Princess appoints Anthony Kaufman Senior Vice President of Asia Operations

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

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Published: 02 April 2014 02 April 2014

Anthony Kaufman has been appointed by Carnival plc to the new position of senior vice president, Asia operations for the Princess Cruises brand. In this newly created role, Kaufman will oversee multiple sales and marketing teams throughout Asia that are focused on growing the Princess brand throughout the region and supporting the brand’s itineraries in China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore. In addition, he will continue to develop Princess Cruises’ strong relationships with government authorities, industry associations and business partners in the region. He will also facilitate coordination with the many operating departments that support Princess’ growing Asia deployment.

Previously Princess’ senior vice president of commercial affairs, Kaufman will now focus on the company’s new program to base ships in both the Japan and China cruise markets. In Japan, the Princess brand is entering its second year with two ships based in three homeports. New this year, one Princess ship will be based in Shanghai to introduce a brand-new premium “Princess Class” cruise experience to the China vacation market, and will then move to homeport in Singapore to offer a series of cruises in the Southeast Asia region.

“Tony’s appointment will provide a single point of focus as we continue to expand in Asia,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises president. “He brings to this role more than 20 years of experience with Princess, and his extensive commercial experience, coupled with his strong relationship and leadership skills, will harness the great work happening across our growing Asia teams.”

Kaufman’s background includes a variety of positions at Princess including onboard revenue, shore operations, supply chain, newbuild contracting, and legal, among others. He joined Princess in 1993 as assistant general counsel and director of business affairs. In 2000, Kaufman was appointed general counsel of Princess’ then-parent company, P&O Princess Cruises plc, based in London. In 2003, he returned to Princess Cruises’ headquarters in California to take on his role in commercial affairs.

Kaufman will be based in the company’s Santa Clarita, California headquarters office.

He holds a B.A. degree in communication studies from UCLA and a law degree, cum laude, from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, where he was an editor of the Loyola Law Review.

MSC Cruises takes first payment via Paypal in UK

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 02 April 2014 02 April 2014

MSC Cruises, the Geneva based cruise company, said it today took its first deposit using the online payment system Paypal.

"The system will now make it even easier to book cruises as holidaymakers can speed through the booking process in just a few clicks. At checkout, guests will be redirected to the Paypal website where they will be able to complete their reservation quickly and securely," the company's London office said in a statement.

Paypal safely stores all personal and financial information behind a single, secure login. It safeguards card and bank details, enabling users to pay online without having to enter sensitive financial information each time.

Giles Hawke, Executive Director the UK, Ireland and Australia commented, “This is great news for MSC Cruises asit is now even easier to book with us. MSC Cruises are constantly looking at ways to make life easier for our customers and we recognisethat people’s buying habits are changing. A number of customers have come to trust PayPal as a secure way of transacting on line and we are certain that this new way of paying will appeal tothose regular internet shoppers.”

Explorer of the Seas to homeport in Southampton in 2015

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

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Published: 31 March 2014 31 March 2014

Royal Caribbean International’s Explorer of the Seas will sail its very first Europe season in summer 2015. The cruise line’s Adventure of the Seas, which was originally announced to homeport at Southampton, U.K., is being exchanged for Explorer of the Seas, which will take over three- to 16-night, roundtrip itineraries from late-April through Sept. 2015. Vacationers can choose among three- and eight-night Northern Europe itineraries, 11- to 16-night Mediterranean itineraries, or 10- to 14-night Madeira, Azores and Canary Islands itineraries. Adventure of the Seas will remain at San Juan, Puerto Rico, to sail seven-night Southern Caribbean cruises throughout the summer season.

Explorer of the Seas will complete an extensive, month-long drydock revitalization before starting seasonal service and boast a wide range of new innovative features to offer guests an unforgettable onboard experience. Guests can test their surfing skills on a new FlowRider surf simulator; watch a film come to life in a magical 3-D Movie theatre; and sample cuisine from around the world in a new range of onboard restaurants. There will also be all-new staterooms and luxurious suites, plus new virtual balconies that bring live ocean and destination views into interior staterooms. Additional revitalization details will be unveiled at a later date.

Voyager-class Explorer of the Seas is still among the world’s largest and most innovative cruise ships, featuring Royal Caribbean exclusive onboard amenities not yet matched by any other cruise line. The Voyager class of ships was the first to introduce the active cruise vacation and features the cruise line’s iconic rock-climbing wall, a real ice-skating rink, a full-size basketball and sports court, and the Royal Promenade, an interior boulevard that runs nearly the length of the ship that is flanked by restaurants, lounges and boutiques and where spectacular parades and evening dance parties are held.

Explorer of the Seas will be joined in the U.K. by the industry’s ground-breaking Quantum-class ship Anthem of the Seas at Southampton and Radiance-class Brilliance of the Seas at Harwich, England. Only just revealed last week, the Quantum Class will introduce the new Dynamic Dining experience, offering more choice and flexibility than ever before. With Dynamic Dining, guests are empowered to decide when, where, and with whom to dine – as well as how to dress every evening – among a landscape of 18 restaurants as varied as dining in the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. For more information about the new Dynamic Dining experience, please visit .

Along with its sister-ship Quantum of the Seas, the 4,180-guest, 167,800 gross tonnage Anthem of the Seas – both currently under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany – will be a dramatic leap forward for the cruise industry and introduce more game-changing “firsts at sea” such as a skydiving experience call RipCord by iFLY (http://bit.ly/1h3lt5f), and the North Star (http://bit.ly/1c3qiFU), an engineering marvel featuring a jewel like capsule that extends 300 feet above the ocean and over the sides of the ship to deliver 360-degree views for guests. Cutting-edge transformative venues include SeaPlex (http://bit.ly/1c3qiFU), the largest indoor sports and entertainment complex at sea with bumper cars, roller skating and more; and the cruise line’s largest and most advanced staterooms ever. These new, larger staterooms (http://bit.ly/1c3qLrC) enable innovation in design, storage and comfort including the industry’s first virtual balconies. More information on Quantum class of ships is available at RoyalCaribbean.com/QuantumoftheSeas.

Britannia first day bookings rise 81% vs Azura despite IT glitch

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 31 March 2014 31 March 2014

P&O Cruises, the UK focused contemporary market unit in Carnival Corp & plc group, saw an 81% increase in bookings for Britannia on opening day compared to the launch of its last ship Azura that was introduced in 2010, Travel Weekly reports.

Chris Truscott, sales and distribution support director, said there had been massive demand despite issues with the company’s IT system which caused problems for agents and customers attempting to make bookings. "We were having problems with our systems the night before, and then they went down on the morning as we opened to bookings. It was a combination of problems with the system and bad timing, being the first day of bookings," he was quoted as saying.

Truscott said bookings showed a 24% increase on the best ever ship launch for Ventura, introduced in 2008, and that the "vast, vast majority of bookings made been made by agents."

He said the systems went down and then eventually P&O was able to take bookings through its contact centre which is normally open to just consumers but was available to agents during the system failure. He said agents made bookings through his method and then by 10.30 both systems were back up and running.

The 143,000 gross ton Britannia will be the largest ship in the P&O Cruises’ fleet and it will take the number of ships the company has to eight.