Cruise Trade News - November 2013

ISSUE 44 | November 2013 | £3.75

SPECIAL REPORT

All Leisure Holidays’Colin Wilson is

MakingWavesNew ships and predictions for 2014

With this issue: 2014 River Cruise Preview

2 | CRUISE TRADE NEWS | ISSUE 44 | NOVEMBER 2013

WELCOME | CTN

3NOVEMBER 2013 | ISSUE 44 | CRUISE TRADE NEWS |

Letter from the Editor

The forthcoming new year sellingseason will be of particularinterest given the changes at the

top of three of the major cruise brands inthe UK.

There is a new managing director atRoyal Caribbean International and newmarketing directors taking the helm atboth P&O Cruises and Cunard Line.

All have taken up their positionshaving held careers outside the cruisesector, with Stuart Leven joining RoyalCaribbean with a hotels and airlinebackground, Angus Struthers at Cunardfrom TripAdvisor and ChristopherEdgington at P&O Cruises from GalaCoral Group.

Royal Caribbean International,Celebrity Cruises and Azamara ClubCruises are to operate as separate entitiesunder the Royal Caribbean Cruisesumbrella in the UK and Ireland, eachwith their own local managing directors

We have already seen changes to thepricing structure at P&O Cruises andsister Carnival UK brand Cunard withthe removal of Vantage and Getawayfares for sailings from next spring.

There’s little doubt that lines wereleft with no option but to discountheavily this year in an effort to ensureships sailed full, and that will be a cyclesenior management teams across thesector will be anxious to avoid in 2014.

The encouraging factor nowcompared with a year ago is that cruisecompanies are beginning to detectconsumer confidence returning and thatcan only help the availability ofdisposable income to be spent on nextyear’s holidays.

The issue for the sector is topersuade consumers to book cruisesrather than land-based holidays – andthis is where fresh thinking may wellplay an important part in re-inventing thepromotional messages required to triggerthat all-important early business.

To help agents capture their share, anexclusive 2014 river cruise preview ispublished together with this issue ofCruise Trade News.

There are many compelling reasonsto encourage clients to opt for an oceanor river-based holiday and we hope CTNcan play a part in helping to convertthose sales.

Phil Davies [email protected]

With the January‘wave’ peak sellingperiod fast approachingit will be fascinating tosee what tactics will beemployed by the majorcruise lines to entice2014 bookings.

CONTENTS4-9 Cruise Industry News10-11 River Cruise News12-13 Columbus DayConference report14-15Making Waves with Colin Wilson, All Leisure Holidays16-17 All Leisure Holidays Cruise Update19-26 Looking Forward to 201428-29 New to Cruise –Smoking at Sea30 Industry Opinion with CLIA’s Christine Duffy31 Independent Voice with agent Scott Anderson36 Marie Celeste

Published by Cruiseworthy Media10 Tadorne Road, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 5TD, United Kingdom.Keith Ellis: Publisher/Managing [email protected]: +44 (0) 1737 812411Mob: 07802 256275

Trudy Redfern: Commercial [email protected]: 07766 426627Phil Davies: [email protected]: +44 (0) 1747 828695Jane Archer: News [email protected] Ellis Creative: Design & ProductionTel: +44 (0) 1444 [email protected]

Material in this publication is the copyright of the title publisher and may notbe reproduced without written permissionof the publisher.

Annual subscription (six issues) £22.50,including UK postage. Single issue £3.75post free. Details from the publisher’s office above.

CTN | NEWS


Regent Seven Seas Cruises is embarking ona charm offensive to woo agents with itsmost ambitious trade promotion programmeyet, writes Sara Macefield.

With the unveiling of new-look Seven SeasVoyager following a $25 million refit, plannedrevamps to its two sister ships and the arrivalof Seven Seas Explorer in spring 2016, theline is keen to strengthen ties with UK retailers.

“The UK is growing much faster than theUS and is our largest market within Europe,”said Frank Del Rio, chairman and chiefexecutive of Regent parent company PrestigeCruise Holdings. “We are making aninvestment in people and marketing dollars,and getting out to travel agents.”

Regent’s first trade marketing manager,Ben Smith, took up his role in October,overseeing agent relations and driving trade-focused initiatives including a new agentambassadors programme, due to belaunched next spring, which will reward salesstaff for bookings.

This month sees the launch of Regent’s

latest direct-mail promotion which centreson a till receipt listing activities, such asgratuities and shore excursions, that costextra on most lines but are included onRegent sailings.

The Voyager refit included updatingpenthouse suites and public areas, andsimilar revamps are now planned for SevenSeas Mariner next spring and Seven SeasNavigator in spring 2015.

The following year marks the arrival ofExplorer, which Del Rio claimed would setnew standards for the luxury cruise sector,with the 738-passenger ship boasting one ofthe highest space and crew-to-guest ratiosin the industry.

New features include a speciality Asianrestaurant and an owner’s suite of more than3,500 sq ft including two bedrooms, anoutdoor water garden and butler service.

Del Rio said: “It will be the mostluxurious ship ever built. We have a budgetmuch larger than those who have built luxurycruises before.”

Regent in 2014The South Pacific and South Africa arenotable highlights of Regent Seven SeasCruises’ 2014 programme as two of the line’sships return to the regions towards the end ofthe year.

Seven Seas Mariner returns to the Pacificislands following a gap of five years, with fouritineraries that include the line’s firstturnaround voyage from Tahiti.

Seven Seas Voyager will sail a 30-nightDubai to Cape Town cruise that includes a

number of overnight stops and maiden portcalls including Maputo in Mozambique andPort Elizabeth in South Africa.

Regent is offering more than 60 sailingsnext summer, featuring 17 new ports of calland overnights in 19 locations. Voyager will bebased in Northern Europe, while Mariner willsail the Mediterranean with new port callsincluding Antibes in France and Syros inGreece.

Seven Seas Navigator will cruise Alaskafrom May to August, before sailing north tospend the autumn catching fall colours as itcruises between New York and Montreal.

Major trade pushplanned by Regent

Life of RileyAs the year draws to a close there ismuch to look forward to in the comingmonths, and I don’t just mean theChristmas break and New Year parties.

The cruise industry is looking strongerthan ever and there are now many morereasons for customers to book a cruise atany time of the year.

This year there are some great wintersun cruise options available for clientslooking for a short-haul Christmasgetaway, and now is a perfect time totake advantage of some last minute dealsand offers to help to draw in thecustomers.

A cruise to the Canary Islands offerssun and temperate climates all year-round, giving customers the opportunityto escape to sea during the wintermonths and we have added Morocco toour itinerary to entice those culture-hungry cruisers.

By doing your research and keepingup to date with the offers available duringthe next few months there are plenty ofopportunities to capitalise and increaseyour bookings.

With Wave Season soon approachingit is a good time to start planning forfamilies looking to book their nextsummer holiday.

As ever, cruise lines have producedsome great training materials to help youto get to know their products, which isnow more important than ever as thenumber of ships and lines continue torise.

Getting to know your customers is animportant part of the selling process asmatching the right customer to the rightship has never been more vital to ensurea positive cruise experience.

If we’re looking ahead I can’t ignorethat we are soon to be launching ourlatest ship Norwegian Getaway inJanuary. To celebrate we have put a one-night mini cruise out of Southamptonitinerary on sale.

Taster cruises are a good way topersuade new-to-cruise customers to tryout a cruise holiday and what better wayto do it than on a brand new ship?

Until next time,

Francis RileyVice President and GeneralManager InternationalNorwegian Cruise Line

Kuoni is cashing in on the continuingpopularity of cruising by introducing anexpanded collection of cruise-and-stayholidays featuring itineraries with a selectionof upmarket lines.

The holidays, available to book this month,are mostly packaged around lines includingCelebrity Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises,Seabourn, Cunard, Crystal, Regent SevenSeas Cruises and Compagnie du Ponant.

Previously Kuoni has offered only aspecialist selection of cruise holidays includingOrient Express in Myanmar and voyages in

Antarctica and the Galapagos.The new selection features in a Kuoni-

branded Celebrity Cruises’ brochure as well asin a cruise section of its website and thesecond-edition of the operator’s Worldwideprogramme.

Packages include an 11-night holidaycombining a seven-night cruise in theCaribbean on Celebrity Silhouette with a four-night stay at the Gotham Hotel in New Yorkwith helicopter tours from £2,704 per personincluding fights, transfers and all gratuities.

A 23-night holiday in Australia includes

NEWS | CTN

5NEWS | CRUISE TRADE NEWS |

NEWS | CTN

three nights at the Crowne PromenadePerth, a 17-night voyage on CelebritySolstice and three nights at theInterContinental Sydney from £3,960 perperson.

A selection of ex-UK cruises includesCelebrity voyages to the Fjords in summerand QM2 transatlantic crossings fromSouthampton to New York.

Kuoni UK managing director DerekJones said: “We have thousands of loyalcustomers, many who book with us time andagain, so we want to introduce newcustomers who may not have previouslyconsidered a cruise option to the market.”

Cruising Excursions.com has opened an office in Germany as it expands its brand of low-cost day trips for cruise passengers across Europe. The company has also set up dedicatedwebsites for German, French and Dutch speakers offering tours with guides that speak theselected language. Planning the company’s Euro moves are, from left, Cruising Excursionsgeneral manager Simonne Fairbanks, managing director Simon Purchase and businessdevelopment manager Graham Chuter.

Holland America Line is offering 11 cruisesfrom Dover next year, including seven week-long Norwegian Fjords itineraries, two14-night Baltic cruises, and two MidnightSun voyages.

New for 2014, the line also has an early D-Day cruise on Eurodam – a 12-night sailingfrom Civitavecchia to Copenhagen on April 29that visits Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar beforeheading to Normandy in France ahead of the70th anniversary in June and then intoScandinavia.

In Asia, HAL has three voyages onVolendam that include first-time visits toMyanmar and overnight stays in Yangon forexcursions to Bagan or Mandalay.

On September 28, 2014, Rotterdam setssail on an 83-night circumnavigation of Africa,with calls including the Seychelles, Mauritius,South Africa, Namibia, Angola and Moroccoand Oman. The no-fly cruise sails round-tripfrom Southampton and costs from £7,649 perperson.

Meanwhile, the line has axed all its easternMediterranean cruises for 2014 in response tothe on-going political unrest in Egypt.

Noordam will instead be cruising in centraland western Mediterranean in spring andsummer 2014. Passengers booked on thecancelled cruises have been allowed to switchto the same cabin grade on another 11 to 14-day cruise without incurring an extra charge.

All cruise lines have now pulled their callsto Egypt, including voyages in the Red Sea, inline with the Foreign and CommonwealthOffice advice against travel to many parts ofthe country.

MSC Cruises has replaced its winter RedSea cruises on MSC Armonia with a season inthe Canary Islands.

HAL runs 11 Doverdepartures

Kuoni cashes in on cruising

Seabourn has ordered for a new ship toreplace the capacity it is losing with the saleSeabourn Pride, Legend and Spirit toWindstar.

Details of the new vessel have not beenrevealed.

But Seabourn president Rick Meadowsconfirmed it will be ‘modelled’ on the line’s

450-passenger Odyssey-class ships. The ship will be built at Fincantieri

shipyard in Italy, with delivery scheduled forthe second half of 2016.

Seabourn Pride, Spirit and Legend willbe transferred to their new owners in April2014, April 2015 and May 2015,respectively.

Seabourn new ship order

Pam Conover has resigned as chiefexecutive officer of SeaDream Yacht Cluband will leave on December 4 following theconsolidation of the organisation anddecision making in Norway. Owner AtleBrynestad will assume the role of CEO.

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Europa hasemerged from a multi-million euro dry dockthat has updated 156 suites and the ship’spublic areas. There are new carpets andlounge furniture in the atrium, while thesuites have a new colour scheme and moremodern chairs. A new late breakfast inRestaurant Dieter Müller is now available.

Windstar Cruises will be sailing inSoutheast Asia and Arabia for the first timenext year. The voyages will be on the 212-passenger Star Pride, one of the threeSeabourn vessels that have been boughtby Windstar. The Asia season starts inOctober 2014 with a cruise from theMediterranean to Dubai, then on toSingapore.

Royal Caribbean Cruises has upgradedthe global reservation system used forRoyal Caribbean International, CelebrityCruises and Azamara Club Cruises todeliver faster, more targeted searches withany promotions automatically added. Anew module and vodcast on the changeswill be added to the company’s Cruising forExcellence training programme.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises, alreadyknown as the world’s most inclusive cruiseline, has added wi-fi to the list of includedbenefits for passengers. Starting winter2014-15, passengers in concierge-classand higher suites will receive up to 500minutes complimentary.

Hurtigruten has unveiled a one-off 12-dayholiday that combines a cruise alongNorway’s coast with a tour of the country’snorthern province of Finnmark thatincludes a visit to a Sami tent and concertby local performers. The tour departs onMarch 25, 2014 and costs from £1,855 perperson cruise-only.

Countryfile presenter John Craven istalking about his life and career during aone-week Caribbean cruise on StarClippers’ Royal Clipper departing January25 and on sale as a nine-night cruise-and-stay holiday with two nights in theTamarind in Barbados. Prices lead in at£2,459 per person cruise-only.

CTN | NEWS IN BRIEF


Norwegians dig in for charity: Norwegian Cruise Line has been digging deep forchildren’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent, helping to transform a muddy garden into a play areafor five-year-old Ciana, who has a rare form of the disease, and her three-year-old sister Lexi.The team of Norwegian volunteers included vice-president and general manager internationalFrancis Riley, centre back.

A $30 per person charge is being introducedby Crystal Cruises for passengers who dinemore than once in speciality restaurants onCrystal Serenity and Symphony from January.

The ultra luxury line blames the new rules onpassengers who make multiple pre-cruisebookings in the Italian restaurant Prego or theAsian Silk Road so others cannot get a table.

Under the new arrangement, passengerscan still book a table in each restaurant ahead oftheir cruise, but each cabin and suite can onlymake one complimentary reservation.

Further visits have to be booked on boardand will be charged at $30 per person. Thesame fee applies to eat at the sushi bar in theSilk Road.

Passengers pre-booking a table for more

than two people will have to give the names ofthe other diners to prevent the others in thebooking making separate reservations.

Crystal has also teamed up with ImagineVIP to create ‘bucket list’ events for passengerssuch as weddings, birthday and retirementparties, and signed up former MP Edwina Curry,broadcaster Sue MacGregor and novelist KathyReichs as guest speakers for 2014.

Curry will be joining a 21-night Temples andSafaris cruise from Singapore to Cape Town onCrystal Serenity on March 10, now on sale witha complimentary three-night pre-cruise land tourthat visits Bangkok and Angkor Wat inCambodia. MacGregor and Reichs will be onthe next sector, also 21 nights, sailing from CapeTown to Southampton.

Princess Cruises has added two more maiden cruises for new ship Regal Princess, which islaunching two weeks earlier than originally scheduled.

The vessel was due to enter service on June 2, but will now start sailing on May 20, on aone-week cruise from Venice to Piraeus, the port for Athens with calls at Corfu, Mykonos andan overnight in Istanbul.

A new six-day cruise from Piraeus to Venice includes calls at Kusadasi, Santorini, Katakolonand Dubrovnik.

The two cruises can be combined into a 13-day Grand Adventure or added to the originalone-week maiden cruise from Venice to Barcelona departing on June 2.

The ship will then embark on a summer series of 12-night Grand Mediterranean cruisesfrom Barcelona to Venice and vice-versa.

The 3,560-passenger Regal Princess is a sister to Royal Princess, which launched in Junethis year, sharing features such as a large piazza-style atrium, a glass-bottomed SeaWalk thatextends 28 feet over the side of the ship, poolside cabanas and a TV studio.

Crystal imposesspeciality dining fee

Regal Princess early launch


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FREESTYLE CRUISING HIGHLIGHTS:

CTN | NEWS


Viking Ocean Cruises is to keep its firstocean-going ship in the Mediterranean year-round in response to ‘overwhelmingdemand’ for maiden cruises in spring andsummer 2015.

The destination-focused cruise line, asister to Viking River Cruises, is the first newcruise company to launch for more than adecade. It will begin sailing in May 2015 withits first vessel, the 928-passenger Viking Star,to be built by Italian shipyard Fincantieri.

A second as-yet-unnamed vessel is onorder for delivery in 2016, and conditionalorders and options for four more oceanvessels are also in place.

Viking Cruises chairman Torstein Hagensaid customers have “respondedenthusiastically” to the maiden cruises, whichhave been designed to allow passengersmaximum time in port, often with late eveningsand overnight stays.

He added that the new winter cruises

would allow passengers to experienceEurope’s cities during the quiet season, “theway the locals do”.

Viking is offering a seven-night RomanticMediterranean winter cruise from Barcelona toCivitavecchia with calls including Toulon,Corsica and Monte Carlo, and a one-weekMediterranean Getaway voyage fromCivitavecchia to Barcelona visiting Naples,Sicily, Sardinia, Tunis and Palma.

Both itineraries can be combined in a 15-day Mediterranean Explorer cruise round-tripfrom Barcelona. A two-week GrandMediterranean Tour, also round-trip fromBarcelona, includes calls at Monte Carlo,Toulon, Corsica, Valletta in Malta and Algiers inAlgeria.

The new ship will have outside cabins only, all with balconies, with 14 Explorer Suitesthat have two rooms and wrap-aroundverandas.

There will be two swimming pools, onewith a roof that can be shut in cold weather, aspa with a ‘snow grotto’ and a choice ofplaces to eat including a Chef’s Table, ItalianGrill and World Café.

An on-board cookery school will enablepassengers to learn to prepare regional dishes.

Med base for VikingOcean Cruises

Costa Cruises, one of the last cruise lines tooffer fixed two-sitting dining, has introduceda new sub brand allowing passengers todine when they want.

The new Costa neoCollection features twoships, the 1,248-passenger neoRiviera,previously operated by Iberocroceros as GrandMistral and 1,578-passenger CostaneoRomantica, the former Costa Romantica.

Both ships will be offering new ‘slow’cruises, giving passengers more time in port,combined with more personalised shoreexcursions with groups of no more than 25people, menus designed with the assistance

of the Università delle Scienze Gastronomichein Pollenzo and hand-picked wines on sale bythe glass.

As part of the new slow cruise concept,the line has launched new one-week voyagesin the Middle East on Costa neoRiviera thatoffer fewer ports and multiple overnights.

The seven-night Emirates in Style cruisessail round-trip from Dubai and call at Muscat inOman and Abu Dhabi in the United ArabEmirates. Excursions include a traditionalhorse show in Sharjah, a camel dairy farm andrace-track in Dubai and a night in the desert inAbu Dhabi.

Hapag-Lloyd ships top Berlitz rankingsHapag-Lloyd Cruises’ newcomer Europa 2 has been named top ship in the world by the BerltizCruising & Cruise Ships guide for 2014.

It is one of only two vessels to have achieved a high enough score to be in the most exclusivefive star pus category in the book, alongside the German line’s ship Europa.

It is the first time since 1989 that two ships belonging to the same company have achieved thetop rating since the former Royal Viking Line ships Royal Viking Sea and Royal Viking Sky.

Seabourn dominates success in the combined small and boutique ships categories, with sixvessels out of the top 20, namely Seabourn Quest, Seabourn Odyssey, Seabourn Sojourn,Seabourn Legend, Seabourn Spirit and Seabourn Pride.

In the small ships category, five of the top 10 cruise ships are Silversea vessels.Of the top 10 large resort ships rated by Berlitz, five of belong to Celebrity Cruises.The three top-rated Large Resort Ships are all Cunard Line ships, Queen Mary 2 (Grill Class),

Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. Wine on the wavesWine tour specialist Arblaster & Clarke haschartered sailing ship Sea Cloud for aneight-night voyage around Italy, Croatia andGreece next August.

Tim Clarke, one of the joint founders of thecompany, will be accompanying the cruise,from Venice to Piraeus, the port for Athens.The operator is the only UK company tocharter the 1931-built ship in 2014.

The cruise includes on-board tastings ofwines from Susak, Puglia and Monemvasiaand a day out in Katakolon with a traditionalGreek lunch and a visit to Olympia. There arealso excursions to beaches, villages and Greektavernas.

Prices start at £5,849 per person cruise-only including wine with meals, wine tours andtastings, gratuities and return airport transfers.

Costa creates ‘slow cruises’

NEWS | CTN


Baltic cruises score highlyThree-quarters of passengers who cruisethe Baltic are likely to return again, with twoout of three keen to go back for a city break,new research shows.

Cruise Baltic also found that nine out of 10passengers are satisfied or very satisfied withtheir voyage in the region, while 88% are likelyor very likely to recommend the area to friends.

The poll, taken in August from cruisepassengers representing more than 40countries, found visitors were impressed bythe welcome they received, the cityattractions, shore excursions and weather.

Cruise Baltic director Bo Larsen said suchpositive visitor satisfaction levels were

important for the future growth of cruising inthe region. Some 4.3 million cruisepassengers cruised the Baltic this year, witharound 2,573 cruise calls.

Cruise Baltic was formed in 2004 and nowrepresents 10 countries and 28 destinations inthe Baltic, with Skagen in Denmark thenewest to join.

The port is in the north of the country,where the North Sea and the Kattegat meet,and is looking to attract more cruise ships byexpanding an existing berth from 170 metresto 200 and adding a new 450-metre mooring.The new facilities are due to be open byspring 2015.

Azamara to Ozin 2015Azamara Club Cruises will visit Australia forthe first time at the end of 2015 with a 14-night voyage.

The Christmas itinerary from Bali to Cairnsby Azamara Quest visits Darwin, Cooktownand Port Douglas.

The cruise, departing on December 22, isone of several highlights of the line’s 2015season, which also includes a return toAntarctica and the Falkland Islands, visited ona 17-night cruise from Buenos Aires onJanuary 10.

There is also a 12-night voyage from Rio

de Janeiro to Buenos Aires and back onFebruary 7 and a five-night cruise from Nice onMay 21 that includes Monte Carlo for theGrand Prix.

The line’s ships will also be in Edinburghfor the British Open in July 2015 and inAmsterdam in August for the Sail Amsterdamfestival held once every five years.

Maiden port calls include Argostoli andDelos in Greece, Tarragona, Almeria, Alicanteand Huelva in Spain, Stornoway in Scotlandand Cobh in Ireland.

Each Azamara cruise, except transatlanticcrossings, includes an ‘AzAmazing Evening’,wine with dinner, selected complimentaryalcoholic and drinks and gratuities.

A cruise industry outsider has joined RoyalCaribbean International as UK and Irelandmanaging director.

Stuart Leven previously worked forInterContinental Hotel Group, Thistle andGuoman Hotels, Choice Hotels Europe andKLM.

He will work alongside Jo Rzymowskawho will lead Celebrity Cruises the UK andIreland.

Both newly created roles follow RCLCruises creating three dedicated businessesfor Royal Caribbean International, CelebrityCruises and Azamara Club Cruises for theUK and Ireland.

Additionally, Dominic Paul is taking onan expanded role as vice president,international, reporting to Royal CaribbeanInternational president and CEO AdamGoldstein.

Paul was previously responsible forEurope, the Middle East and Africa. He nowadds Latin America, Asia Pacific and theCaribbean to his remit for Royal CaribbeanInternational, Celebrity Cruises and AzamaraClub Cruises. He continues in his role asmanaging director of RCL Cruises.

The three cruise brands are recruitingfor additional sales and marketing staffcreated by the move to dedicated teams foreach line, which will be in place by January.

Azamara Club Cruises, former head ofsales and marketing has taken over fromlong-standing Crystal Cruises boss GreggMichel.

Edie Bornstein has joined the LosAngeles-based ultra-luxury line as its newpresident and chief operating officer.Michel joined Crystal in 1988 and waspromoted to president and chief operatingofficer in 2001.

Bornstein was previously with CarnivalCruise Lines, Cunard, Seabourn andAmadeus where she was instrumental in theimplementation of automation solutions forthe cruise industry.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Event co-ordinators Kate Smith and Les Yates, from Liverpool Cruise Terminal, toast Cruise& Maritime Voyages, which has seven cruises from the port on the 700-passenger Discoverynext year. CMV praised the port’s fast check-in and disembarkation facilities, and good localtransport connections. Clia UK & Ireland goes to Liverpool, pages 12/13.


European Waterways has expanded its hotelbarge programme for 2014 with the additionof the eight-passenger Absoluut 2.

Available for charters only, the vessel willbe cruising the Canal du Bourgogne inBurgundy between Dijon and Vandenesse.

The company has also added the six-passenger Clair de Lune, sailing the Canal duMidi in the South of France and a six-nightcruise in Bordeaux on the eight-passengerRosa (pictured).

An eight-night voyage through Belgiumand Northern France on the 12-passengerPanache will mark 100 years since theoutbreak of World War One.

The sailing, departing on May 18, 2014,includes visits to the Menin Gate in Ypres at8pm for the sounding of the Last Post, the siteof the first day of the Battle of the Somme onJuly 1, 1916, and the clearing in the forest ofCompiègne where the Armistice was signedon November 11, 1918.

As well as a new brochure, EuropeanWaterways has issued a DVD featuring shortvideos that show the hotel bargingexperience.

Prices start at £2,290 per person for sixnights on La Bella Vita in the River Po Valley,or £14,000 for a whole-boat charter of thesix-passenger Nymphea in the Loire Valley.

Prices are cruise-only including mealsand drinks, tours and use of on-boardbicycles. Agent commission starts at 10%.

In Scotland next year, EuropeanWaterways has new tours from the eight-passenger Scottish Highlander, whichoperates six-night cruises on the CaledonianCanal between Muirtown and Banavie.

They include visits to the ruins ofthe13th-century Inverlochy Castle, the site oftwo violent battles, and a private whiskytasting at the long-established Glen Orddistillery, located in the Highlands west ofInverness.

European Waterwaysexpands barge offering

River Cruise Line has added six itinerariesfor 2014 including two four-day cruises fromBruges to Antwerp on April 5 and 8 thatinclude either an excursion to the Floraliaspring flower show or a visit to Ypres, InFlanders Fields museum and Tyne Cotcemetery. Prices start at £329 per personincluding coach and ferry travel.

US operator Tauck has dropped singlesupplements on all category 1 cabinsthroughout 2014, cutting up to $600 perperson off the cruise price for solo travellers.Tauck is also reducing the price of category4 and 5 cabins for single passengers,knocking up to $1,000 off the fare on 28departures.

CTN | NEWS IN BRIEF

Hebridean Island Cruises has published an all-inclusive river cruise programme on the 85-passenger Royal Crown for 2014.

The company has four departures, two on the Rhine and Moselle sailing from Amsterdamto Remich in Luxembourg and vice-versa, on May 31 and June 7, and two on the Danube,sailing from Vienna to Bucharest in Serbia on September 13 and Bucharest to Budapest onSeptember 20.

Highlights on the Danube include cruising through the Iron Gates Gorge and a horse-ridingdisplay in Hungary on the September 20 departure. A private Chopin concert in Koblenz isincluded as part of the June 7 Rhine cruise.

Prices start at £2,565 per person on the Rhine and £2,655 per person on the Danube,including return flights (or rail travel on the Rhine/Moselle), transfers, excursions, alcoholic andsoft drinks, and gratuities.

Hebridean issues 2014 rivers programme

Avalon expandsthemes Avalon Waterways is offering beer-tastingand golf-themed cruises on the Danube nextyear to meet growing demand for holidayslinked to hobbies or special interests.

The holidays, cruising seven-nights fromVienna to Passau followed by three nights inMunich, depart on July 7 and October 13respectively. The golf cruise includes threeexcursions to courses; the beer-themed cruisefeatures on-board tastings and lectures, visitsto three breweries and a food-and-beer paireddinner.

The company is also offering a new food-themed voyage on the Seine, sailing round-tripfrom Paris on October 28, with cookerydemonstrations, cider and wine tastings and avisit to a distillery, and a wellness cruise on theDanube.

The latter, sailing seven nights fromBudapest to Nuremberg on July 14 with threenights in Prague, includes stretching and yogaclasses each morning, lectures on healthylifestyles and a visit to the Gellert Baths inBudapest.

Prices start at £2,909 per person includingflights, transfers, tours and gratuities.

RIVERVIEW NEWS | CTN

11RIVER VIEW NEWS | CRUISE TRADE NEWS |

CroisiEurope is expanding in the hotel bargesector in France by launching three purpose-built 24-passenger vessels next year.

The French cruise giant entered the bargemarket this year with the 11-berth La Jeanine,which has been sailing in Alsace andBurgundy. Next year the vessel will operatefour-day cruises on the Canal Saint-Martinthrough Paris and six-night itineraries inBurgundy, sailing from Saint-Léger-sur-Dheuneto Dijon.

Its place in Alsace, sailing the Marne-Rhinecanal, will be taken by Madeleine, one of thetrio of new barges, with departures on June 6,

July 4 and August 29, priced from £1,550 perperson cruise-only including all drinks andexcursions.

The other newcomers are the Anne-Marie,which will be sailing in Provence along theRhône between Avignon and the port of Sète,and Raymonde, cruising from Chalons-en-Champagne to Paris through the Champagneregion on the Canal Latéral à la Marne.

Clients choosing the latter cruise will visittowns such as Château-Thierry and Meaux,tour the Champagne Route, have a tastingsession at a Champagne house and sampleBrie de Meaux cheese.

AmaWaterways is making its debut inMyanmar next autumn with the launch of the76-passenger river cruise vessel on theAyeyarwady.

It will be the company’s third new rivercruise vessel next year, with the 164-passenger sister ships AmaSonata andAmaReina launching on the Danube andRhine respectively.

Both will feature a heated pool with swim-up bar, cabins and suites with split

inside/outside balconies, a specialityrestaurant and coffee house, a new feature forAmaWaterways that is also being added tothe AmaPrima and AmaCerto.

The line has also expanded its themedcruise selection for 2014, with a ‘chocoholicscruise’ on the Danube, from Vilshofen toBudapest on April 28, hosted by chocolatierNorman Love, and a knitting-themed voyage,also on the Danube, departing December 27next year hosted by textile expert Barry Klein.

Myanmar debut for AmaWaterwaysOn the Seine, new D-Day excursions from

Arromanches, linked to the 70th anniversary ofthe June 6 Allied landings, visit Gold and Junobeaches, the Bény-sur-Mer Canadian WarCemetery, the Memorial Pegasus and theBritish Cemetery in Ranville, the first Frenchvillage to be liberated in 1944.

There is also a new option to stay twonights in Marseilles at the end of a seven-nightcruise on the Rhône between Lyon and Arles.

CroisiEurope barges in

CTN | NEWS


Pooling Knowledge

Cruise companies are failing to sell thebenefits of a cruise versus a land-basedholiday, the boss of Celebrity Cruiseswarned agents.

Michael Bayley, president and chiefexecutive officer, said once people try a cruisefor the first time, they will come back but themessage about the ‘phenomenal’ experienceis not getting through.

“Cruise brands end up as a commoditysold on price. We need to understand how tobetter promote cruising, how to target thebrands at different markets,” he told theconference.

Bayley added that Celebrity is focusing onselling the destination experience in 2014 withnew seven-night cruises in the Mediterraneanand improved on-board food and wineofferings.

Clia UK & Ireland chairman JoRzymowska, who becomes UK and Irelandmanaging director of Celebrity in January, told

agents to remember that destination is theprime reason to take a cruise.

“When choosing a cruise they are lookingto you for passion, expertise, service andvalue. Sell on price and you’ll lose on price,”she warned.

Clia president and chief executive officerChristine Duffy admitted the industry needs tolearn to communicate better in the wake of theCosta Concordia shipwreck and CarnivalTriumph debacle, when passengers werestranded on the ship without power for fivedays.

She said: “We are under a harshermicroscope. We can’t just stay quiet. We have to provide the tools for agents to respond toquestions from clients.”

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines sales and marketing director Nathan Philpot criticised theindustry for its obsession with youth, whenmost cruise clients are retired.

“Some 37% of cruisers are aged over 65,11% are aged 26-44, yet we market to youth,”he said. “Are we promoting the image of cruise that we feel more comfortable with, or the image… that is relevant to the cruiseaudience?”

Liverpool staged the second annual Clia UK & IrelandColumbus Day conference. JANE ARCHER REPORTS

Clia UK & Irelanddirector Andy Harmer.

From left: Phil Davies, STA Travel; Peter Ruck, Go Cruise;Lucy Hone, Hurtigruten; Phil Nuttall, The Cruise Village.

Graham Sadler, Regent Seven Seas Cruises; WendyLahmich, Holland America Line.


LUXURY CRU ISE EXPO | CTN

Liverpool for almost 50 years.Celebrity Cruises will be staying overnight

in the city next year for the first time sopassengers on Celebrity Infinity can visit theBritish Open Championships at RoyalLiverpool Golf Club in July.

Liverpool’s growth as a cruise destinationfollows the opening of the Pier Head CruiseTerminal in 2007, allowing ships on day visitsto dock in the city instead of an old,unpopular terminal overlooked by a scrapheap at Langton Dock.

The city council last year agreed to payback some of the money used to build theterminal and in return was given the greenlight to allow lines to operate turnaroundcruises from new terminal.

Terminal plan forCunard building The historic Cunard building on Liverpool’swaterfront is to be acquired by the council to beturned into a cruise terminal.

The move means cost savings for the counciland also gives the city a landmark new terminalto replace the current temporary structure whichcan only handle up to 1,200 passengerscomfortably and has a lifespan only until October2014.

The new facility is also expected to positionthe city as one of the UK’s must-visit cruise ports.

The building, constructed between 1914 and1917, was Cunard’s worldwide headquarters untilthe 1960s, and also used as a terminal withwaiting rooms, a booking hall and luggagestorage area.

The number of cruise ship calls inLiverpool has quadrupled in seven years,from 13 in 2008 to a record 52 next year.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines and Cruise &Maritime Voyages have the largest numberof calls, with 10 and seven departuresrespectively this year, while ThomsonCruises will be making its debut in 2014 withtwo round-trip sailings from the port and amini cruise from Liverpool to Newcastle.

Europa 2, Ruby Princess and MSCMagnifica will also be visiting for the firsttime, while Queen Victoria will beovernighting at the port in May as Cunardcelebrates the 100th anniversary ofAquitania’s maiden voyage. It will be the firsttime a Cunard ship has stayed the night in

Record breaking Liverpool

From left: Louise Craddock, Oceania Cruises; Stuart and JaneGoldsmith, The Travel Academy; Alex Farquharson, Oceania Cruises.

From left: Simon McDermott, Hurtigruten;Paula Jackson, Seafarer Holidays; Ken Charleson, Hebridean Island Cruises.

Picture by Ant Clausen

CTN | MAKING WAVES


It's safe to say that no other cruisecompany other than the one runningthe Swan Hellenic and Voyages of

Discovery brands can match the retailexperience of its senior management team.

For All Leisure Holidays hasreassembled the enviable talents that droveLunn Poly to become the UK's mostsuccessful agency chain around a decadeago.

Led by Ian Smith as chief executiveand involving his leading lieutenants fromthe former 800-branch multiple, AllLeisure cannot be accused of notunderstanding what agents want and howto work effectively with them.

It is no coincidence that one of theformer agency giant's retail directors ColinWilson is at the sharp end of working withthe trade as group sales director. In aformer life he was responsible for anetwork of 250 Lunn Poly shops, so has anunrivalled appreciation of the needs ofagents.

It is this background that is making theniche small ship cruise company a growingforce in the trade sector in a period whensome other lines have sought a more directapproach.

Trade sales may make up only around athird of overall All Leisure cruisebookings, but Wilson is determined to raise

the profile through expanded distributionvia high street agents, having alreadygained strong support from cruise clubsand major retailers.

He is convinced the group's portfolio ofescorted touring brands, such asTravelsphere and Just You, ideallycomplement the cruise arm, which alsoincorporates Hebridean Island Cruises and

chartered river cruise vessels under theSwan Hellenic brand.

The passenger profile tends to beretired and well travelled individuals whoappreciate the opportunity to visit unusualdestinations in the company of experiencedlecturers and guides as well as other like-minded people.

They appreciate a more traditional styleof cruising on ships, which although notclaiming to be luxurious, are friendly andexpertly run.

A bonus for consumers and the tradealike is that all excursions and gratuitiesare included on Swan Hellenic's shipMinerva and its chartered river cruiseboats, while tips come as part of the fare onthe more casual Voyages of Discovery ship,MV Voyager.

This equation means greater earningpotential for agents given the variouscomponents bundled into the up-front priceof each cruise. And this is one of the keymessages Wilson and his team on the roadis keen for agents to take on board whenconsidering cruise options for their clients.

Single sales teamSpeaking after just over a year into therole, which includes responsibility for trade

Having a strong agency background is paying dividends for All Leisure Holidays group sales director Colin Wilson. PHIL DAVIES REPORTS

MakingWaves

“We’ve made it very clear thatthe trade is very important tous, primarily because we seeit as an acquisition channel”

MAKING WAVES | CTN

15MAKING WAVES | CRUISE TRADE NEWS |

distribution and a call centre, Wilson saysthe most crucial task was to create onesales team across the group’s suite ofbrands, both cruise and tour operating.

“It was clear we could represent allthe brands with one trade marketing team,so we created the All Leisure Groupagency sales team. That was thenrestructuted at the beginning of this yearso we moved from the model of havingthree account managers to having onegroup national account manager – JulieFranklin – with three full-time salesexecutives on the road,” he says.

“It meant we have someone dedicatedto account management, with head officesand the specialist cruise clubs having asingle clear point of communication. Wethen have three people on the road whocan fulfill all the activity that has beenagreed.”

Looking back, Wilson says: “We hadgreat relationships in place with the bigcruise distributors but we had neglectedthe high street. My view was that wecould get the best of both worlds; wecould continue to account manage the bigcruise distributors but there was still ahuge amount of untapped opportunity onthe high street. With three execs poundingthe street, I felt we could tap into thatsector as well.”

The revamp came because, as a nicheplayer seeking to draw more newcomersto cruise, the company sees the trade asessential to what Wilson describes as“new business acquisition”.

He says: “We’ve made it very clearthat the trade is very important to us,primarily because we see it as an

acquisition channel. With the demographicof customer we’ve got, being an older,better travelled customer, there is absoluteevidence that they still value theconsultancy style relationship and are morelikely to use high street agents orhomeworkers. That’s why we need toinfluence the decision makers, travelagents.”

Cross-sellingHe admits that the approach is alsoinfluenced by the fact that acquisition costsvia direct channels are not cheap and thereare great opportunities to cross-sellbetween brands under the All Leisureumbrella.

“When we created the team we lookedat the top seller for touring and they did

nothing for cruising. The demographic ofthe customer is incredibly similar in termsof profile, what they want from a holidayand age so it makes sense to say to thoseretailers: ‘You deliver for us in one sector,we can help you deliver in another’.”

On commissions, ten per cent is thestarting point, rising to 14 per cent “andwe’re always happy to have overrideconversations with anybody,” says Wilson.

“It’s unequivocal, there’s no pointtalking about a reduction as our trade

strategy is different from other people.”There was also the major decision to

close offices in Burgess Hill in WestSussex and move lock, stock and barrel tothe former Page & Moy base in MarketHarborough in Leicestershire earlier in theyear.

The task not helped by the fact that onthe day of the move in May, MV Voyagerexperienced engine problems and wasforced to abandon one cruise and canceltwo others.

“The hiccups happened the day wemoved. Nobody could have prepared is forit. To say it was testing is anunderstatement,” recalls Wilson.

The ship has now completed a summercharter to a Belgian company and itreturned to the fold in September.

The trade accounts for about 30 percent of sales and the company is keen togrow volume via agents, including plans tolink regional domestic flights viaSouthampton airport to connect with cruisedepartures from Portsmouth next summer.

“We are talking with a number ofretailers about packaging up from theirlocal airports, because their strength istheir local market. I’m convinced it willbring us new customers because we’ve notreally worked hard enough to make it easyfor them. If we are to work on that regionalbasis it absolutely has to be with the tradebecause it will work far better than withdirect channels.”

Plans are afoot for the regionalpromotion to kick in for the January peakselling period followed in April by thelaunch of 2015/16 programmes featuring anumber of new destinations.

“On commissions, ten percent is the starting point,rising to 14 per cent,

and we’re always happy tohave override conversations

with anybody”

ALL LEISURE – ALL RESEARCHAll Leisure is embarking on a “massive” research project to find out what customers want from its two main cruise brands.

While appealing to passengers aged 50 and over – older withSwan Hellenic – there is a need to draw in new clients.

Passengers will be asked what they want to see from theircruise as the company moves forward with the traditional‘country house hotel’ style of the revamped Minerva for SwanHellenic – which marks its 60th anniversary next year – and themore contemporary Voyages of Discovery.

Both brands achieve high repeat factors of as much as 60 percent, but therein lies a problem, according to Colin Wilson.

“We’ve got to introduce new customers to both brands, we’vegot to continue to differentiate both to the consumer and thetrade,” he stresses.

“The levers we are pulling with the trade is the inclusivenature of the product, so from a commissionable point of viewSwan Hellenic as well as including gratuities, also includes all theexcursions, so travel agents are getting commission on the whole

package. With Voyages, gratuities are included.“We have got to alert agents to the earning potential but the

real difference will come with product differentiation. The guestlecture programme and the enrichment that brings on both brands,together with the itineraries, are the key points of difference.

“The biggest sin for us would be to get a new customer on oneof our ships and for them not to sail with us again.”

A focus on destinations is paramount, with Japan beingintroduced by Voyages of Discovery this winter almost selling outas soon as the brochure was published.

“We have to stand out by having itineraries that are absolutelynot the norm and offering an experience that is very different fromanybody else because how else do you compete,” says Wilson.

He is also anxious to break the cycle of last minute discountingacross the cruise sector by introducing strong early booking offers.

“We have to get the business in early because we do not havethe same on board send ratio as some of the bigger guys have.Develop the product, sell earlier and with a better yield is what weare obsessed with. I’d like to see more points of differencebetween us and other small ship operators.”

CTN | MAKING WAVES


our cruises visit off-the-beaten-trackdestinations – fascinating places that othersmight pass by, while more establishedholiday spots are viewed with a freshperspective. We stay in port longer so eachdestination can be fully explored, and ourcarefully selected shore excursionprogramme is exciting and varied, givingpassengers plenty of choice, and the chanceto see what they’ve always wanted to see,in places they’ve always dreamed ofvisiting.

Voyager will spend summer 2014sailing to northern Europe from Ports-mouth. The ship will head to South Africa,India and the Indian Ocean in winter 2015.

SWAN HELLENICFor 60 years Swan Hellenic has beenperfecting the art of small ship discoverycruising, leading the way to some of theworld’s most intriguing destinations in thecompany of renowned guest speakers.

From the moment of arrival at the

All Leisure Holidays offermeticulously planned cruises tofascinating destinations with their

small ship discovery cruise companiesHebridean Island Cruises, Swan Hellenicand Voyages of Discovery. Accompanied byrenowned guest speakers, guides and portlecturers, passengers will enjoy addedinsight into the many ports of call on offerin a superb range of itineraries across theglobe in 2014/15.

VOYAGES OF DISCOVERYThere’s a genuine warmth in the welcomefrom the crew and staff of Voyager, afriendly, stylish and comfortable ship that isa haven of relaxation away from thestresses of modern life. And with no morethan 540 passengers, it’s easy for yourcustomers to meet like-minded people toshare experiences with, and enjoy a morepersonal service from our attentive crew.From relaxing in a quiet corner, dancing,keeping fit and swimming, to attending alecture or art class or enjoying a spot ofpampering in the health and beauty centre,life on board Voyager can be busy andexciting or totally relaxed.

Ashore there’s the opportunity toexplore some of the most fascinating placeson earth accompanied by experts who willenrich every experience with in-depthinsight into the local history, culture,geography and wildlife.

Our experienced planners ensure that

Small shipdiscoverycruising atits best

Voyages of Discovery, breakfast on pool deck

Voyages of Discovery crew

MAKING WAVES | CTN

17Advertorial Promotion in Partnership with CTN | CRUISE TRADE NEWS |

departure port or airport you can restassured that your customers will be welllooked after by our long-serving,experienced Swan Hellenic staff who willaccompany them as they travel aboardMinerva in the company of just 350 like-minded passengers.

Our country house-style flagship sails tocities of music, culture and art, sites ofancient civilisations, remote villages, iconiccoastlines and inspirational landscapes.

During leisurely days at sea, there is thechance to absorb in-depth talks and browseour extensive library. Once ashore there’sthe opportunity to discover an inclusiveshore excursion programme which has beencarefully planned to ensure every aspect ofeach cruise is delivered to the highestpossible standard.

As each day comes to an end,passengers retire to tastefully furnishedcabins, where thoughtful finishing touchesinclude dressing gowns, slippers and arange of complimentary L’Occitanetoiletries ensuring a relaxed evening whenthoughts can drift to tomorrow and anotherwonderful day of exploration.

Minerva departs Portsmouth for sevenround-trip sailings in summer 2014, visitingthe Baltic, Norway and the North Cape andincluding a special D-Day 70th AnniversaryCruise before setting sail to the easternMediterranean to celebrate her roots. Theship will head east to Asia calling at some

of the world’s most exotic and untoucheddestinations in winter 2014/15.

HEBRIDEAN ISLAND CRUISESHebridean Princess is a delectably smalland exclusive ship purpose-built for theWestern Isles, sailing mainly from its homeport of Oban. As the smallest luxury cruiseship afloat, it effortlessly accesses theremotest islands, lochs and bays beyond thereach of larger vessels.

Perfectly complementing the wildlybeautiful Scottish scenery through which itcruises, Hebridean Princess offers theunrivalled comfort and refined service of afloating country house with a maximum of50 guests in the tradition of the halcyondays of cruising.

Our new dedicated agency sales team isdelighted to work alongside you and, of course,to assist you in any way we can. We’ll adapt ourworking styles to fit around the way you workand we’re ready to take your call today. We’realways available for training, events anddiscussions on how we can help you grow in thespecialist cruise market.

Julie Franklin (pictured top left)Group National Account Manager 07595 792630

Polly Lyons (pictured bottom right)Sales Executive – South07787 005775

Sue Cragg (pictured top right)Sales Executive – North, Scotland and N. Ireland07760 768995

Hayley Anderson (pictured bottom left)Sales Executive – Midlands07785 344010

Sarah WeetmanGroup Trade Marketing Manager01858 588170

Sheri RiddlesworthTrade Marketing Executive01858 588524

MEET THE TEAM

The epitome of good taste, anunderstated elegance pervades the entireship in a carefully chosen décor of co-ordinating furnishings, fabrics and colours.From the lounges to the ColumbaRestaurant and the 30 spacious, individuallydesigned cabins, the ambience on board isredolent of a bygone era.

Our crew-to-guest ratio of almost one toone ensures exceptionally high standards. Aknowledgeable guide accompanies all ourcruises, and they are always there toprovide information and a helping hand.Unobtrusive and friendly service, with thatpersonal touch and constant attention todetail, set the five-star Hebridean Princessapart from other cruise ships – quite simplyit is unique and in a class of its own.

Did you know…Our holidays are perfect for groups and we have a dedicated group’s team available tohelp with your enquiries. Whether it’s your family, friends or members of a social club youcan take advantage of our unrivalled range of benefits.Call our Groups Manager Glen Thomas on 01858 588300

The promenade, Swan Hellenic Hebridean Princess

Minerva library


January: QE2 is sold to aSingapore-based investmentgroup to become a floatinghotel. MSC Cruises announced itwas retiring the MSC Melody.Norwegian Cruise Line pulled allits Egypt calls for the rest of theyear.

February: Royal CaribbeanInternational unveiled the nameof its next-generation ships andcut the steel for the first,Quantum of the Seas. A fire onCarnival Triumph knocked out allpower, leaving the vessel adrift inthe Gulf of Mexico for five days.

March: Itineraries on CarnivalDream and Carnival Legendwere disrupted when the shipslost power. Celebrity Cruisesraised prices in four specialityrestaurants – the third increase inthree years. P&O Cruiseslaunched its first summer fly-cruises in the Mediterranean.

April: Royal Caribbean revealeda host of firsts for Quantum ofthe Seas, including bumper cars,simulated skydiving and insidecabins with virtual balconies.Carnival announced a £200million spend on safetyenhancements.

May: Voyages to Antiquitycancelled its 2013/14 Asiaseason due to bad weather inthe South China Sea theprevious winter. Viking Cruisesunveiled details of its newocean-going ship, Viking Star,launching in May 2015.

June: The Duchess of Cambridgechristened Royal Princess in agala ceremony. Flooding inEurope forced river cruisecompanies to change or canceldepartures.

July: Regent Seven Seas Cruisesconfirmed an order for its firstnew ship for 10 years. Compagniedu Ponant christened one shipand announced an order foranother, to enter service in spring2015.

August: Disney Cruise Line andCunard banned smoking onbalconies, Celebrity cancelled theremainder of CelebrityMillennium’s Alaska season dueto mechanical problems.

September: Costa Concordiawas righted in a $500 millionsalvage operation. RoyalCaribbean banned smoking onbalconies. Silversea added a thirdship, Silver Discoverer, to itsexpedition fleet.

October: Holland America Linebecame the latest company tooffer an all-inclusive beveragepackage and cancel Egypt calls.QE2 Holdings announced theQE2 will be transformed into afloating hotel at a Chineseshipyard. Princess announced anew maiden voyage for RegalPrincess due to an early delivery.

November: Clia UK & Ireland tookits River Cruise Expo to Colognefor the first time.

That was the year that was

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2014 | CTN

19LOOKING AHEAD TO 2014 | CRUISE TRADE NEWS |

True, there have been some highpoints but overall this has been adifficult 12 months for the cruises

lines (see box), marred by fires, powerfailures, the inevitable outbreaks ofnorovirus and a continued focus on CostaConcordia as the anniversary of theshipwreck was marked and the vessel itselfwas finally righted in a multi-million-dollar salvage operation.

Rioting flared up in Egypt again,making that country a no-go area, andlines have been forced to reduce fares torecord low levels as consumers learned towait until the last minute before bookinga cruise.

Finding a way to break the downwardspiral is one of the major challengesfacing cruise companies in 2014,especially as capacity keeps increasing

with new ships entering service but onlythe odd one now and then being retired.

For 2014, another four ocean-goingships are being launched, including thefirst of Royal Caribbean International’shighly-anticipated new Quantum classvessels and Norwegian Cruise Line’sNorwegian Breakaway, between themadding around 16,500 more berths whenthey are full.

Read on to discover more about thenew ships, as well as the 2014 crop of rivercruise vessels and exciting up-and-comingplaces to cruise next year.

Was that number 13 always going to blight this yearand make it one to forget for the cruise industry?

What’s in storefor 2014?

CTN | LOOKING AHEAD TO 2014


“After a year of ‘cautious optimism’ fromthe UK trade, I am looking forward toseeing the result of everyone’s hard workin 2014 and record passengers travellingon the rivers of the world once again!River cruise numbers to Europe growyear after year, with innovations inproduct, and a high number of repeatpassengers. For 2014 I believedestinations in Asia, particularly theLower Mekong will further increase inpopularity. Other new and excitingproducts are coming online in both lesserand more well-known destinations,including the Mississippi, on my personalwish list for next year to experience firsthand!”Melissa Hackney, regional managerUK and Europe, APT Group.

“When I joined the travel industry, mymanager told me: ‘Ships are like upside-down hotels with the public rooms at thetop and all the rooms below.’ Times havechanged, but like hotels, there is morechoice. New ship builds and innovationskeep cruising in the public eye, and all thewhile that cruise lines continue to evolvetheir products, cruising will widen itsappeal. The industry needs to focus onchoice, demonstrating there is a right shipand a right cruise for everyone. Theinclusive nature of a cruise and the valueit represents compared with a land-basedholiday has always been a driving USP forcruising. Cruise lines still need to repeatthat ‘inclusive’ message and continue toadd value to their propositions.”Mike Hall, head of marketing, Cruise & Maritime Voyages.

“My Christmas wishes could easily be thesame as last year, but – like a contestantin a beauty pageant – I will cry ‘worldpeace’! As a cruise line that wants to helppeople to discover the world, the SuezCanal is key to opening up greatdestinations and amazing experiences, sothe sooner that political tensions relaxwithin the region, the better. Consumerconfidence is returning and, after fiveyears of economic uncertainty, we maybegin to see money appearing from‘under the mattress’ and being invested inenjoying life – let’s hope so.”Nathan Philpot, sales and marketingdirector, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.

Cruise linePredictions



“2013 – what a year! Am I the only onewho is wondering where it went!? As the‘green shoots’ finally start to show for ournational economy, the good news is thatthe cruise sector, particularly the higherend, appears to be ahead of the game.Clients are already booking further aheadand (crucially) paying higher prices thatare more reflective of the quality productthey are buying - proof that cruising, nowmore than ever, offers exceptional valuefor money. I for one am cautiouslyoptimistic for what 2014 may hold.”Bernard Carter, managing director,Oceania Cruises.

“I predict that 2014 will be another hugelysuccessful year for river cruising, asawareness continues to grow and moreunique and exciting itineraries arelaunched, giving customers the chance toexplore even more destinations acrossthe globe. The river cruise on my wish listnext year? Most definitely the Irrawaddy.”Wendy Atkin-Smith, managing director,Viking Cruises UK.

“Looking ahead to 2014, I think we canexpect better revenues in NorthernEurope and the Mediterranean as a resultof less capacity in these areas next year –we are already seeing this across RoyalCaribbean, Celebrity Cruises andAzamara Club Cruises - and continuedgrowth in cruise passengers on the backof new launches. There is still work to doto in the Caribbean, but everyone is veryupbeat. From a brand perspective,Celebrity wining and dining is going fromstrength to strength. Oz Clarke’s winecruise was very popular. More Oz? Watchthis space!”Michael English, head of sales,Celebrity Cruises.

“S - Special wishes for a very happy 2014.E - Earnings (high) and no discounting. A - A prosperous year for all ourcolleagues in the travel industry.B - Buoyancy – both sales and ships.O - Outstanding growth within the UKcruise market.U - Universal peace and harmony.R - Returns on all your investments. N - New ships - and more opportunitieson the horizon.” Lynn Narraway, managing director UK & Ireland, Seabourn.

“As we look forward to 2014 with thebackdrop of recovery in the economy andconsumer confidence rising, the outlookfeels very positive, with customers onceagain starting to plan their holidays early.The early-booking message has neverrepresented better value, with cruise linesoffering attractive promotions toencourage customers to book theirholiday in advance. It'll be an excitingyear ahead and a great time for Princessto capitalise on these green shoots as welaunch Regal Princess.” Paul Ludlow, UK director, Princess Cruises.



“Munching through a new breakfast cerealthis morning (contem-plating itsconstituents), I pondered that more andmore clients enjoy a cruise as part of theiritinerary rather than as the whole holiday.However, ATOL restrictions prevent agentswithout an ATOL licence being as creative aswe could be. The present solution is to use touroperators to package the cruise, flights and accommodationbased on an itinerary designed by us. After a few moremouthfuls (mango and oats), my prediction - based on pureoptimism! - is that cruise companies will expand their product toinclude a flexible range of flights, hotels and transfers at realisticprices. In doing so (pineapple), they will open up a new revenuestream and increase profitability. Consumers will still getflexibility at a realistic price and agents will receive realisticcommission from cruise lines (nuts!).”Ann Anglesea, director, Delmar World.

“Dear Santa, for Christmas please may I havethe following:* That all the bad stuff in the economy isbehind us. We don’t want to hear wordslike credit crunch, sub-prime or euro crisisin 2014. A steady but sure recovery of theworld economy would make my turkey tasteso much better.* Please have a word with our cruise line partners.Ensure they are realistic with their turn-of-year pricing and askthem to work closely with us retailers so we don’t have as muchstock going into the lates market as 2013.* Pray that we see no natural disasters or third party acts that willjeopardise 2014 being a prosperous year for all involved in theUK cruise market.”James Cole, managing director, World Travel Holdings UK.

“I believe 2014 will continue to see growingdemand for travel agents, and particularlythose that specialise. As well as theexpertise, there is growing awareness ofthe importance of the financial protectionoffered by reputable agents. There has beendramatic growth in the top end of the cruisemarket and this will continue in 2014. Increasingcompetition means that there could be more added-value offers.Our business model is built on demand for cruise and stay andthis is something that will continue to grow, particularly whenworking with top-end accommodation and transport providers.Finally, I predict that customers will be planning more in advancein 2014 and feel more confident about spending more on thatspecial holiday.”Robin Deller, managing director, Imagine Cruising.

Agent Pre


“Looking into my crystal ball, I think theluxury lines will continue to flourish nextyear by offering ever more exoticitineraries. I also see substantial growthin the luxury expedition cruise sector,mainly thanks to Silversea. On these shipsand other smaller luxury ships, the clientele arebecoming more conscious of the impact their cruise has on thelocal environment and its inhabitants and this will increasefurther in 2014. Personally, I would love to see a ban on elderlyEnglishmen wearing socks with sandals on all luxury ships,showing that they have become more aware of their environmentand the impact they are having on it. While we are at, allowingpool stewards to Taser serial sunbed blockers might also beworth a try...!”Stefan Shillito, managing director, The Sovereign Cruise Club.

“We have seen some strongperformances from our cruise partnersso far for 2014 and we’d like to see thiscontinue. We would also like to see areturn to sensible pricing, with cruisessold well in advance instead of at reducedpricing close to departure. It sends the wrongmessage to the consumer and impacts on the agents’ revenue.Cruising is pitched at the mid to upper end of the market;discounting devalues the product. Looking ahead, we would liketo see more innovation in value-added benefits. Our message tocruise lines? Be daring, try something new, capture theconsumers’ imagination. Oh and provide free on board wifi.”John Sullivan. commercial manager, Advantage Travel Centres.

edictions



Norwegian Cruise Line –Norwegian Getaway

In brief: Launches January 2014; holds 4,000passengers. What’s new: Norwegian Getaway shares anumber of key features with sister Breakaway,which launched in 2013, including waterslides, a ropes course and ice bar. But whileBreakaway is New York-themed, Getaway willhave more of a Miami/Cuban/Latin feel interms of its bars and restaurants, whichinclude the Sugarcane Mojito Bar. The ship willhave a new dinner and magic show in place ofthe Cirque-like antics on Breakaway, aGrammy Experience and Broadway showLegally Blonde.Sample cruise: Getaway will be sailingseven-night Eastern Caribbean cruises fromMiami. From £1,414 per person includingflights on March 1. www.ncl.co.uk

Princess Cruises – Regal Princess

In brief: Launches May 2014; holds 3,560passengers. What’s new: Regal Princess is a sistership to Royal Princess, which launched inJune 2013, and the message is that it willhave different colour schemes but most ofthe same features. Highlights on RoyalPrincess include a glass-bottomedSeaWalk that extends 28 feet over the sideof the ship, pool-side cabanas in the adult-only Retreat and Sanctuary, a TV studioand Chef’s Table Lumière private diningexperience.Sample cruise: Regal Princess will besailing 12-day Grand Mediterranean cruisesbetween Barcelona and Venice. From£1,349 per person cruise-only on June 19.www.princess.com

Royal Caribbean – Quantum of the SeasIn brief: Launches November 2014; holds4,180 passengers. What’s new: Royal Caribbean is back with anew class of ship and more unbelievable firstsincluding a skydiving simulator, bumper cars,roller skating and inside cabins with virtualbalconies. At the back of the ship, Two70º is ahuge lounge with panoramic views by day thatbecomes an entertainment venue by night.Sample cruise: Quantum of the Seas will besailing eight to 12-night Caribbean cruisesfrom New Jersey. From £769 per personcruise-only for an eight-night EasternCaribbean cruise on January 3, 2015.www.royalcaribbean.co.uk

Costa Cruises – Costa Diadema

In brief: Launches November 2014; holds3,693 passengers. What’s new: This will be the biggest ship flyingthe Italian flag, at 132,500 tons and holding4,947 passengers when full. The ship will haveCosta’s trademark Samsara Spa (this one onthree decks with an outdoor area) butotherwise has been redesigned so venueshave more of a sea view, in line with currentnew-build trends. New features include apizzeria, Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant,Bavarian-style Birreria and a Portobello Marketshopping area.Sample cruise: Costa Diadema will be sailingseven-night Western Mediterranean cruisesfrom Savona. From £459 per person cruise-only on November 10.www.costacruises.co.uk

Four ocean-going cruise ships will be entering service in 2014. JANE ARCHER REPORTS

New ships



New rivercruise boats

AmaWaterways –AmaSonata, AmaReina

In brief: These 164-passenger ships will besailing the Rhine and Danube. They havecabins with split balconies (half outside, half in)so passengers have somewhere private to sitwhatever the weather, pools with swim-upbars and a reservation-only specialityrestaurant, Erlebnis.Sample price: From £2,061 per person for aseven-night Danube cruise from Budapest toVilshofen departing May 21.www.amawaterways.co.uk

Avalon Waterways –Avalon Poetry II, AvalonIllumination, AvalonImpression

In brief: Another three Panorama-classvessels enter service next year, sailing theRhine and Danube, taking the total to fivelaunched since 2010. Poetry II holds 128passengers; Illumination and Impression hold166. Each has two decks of cabins with wall-to-wall glass doors that open two-thirds thewidth of the room to create an inside balcony.Sample price: From £2,545 per person for a10-day cruise from Amsterdam to Remichwith two night in Paris, departing July 27.www.avaloncruises.co.uk

Aqua Expeditions –Aqua MekongIn brief: Amazon specialist Aqua Expeditionsis expanding into Asia with this new colonial-style river boat. It has 20 outside suites, allwith panorama windows and balconies, aplunge pool and private cabanas, and will besailing one-week cruises on the Mekongbetween Siem Reap in Cambodia and Ho ChiMinh City in Vietnam.Sample price: Not yet available.www.aquaexpeditions.com

Pandaw Expeditions –Kindat, KalawIn brief: These two small sister vessels eachhold 40 passengers and have shallow draftsso they can sail year-round between Mandalayand Bagan, with two or three nights in eachcity on the boats either side of one or two-night cruise.Sample price: From $950 per person forseven nights’ cruise-only in July.www.pandaw.com

Tauck – Inspire, SavorIn brief: Launching on the Rhine and Moselle(Inspire) and Danube (Savor) next year, thesetwo new vessels will be 443 feet long (24metres longer than Tauck’s other four ships)and hold 130 passengers. They will have morebig suites and lower-deck cabins with a raisedseating area.Sample price: From $4,790 per personcruise-only for a seven-day cruise fromRegensburg to Vienna and two nights inVienna departing July 12. www.tauck.com

Uniworld – SS CatherineIn brief: The SS Catherine will continue theflamboyant décor that Uniworld adopted acouple of years ago. The vessel, which will becruising the Rhône in France, holds 159passengers and has balconies that can beturned into sun lounges, an indoor pool andLeopard Bar-style nightclub.Sample price: From £2,149 per person for aseven-night cruises between Lyon andAvignon on November 9.www.titantravel.co.uk

Viking River Cruises – VikingGullveig, Heimdal, Buri, Lif,Delling, Eistla, Bestla, Alsvin,Ingvi, Hermod, Idi, KvasirIn brief: Another 12 of Viking’s Longshipsenter service in 2014. Heimdal and Buri arecruising the Rhône, the rest are sailing theRhine and Danube. Each holds 190passengers, has an indoor/outside Aquavitlounge, and cabins and suites with full-sizebalconies.Sample price: From £2,945 per person for a15-day cruise from Budapest to Amsterdamdeparting July 26 including flights and shoreexcursions. www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk

Viking River Cruises – VikingHemming, Viking TorgilIn brief: The Hemming and Torgil are scaled-down versions of Viking’s new Longships sothey can fit through the locks on the Douro inPortugal. They will hold 106 passengers andhave other Longships features such as cabinsand suites with balconies and the Aquavitlounge. Sample price: From £2,145 per person inJuly for a 10-day cruise including two nights inLisbon including flights and shore excursions.www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk

With at least 25 new vesselslaunching next year, demand for rivercruising shows no signs of slowing...

›› Scenic Tours is launching a new rivercruise line, Emerald Waterways, next year. Itwill operate two new vessels initially, EmeraldSky and Emerald Star. Parent companyScenic Tours is also adding two new vessels– Scenic Gem, which will sail the Seine (anew route for the company) and ScenicJade, cruising the Rhine, Main and Danube.The company sells mainly direct but isstarting to work with selected agents.


Anniversaries

June 2014 is the 70th anniversary of theD-Day Landings that marked thebeginning of the end of the Second

World War and cruise lines including Fred.Olsen and Cruise & Maritime Voyageshave special itineraries to mark the event.

Swan Hellenic has a 13-day Reflectionsof France D-Day cruise departingPortsmouth on June 4 that also remembersthe 100th anniversary of the start of theFirst World War in August 2014 with a visitto Ypres and the In Flanders FieldsMuseum. A service of remembrance will beheld off the Normandy beaches on June 6.Prices from £1,995 per person includingshore excursions and gratuities.

Holland America Line has a 12-day D-Day anniversary cruise in April and May asEurodam repositions from theMediterranean to the Baltic.

Azamara Club Cruises’ 11-nightMemories of WWII voyage departs Lisbonon June 3, 2014 and will have presidentLarry Pimentel and his wife Sandi onboard. From £2,867 per person includingflights, drinks and gratuities.

Barge holiday specialist EuropeanWaterways is marking the centenary of theoutbreak of the First World War with aneight-night cruise through Belgium andNorthern France departing May 18, 2014that includes a visit to the clearing in theforest of Compiègne where the Armisticewas signed on November 11, 1918.

River cruise companies sailing the Seine,including AmaWaterways and CroisiEurope,have special excursions to the Normandybeaches and D-Day museums throughoutnext year. Avalon Waterways has a WorldWar One-themed cruise in April.

Next August is also the 100thanniversary of the Panama Canal, which is agood reason to go, but it is also going to beone of the last chances to see the canalbefore it is expanded to allow larger ships topass through. Holland America Line ismarking the anniversary with 28 full andpartial transits on six different ships between now and spring 2014. Cruise-onlyfares range from £589 per person for 10days to £1,704 per person for an 18-dayvoyage.

How can you temptwell-cruised clients backon board? Jane Archersuggests some reasons

to set sail in 2014.

Reasons to cruise


On the riversMyanmar is next year’s hot ticket for rivercruisers as more companies launch vesselson the Ayeyarwady, providing accommod-ation and sightseeing for tourists who wantto visit the country but are hampered by ashortage of hotels and ground transport.

Viking River Cruises launched withone vessel – the Viking Mandalay startssailing in January 2014 – but it sold out sofast that the company has chartered asecond ship, the Viking Sagaing. Thecompany’s Memories of Mandalayitinerary includes three nights in Bangkok,two nights in Yangon and a 10-night cruisebetween Mandalay and Pyay (Prome).

AmaWaterways, Austrian-basedAmadeus by Lüftner Cruises and SanctuaryRetreats will also all be launching vesselson the river in 2014. Prices from £1,669

per person cruise-only for three nights onSanctuary Retreats’ Ananda in December.

Myanmar specialist PandawExpeditions will have two new 40-passenger vessels, Kindat and Kalaw. Eachwill be sailing a new seven-night itinerarythat stays two or three nights in Mandalayand Bagan at the start and end of theholiday, with one or two nights cruising inbetween.

Go wild in AfricaVoyages to Antiquity is heading east for thesecond time in winter 2014/15, but ratherthan just sailing to Asia in the wake of somany other specialist cruise lines, thecompany is starting the season with threevoyages that include a three-day safari inKenya.

Departures are on November 20,December 7 and 18 including safaris inTsavo and Amboseli National Parks intrucks that each hold just six people soeveryone can have a window seat. From£3,750 per person for a 25-day cruise-tourincluding flights, shore excursions andgratuities.

New for 2014, AmaWaterways has a14-day Rivers and Rails holidaycombining big game spotting whilecruising the Chobe River on the 28-passenger Zambezi Queen with visits toCape Town, the Victoria Falls and threenights on Rovos Rail, the luxury train,travelling from Victoria Falls toJohannesburg. From £7,182 per personcruise-only (but including internal flights)departing March 14.



Smoking rules started to be tighteneda few years ago with bans onlighting up in public areas and

cabins, forcing passengers who wanted apuff into casinos, dedicated smokingrooms, onto their balconies or to outsideareas at the top of the ship.

But just as smoking is now widelybanned in indoor public spaces on land, socruise lines are snuffing out even more ofthe places where passengers can light up.It’s great news for the growing band of

non-smokers, but a drag for those whoenjoy their nicotine fix and selling smokersonto a ship where they are made to feellike pariahs is not the best way to elicitfuture sales.

Disney Cruise Line ignited the latestround of policy changes this summer byannouncing it was banning smoking onbalconies from November 15, with a $250fine for anyone breaking the new rule.

Cunard, P&O Cruises and RoyalCaribbean International swiftly followedsuit, also forbidding smoking on balconies.Seabourn, one of the last lines to allowpassengers to light up in cabins, isoutlawing that practice next year, and alsobanning smoking in suites with Frenchbalconies on its three small yachts.

Although there are cleaning and safetyissues at play here – one person died whenfire, believed caused by a lit cigarette,broke out on a balcony on Star Princess in2006 – cruise lines say the latest policychanges are in response to passengercomplaints about the smell of smoke

drifting across to their balconies.In a recent survey by review site

Cruise Critic, 54% of respondents saidsmoking should be banned frombalconies, while 24% said it should beextinguished from all areas of cruiseships.

Luckily for smokers, a total banseems unlikely for some years yet – timesare too tough for companies to risk losingclients by stubbing out smoking al-together – and there are still several cruiseships that are more smoker-friendly.

Passengers sailing with HollandAmerica Line, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises,Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, NorwegianCruise Line and Carnival Cruise Linescan still smoke on their balconies.

Silversea, Princess Cruises, RegentSeven Seas Cruises and Norwegian areamong several that allow smoking incasinos or cigar rooms. Hapag-Lloyd,Costa Cruises and MSC Cruises likewiseallow smoking in designated interiorlounges.

As more cruise lines crackdown on where passengerscan light up, agents need toadd smoking to the list ofthings they should askclients about beforeadvising them on whichcruise to choose.

CTN | NEW TO CRU ISE A helping hand for agents trying to convert clients to cruise.

THIS ISSUE

smokingat sea

29NEW TO CRUISE | CRUISE TRADE NEWS |

The new smoking rulesCunard: Banning smoking on balconies fromApril 28 on Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2,and from May 9 on Queen Elizabeth.Seabourn: Banning smoking inside cabins inFebruary next year. Passengers will also nolonger be allowed to smoke on the Frenchbalconies on Seabourn Legend, Pride andSpirit.P&O Cruises: Banning smoking on balconiesstarting with Ventura on March 26. The newpolicy then extends to Azura (April 4), Oceana(April 5), Arcadia (April 13), Oriana (April 18),Aurora (April 24) and Adonia (April 29). Royal Caribbean International: Banningsmoking on cabin balconies from January 1,except in Asia. Passengers caught breaking thenew rule face a $250 fine.MSC Cruises: New rules on MSC Divina, nowbased in Miami, restrict smoking to the cigarlounge and port deck of designated outsidedecks. On other MSC ships, it is also allowed inthe casinos and one dedicated lounge.

CTN’s A-Z of cruise portscontinues with P-R

P is for Piraeus: This is the port forAthens, about 12km away from the city.Clients who want to go to Athens alone canwalk to the railway station (about 25 minutesbut there are also buses and taxis) and take atrain to the city. The train service is regularand cheap, with announcements in English.Monastiriki, Thision or Akropoli Stations are allgood for the Acropolis, the main attraction,and also for visiting the Acropolis Museumand Plaka, which is packed with souvenirshops and restaurants. All cruise lines haveAthens excursions; for those who have beenalready, many also have trip to the CorinthCanal and ancient Mycenae. More at: www.greece-athens.com

Q is for Québec: This Canadian port cityis on the St Lawrence River and a little pieceof North America that will always be Gallic.French is the official language (but English iswidely spoken), measurements are in metricand life revolves around pavement cafés,baguettes and bicycles. Ships dock at LaVieux Port; from there walk or take thefunicular to the Haute Ville, or Upper Town,with its citadel, narrow streets andrestaurants. Attractions include ChateauFrontenac, which claims to be the world’smost photographed hotel, and the Plains ofAbraham, outside the city walls, where theBritish beat the French for control of NorthAmerica in 1759. For a day out, theMontmorency Falls, 30 metres higher thanNiagara, and rural Ile d’Orleans are favourites.More at: www.quebecregion.com

R is for Rio de Janeiro: As one of thevenues for the 2014 World Cup and the hostof the 2016 Olympics, Rio is in big demandright now. The port is a favourite on SouthAmerican cruise itineraries, with some shipseven timing their visit to coincide withCarnival. Ships dock at Pier Maua, walkingdistance from downtown Rio and about 20minutes by taxi from Copacabana beach, themost famous stretch of sand in the worldalong with the city’s Ipanema Beach. Both areworth a visit, but first-timers should also takea trip to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain forviews across the city. A cog railway goes upCorcovada; the Christ the Redeemer statue isat the top. More at: www.visitbrasil.com

Travelyields managing director David Selby suggests five top tips to help you sell more cruises in 2014.

Seeing is believing: Ensure as far as possible that everyone on the front linehas been on a ship. It’s so much easier to sell the concept of cruising firsthand, rather than from brochures or from online content.

Spot the prospects: Entice those that are still not sure with a short cruise (three or four night)as a taster, or perhaps a cruise-and-stay holiday which combines a cruise with a traditionalholiday.

Play the generation game: You can get great child prices in June and September when mostkids are still at school, so this is a great time for three generations (grandparents, parents andpre-schoolers) to go together.

Look to the rivers: River cruising is set to grow. It is less than 10% of the size of the oceancruise market in this country, and yet two-thirds of river cruisers have been on an ocean cruise.For regular ocean cruisers, river cruising can be a wonderful new experience.

Target special-interest groups: Cruise lines offer all sorts of itineraries that cater for particularinterests, such as dancing, rambling, gourmet and golf. Take time to see what is in your areaand be proactive in promoting to your audience.

TOPTIPS

A to Z OF FAVOURITE CRUISE PORTS

CTN | INDUSTRY OPIN ION


CLIA Cruises into 2014

The year may be drawing to a close,but CLIA remains as busy as everand we are looking forward with

anticipation to 2014. With recent successful events such as

Columbus Day, the Luxury Cruise Expoand National Cruise Week now behind us,river cruising takes centre stage as weapproach the River Cruise Convention inCologne, Germany on November 17-18.River cruising is growing spectacularly,

particularly in Europe where it enablestravellers to explore its cities, culture andcountryside on a more intimate level. Itwas therefore no surprise to see the UKriver cruise market grow by 14% last year.With more ship visits than ever before, theRiver Cruise Convention will, for the firsttime, take place on water, on board the MSRheinEnergie - a floating conferencecentre.

On the second day, ship visits will beoffered by six river companies: Amadeusby Lüftner Cruises, Riviera Travel,Shearings, CroisiEurope, The River CruiseLine and Uniworld.

This is a key event in the industrycalendar and a vital opportunity for CLIAto promote the river cruise industry and thewide and growing range of options it offersto consumers.

Many new river cruise itineraries arebeing offered in 2014, from new cities inBelgium, to battlefield cruises to coincidewith the anniversaries of the World Wars,and new tours in destinations further afieldsuch as Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam.Several river cruise lines are introducing

new ships next year including LuftnerCruises, Tauck River Cruises, Uniworld,The River Cruise Line, AmaWaterwaysand Riviera Travel.

Looking across the cruise industry asa whole, 2014 will also see the launch ofmany new ocean cruise ships. Theseinclude Norwegian Cruise Line’sNorwegian Getaway, Princess Cruises’Regal Princess, Costa Cruises’ CostaDiadema and Royal Caribbean’sQuantum of the Seas.

The inauguration of these river andocean ships clearly demonstrates themajor investment the cruise industry iscontinuing to make in the passengerexperience. With 20 new ocean cruise ships worthover €10 billion currently beingconstructed across Europe’s shipyards,this is set to continue well into the future.

2014 will be a year of even greaterchoice for consumers with so many newcruise options and vessels beingintroduced, both on the world’swaterways and oceans. We have goodreason to be extremely excited andconfident about the year ahead.

Christine Duffy is chief executive of Cruise Lines International Association

As CLIA prepares for 2014, the strong demand for rivercruises continues, says Christine Duffy

INDEPENDENT VOICE | CTN


Looking forward to 2014 and thereis raft of new ships beinglaunched.

Agents can take advantage of the presscoverage and piggy-back on the cruiselines’ own marketing by generatinginterest for their own agency or home-working business.

Norwegian Getaway, sailing out ofMiami, is the second of NorwegianCruise Line’s Breakaway class.Personally, I think these are their bestships with innovative features and nocurved cabins!

The new ship is departing fromSouthampton on January 16, 2014 to NewYork. No doubt there will be plenty ofUK coverage in the press and media –take advantage of that with a localnewspaper campaign, promoting yourselfor your company as experts on the ship,maybe offering a taxi transfer or railtickets down to Southampton?

Regal Princess, sister ship to RoyalPrincess, will no doubt create a buzz dueto its royal connections when it launchesin May 2014.

Why not set up a group with PrincessCruises and package in a hotel and carparking at the airport? I’m sure many ofyour existing clients watched the namingceremony by The Duchess of Cambridgeback in July. You can set your website up

to stream the video of the namingceremony to share with new clients to whettheir appetite.

There is a flurry of new river boatslaunching too in 2014 from Viking RiverCruises, AMA Waterways, AvalonWaterway and Uniworld.

River cruising is, as I am sure you areaware, the highest growing area in cruise,and the river cruise operators areresponding with new ships, offering newfeatures and itineraries.

Ensure your knowledge is up to date(both product and destination), and learnthe best airports to fly your clients into andout of so you are ready to offer advice.Many clients that take a river cruise havealso cruised on an ocean going ship,however another large section of rivercruise passengers have never cruisedbefore, so look at your database of clientsthat enjoy escorted tours, city breaks,culture and history.

In the luxury market, Silversea has twonew products. Silver Galapagos hasrecently completed its first Galapagoscruise to rave reviews. This is a high-ticketpriced cruise that you can earn goodcommission on. Knowing that it’s backedby Silversea gives you the confidence thatit will be a top-notch experience with thevery best on board lectures and expeditionguides.

Only 100 people at any one time areallowed on the islands and landing sites.Silversea has bought all the permits so itwill just be the line’s 100 guests at anybeach landing or destination – how’s that for exclusivity?

Additionally, Silversea has justdeveloped a new expedition product.Launching in spring 2014, Silver Discoverer will offer luxury expeditioncruises around the Russian Far East,Indonesia, Australia and the most isolatedarchipelagos of the Pacific. Perfect for yourclients that have “been there, seen that”.

Other big launches that you cancapitalise on include Quantum of the Seasfrom Royal Caribbean International and theCosta Diadema from Costa Cruises.

Quantum will feature many newinnovations that are sure to generate pressand web interest, so ensure you mail or e-shot your database with the latest offers.

Make the most of new ocean and river cruise vesselsbeing introduced in 2014 to generate bookings.BY SCOTT ANDERSON General manager of The Luxury Cruise Company

New ships should bethe launchpad for sales

32 | CRUISE TRADE NEWS | ISSUE 43 | SEPTEMBER 2013

Have you heard the one about the two cows?You certainly would have done if you were atColumbus Day in Liverpool and listening to thetalk by Celebrity Cruises’ boss Michael Bayley.There he was telling us all about investment,safety, shareholder returns and other suchexciting topics, when all of a sudden heswitched to the two cows’ joke.Not just a gentle aside, but the full Monty,taking care to have dig at every nationality,from the French, who have two cows and goon strike because they want three to theJapanese who have two cows and redesignthem to be smaller and produce more milk. It

is funny, even if you have heard it before.Which I had. On Celebrity Reflection’sinaugural cruise and delivered by none otherthan – you guessed it - Michael Bayley.Any new jokes will be gratefully received.

I really have to congratulate Mike Southon, ahuge Beatles fan and entrepreneur mentor forthe city (I have no idea what that meanseither), who has managed to create a 40-minute motivational speech out of the lyrics ofsome of the best-known songs by the FabFour. It kept us all awake at Columbus Dayand was going so well, fun if just a littleimplausible (‘come together’ all about teamwork, really?) until he started selling himself tothe cruise lines present, reminding them he isavailable to give his presentation on ships.Because of course passengers on holidayneed motivating. Yeah, yeah yeah.

I was delighted to learn that Edie Bornsteinhas been appointed president of CrystalCruises. Our paths crossed several times whileshe was at Azamara Club Cruises and she is alovely lady. She is also Rod Stewart’s numberone fan, has seen him in more than 200 timesin concerts all over the world and even beenon stage with him in Las Vegas. How long Iwonder until we hear that he is going to betravelling on a Crystal cruise?

We British are a stical lot aren’t we? We’vehad the Costa Concordia tragedy, fires oncruise ships, vessels stranded at sea, andwhat actually puts us off taking a cruise? Seasickness. According to a survey by on-linecruise agency Bon Voyage, almost threequarters of the 2,000-plus Brits questionedwon’t set foot on a ship for fear of mal de mer.Just over half said they wouldn’t go becausetheir children or grandchildren would be bored.You do wonder why Royal CaribbeanInternational and Carnival waste their moneyon adverts.

And finally…Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson stolethe Columbus Day show with hisrundown of reasons to visit the city.Nothing to do with the Beatles, but tohear one of the locals say, when askeddirections (and you need a thickScouse accent here), you go right,right, then left, right. I wonder howmany times he has dined out on thatone.

CTN | MARIE CELESTE From two cows to the Fab Four and Rod the Mod

Congratulations to all the agents, and the teams from Holland America Line and CliaUK & Ireland, who raised more than £3,000 for Cancer Research UK on a sponsoredwalk around Liverpool. The 3.5km walk took them past the waterfront and the CavernClub where the Beatles originally played. Holland America has 5km fundraising walkson all departures on all its 15 ships throughout the year. Passengers are invited totake part and the money raised is distributed between six cancer charities worldwide.

Documents

Cruise Trade News - November 2013