Top Headlines

RCCL increases coronavirus effect to $0.90 per share – report

Details

Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 26 February 2020 26 February 2020

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), the world’s second largest cruise shipping company, has increased its estimate for the effect of the coronavirus to $0.90 per share, Reuters reports.

On 14 February, the company estimated the effect would be a $0.60 reduction in earnings per share. n its 2019 earnings release that it published earlier this month, RCCL estimated its full year 2020 earnings per share to reach the range of $10.40 to $10.60

RCCL has canceled 30 cruises in southeast Asia following the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reported.

Royal Caribbean increases port calls to St. Maarten in 2020

Details

Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 25 February 2020 25 February 2020

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., working in partnership with St. Maarten port representatives, has taken a significant step in advancing its relationship with the highly rated cruise destination of St. Maarten. As an initial effort, RCL has modified its itineraries by adding 15 port visits to the island in 2020 that will increase the number of cruise arrivals there to more than 68,000 guests.

Traditionally, the St. Maarten vacation destination experiences its peak in visitor arrivals between December and March. Between May and December, there is a reduction in those visitor arrival numbers that impact the island’s tourism-based economy. Additional RCL guest arrivals during the May to December period help moderate the highs and lows of St. Maarten’s tourism season fluctuations.

“In order to grow our partnership, we are taking the proactive step of enhancing our Eastern Caribbean itineraries by replacing a day at sea and adding a coveted visit to St. Maarten,” said Vice President of Port Development, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Joshua Carroll. “It’s part of our culture at Royal Caribbean to focus on continuous improvement and this extends to our relationships with destination partners. It makes perfect sense for us to embrace the win-win opportunities with the additional port calls by Freedom of the Seas that brings not only economic benefit to a great partner like Port St. Maarten, but also offer our guests an amazing travel destination.”

“For an innovative ship like Freedom of the Seas to expand its calls here translates into a significant investment in economic development and tourism jobs,” said Senior Port St. Maarten Manager, Roger Lawrence. “We look forward to working with Royal Caribbean as we continue to improve the port infrastructure to benefit all of our key tourism stakeholders to sustainably build on the numbers of visitors who appreciate our leisure travel offerings.”

Beginning in May 2020 and running through December 2020, St. Maarten tourism officials anticipate that Royal Caribbean vacationers on the newly amplified Freedom of the Seas will have a front row seat to take advantage of its beaches, snorkel and adventure experiences.

“With many of our first-time visitors, the cruise experience to St. Maarten is the window through which they are introduced to the wonders of our island with its dynamic Dutch/French Caribbean culture, its idyllic beaches and engaging tour options,” said Lawrence. “Since Hurricane Irma, we have made tremendous progress with our tourism infrastructure and we welcome Royal Caribbean’s renewed focus and commitment to increase the number of visits to our port. With the thousands of additional Royal Caribbean guests now projected to visit, the potential is there for them to become St. Maarten’s greatest vacation champions.”

Carnival plc plunges to five year low amidst Coronavirus woes

Details

Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 24 February 2020 24 February 2020

Shares in Carnival plc, the UK domiciled and listed holding company in Carnival Corporation & plc group, fell to levels last seen half a decade ago as concerns over the Coronavirus outbreak hit the equity markets.

Around 0930am local time, Carnival plc traded 5.5% lower at £28.40 in London, plummeting below the £30.00 level for the first time in some five years.

At that time, the shares were recovering from the effect of the sinking of Costa Concordia and an engine room fire on Carnival Triumph the vessel adrift. Both incidents occurred in early 2013.

The FTSE100 index of leading shares was also sharply lower, down 3.3% since the market’s opening on Monday morning on the Coronavirus outbreak worries.

Penélope Cruz christens Costa Smeralda in Savona

Details

Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 24 February 2020 24 February 2020

Special celebrations were held on Saturday 22nd of February in Savona for the naming ceremony of Costa Smeralda, Costa Cruises’ new flagship, powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The ship’s godmother and star of the event was international celebrity Penélope Cruz, who performed the ribbon-cutting duties with the traditional breaking of the bottle against the bow of the ship in the presence of the Master of Costa Smeralda, Paolo Benini. Also starring at the celebration was the Italian multi-starred chef Bruno Barbieri, who personally conceived and presented a special gala cocktail, giving guests a taste of his creativity and experience.

The event for Costa Smeralda continued with an extraordinary acrobatic show called “Dream” produced by the creative genius of Viktor Klee and staged in the splendid setting of the Colosseo, the innovative and technologically advanced theatre located at the center of the ship, with nine of the world’s best acrobats. The celebrations ended with a spectacular display of fireworks launched from a barge positioned in the stretch of sea in front of the Priamar Fortress, lighting up the sky of Savona and giving the ship a fitting send-off.

"Costa Smeralda is a breakthrough for the cruise industry, as she represents an exceptional combination of environmental innovation, smart technologies and Italian excellence in design, food and experiences," Costa said in a statement.

“It is a pleasure to officially welcome Costa Smeralda to our fleet. This ship is the perfect combination of Italian excellence, which is the key heritage of the Costa brand, and sustainable innovation, for an unforgettable vacation experience. As the market leader in Europe, we are committed to being the first to introduce environmental innovation and lead the way in sustainable cruising for the cruise industry. We were the first company to invest in LNG and we are currently working to develop other sustainable technologies such as battery storage, fuel cells and liquefied gas from renewable energy sources,” said Michael Thamm, Group CEO of Costa Group, which includes Costa and Germany’s leading brand, AIDA Cruises, and Carnival Asia.

“The naming of a new ship is always very exciting – especially in the case of Costa Smeralda, because she is an unprecedented project. A cruise holiday on this ship allows our guests to enjoy memorable experiences both on board and ashore – whether it is the food, relaxation, high-tech entertainment or authentic encounters in the destinations we visit. This is the Costa of the future, providing us with new opportunities to grow the market and attract consumers who have never been on a cruise before,” said Costa Cruises President Neil Palomba.

The Costa Group was the first cruise operator in the world to pioneer the advanced LNG propulsion system and has ordered a total of five new LNG-fueled ships, two of which – Costa Smeralda and AIDAnova – are already in service. They are part of the Costa Group’s fleet expansion plan, with a total of seven new ships slated for delivery by 2023 and an overall investment worth over €6 billion.

Costa Smeralda entered service on December 21, 2019. She is operating on a one-week itinerary in the Western Mediterranean with calls at Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Civitavecchia/Rome and La Spezia. This summer, the new flagship will also be calling at Cagliari, while a stopover in Palermo is planned starting in winter 2021/22.

Below Jazz Club and Colosseum (Photo credit: Costa Cruises)