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MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys under same umbrella for agents

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 06 June 2023 06 June 2023

The Cruise Division of MSC Group is enhancing support to trade partners in UK & Ireland, by bringing sales functions and other brand-dedicated resources for Explora Journeys, under the same umbrella.

This structure will also be adopted in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Brazil, China and Japan.

Antonio Paradiso, Managing Director for MSC Cruises UK & Ireland, will now assume in-market responsibility for Explora Journeys, creating greater synergies, which will benefit the travel trade community.

Commercial agreements in place with trade partners will be unchanged. Similarly, commercial conditions for the two brands will remain distinct and unchanged also going forward.

Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman, Cruise Division of MSC Group, said, “This is another demonstration from MSC Group of how we aim to grow and develop further the relationship with the travel trade community which has played such a vital role in our growth to date, and continues to do so with both our brands.”

“ This more simplified structure will provide easier access for our trade partners, especially travel advisors, leading to mutual and rewarding benefits for all sides. Most importantly, it will allow the travel trade community to benefit from the continued investments we are making in both brands, thus providing travel trade partners with expanded opportunities for growth.”

In UK & Ireland Explora Journeys will continue to have its own dedicated specialist team for sales, marketing, contact centres and public relations. Additional brand-dedicated resources will support in each market, to ensure this new approach’s timely success.

Explora Journeys’ first ship Explora I will make her maiden journey on 17 July from Southampton, UK with a 15-night sailing to the Norwegian fjords, the Arctic Circle and Copenhagen in Denmark.

Sustainability at the centre of the 62nd MedCruise General Assembly in Corfu

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 04 June 2023 04 June 2023

Sustainable cruise tourism, improvement in accessibility at Mediterranean ports, crew friendly facilities, the media, challenges facing small cruise ships and the impact on the cruise industry of new EU border rules, have been the main topics of the plenary sessions at the 62nd MedCruise General Assembly held in Corfu, Greece from 23rd to 26th of May.

The official opening of the 62rd GA was held at the Corfu Holiday Palace Hotel in the presence of dignitaries from the Port and Municipality of Corfu, joined by members of the press.

A high level of interest in this GA from members of the Association was evident. The interest of professionals for the Association was confirmed by the number of the participants. More than 160 delegates, made up of Port members, Associate members, Cruise Lines and journalists attended the event. In three busy working days MedCruise organised 450 B2B meetings, networking opportunities, dedicated excursions and discussion panels and presentations where the main topics included, sustainable cruise tourism, improvement in accessibility at Mediterranean ports, crew friendly facilities, the media, and challenges facing small cruise ships. In addition, the Port of Venice-Chioggia presented its best practices in terms of a sustainable approach to the cruise activity and in collaboration with CLIA there was an important update about the new border rules in the EU and how these will affect cruise activity.

The moderators of the discussion panels summarised their thoughts:

Francesca Antonelli, Senior Vice President of MedCruise and Member of the Board responsible for Professional Development said, “There is a huge market of people with accessibility needs who are willing to make a significant economic outlay in our ports and destinations. There is therefore a need to raise awareness and for further collaboration between the administration, shipping companies, port authorities, terminals, tour operators, excursion service providers and destination managers.”

Mary Bond, Group Portfolio Director, Seatrade Cruise said, “The Role of the Media panel brought together representatives from national and B2B cruise press plus tourism, city, ports and destinations. Key is to keep feeding local and national media facts and figures about cruising’s sustainable credentials and the economic benefit it brings to local communities and region; and for specialist B2B cruising media you can never provide enough information but be inspired to issue releases around new cruise infrastructure, new tours/attractions and the people that make a destination come to life.”

Anne-Marie Spinosi, Member of the Board of Directors of MedCruise responsible for Events and #PortsTogether Activities said of her two panel discussions, “Our panel on social media spoke about videos, which bring life to destinations visited cruise companies. We talked about how to produce the best video to promote ports and destinations so that cruise visitors can enjoy an amazing experience. We also discussed about how to communicate on social media to get the best social engagement on our posts. This very interactive panel involved the audience in different actions on social media so our members can have a very practical and useful training, which completed the Professional Development Course organised last month by Senior Vice President, Francesca Antonelli Ibáñez.

When talking about the challenges of the cruise activity in islands we discovered that 37% of MedCruise ports are situated on islands, facing different challenges depending on their size, geographical position and level of industrial infrastructure.

Collaboration and communication between Ports and Cities are key to improve and maintains well balanced activity in islands which can suffer from over tourism.

Sustainability is key, although it can be more challenging to supply some equipment such as OPS in islands.”

Lorenzo Vera, Vice President of MedCruise and Member of the Board responsible for Destination Development said, “It was an honour for me to moderate a panel at MedCruise for the first time. It was both rewarding and harder than expected. We discussed the commitment of MedCruise ports member to continue working on the crew-friendly initiative, improving communication and implementing new promotional tools. We concluded that the key is dialogue and collaboration between all the stakeholders of the whole industry chain including, cruise line, ports, destinations and port agents. We noted that the crew is the extension of the cruise lines’ offices and the first ambassadors of our ports and destinations. They constitute one third of the ship’s capacity and their economic impact can be higher than a tourist arriving by air to our cities.”

As internal issue, MC has enlarged the family with the entrance in the association of 8 new associated members Altimex, Spain, Romeu, Spain, Port Argentario, Italy, Zadar Cruise Port (GPH), Croatia, Transcoma Cruises and Travel SLU, Spain, Davelor Ship Services LTD, Greece, Kition Ocean Port (Larnaca), Cyprus, MILLER Y CÍA, Spain.

The Association welcomed a new member port, Cesme from Turkey, taking the total number of port members to 76 and 54 associate members.

In addition, Djoni Stambuk from the Port of Zadar was elected to the Board of Directors with a majority vote from the member ports.

Figen Ayan, President of MedCruise said, “For three days we were in the land of mythology, which has inspired so many stories. We were in a country inspiring strength and power. Not power over but power WITH, which is creating a sense of community; this sense of community that we bring successfully thanks to MedCruise’s General Assemblies twice a year.

The success of our General Assemblies is undeniable, thanks to first a high participation number with more than 160 delegates from 16 countries, including 17 cruise executives from 15 cruise lines and 12 journalists from the international press. Moreover, I am very happy to share that thanks to MedCruise General Assemblies, our planet becomes greener, thanks to the campaign 1 registration 1 tree that we started last year with this time a new Turkish NGO, TEMA.

The B2B meetings were buzzing, the plenary sessions were fresh, creative and diverse thanks to high calibre panellists and moderators. A heartfelt thank you to all our cruise lines, media and guests for accepting our invitation and bring their valuable expertise and knowledge.

During our internal matters all our members have witnessed the phenomenal work deployed by the board of directors and secretariat in line with the high targets of this presidency and mandate. MedCruise is extremely active in EU and international platforms to become the point of reference in our cruise industry for our ports, but also generate new ideas, or inspiring techniques and approaches.

A round of applause to the Port of Corfu, to Spýros Zervópoulos, to our dear friend Aris Batsoulis who made us love Corfu, to our secretariat team who deployed all together an amazing work and to every single dedicated professional who contributed to another amazing MedCruise General Assembly.”

The Port of Corfu offered two FAM trips to the cruise line and press representatives to discover Corfu and its surroundings with A Corfu History Walking Tour, a Boat trip, sailing through the crystal-clear waters of the Ionian Sea with stunning views of the Old Town of Corfu and its imposing fortress.

The 63rd GA Assembly will take place from 10th to 13th October, hosted by the Port of Burgas in Bulgaria.

Marella Cruises’ fifth ship to start operations on 3 June

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 02 June 2023 02 June 2023

Marella Cruises, the UK focused cruise line owned by TUI AG in Germany, will introduce its fifth ship on 3 June, when Marella Voyager commences operations in the Mediterranean.

The ship that started life in 1997 as Mercury for Celebrity Cruises has last operated as Mein Schiff Herz on the German market for Mein Schiff, which is part of TUI Cruises group that TUI owns 50/50 with the Royal Caribbean Group.

Two other vessels of Marella Cruises are also former Celebrity Cruises vessels of the Century class, while two have come from Royal Caribbean International and are also of the mid- 1990s vintage.

Marella Cruises Managing Director Chris Hackney told Travel Weekly that the line’s sales for the rest of the year and the winter season 2023/24 are higher than the comparable period in 2019. “We are in a really strong place for bookings for 2023 and the winter and we are really happy with it,” he was quoted as saying.

The company has decided to operate Marella Discovery on a series of cruises from Singapore in the coming winter and these have been the line’s bestselling itineraries, Hackney said.

Two SunStone vessels laid up in France

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: More News More News; Published: 02 June 2023 02 June 2023

Two vessels of SunStone Ships, the Miami based expedition cruise ship tonnage provider, have been laid up at the request of the charterer.

“Vantage Travel has cancelled the next cruises and requested that we lay-up the vessels. The vessel has been positioned to Caen, France and has been laid up. At this time SunStone has no further comments,” said Niels- Erik Lund, founder and chairman of SunStone Ships told CruiseBusiness.com

The two ships in questions are the 8,500 gross ton Ocean Explorer and Ocean Odyssey, both of which are members of the Infinity class.

Media reports in the US say that the Boston based Vantage Travel is facing financial problems.

Image: Ocean Explorer in Poole in the UK in August 2021.

PONANT appoints Belinda Hindmarsh to succeed Hervé Bellaïche as Group Deputy CEO Global Business

Details: Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä; Category: More News More News; Published: 31 May 2023 31 May 2023

PONANT announced today the arrival of Belinda Hindmarsh as Group Deputy CEO Global Business. Belinda Hindmarsh succeeds Hervé Bellaïche, Group Deputy CEO Sales, Marketing and Communications, who has decided, after 10 years of collaboration and in agreement with PONANT’s CEO Hervé Gastinel, to leave the company to turn to new professional opportunities.

Belinda Hindmarsh's appointment will take effect from 1st June 2023. Belinda Hindmarsh, originally from New Zealand, will head up a large team with extended responsibilities. She will be responsible for strategy and product conception, as well as global business development, marketing and communications. A travel expert with over 20 years of experience in the industry, Belinda Hindmarsh has held senior positions at Aer Lingus, Expedia and most recently at CWT (formerly Carlson Wagonlit Travel) where she managed the business development of the hotel division and operations in China. She was previously Executive Vice President and member of the group’s Executive Committee responsible for business growth and development.

Belinda Hindmarsh said “It is an honour and privilege to join PONANT, market leaders in luxury expeditions and cruises across the globe with demonstrated commitment to investing in environmental and social protection. I am delighted to join Hervé Gastinel and the incredible team at PONANT at this pivotal moment in the company’s growth trajectory and am confident the team’s relentless focus on customer experience and innovation will continue to deliver unforgettable memories for our guests alongside unprecedented business growth.”

Since his arrival in February 2013, Hervé Bellaïche has played a key role in PONANT’s expansion. Over the last ten years, the company’s turnover has increased seven-fold, positioning PONANT as a reference in the luxury and expedition sector. Hervé Bellaïche contributed to successfully implementing a growth strategy enabling a brand redesign, a move upmarket and international growth particularly in the United States. He was behind the opening of new offices, several acquisitions and conclusions of major strategic partnerships. Hervé and his teams were also invaluable in the way they managed the health crisis, maintaining the trust and relationships with customers, travel agencies and key partners.

Hervé Gastinel, CEO of PONANT: “I would like to thank Hervé for his professionalism, commitment and the sales results he achieved. His personal qualities, kindness, proactive approach and involvement were essential in driving the company’s growth. We are delighted to welcome Belinda Hindmarsh and are convinced she will bring a great deal to our company through her knowledge of the world of travel and her vast international experience. I also want to thank Hervé who will be in charge of the handover and integration of Belinda during the month of June”.

Hervé Bellaïche: “These years with PONANT have been very exciting at a time of exceptional growth. I had the privilege of building an international, reliable and motivated team who has contributed so much to our success. I would like to thank Hervé Gastinel for his confidence in me and the quality of our collaboration since my arrival. I leave the company with a feeling of having accomplished my duty and wish Belinda and all the teams at PONANT every success in the future."