Royal Princess, three months old, suffers power failure

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: More News More News

Published: 23 September 2013 23 September 2013

Princess Cruises has been forced to cancel a cruise of its three month old Royal Princess after it lost power in the Mediterranean,” Travel Weekly reports.

The 142,721 gross ton ship suffered from a power outage on Sunday while sailing between Mykonos and Naples. It was carrying 3,594 passengers and 1,336 crew and was on the seventh day of a 12-day voyage from Venice. There was no danger to those on board and emergency generators provided power for essential services, the report pointed out.

 

Power was reported to have been out for around three and a half hours. A statement from the US line confirmed that the cruise will be cancelled after the ship arrives in Naples tomorrow evening (Tuesday). It is not yet known what impact there will be on the next cruise, due to depart from Barcelona on September 27. Passengers in the current voyage will receive a full refund along with a 25% future cruise credit.

The line said: "The ship’s technical team continued to evaluate the problem overnight and, upon further assessment, it became apparent that repairs need to be made to fully resolve the situation. "We sincerely regret this means the remainder of the current cruise will be cancelled, and passengers will disembark the ship in Naples. Princess is making homeward air arrangements for passengers, and we anticipate that passengers will spend Tuesday night onboard and depart the ship on Wednesday," the report said.

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge named the ship at Southampton in June.

Does cruise industry let down its key target group? – Philpot

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 20 September 2013 20 September 2013

The cruise industry has worked hard to change a preconceived image held by many that it only caters for older people, but Nathan Philpot, director of marketing at Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines in the UK questions whether the industry's efforts to change that mean it is letting down its 55 and over key target group.

Speaking at the Columbus Day event of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) in Liverpool in the UK , he was quoted by Travel Weekly as saying: "We need to question ourselves - are we promoting the image of cruise that we feel more comfortable with or the image of cruise that us most relevant to the audience we are talking to?"

A third of Britain’s population - 18 million out of 62 million – are aged 55 or over and Philpot said the lines and agents should target at this segment. "What are we doing wrong? We're not catering to the needs of the over 55s market."

Philpot referred to the response to BBC's recent series The Cruise: A Life At Sea, which featured a Fred Olsen world cruise on the 44,000 gross ton Balmoral, by asking if the cruise industry was ageist. The show received a negative reaction from the industry with some saying it highlighted the preconceptions of cruising being for the older generations.

"It did cause a few issues about age. It was a world cruise average age of 69. The industry didn't seem to like looking at cruisers as they are. Perhaps we prefer the airbrushed views of cruisers,” he was quoted as saying.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is a destination focused cruise shipping company that operates four medium sized ships on the British market. The company operates from 10 ports around the country and its itineraries range from two night mini cruises to around the world voyages that take more than three months.

TUI Cruises targets activity orientated holidaymakers with two ships in Norway 2014

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

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Published: 19 September 2013 19 September 2013

TUI Cruises, the Hamburg based premium cruise shipping company, says it will be operating two ships on cruises to Norway next year due to strong demand and that those who look for a holiday that offer  a good range of activities are a target group.

The company will offer a range of activity focused excursions that range from white water rafting, kayaking and riding a mountain bike on mountain roads from an altitude of 1,500 metres.

 “With our varied excursion programme, we also attract holidaymakers that are looking for an active holiday; who seek a mix of relaxation on deck and excitement in the nature,” said Richard Vogel, ceo of TUI Cruises, in a statement.

The company currently operates two ships, while a newbuilding is due to enter service next spring and another one in 2015.

Royal Caribbean appoints Nick Weir to Vice President of Entertainment

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

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Published: 18 September 2013 18 September 2013

Royal Caribbean International today announced the appointment of Nick Weir to Vice President of Entertainment. Nick will oversee the cruise line's onboard entertainment and guest activities programming, as well as Royal Caribbean Productions, the industry's only in-house department that creates, produces and manages the largest entertainment operation at sea.

"Royal Caribbean is known as the entertainment cruise brand and has created countless entertainment innovations at sea, such as fully licensed Broadway musicals, Vegas-style, acrobatic high-diving productions, and the DreamWorks Experience," said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, executive vice president of Operations, Royal Caribbean International. "With his stellar and diverse background, Nick will help lead Royal Caribbean's award-winning entertainment program to the next level – not just for our existing fleet of the world's largest and most innovative cruise ships, but also for the three Quantum-class and a third Oasis-class ship that will be launching starting in late-2014."

Nick joins Royal Caribbean with more than 25 years of experience in both the entertainment and cruise industries – with notable achievements in performance and production, both on- and off-stage, in almost every aspect of the entertainment world. He comes from a tradition of maritime entertainment, where his mother was an accomplished cruise entertainer and his father was a pioneering Cruise Director.

Nick also hosted and presented a number of major network television shows in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States. He is best known for hosting a re-launch of the primetime network-television show "Catchphrase," where he succeeded in the mission of markedly improving the ratings in the critical 18-54 target demographic.

For the past 10 years, Nick owned and operated an entertainment consulting company with projects that included television and live event production services, speech and script writing, entertainment program analysis and solution development, charity event/live auction production, corporate video production, cruise industry start-up projects and Cruise Director services. Additionally, he has served in many capacities in the cruise industry, including as Entertainment Consultant and Cruise Director for Celebrity Cruises and Costa Cruises, and consulted extensively for Star Clippers Tall Ship Cruises.

Nick studied Marine Science and Biology at the University of Miami and holds a Business Administration degree from Columbus International College in Marbella, Spain.