will be visiting the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. Costa Smeralda will be offering one-week cruises in the western Mediterranean. Costa Toscana, Costa Favolosa and Costa Fortuna will be positioned in South America.

From next winter, Costa's grand voyages will also be back. Costa Deliziosa will be offering the Around the World cruise, departing from Venice on January 6, 2023, or from Savona January 11, 2023. The itinerary will take guests to India and the Maldives, then to South Africa and Namibia, and then to South America, up the continent's Pacific coast, through the Panama Strait and even visiting New York before returning to Europe. The Costa Luminosa Grand Cruises will be equally spectacular, departing from Genoa on 8 January 2023 and from Buenos Aires on 27 February 2023, going from the Mediterranean to Tierra del Fuego and back, sailing up the Amazon River to Manaus.

Costa Serena’s program to resume cruising in Asia in 2022 will be announced over the next few weeks.

NCLH prices notes and says bookings start to recover from Omicron

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 14 February 2022 14 February 2022

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH), the world’s third largest cruise shipping group, has priced three offerings of notes and said that bookings had started to recover from the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus in recent weeks.

The company announced that it had priced $1,000.0 million principal amount of its 5.875% senior secured notes due 2027, $600.0 million aggregate principal amount of its 7.750% senior unsecured notes due 2029 and $435.0 million aggregate principal amount of its 2.50% exchangeable senior notes due 2027, each of which were offered in private offerings that are exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

NCLH said in a separate statement that in recent weeks, net booking volumes have continued to improve sequentially. “As a result of the impacts from Omicron, as of February 6, 2022, the Company’s cumulative booked position for the first half of 2022 is below the extraordinarily strong levels of 2019 while the second half, when the full fleet is expected to be back in operation, is in line with the comparable 2019 period,” the company said..

It noted that concurrently, pricing for the first half, second half and full year 2022 are above the record levels for the same time in 2019, even when including the dilutive impact of future cruise credits.

“Booking trends for 2023 demonstrate continued strong demand for sailings in the medium and longer term with booked position and pricing meaningfully higher and at record levels when compared to 2019,” NCLH said.

While we cannot estimate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our business, financial condition or near- or longer-term financial or operational results with certainty, we will report a net loss for the fourth quarter and full year ending December 31, 2021 and expect to report a net loss until we are able to resume regular voyages,” NCLH stated.

Carnival Celebration floated out at Meyer Turku shipyard

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 11 February 2022 11 February 2022

Carnival Cruise Line’s next new ship Carnival Celebration was floated out at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland today, which signifies a major step in her construction.

Carnival Celebration will now move alongside the shipyard’s outfitting pier and into the next phase of construction, where the focus will shift to work on what all Carnival ships are known for: the fun.

“This is the exciting part, after the float out, that’s when everything that everyone will love about the ship goes from blueprint to reality,” said Ben Clement, senior vice president of New Builds, Refurbishment and Product Innovation for Carnival Cruise Line, who was in Finland to oversee the milestone. “When there’s a new ship coming, it’s always tough to pick your favorite part, but Carnival Celebration is going to make that choice tougher than ever when she makes her way to Miami.”

“We are very proud to build this beautiful ship for Carnival Cruise Line,” said Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku. “By the end of the summer, Carnival Celebration will be ready for her sea trial and then for delivery later in the autumn.”

Carnival Celebration is the second of three revolutionary Excel-class ships. She joins Mardi Gras, already sailing from Port Canaveral, Fla., and Carnival Jubilee, set to sail from Galveston, Texas in 2023. Carnival’s newest and biggest class of ships run on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology platform. Carnival Corp. pioneered the introduction of LNG fuel in the passenger cruise sector as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to sustainability and emissions reduction.

Following Carnival Celebration’s float out, work begins outside on installing some of the Excel-class exterior features already thrilling guests on sister ship Mardi Gras, including the award-winning BOLT roller coaster at sea. Inside the ship, the build out will help bring out Carnival Celebration’s own unique personality. The ship will feature six distinct zones, much like Mardi Gras, but three of those are designed specifically for Carnival Celebration. Details about the new zones will be revealed soon.

Scheduled to enter service this fall, Carnival Celebration will sail a transatlantic voyage from Southampton to its PortMiami homeport in November. Carnival’s newly transformed Terminal F will welcome the new ship. Not long after, the Carnival terminal will also usher in a new era of port infrastructure as one of the first at PortMiami equipped to provide shore power to ships by fall 2023.

Carnival Celebration’s first sailing from Miami to the Caribbean will take place Nov. 21, 2022. Her arrival will mark the culmination of the year-long celebration of Carnival Cruise Line’s 50th birthday.

Her name is a nod to one of Carnival’s classic cruise ships, Celebration, but in every sense, Carnival Celebration is designed to lead the way to the future of cruising.

Helsinki Shipyard floats out SH Vega

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 11 February 2022 11 February 2022

Helsinki Shipyard has floated SH Vega out of the dry dock. SH Vega is the twin ship of SH Minerva, launched at the end of last year and now exploring Antarctica. Steelwork production for the third slightly larger vessel commissioned from Helsinki started last Summer, and about 50% of the blocks are now ready at the yard. The Swan Hellenic fleet is thus coming together smoothly to take adventurous and discerning voyagers on a wide range of distinctive cruises.

All three ships are designed for minimal environmental impact and comply with the latest emission standards, while also being battery-ready for future emission-free silent sailing in port as well as wildlife and marine reserves.

SH Vega features a 4.6-megawatt diesel-electric hybrid-ready propulsion system with selective catalytic reduction and PC5 ice-strengthened hull that is fully Safe Return to Port certified. At 113 m, the 10,500 gross ton vessel has been specially designed for worldwide cruising to explore the most inspiring and inaccessible places on earth.

Providing elegant and spacious 5-star accommodation for 152 guests in 76 spacious cabins and suites, the vast majority with large balconies, SH Vega will be operated by an onboard team of 120 to provide the highest levels of personal service, priding itself on one of the highest GRT-to-passenger ratios in its category. The very latest hygiene technology will protect the health of all on board to the highest standards and includes air conditioning with UV sanitisation systems.

Designed for immersive experiences and extensive open views, SH Vega features an expedition laboratory, marine life library and observation lounge for lectures by expert expedition leaders and specialists from a wide range of disciplines. Expedition day trips by zodiac are a central feature of the programmes that will be offered, along with kayaking, trekking and other activities. The on-board amenities include a spa, sauna, gym, library, panoramic restaurant and club lounge serving world-class cuisine, as well as a pool deck with bar.

SH Vega will be delivered to Swan Hellenic in May 2022. Departing on her 11-day maiden cruise on the 29th of May, she will sail from Leith, the port of Edinburgh, to explore the Faroe Islands and Iceland, docking in Reykjavík on the 8th of June. The third ship in the fleet, temporarily named Vega 3, will be delivered in early 2023.

“SH Vega is a next-generation ship that advances the Swan Hellenic cultural expedition cruising tradition in the inspired mould of her sister ship. We are very proud of our contribution to everything she represents,” commented Simo Rastas, CEO of Helsinki Shipyard.

“We are again delighted with the quality of Helsinki’s work,” added Swan Hellenic CEO Andrea Zito. “Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, everyone at the shipyard has maintained an ambitious schedule to the very highest standards. It’s wonderful to see our vision come together so well. We know our guests will love how such similar ships as SH Minerva and SH Vega can also be so different, enriching their voyages with us worldwide to see what others don’t.”

Fred. Olsen Cruise Line says sales return to pre-pandemic levels

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 09 February 2022 09 February 2022

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, the UK based destination focused cruise operator, said it had enjoyed a bumper January, with sales returning to pre-pandemic levels across its small-ship ocean fleet that comprises four ships.

“The strong start to 2022 was reflected in new bookings across Fred. Olsen’s 2022 and 2023 programme currently on sale, with last minute bookings for late winter and early spring proving particularly popular,” the company said in a statement.

It follows the introduction of Fred. Olsen’s Travel Ready Service, launched in December, under which the line will take care of paperwork such as the Passenger Locator Forms and NHS vaccination letters.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines also offers risk-free deposits on all new bookings for sailings in 2022, meaning guests can move their deposit to any other cruise within 12 months of their original sailing, with no transfer fees, so long as they let Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines know before the final balance has been paid, the company said.