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Cruise Shipping Asia-Pacific expecting significant rise in attendance

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 07 October 2013 07 October 2013

UBM, owners and organizers of the Cruise Shipping Asia-Pacific conference and exhibition, anticipate a strong increase in attendance at the third edition of the event, set to open Wednesday, October 9.

While cruising is still quite a new concept within the Asia-Pacific market, organizers are already seeing a nearly 20 percent increase over last year’s attendance, based on pre-registration numbers alone. Given that 2012 numbers nearly doubled via on-site registration, total attendance may potentially reach 40 percent higher than previous years at the close of the show on Thursday, October 10th.

Additionally, the size of the trade show floor has increased significantly as well. Exhibitors from all over the world, interested in trading in the Asia-Pacific cruise market have purchased nearly 20 percent more exhibit stand space than the 2012 event.

“The uptick in attendance and exhibit space this year truly mirrors the ongoing growth and expansion of the cruise industry in the Pan-Asia market,” said Daniel Read, Portfolio Director of UBM’s Cruise Portfolio. “The opportunity the cruise lines bring to this market is unprecedented, especially when you take into account passenger sourcing for worldwide destinations and the shipbuilding and repair sector.”

Those elements and others will be thoroughly covered during the conference, which begins with the State of the Cruise Industry in Asia plenary session on Wednesday, October 9 at 10:00am. Relevant concurrent sessions will follow in the afternoon and the following day.

The exhibition officially opens Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. and closes Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m. In addition, a tribute to former Asia cruise industry pioneer Rama Rebbapragada will take place when an award is given in his name to an elite contributor to the growth of the Asian cruise market, Wednesday evening during the Welcome Reception. The Rama Rebbapragada Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Cruise Industry in Asia, will be presented by Celebrity Cruises President and CEO, Michael Bayley.

Carnival launches 'Moments That Matter' trade advertising campaign

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 October 2013 04 October 2013

Carnival Cruise Lines is launching a new trade advertising campaign beginning Monday, Oct. 7, that integrates the line's new "Moments That Matter" consumer marketing campaign and features real vacation photos from past Carnival cruisers, collected through social media. The trade campaign, which appears in print and online outlets, includes a tagline thanking travel agents for creating the moments that matter for the guests in the ads.

"We are excited to continue our trade advertising through Wave season with a trade-specific take on the meaningful new 'Moments That Matter' campaign," said Joni Rein, Carnival's vice president of worldwide sales. "Travel agents help create a lifetime of wonderful memories for our guests and this new trade campaign underscores our ongoing commitment to our valued travel agent partners."

Carnival's new "Moments That Matter" TV spots debuted last month and will continue through first quarter 2014. Within the call-to-action at the end of the spot, consumers are encouraged to contact their travel professional, part of Carnival's ongoing effort to drive more traffic to travel agents.

Upcoming components of the new trade campaign will feature photos of Carnival's travel agent partners with taglines highlighting the critical role that agents play in making guests' memorable moments come to life.

Carnival's sales team is also introducing a new trade show presentation that will be shared throughout the rest of the year at trade events and on GoCCL.com highlighting the trade-specific "Moments That Matter" theme. The presentation will feature original video content of guests booked through travel agents on board Carnival ships discussing how important their travel agent was in creating that particular memorable vacation moment. In addition, the video will feature a message from Carnival Corporation & plc Chairman Micky Arison.

Costa Diadema milestones: funnel and name hull section installed

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 October 2013 04 October 2013

At Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard, Costa Diadema recently experienced two construction milestones -- the ship's distinctive yellow and blue funnel was delivered and installed Sept. 16, and the hull section containing the ship's name was placed Sept. 30.

The 4,947-passenger, 132,500-ton Costa Diadema, which will be the largest Italian-flagged cruise ship, is scheduled for delivery in October 2014.

For more than 65 years Costa Cruises' ships have showcased Italian-made excellence throughout the world with their quality of service, variety of entertainment, range of fine food and wine, and exclusive onboard art collections.

National Symphony Orchestra to perform on Queen Mary 2 for fifth time

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 03 October 2013 03 October 2013

Queen Mary 2 guest choir

Cunard has announced that the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) will return to perform aboard Queen Mary 2 on her 8-15 September 2014 Transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York. This will be the fifth time the NSO has travelled on Queen Mary 2 in what is fast becoming a highlight in the Cunard year.

The Orchestra performed on a Transatlantic crossing aboard the Cunard flagship just last month under the watchful eye of celebrated Grammy®-nominated British conductor Anthony Inglis. Anthony has performed more times at the Royal Albert Hall than any other conductor and played a key role in the naming ceremonies of each of the three ships that make up the Cunard fleet today.

During the recent crossing, over 150 passengers (including Cruise Critic Editor-in-Chief Carolyn Spencer Brown) volunteered to take part in two choirs under Anthony's direction, rehearsing regularly and then participating in two on board concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra.

During these Last Night of the Cunard Proms concerts – outstanding performances which achieved an approval rating of 99.6 in the passenger Comment Forms – two guest conductors stepped up to take the baton from Anthony Inglis at key moments: Queen Mary 2's Master, Captain Kevin Oprey, and passenger Lord (Mervyn) King, formerly the Governor of the Bank of England.

Publisher Teijo Niemela with conductor Anthony Inglis

Teijo Niemela meets Lord King

"Each time we travel on Queen Mary 2 we raise the roof in the Royal Court Theatre," said Anthony Inglis. "The Orchestra and I are still on a high from last month's sailing and we are counting down the months to September 2014 and our fifth appearance on board Queen Mary 2, the greatest ship in the world, in her tenth anniversary year!"

Queen Mary 2 will be featured in the next issue of Cruise Business Review.

Pullmantur embarking at Málaga, close to customers

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 03 October 2013 03 October 2013

Pullmantur, the Spain-focused cruise line, has announced Málaga as a port of embarkation, between late September and November 2013, for its eight-day-seven-night “Leyendas del Mediterráneo” (Legends of Mediterranean) itinerary onboard two of its vessels, Empress and Sovereign.

The company cited the city as one of the fastest growing cruise ports in Spain and major attractions in its immediate environ among the reasons for this move. Alan Lam reports.

During this period, there will be four embarkations with Empress and three with Sovereign: the first of which took place on Sunday, 29 September. In the coming weeks, the company envisages bringing in over 12,000 cruise tourists to visit this vibrant Andalucian city.

“Leyendas del Mediterráneo” includes calls at Cagliari, Civitavecchia, Ajaccio, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia, offering its passengers - according to Pullmantur - an “all inclusive” and unforgettable Mediterranean experience with “major entertainment programmes in high sea” and excursions on shore.

“In this way,” said the company, “Pullmantur brings the product closer to the public and position its ships in one of the fastest growing ports in Spain.”

Pullmantur is part of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), the second largest cruise shipping group in the world.

Alan Lam