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Celebrity Cruises announces Great British Chefs partnership

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 25 June 2014 25 June 2014

Celebrity Cruises, the premium market unit of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL) announced a new partnership with leading food and recipe website, Great British Chefs. “The rapidly growing website, with over 100 featured chefs boasting 120 Michelin Stars between them, is one of Britain’s leading authorities on great cooking and inspires food lovers with a vast selection of recipes, tips and how-to videos,” Celebrity said in a statement.

“The six month partnership offers Celebrity Cruises the opportunity to share its culinary expertise with users of the website who have an enthusiastic passion for food and cooking. The campaign will showcase a variety of recipes and ingredients from a number of global destinations, all inspired by cities, towns and harbours on offer from a Celebrity Cruises’ holiday.”

Commenting on the partnership Toby Shaw Director of Marketing and PR for Celebrity Cruises UK and Ireland said: “Food, drink and the dining experience is central to a Celebrity Cruises holiday and we look forward to developing our relationship with Great British Chefs. We’re always looking for new and innovative partnerships that help us reach a new audience who might not be aware of the exceptional choice of great food and stunning wines offered on Celebrity Cruises. We’ll be working closely with the team at Great British Chefs to provide both our collective audiences with new creative ideas and recipe recommendations.”

Focusing on a series of recipes on a monthly basis, designed by Great British Chefs such as Pierre Koffmann, William Drabble, Marcello Tully and Andy McLeish and a group of influential food bloggers, the content partnership will make the most of the great foodie credentials of Celebrity Cruises and Great British Chefs. The recipes, created by some of Britain’s most influential chefs, will be inspired by a particular region or location visited by Celebrity Cruises to bring to life the diverse dining experiences a cruise offers, from Mediterranean sea bass to confit duck from the South of France.

The campaign itself will run across a number of platforms and will include food blogger engagement, social media promotions and competitions and separately created web content.

Celebrity Cruises’ contemporary fleet offers a modern luxury experience with its cutting edge design and warm spaces; dining experiences where the design of the venues is as important as the cuisine; and the amazing service that only Celebrity Cruises can provide, all created to provide an unmatchable experience for holidaymaker’s precious time.

Great British Chefs is a premium brand that provides food lovers with great recipes, tips and how-to videos from the very best chefs in Britain.

Saga Cruises plans third ship, newbuilding an option

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 25 June 2014 25 June 2014

Saga Cruises, which is part of the recently floated lifestyle company Saga plc, plans to acquire a third ship to replace the recently withdrawn Saga Ruby and may even order a newbuilding, a spokesperson for the company told Cruise Business.

A report on CruiseCritic.co.uk said the third ship should be similar in size to the 446 passenger Saga Ruby II and Saga Sapphire, which has 706 berths.

Previously, we have looked at buying the slightly older tonnage, traditional tonnage," Saga Cruises’ ceo Robin Shaw told Cruise Critic. "It's fair to say that we will evaluate all options, including newer hardware. The option of a new build is not completely off the agenda.”

The Saga group offers a wide range of services to customers ovver the age of 50. The UK cruise market generated 1.72 million passengers in 2013, of whom 1.1 million were aged 55 or more.

New Bali cruises, bonus savings, scheduled for Crystal's fall/winter voyages

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

Four new Crystal cruises will feature Bali as a destination both on land and at sea in fall 2014 and early winter 2015. Complementing local overnights aboard Crystal Symphony are a bevy of native dancers, an Emmy award-winning Bali anthropologist/filmmaker, and arguably the island’s most renowned traditional chef. Departing Nov 24, Dec 7, Jan 5 and Jan 17, each new 12- to 14-day itinerary also calls in several other Indonesian ports while sailing between Bali and Singapore, and boasts visits to Australia and Southeast Asia, depending on the cruise. Limited time “Book Now” fares offer $800 in air credit, and up to $2100 in savings, on the voyages.

The expanded onboard programming includes:

Chef Heinz von Holzen – Local chef and author behind the island’s only authentic Balinese cuisine restaurant, bringing aboard his latest modern-meets-traditional recipes to share via hands-on cooking classes, demonstrations, a guest chef dinner for all, and a limited-availability Vintage Room dinner featuring multiple courses of the secret dishes, each perfectly paired with rare wines. (Jan 5 sailing only)

Dr. Lawrence Blair – Bali resident and anthropological expert, sharing personal tales from his Emmy Award-winning PBS series and book Ring of Fire, which explores the region’s volcanic eruptions, gypsy pirates, man-eating animals (and people), and Blair’s own homesteading in a Balinese village. (all voyages)

Local Kecak dancers – An ancient tradition, featuring a group of approximately 100 men clad in checked waist-cloths depicting the epic Hindu battle of Ramayana via native dance, chanting, and music. (all voyages)

Ashore, guests can ride an elephant through the forest, step inside temples once reserved only for the rajas, learn how traditional batik and other crafts are made, visit local villages and residences, taste and make even more traditional dishes, view volcano vistas and rice paddies, and experience other ancient stories through music, such as a Barong dance.

“From more time to explore the island itself to bringing the Island of the Gods’ top experts in culture, cuisine, and art on board, each cruise offers a rare immersive experience from ship to shore,” says Crystal President Edie Rodriguez. “Travelers can really embrace the genuinely warm and welcoming Balinese spirit that, although exotic, also so closely reflects Crystal’s own culture.”

Other Indonesian calls include Komodo Island (for the famed pre-historic Komodo dragons), Semarang (for UNESCO’s magnificent world heritage site, Borobudur), Jakarta, Surabaya and a maiden visit to Belawan. Depending on the sailing, other destinations include Malacca City, Penang, Kuala Lumpur/Port Kelang and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Sydney, Darwin, Brisbane, Hamilton Island/Whitsunday Island and Cairns, Australia.; and sailing through the Great Barrier Reef, Java Sea and Indonesian Archipelago.

Until the June 30 “Book Now” deadline, all-inclusive cruise fares for the Bali sailings start at $3,110 per person, with special perks and offers available for solo cruisers, families sailing with kids under 17, plus air credits of up to$800 per person. Shorter “Getaway” segments are also available on the 2014 sailings, for those with less time.

Crystal’s passion for taking care of guests in an inviting environment of extraordinary space, quality and choices has earned the company more “World’s Best” awards than any other cruise line, resort, or hotel in history.

Fincantieri launches Viking Star in Marghera

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

Yesterday Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera and Viking Cruises celebrated the launching of the Viking Star, the first of three cruise ships that Fincantieri is currently building for the company. The ship will now move into the fitting-out stage, leading to its scheduled delivery in the spring of 2015.

Fincantieri has already started work on the Viking Sea and the Viking Sky, the second and third ships in the series, which will be respectively delivered at the Marghera shipyard in the spring of 2016 and at the Ancona shipyard during the summer of the same year.

Attending the ceremony for the shipowner was Torstein Hagen, founder and chairman of Viking Cruises, while Fincantieri was represented, among others, by Antonio Quintano, the yard manager.

Viking Star, like its two sister ships, will be positioned in the small cruise ship segment. In fact, with a gross tonnage of about 47,800 tons, it will have 465 cabins with accommodation for 930 passengers. The ship has been designed by SMC Design of London, while Rottet Studio in Los Angeles has been engaged to design its interior, where every attention will be paid to style and elegance.

The construction of this series of ships is evidence of the solid business relationship between Viking and Fincantieri.

Fincantieri has built 65 cruise ships since 1990, of which 42 since 2002.

TUI Cruises joins business group to promote LNG as maritime fuel

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

TUI Cruises, the Hamburg based premium market shipping company, says it has joined a business group with an aim to promote liquefied natural gas (LNG) as nmaritime fuel.

Maritime LNG Plattform, which is the name of the group that was established earlier this week in Hamburg, wants to bring ship owners, ports and industrial groups together to promote LNG.

The group hopes e.g. that a further 50 ships that regularly trade to German ports will be powered by LNG and that at least five German ports will offer LNG bunkering also in five years’ time.