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Azamara drops “Club Cruises” from name and revamps logo plus land programme offering

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 19 June 2019 19 June 2019

Azamara Club Cruises, the destination focused luxury market unit in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL) group, has renamed itself Azamara, introduced a new logo and revamped its land programme offering, the company said in a statement.

“As of today, the destination-focused brand offers a total of over 1,700 land program offerings, which complement the brand's immersive voyages and further enhances its commitment to bringing guests closer to the heart of a destination,” the company said.

Larry Pimentel President and CEO of Azamara continues, "Now available on every single voyage starting October 2019, and available throughout future deployments, we will provide a variety of unique curated products, which emphasize our Explore Further identity through benefits such as longer stays, more overnights and night touring.”

“These bucket-list type experiences are all made possible in collaboration with reputable, independent travel experts to show the Azamara traveler "a whole new world."

To ensure travelers receive first-class service delivered by a specialised independent team, Azamara has collaborated with some of the world's most renowned luxury travel companies, including Cox & Kings, which will operate over 75% of the land programming. Other renowned luxury travel companies include: Micato, PerryGolf™, Aloschi Bros®, COLTUR Peru, Furlong Incoming amongst others.

Propelling the brand's reputation as "the no cruise, cruise," these independent travel experts will help expand Azamara's portfolio of Land Programs by providing guests with the opportunity to visit over 40 countries and six continents in the next two-years.

From behind the scenes to exploring with locals, Azamara's new selection of land programming will offer an extensive collection of experiences designed to bring guests deeper into the heart of local life, offering exclusivity and insider access from local guides and experts around the world.

Ponant fleet grows to nine ships as Le Dumont-d'Urville enters service

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 18 June 2019 18 June 2019

Ponant, the French expedition cruise specialist, took delivery of Le Dumont-d’Urville, the ninth ship in the fleet from Vard in Norway on 14 June. The ship left the port of Søvik in Norway for Bergen, ready to depart on her maiden cruise.

“Such a delivery rate is a first in the history of the French merchant navy: this is the fourth ship in the Ponant Explorers series delivered in the last 12 months. The substantial expansion of our fleet allows us to offer our guests an increasing number of destinations, exceptional voyages and high-quality services. Market feedback is indeed excellent with very high levels of bookings.” said Jean Emmanuel Sauvée, CEO of Ponant

With just 92 rooms and suites, all with balconies or private terraces, sleek and elegant exterior lines and a refined design, Le Dumont-d’Urville, is the perfect example of the new generation of ships flying the French flag.

The Dumont-d’Urville’s maiden season will start at the beginning of August, when the Baltic Sea reveals the splendours of Saint-Petersburg and the Baltic capitals. The ship will then head for the French coasts and the Mediterranean. With a rich programme of themed cruises, fine dining, wine tasting, music and more, guests on board will be able to combine cultural passions and love of travel.

Assembly of Carnival Mardi Gras’ hull begins at Meyer Turku

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 18 June 2019 18 June 2019

The hull assembly phase of Carnival Mardi Gras, a 180 000 gross ton cruise ship of Carnival Cruise Line, was celebrated with a traditional coin ceremony at Meyer Turku shipyard today. The coin set on top of the keel blocks will be placed into the ship for good luck after the float-out of the ship, the shipbuilder said in a statement.

The ship’s technical design is shared with a numberof newbuildings of Costa Crociere, P&O Cruises and AIDA Cruises that are all built at Meyer’s shipyards at Turku in Finland and Papenburg in Germany. All four are Carnival Corporation & plc group brands and each ship's interiors will be designed in accordance to the requirements of the brand they will operate for.

This time the assembly of the ship hull had already began few weeks before by the arrival of floating engine room unit from another Meyer shipyard, Neptun Werft, in Rostock, Germany.

“Mardi Gras is the second LNG powered cruise ship being built at Meyer Turku and will have many interesting attractions, including six themed zones. Ultimate Playground will have water slides, a ropes course and the first in the world roller coaster onboard a ship. The French Quarter will have New Orleans-inspired cocktail bars and restaurants, at Lido pool area passengers are able to enjoy fun in the sun,” Meyer Turku said .

At the heart of the ship there is Grand Central, a large open three-deck space for entertainment and relaxing. A special feature of Grand Central, one that will really connect the passengers to the sea, is its floor-to-ceiling glass front, a complex feat of design and engineering skill.

Carnival Mardi Gras is already benefiting from some of the investments of Meyer Turku’s €200 million investment programme. The steel halls at the shipyard are going through a major rebuilding with new machines and IT-systems, but also new processes to build the ships with newly trained employees.

“We are seeing the benefits already and will continue to see more benefits later this year. Already our automated steel pre-treatment facility and storage have been up and running for some time now and supporting the steel construction of Mardi Gras”, Jan Meyer tells.

Iona coin ceremony held at Meyer Werft in Germany

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 17 June 2019 17 June 2019

The team building P&O Cruises’ 180,000 gross ton Iona, which will be powered by liquefied natural gas, making it the UK’s greenest ship, celebrated the milestone with the traditional coin-laying ceremony, the company said in a statement.

It was held at Meyer Werft in Papenburg in Germany on 14 June. Iona is the first of two similar ships to be built there for P&O Cruises, which is part of the Carnival Corporation & plc group. Iona will enter service next summer and the yet unnamed second ship in 2022.

“A bronze coin from the historic Iona Abbey and a slice of precious green Iona marble from the island were placed under the block housing the bow thrusters before the block was then lowered onto these items,” P&O Cruises said in a statement.

P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow who attended the event said “This was an auspicious occasion in Iona’s build. The coin-laying is a long-held ship-building tradition which is to bring good luck to the ship and its crew through from construction to the future at sea.

“It is very special to think that a small part of the island of Iona will live within our own Iona. We hope that the qualities of beauty, heritage, pride, camaraderie, mutual support and loyalty from the island which attracted us to the name will be inherent in our ship, its crew and guests.

“The build of any ship is an incredible achievement but to see one of this size and scope is an extraordinary feat of skilled design and engineering. To view Iona’s SkyDome take shape was literally breath-taking – no other ship in the world has a glass dome of this quality of construction and scale. The extent of the space on Iona has allowed us to create not only spectacular spaces for shows, entertainment, dining and wellness but also many more intimate spaces for tranquility and relaxation as well as exclusive performances. Iona will be game-changer for holidays.”

As part of the ceremony the ship’s central steel block, the “mega block”, which has already been constructed was “floated out” on to the water. The 21.5 metre long block weighs 461 tons, is 19.4 metres wide and 9.8 metres high and had to be lifted by a 600 ton crane. The next steps are the block assembly of the bow and forward part of the ship in the dock as well as the further outfitting of the “mega block” in the harbour basin. In August, the “mega block” will be brought inside to the building dock and welded to the forward part.

MSC for Me app to include new features on MSC Grandiosa

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 17 June 2019 17 June 2019

MSC Cruises, the Geneva based cruise shipping company, said it has introduced new features for its MSC for Me multi-channel digital programme on MSC Grandiosa.

Since its introduction on board MSC Meraviglia in 2017, MSC Cruises has introduced this digital innovation programme on four more ships, MSC Seaside, MSC Seaview, MSC Splendida and MSC Bellissima, each time adding more features to improve guest experience

The new features that have been introduced this year encompass not only the onboard experience but also pre-cruise, so that guests can better plan everything they want to experience before they even set foot on board.

“These services include the option to book packages through the MSC for Me app and add them already to their persona agenda. Meanwhile on board new services such as the Friends & Family Locator and the MSC for Me Chat, help guests to stay connected with the people they are travelling with. All these innovations are designed to save valuable time for the guest that they can spend more time enjoying their holiday,” the company said in a statement.

In the latest update, guests can browse and select pre-paid packages. Drinks and specialty restaurant packages or shore excursions are all available to browse and purchase ahead of time at the very best prices.

Guests also can begin to plan their time aboard by adding selected pre-booked experiences to their pre-cruise personal agenda, whether it be excursions, specialty restaurant reservation or that exciting Cirque du Soleil at Sea show.

Pre-registering of a credit card through the app prior to the cruise is then one less thing that guests need to do when they embark, giving them more time to enjoy their holiday once on board is also a new feature.