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P&O Cruises to revamp onboard sport, entertainment and dining offerings 2017

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 27 October 2016 27 October 2016

P&O Cruises, the UK focused contemporary market unit of Carnival Corporation & plc, said it would revamp its sports, entertainment and dining offerings in the coming year.

Available on several cruises in 2017, Olympian and six times world champion swimmer Mark Foster will be hosting fitness and swimming sessions on Britannia, with dates to be announced shortly.

Children or adults can have daily swimming lessons in which they will learn from one of this country’s most successful ever swimmers. At the end of the holiday, after demonstrating their new-found skills, there will be a medal ceremony and special certificate signed by Mark Foster.

Popular television presenter, theatre actor and singer, Jonathan Wilkes is launching a visually explosive new stage production on Azura, featuring some of the most iconic musical tracks of a generation.

Evolution is a show combining dancers, singers and stunning techno-visuals that explores the diversity between two tribes, the Fabricators and the Humanoids. The Fabricators have evolved from the industrial revolution and embrace mechanical construction and masculine characteristics while the Humanoids are un-worldly fantasy creatures with bird and animal traits. Their two worlds collide as the lead Fabricator and female Humanoid fall in love and the two tribes eventually come together to create a utopian world.

Renowned chef and P&O Cruises Food Hero, Marco Pierre White, has created a series of new gala dinner menus combining British tradition with a sense of occasion, using local and speciality ingredients.

The new menus, which will be available across the fleet on the black tie evenings, comprise some of Marco Pierre White’s favourite dishes prepared in a fresh and exciting way in order to provide a flavour of the most popular ports of call.

Finally, Eric Lanlard’s Pavé Royal will be an addition to the cruise line’s special Chef’s Dinner, which takes place in the main dining room once every cruise. Comprising a velvety smooth, dark chocolate mousse layered with soft hazelnut dacquoise meringue and crunchy praline wafers and then coated with a gold dusted mirror glaze, this delicious dessert is the perfect way to round off dinner and is sure to be a big hit with guests.

Psychographics key in designing new P&O Cruises’ ship

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 27 October 2016 27 October 2016

The mind set of customers – existing and new – is a key element in the design work of P&O Cruises’ newbuilding that it will introduce in 2020, a senior company official said.

“Choice, flexibility and the ability to create individual holiday experiences on board will be at the heart of the new ship which, thanks to an innovative use of space, will offer an extensive range of dining, entertainment and relaxing areas, said P&O Cruises senior vice president Paul Ludlow in a statement.

“Understanding the psychographic - the mindset - of our current and future guests is the key – acknowledging and realising what they want from a holiday and then providing it for them,” he added.

“Our vision is to offer the next generation of British guests the holiday of a lifetime on the next generation of P&O Cruises ships. This new ship will bring an array of new cruising experiences to guests and attract newcomers to our brand, whilst instantly resonating with forward-thinking guests, encapsulating the ‘P&O-ness’ they recognise and love.”

P&O Cruises’ newbuilding to feature Dome entertainment centre with pools and informal eating

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 27 October 2016 27 October 2016

The 180,000 gross ton newbuilding P&O Cruises in the UK has on order from Meyer Werft in Germany will feature The Dome, an entertainment hub on upper decks. “Featuring an impressive clear sky dome, a pool with a retractable stage, water feature and whirlpools, The Dome will act as an all-weather venue for all day entertainment and informal dining.,” the company said in a statement

At night The Dome – one of four primary entertainment spaces the ship - would come alive with aerial performances, projection onto the roof and immersive shows, P&O Cruises said. The as yet un-named ship would also feature an uninterrupted half-mile Promenade around the ship on Deck 8 that provides easy access to al fresco dining at a range of restaurants and relaxation areas under shaded pavilion awnings.

This, too, marks a major change compared to the Britannia that P&O Cruises introduced in 2015, which has no such wrap around promenade deck and all its swimming pols are exposed to the elements. The Dome concept itself appears to be an adaptation of a similar venue on board AIDA Prima, the first of two 124,500 gross ton ships of AIDA Cruises. The new P&O Cruises' ship is based on a new platform also used by AIDA Cruises, Costa Crociere and cArnival Cruise Line, all contemporary market units in the Carnival Corporation & plc group.

Glass walls spanning three decks will flow natural light into P&O Cruises signature Atrium, the central heartbeat and focal point of the 5,200-guest ship, complete with a grand staircase, gallery and overhead walkways.

“Initial concepts for differentiated cabins will be created by Acumen (London), a contemporary design practice behind British Airways’ first-ever lie-flat beds, Air France first class and The Residence, Etihad Airways’ opulent three-room suites in the sky,” P&O Cruises said.

The ship will be the most environmentally efficient in P&O Cruises history with “green cruising” design using liquefied natural gas (LNG) to generate the primary source of power both in port and on the open sea. This will significantly reduce exhaust emissions to help protect the environment in support of the company's sustainability goals.

Guests will be spoilt for choice for dining, entertainment, socialising and relaxation options:

17 places to eat
7 speciality restaurants
12 places to enjoy a drink and see the sea
13 entertainment venues from the theatre to adult only venues
Three pop-up entertainment spaces/venues
16 whirlpools
4 swimming pools (three outside, one inside)
9 places to have breakfast
5 places to enjoy afternoon tea
7 places to have coffee

Built by Meyer Werft at its shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, cruises on the new ship will go on sale in autumn 2018.

Shipyards ponder outlook as only passenger ship building shines

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 26 October 2016 26 October 2016

Top executives from major shipbuilders from Japan, Europe, China, South-Korea and the United States (JECKU) met in Gyeongju (South-Korea) on 19 and 20 October in the context of the 25th JECKU, to discuss the industry’s challenges in supply and demand and in addressing regulatory matters.

This year’s meeting took place under extraordinary circumstances, notably against a background of a global shipbuilding industry experiencing very harsh demand contractions. Newbuilding demand has been low in practically all market segments of the shipbuilding industry, with the exception of passenger ships.

All delegations expressed deep concerns about the current world economic situation. The decrease in new shipbuilding orders and few positive signs of recovery in the near future cause a difficult situation to most of the shipbuilding nations. Signs of protectionism in many parts of the world form a worrisome trend and geopolitical risks will add to the uncertainty of global trade.

Corrado Antonini, Honorary Chairman of SEA Europe and chair of the European JECKU delegation said: “Without painful measures to reduce excess capacity, in shipping like in shipbuilding, the markets cannot return to equilibrium. For decades we have discussed time and time again how to address harmful factors in global shipbuilding such as overcapacity, market distortions and unsustainable pricing”.

Unfortunately, also the demand side, i.e. our customers, provided in the past little encouragement in addressing the problem. We believe, our efforts towards international rules, safeguarding normal competitive conditions in world shipbuilding, could have served as a stabilizing factor also with regard to the imbalanced shipping markets. I find it encouraging that also at Tripartite level involving owners, class and yards, the need to address together, not only technical issues but also shared concerns in the market, has now been recognised. Perhaps this could be a new a key element aiming at finding collective solutions together with our customers.”

While the delegations acknowledged that the difficult market situation in shipbuilding is linked to a slow and uncertain economic recovery and a mismatch between shipbuilding capacity and demand, they also recognized that the challenges of tighter environmental requirements could provide the opportunity for innovation. And innovation in shipbuilding technologies will be of core importance for a steady development of the eco-friendly maritime industry. It could also open-up new business areas.

The top executives shared the view that shipbuilders need to urge regulatory authorities to implement worldwide environmental regulation which stimulates innovation, while at the same time safeguard intellectual property.

All delegations agreed to make constant disciplined efforts for a continued sound development of the shipbuilding industry and for intensifying corporate social responsibility for the industry.

The 26th JECKU Top Executive Meeting will be hosted by the United States in San Diego (California) and take place on 15 and 16 November 2017.

MedCruise general assembly to be held at Gibraltar 14 to 17 June

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 26 October 2016 26 October 2016

The next general assembly of MedCruise, the organisation that promotes the Mediterranean region to the cruise industry, will be held from 14 to 17 June next year at Gibraltar, the organisation said in a statement. It is the 50^th time the event would be held, it added.