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Carnival Cruise Lines and Dallas Cowboys announce multi-year partnership

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 24 July 2014 24 July 2014

Carnival Cruise Lines, Texas’ largest cruise operator, today announced an exclusive, multi-year partnership with the Dallas Cowboys, making Carnival the Official Cruise Line of the legendary NFL franchise and expanding the cruise operator’s already wide-ranging commitment to the Texas market. Carnival, which will homeport a third year-round ship in Galveston next year, will enjoy extensive branding and visibility through Dallas Cowboys-owned properties and bring its signature brand of fun to fans.

In its new role as the Official Cruise Line of the Dallas Cowboys, Carnival will add fun and memorable fan experiences to tailgaters at home games with its new “Fun Crew,” which tours the lots at AT&T Stadium on branded golf carts, offering exciting prizes to Cowboys fans, including the chance to win one of many cruise vacation giveaways. The Carnival brand will also be highly visible on digital marquees in the stadium and on other Cowboys media and online properties. Fans can also get in on the fun through a host of social media promotions and activities, giveaways and more.

The line’s partnership kicks off this week with the exclusive sponsorship of the Dallas Cowboys Training Camp Daily News Show airing regionally on Fox Sports Network. During nightly camp updates, new “Carnival 1st & Fun” segments offer an inside look at the fun firsts Cowboy’s reporter Lindsay Cash experienced on her recent Carnival cruise vacation. The segments will also be available at Carnival’s YouTube page (www.youtube.com/carnival).

“Carnival is far and away the most popular cruise line in Texas and millions of Texans have enjoyed exceptional vacations sailing with us from our homeport in Galveston,” said Jim Berra, chief marketing officer for Carnival Cruise Lines. “Partnering with one of the most successful and storied franchises in professional sports makes perfect sense for us as the avid Cowboys fan base is among the most spirited in the country, much like Carnival guests.”

“We’re thrilled to bring Carnival Cruise Lines aboard as our Official Cruise Line,” said Jerry Jones Jr., chief marketing officer of the Dallas Cowboys. “We look forward to enhancing the game-day experience for every Cowboys fan with the unique brand of fun and entertaining activities Carnival will be bringing to our home games.”

The Dallas Cowboys partnership coincides with the line’s upcoming deployment of a third year-round ship, Carnival Freedom, to Galveston in February 2015. With the addition of Carnival Freedom, which recently underwent an extensive multi-million dollar makeover, Carnival expects to carry more than 600,000 guests a year from Texas – the most of any cruise operator. Carnival Freedom will join Carnival Magic in offering seven-day Caribbean cruises and Carnival Triumph which sails on four and five-day voyages to Mexico.

Fred. Olsen teams up with UK high nobility in Poison, Murder & Mystery cruise

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 24 July 2014 24 July 2014

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, the UK based destinational operator of four medium sized ships, has teamed up with a member of British high nobility in a Poison, Murder & Mystery cruise that will sail from Rosyth in Scotland on 10 July next year.

The company wants to capitalise on the success of the Titanic memorial cruise its largest vessel, the 45,000 gross ton Balmoral operated in 2012. In the Poison, Murder & Mystery cruise thsat will be operated by the 28,000 gross ton Boudicca, the company has teamed up with Her Grace, The Duchess of Northumberland, who has a poison garden at the ducal country seat of Alnwick in the North East of England. Fred. Olsen Senior, chairman of many companies in the family's business empire, including the cruise line, also has a poison garden, located at Guimar on the Tenerife in the Canary Islands in Spain.

The cruise will include a visit to both Alnwick, where the Duchess has invested £40 million to develop the poison garden that features more than 100 toxic plants and which featured in maby Harry Potter films, plus Guimar, where a theatrical company will stage a performance of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Guest speakers on the cruise include felix Francis, som of the thriller author Dick Francis; Peter Dean who is Her Majesty's Coroner for Essex, Dr. Dan Jones, the noted poison historian and archaeologist, plus Dr Mark Siddall, curator of "The Power of Poison" exhibition at The American Museum of Natural History.

A theatrical company will travel on the cruise and passengers are encouraged to take up roles in a murder mystery that will evolve as the cruise progresses. They are also invited to try to solve the mystery and the person who does that will receive a world cruise for two persons as a prize.

The Northumberland dukedom belongs to the Percy family, whose ancestors came over to England from Normandy in 1067, in the wake of William the Conqueror. The current duke is the12th holder of the title. The ducal estate comprises two great houses, the medieval castle at Alnwick and Syon House, a splendid country house by Robert Adam, in Middlesex near London.

Brenda Kyllo names AmaSonata in Vilshofen

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 23 July 2014 23 July 2014

AmaWaterways this week celebrated the christening of its new 164-passenger vessel AmaSonata. AmaWaterways Co-Founders Rudi Schreiner and Kristin Karst joined the line’s first-ever Canadian Godmother – Brenda Kyllo of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) – for a series of festivities in Vilshofen, Germany at the conclusion of the ship’sMelodies of the Danube sailing.

“We are honored to have celebrated yet another successful and very special christening this week, officially welcoming AmaSonata to our expanding family,” said Kristin Karst, AmaWaterways’ Executive Vice President and Co-Owner. “AmaWaterways is delighted to recognize Brenda Kyllo as Godmother to AmaSonata, as we so greatly value our relationship with CAA members and our Canadian travelers overall.”

The day’s ceremonies began with a traditional Bavarian lunch, live Bavarian music and waltzes. A traditional Bavarian shoot by professional shooters off the ship’s sundeck delighted the ship’s guests, Vilshofen locals and government officials, and AmaWaterways owners and staff. Following an afternoon of continuing entertainment, Schreiner and Karst arrived with Kyllo in a horse drawn carriage. Traditions including the signing of the ship’s guestbook, a prayer by the abbot, and the ship’s official christening preceded a closing ceremony with fireworks.

AmaSonata joins the AmaWaterways fleet alongside sister ships AmaPrima and AmaCerto, as well as AmaReina, another newly built ship that debuted in March 2014. AmaSonata features spacious staterooms and suites, multiple dining venues, onboard massage and salon services, a heated swimming pool with swim-up bar, fitness room, complimentary bicycles and many other upscale amenities and innovative design elements. The ship is already being praised online, recently featured by Yahoo! News as one of the “Eight Cruise-Ship Pools that Make You Say Wow.”

AmaSonata’s inaugural voyage set sail April 22 from Amsterdam on an unforgettable Tulip Time Cruise. The ship has since visited Prague, Budapest, and other top spots along the romantic Danube. Future itineraries include The Legendary Danube, The Romantic Danube and The Melodies of the Danube, visiting Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and other incredible destinations.

Fjord Line sees doubling of passenger volume on two new ships

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 23 July 2014 23 July 2014

Fjord Line, the Norwegian ferry company that has introduced two lng powered newbuildings between Norway and Denmark, says it expects to transport nearly 1 million passengers aboard its four ships in 2014, more than twice as many as in 2013.

"We expect a 90% increase in passenger numbers for the January through July period of 2014 compared to the same seven month period of 2013, and believe we will more than double the number for the full year," said Fjord Line CEO Ingvald Fardal in a statement.

Last July, Stavangerfjord entered service as the first of Fjord Line's two large, eco-friendly cruise ferries, while an identical sister ship, the Bergensfjord, joined the fleet in March this year. Both ships were built at the Fosen shipyard in Norway. The ships serve the routes between the Norwegian cities of Bergen and Stavanger and Hirtshals, Denmark, as well as between Hirtshals and Langesund, Norway.

Stavagerfjord and Bergensfjord are of 32,000 gross tons and they are the only major passengers vessels that only use lng as fuel; other ships that use it can also operate on oil by using dual fuel engines.

"We had 109,000 guests on the Bergen-Stavanger-Hirtshals line in the first seven months of last year, a number that is expected to increase nearly 82% to 198,000 for the same period of this year. The Hirtshals-Langesund line opened last July, with more than 17,000 guests in its first two weeks of operation, while so far this year the number of passengers has hit about 125,000," says Fardal.

For 2014 so far, Fjord Line can also report that about 137,000 passengers have taken the company's express line between Kristiansand, Norway and Hirtshals, and that some 48,000 travelled on the new service between Sandefjord, Norway and Strömstad, Sweden. That means Fjord Line's total bookings for the period will be about 508,000, compared to 267,000 for the seven months ending in July 2013.

"Our projections suggest that, for 2014 as a whole, the passenger count for all four of our ships will exceed 950,000 guests, or more than double the number recorded for the full year of 2013. As a result, Fjord Line's share of the cruise ferry market between Norway and the European Union is expected to increase to about 15% in 2014 compared to 7% a year earlier, which we see as extremely satisfactory," underscores Fardal.

Costa Concordia begins tow to scrap yard

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 23 July 2014 23 July 2014

Wreck of the Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia is being towed to Genoa in Italy for scrapping from the island of Giglio, where the ship sank after running aground in January 2012, media reports say.

The wreck was rightened last autumn and refloated nine days ago.

At 114,147 gross tons, Costa Concordia that was delivered to Costa Crociere in 2006, is by far the largest passenger vessel that has ever been declared constructive total loss.

It took the title from Seawise University, formerly the first Queen Elizabeth of Cunard Line (1940-68), which sank after a fire in Hong Kong in January 1972. The ship was of 83,673 gross registered tons.