News

Strong demand prompts P&O Cruises to add Northern Lights to 2013 programme

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 03 December 2012 03 December 2012

P&O Cruises, which is part of the Carnival Corp & plc group, says it has added a 12 night Northern Lights cruise in its 2013 programme due to strong demand. The 69,153 gross ton Oriana will sail on this cruise on 1 March, the company said in a statement.

Previously, P&O Cruises had planned to introduce Northern Lights, which take Oriana up to Alta inside the Arctic Circle in Norway, to its programme in the winter of 2014.

“Due to unprecedented interest in the North Cape cruise in March, P&O Cruises has added another 12-night cruise, also to see the famed Northern Lights. The cruise offers a unique opportunity to see the natural phenomenon with an extended afternoon and evening stay in Alta, also known as the town of the Northern Lights, “ P&O Cruises said.

Winter cruises to the North Cape have become a high yield product with strong demand, Wendy Jeffreys, spokesperson for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, told Cruise Business. The company has operated cruises to Northern Norway in the winter for several years and will be doing so in the coming winter as well.

Other companies that will operate Northern Lights cruises from the UK in the coming winter include Saga Cruises that pioneered the product about five years ago and Cruise & Maritime Voyages, which is using two ships on these cruises. The 22,080 gross ton Marco Polo will sail from London Tilbury, while the 20,186 gross ton Discovery that is operated in a joint venture with Voyages of Discovery, will sail from Bristol Avonmouth.

A look at prices of Northern Lights cruises offered by various lines shows that they are not heavily discounted, unlike many other cruises on the UK market at the moment.

ECC calls for single European tourist visa

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 27 November 2012 27 November 2012

European states should work together to streamline the currently cumbersome and slow process of issuing tourist visas to non-EU cruise passengers, thereby unlocking potentially huge demand for European cruises, said Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, the chairman of the Europe Cruise Council (ECC).

He said: “The opportunities to attract cruise tourists from other parts of the world to Europe - with its unique and rich cultural heritage - are enormous. We are concerned, however, that this huge potential is being hampered by unnecessarily bureaucratic procedures for the issuing of tourist visas into Europe.

“Unlocking this potential would be greatly assisted by international action to facilitate and simplify the process of issuing tourist visas to cruise passengers from around the world wishing to experience a European cruise,” he said in a keynote speech at the Seatrade Med cruise and superyacht convention held on 27th-29th November at the Parc Chanot, Marseille in France.

Lefebvre d’Ovidio said he was encouraged that EU institutions, notably commission vice president Antonio Tajani, have recognised the urgent need for action to encourage in-bound tourism but he said political will was now needed to make progress on simplifying the process of issuing tourist visas.

The number of people who chose a cruise holiday in Europe has more than doubled in the past decade to over 5.6 million passengers in 2011, of whom about one million are non-European nationals. In total, passengers and crew spent an estimated total €3.5 billion during visits to the 250 port cities that welcomed cruise ships last year in Europe, according to ECC data. Including port-of-embarkation visits, each passenger spent on average over €99 every time he or she visited a European port, the ECC said in its June 2012 report on the contribution of cruise tourism to the economies of Europe.

Finnish government says no to Oasis financial package proposal- report

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 23 November 2012 23 November 2012

The Finnish government has reportedly rejected a financial package presented to it that would have meant the government granting a loan to STX Finland so that it could build a third Oasis class ship for Royal Caribbean International. Talks are underway regarding a new proposal, the Ilta-Sanomat daily reports.

The rejected proposal would have meant that the Finnish government should have granted a loan under the terms of equity finance to STX Finland, which is part of the STX Europe shipbuilding unit in the South Korean STX Business Group, the report said.

STX Finland’s Turku shipyard built the two Oasis class vessels of Royal Caribbean that are currently in service. The company said last month it planned to place an order for a third 226,000 gross ton vessel, hopefully before the end of this year.