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Swan Hellenic awards hotel management contract to V. Ships group

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 28 May 2021 28 May 2021

Swan Hellenic said it has awarded the hotel management contract for its forthcoming ships to V.Ships Leisure, together with sister brand Oceanic.

Swan Hellenic’s project to revive the brand has been supported by V.Ships Leisure, which is part of the London based V.Ships Group, from the outset with their team already on site at Helsinki Shipyard, supervising the construction of Swan Hellenic’s three ship fleet.

“This extension of the services brings Swan Hellenic access to seafarers of the highest calibre across the globe. With impressive, tailored training capabilities for hospitality staff and technical crew alike, V.Ships Leisure and Oceanic will support the development of Swan Hellenic’s on-board teams to ensure guests’ safety and satisfaction during their voyages,” the Nicosia based expedition cruise company said in a statement.

Swan Hellenic can now benefit from the Oceanic Hospitality Training Centre to perfect the service and hospitality experience on board prior to completion of its ships, utilising the Centre’s mock galley, restaurant, bar and suite.

V.Ships Leisure’s bridge and engine simulators will likewise be used to train the marine and technical crew in line with Swan Hellenic’s commitment to always providing a safe environment of the highest standard for guests. This comprehensive training will be supplemented by V.Ships Leisure’s eLearning platform, which promotes continued learning and development at each seafarer’s own pace, Swan Hellenic said.

Carnival, lenders agree to lower loan interest rate margins

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 28 May 2021 28 May 2021

Carnival Corporation has successfully syndicated the repricing of its first-priority senior secured term loan facility, the US headquartered and Panama domiciled unit of the Carnival Corporation & plc group said in a statement.

The facility consists of a tranche in an original aggregate principal amount of $1,860 million and a tranche in an original aggregate principal amount of €800 million, each of which matures on 30 June 2025,

From and after the implementation of the repricing, all outstanding amounts under the Term Loan Facility funded in U.S. dollars will bear interest at a rate per annum equal to adjusted LIBOR with a 0.75% floor, plus a margin equal to 3.00%, which is 4.50% per annum less than the LIBOR margin under the Term Loan Facility prior to the repricing.

All outstanding amounts under the Term Loan Facility funded in euros will bear interest at a rate per annum equal to EURIBOR with a 0.00% floor, plus a margin equal to 3.75%. This is 3.75% per annum less than the EURIBOR margin under the Term Loan Facility prior to the repricing, Carnival said.

Celebrity Edge first large cruise ship approved to sail from a U.S. port

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 27 May 2021 27 May 2021

“Someday is here.” That was the one-line tweet Celebrity Cruises CEO and President Lisa Lutoff-Perlo used to announce the news yesterday that on Saturday, June 26, the exquisite Celebrity Edge will be the first cruise ship to sail from US waters in more than a year. Captain Kate McCue, the first and still only American female Captain, will have the honor of leading the fleet – and the industry – back into operation.

Celebrity Edge will depart Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, setting sail on a 7-night cruise of the Caribbean in what promises to be a historic moment for the brand and the industry. Celebrity Edge was given the green light by the CDC to be the first ship back in the water, having met all new standards for providing a healthy cruise experience for its guests and crew.

“For the past 15 months our conversations with friends and loved ones about seeing the world have been accompanied by the phrase ‘someday.’ I’m beyond proud and excited to say that day has arrived,” said Celebrity Cruises CEO and President Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. “The power of travel has a way of healing our souls as we connect with cultures, sights, and experiences that bring greater joy and renewed energy to our lives. Nothing compares to these experiences at sea and now the wonder of these journeys returns. We’ve been preparing for this day for months and, on behalf of all of us at Celebrity Cruises, we’re ready and we can’t wait to welcome our guests aboard once again!”

“Today’s exciting news is the result of a collaboration with the CDC, our elected officials at the local, state and national levels and our industry partners at CLIA,” said Richard Fain, Chairman of Royal Caribbean Group, parent company of Celebrity Cruises. “We’ve consulted with the brightest minds in the health industry to ensure that our passengers and crew feel safe and comfortable on our ships while enjoying the uncompromised experience they know and love.”

With yesterday’s announcement, eight of the 15 ships within the Celebrity Cruises’ fleet now have plans to return to sailing in 2021 and are ready to take guests to breathtaking destinations, including the Caribbean, Europe, Alaska and the Galapagos.

Major cruise operators provide business update at Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 26 May 2021 26 May 2021

 
Europe’s biggest cruise companies have already deployed 18 vessels in the East Med and other European destinations and plan to ramp up their operations with 28 ships in June and 50 in July, before reaching this summer’s maximum target of 60 operational cruise ships in August.

More than half of these vessels will be deployed in Greek waters according to Ioannis Plakiotakis, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy whose speech marked the official opening of this year’s digital Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum.

“Forty cruise ships are expected to operate in Greek waters and 45 ports have their own contingency plans developed in a way to facilitate cruise ships without affecting the experience of passengers, crews or the local communities,” he said.

“Thanks to our national blue freedom vaccination programme which prioritises tourism destinations and cruise hotspots, we are optimistic that this year will be substantially better than the previous,” he said in his opening remarks.

Greece has been lauded for its efforts to develop a tourism product capable of instilling a sense of trust as a safe destination that is fully prepared to weather the consequences of the pandemic and this view was also echoed by Pierfrancesco Vago, CLIA Global Chairman and Executive Chairman, MSC Cruises, who also addressed the 500 delegates attending this year’s PSTF on their computer screens from around the world.

“Greece is one of the countries to achieve early resumption of operations. Now more than ever feels like the time of renewal as the industry emerges from the dark winter of Covid,” he said.

“Challenges will remain, but we are building back better and can be optimistic now, as we have worked with governments, terminals and destinations to develop protocols for a safe and responsible return to service,” he said.

Already, more than 200,000 passengers have taken a cruise safely since the end of last summer, and this year the East Med shows the way with an early start which may help Greece become a permanent country of embarkation, according to Vago.

But uncertainty as to when cruise operations can recommence at a viable level to sustain the industry is one of those challenges.

TUI restarted operations last week from Crete and its plan for this summer is to purely offer Greece cruises from Iraklion with two different itineraries. “If more travel restrictions are lifted, we will return to other itineraries. But between May to October Greece is the only destination we are offering,” said Wybcke Meier, CEO, TUI Cruises.

According to MSC Cruises, certain regions such as Asia and North America are still off limits for the cruise sector, however CEO Gianni Onorato predicts that more Europeans will turn to cruising the region this summer as they are cut off from intercontinental destinations due to airlift restrictions and travel protocols. He said: “The Green certificate will allow more Europeans to focus on Europe, and Greece will be one of the main destinations for them.”

Michael Thamm, Group CEO, Costa Group and Carnival Asia, agrees: “Greece is a pilar for Germans, Italians and French due to its beauty and the natural desire to see the country, and cruising is the best way to do that. We want to extend our presence in Greece beyond the season even to December. Both our brands have resumed operations in Greece and there will be more ships coming to Greece.”

But popularity may present some challenges according to Chris Theofilides CEO, Celestyal Cruises, the company which uses Greece as its homeporting base and knows the market better than any other operator.

“High concentration of ships at any particular point in time may be a challenge especially in Greek ports due to infrastructure issues. We need to avoid any high volume of guests at any given point. It’s not only the responsible thing to do but it is also the right thing to do, both from a guests’ experience point of view as well as for the local communities.”

Meier shares the concerns: “Over-tourism may be over in a post pandemic world, but we should make sure we don’t have too many ships at the same time in the same ports. Islands need to have a plan on the number of ships they can accept at the same time. And port operators need to have the infrastructure to accept bigger ships.”

Building back better, or just coming back, in a staggered and responsible way is the right thing to do and cruise companies are firmly focused on all Covid-related prevention and reaction protocols to ensure the path to normality is a short and sustained one.

There are two aspects in it; Enforcing, supervising and respecting the current protocols for passengers, crew and destinations is one, standardisation and uniformity of such protocols is the other.

According to Onorato, the passenger locator form is not yet fully adopted on a pan-European level in equal measures, and there is no clear guideline of how to use it. “Every country is asking for the form every time we arrive to a different country. As long as uniformity is not properly reached as soon as possible between different countries, we may face unnecessary issues for our guests, and this may render cruising uncompetitive compared to other forms of tourism. Protocols are working but we need greater uniformity.”

This lack of uniformity gives leeway to operators who wish to enforce stricter precautionary measures with Norwegian Cruise Line being one the companies that have decided to allow only fully vaccinated passengers and crews on board their vessels, according to Kevin Bubolz, Managing Director Europe, who also participated at PSTF 2021 in a panel discussion focusing on the Impact of the new health protocols on shore excursions and destination management. Adam Sharp, Director, International Destination Development, Royal Caribbean Group confirmed that Royal Caribbean Cruises is also cooperating with NCL to standardise health protocols for the US market.

The pace to normality may be agonisingly slow, however this is also due to the very regimental protocols the cruise sector stakeholders decided to impose on their operations in order to bulwark themselves against the risk of Covid-19.

Royal Caribbean receives green light for test cruise from Florida – report

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 26 May 2021 26 May 2021

Royal Caribbean International has received a permission from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US for a test cruise from Florida that could pave the way for resumption of cruises with passengers and crew most of whom are not vaccinated, Miami Herald and other US media reports.

Royal Caribbean International is a contemporary market unit of the Royal Caribbean Group and families with children are an important target group of its business.

“The cruise company will be able to conduct simulated cruises with volunteer passengers in late June to test out its COVID-19 protocols from PortMiami on its Freedom of the Seas ship,” the report said.

“The test cruises are a requirement for ships that are not guaranteeing most passengers and crew on board are vaccinated against COVID-19 before revenue cruises can begin,” Miami Herald said.