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Wolfgang Ebenbichler appointed Vice President Guest Experience, Food and Beverage for Princess Cruises

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 14 September 2015 14 September 2015

Wolfgang Ebenbichler has been appointed to the role of vice president, guest experience, food and beverage for Princess Cruises. In this role, he will be responsible for leading a team that connects with guests each day through a wide spectrum of culinary, dining, bar and lounge experiences.

Ebenbichler brings many years of experience as head of food and beverage operations and as an executive chef at hotels and resorts around the world, including Caesar's Entertainment, the Opryland Resort, and Starwood’s Disney World Swan and Dolphin, where he was responsible for developing a number of new food and beverage concepts.

Most recently he has served as Chief Executive Officer of u4iA Concepts, a hospitality organization that designs concepts and connects resorts and casinos with third-party restaurant and bar operators.

“Wolfgang brings valuable experience and a wealth of knowledge in food and beverage management and operations to Princess Cruises. We know he will drive a successful team to deliver to our guests memorable culinary experiences,” said Rai Caluori, executive vice president of guest experience and product development. “He will play an incredible role leading the development and implementation of many new culinary offerings including the roll-out of our new partnership with Chef Curtis Stone, new developments for Chocolate Journeys with Chocolatier Norman Love and our popular craft beer series, to name a few.”

A chef by training, Ebenbichler completed his culinary certification and hospitality management studies in Austria and began his career in the United States with culinary management positions at Ritz Carlton hotels.

Viking Line enjoys tailwind

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 10 September 2015 10 September 2015

Viking Line recorded excellent passenger figures during the summer 2015 season, especially in July and August. More than 2.3 million passengers travelled on the Company’s red- and white- painted vessels during June–August. Last year Viking Line offered expanded summer service on the Helsinki (Finland)–Tallinn (Estonia) route – and it did the same again this year, but with somewhat fewer sailings.

Because of colder-than-normal weather in June the summer season was weak at first, but it ended with a strong volume surge in July and August. Viking Line set an all-time record for July when its passenger volume on all routes reached 945,343, or 20,519 more than the previous record achieved in 2014. A total of more than 2,325,000 passengers sailed on Viking Line vessels during June–August, or 0.5 per cent fewer than in the same period last year.

Stable summer – increased travel between Sweden and Finland

The number of passengers between Finland and Sweden increased during the three- month period. Over 1,004,000 passengers travelled between the two countries during June–August, or 1.6 per cent more than last year (988,000). There was heavy demand for day cruises and short voyages. Volume was stable on longer routes, and on some days it even reached capacity.

The extra sailings by the M/S Mariella and M/S Gabriella between Helsinki and Tallinn provided an extra boost to passenger volume. The number of passengers on the Tallinn route during June–August totalled 734,000 (775,000). The reason why the figure is lower this year than in the summer of 2014 is that there were 46 more sailings last year than in June–August this year.

“We are pleased with this summer’s passenger figures. The extra sailings to Tallinn that we put in service were successful. This service ran smoothly, and last year’s passenger figures inspired us to provide it again. Passengers have obviously discovered this alternative between Helsinki and Tallinn and have felt comfortable on board our vessels. On this route, very tough price competition was evident this summer. This benefited customers, who enjoyed high quality at affordable prices. Passenger figures between Finland and Sweden were also encouragingly high,” says Jan Hanses, President and CEO of Viking Line.

On the Turku (Finland)–Åland Islands (Finland)–Stockholm (Sweden) route, passenger volume was 688,000 or 2.3 per cent higher than during the corresponding period of last year (673,000).

Passenger volume on the Helsinki–Åland–Stockholm route was stable, totalling 316,000 or 0.2 per cent more than last year’s corresponding figure (315,000).

In June–August more than 278,000 passengers chose to take cruises on the M/S Viking Cinderella from Stockholm to Mariehamn (Åland). Compared to the summer of 2014, the number of passengers rose by 10.4 per cent (252,000).

On the short Mariehamn–Kapellskär (Sweden) route, the M/S Rosella’s passenger count this past summer was 299,000 or 2.9 per cent lower than in the year-earlier period (308,000).

The number of passenger cars carried on Viking Line vessels increased by 1.5 per cent compared to the summer of 2014.

Princess Cruises appoints Tony Roberts VP UK & Europe

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 September 2015 08 September 2015

Princess Cruises has appointed Tony Roberts as VP UK and Europe, travel Weekly reports on its website. He succeeds Paul Ludlow who joined P&O Cruises as senior vice president, sales and marketing as part of a recent commercial restructure at Carnival UK.

Roberts, 40, has worked for Carnival UK for 15 years, initiating and launching a number of major projects alongside the commercial, sales and digital teams, the report said.

Princess Cruises is part of the Carnival Corp & plc group.

P&O Cruises’ Britannia to feature in UK food programme

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 September 2015 08 September 2015

Britannia, the new flagship of P&O Cruises, which is the UK focused contemporary market brand in the Carnival Corp &plc group, will feature in a food programme on British television, the cruise line said in a statement.

“Marco Pierre White is set to judge the cooking skills of celebrities including Alex James and Keith Duffy in competitive new travelling cookery show set at sea. P&O Cruises newest ship Britannia is to be the star of Battlechefs , from award-winning television network UKTV,” P&O Cruises said.

P&O Cruises is teaming up with Spark Media to bring the show to its flagship entertainment channel Watch. The show will see ten amateur celebrity chefs including Alex James (Blur), Keith Duffy (Boyzone) and John Partridge (EastEnders) board Britannia and take it in turns to command the kitchen. Their talents will be judged by British celebrity chef and P&O Cruises Food Hero Marco Pierre White.

Filmed over two Mediterranean cruises on Britannia, each itinerary will be host to its own self-contained competition featuring five celebrities, who will each assume the role of head chef and prepare a meal for the Captain and his VIP guests. In each episode, we follow the untrained chefs as the ship sails from port to port they discover charming and captivating stories about each location and the food that is grown and produced locally.

Using the new cooking techniques they’ve learnt, they will each try to impress the Captain with their skills. Their competitors will help prepare the meal, but as they also get a chance to score each other, will they play tactically as they fight it out to become Battlechefs Champion?

The new series was ordered by Dave General Manager, Steve North . In partnership with P&O Cruises, the show was brokered by UKTV’s Director of Commercial Partnerships, Sally Quick, Spark Media Partner founders Mark Baker and Steve Havers and P&O Cruises Marketing Director, Christopher Edgington.

UKTV Commissioning Editor Victoria Summer commented, “Travel, food and healthy competition come together in Battlechefs. It’s an energetic show which centres on challenge and good-hearted rivalry, which sits perfectly alongside Watch viewer favourites such as the hugely popular Masterchef Australia. Seeing whether our celebs can pull off the menus they’re given against the clock is going to be very entertaining.”

P&O Cruises marketing director Christopher Edgington said, “We are very excited to be making Battlechefs on Britannia. Watch provides an ideal audience to encourage newcomers to cruising and will showcase our food ethos. Our cookery school on board provides the perfect backdrop for the show as the celebrities prepare speciality dishes from around the Med."

UKTV’s Sally Quick added, “We’re very excited to be announcing our first advertiser-funded programme for Watch. We work within the commissioning team to keep the brands really close to the action of making brilliant, must-watch TV. We are delighted to be working with P&O Cruises and Spark Media on this project, they both really understand how to make great content.”

Spark Media’s Mark Baker said, “Battlechefs is part travelogue and part game show. It’s a TV hybrid that features celebs who are passionate about food. They’ll be on Britain’s biggest cruise liner as it tours the Med in the world’s first floating cookery competition.”

Battlechefs will air on Watch in 2016. It joins a raft of new content coming to the channel including Singing in the Rainforest, starring well-known celebrities including Myleene Klass and the Happy Mondays, Nigel Marvin’s Cruise Ship Adventures, which travels to some of the world’s most exotic locations discovering incredible wildlife and top rating US acquisition Secrets and Lies .

Pandaw River cruises to expand Burma, India offerings and add Amazon

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 08 September 2015 08 September 2015

Pandaw River Cruises, the Singapore based company that is domiciled in England, will widen its range of cruises in Burma and India plus introduce a series of 14 night cruises on the Amazon.

The company, which traces its roots back to 1866, will add the River Salween to its Burmese river cruise programme. From October 2016 to the following march, the company will offer a series of seven night cruises on the longest river in Burma, of which only about 100 miles are navigable.

The programme includes land transfer from Rangoon to Hpa-An via the Golden Rock at Kyalktiko and a cruise from Moulmein to Hpa-An, with the downstream itinerary operating in reverse.

The company will also add a series of seven night cruises on the south coast of Burma to its portfolio, using a 12 passenger sea going yacht called Drenec. The itinerary will include Moulmein, Tavoy, Mergui and Kawthanung. And departures run from 3 February to 9 March next year.

In India, where Pandaw has already introduced a series of cruises on the Brahmaputra river, it will add a 17 night cruise between Kolkata and Varanasi on the Ganges, with departure on 15 October.

Pandaw will also include the Amazon its its programme by offering a series of 14 night fly cruise holidays that include three nights in Rio de janeiro, followed by flight to Iguacu Falls and then another one to Santarem, with four ports of call in the lower Amazonian region.

Pandaw River Cruises is the trading name of The Irrawaddy Flotilla Company. Originally founded by Scottish merchants in Burma in 1865, it built a large fleet of vessels that traded on the rivers of the country, until Japanese invasion in 1942 forced it to scuttle its entire fleet of 650 ships. After the war, the company was not revived for a long time.

A Singapore based Scotsman with links to the company restarted it in 1995 and re-registered it in the UK. It currently owns 12 ships and operates a number of others through partnership arrangements.