According to recently released CLIA research,
itineraries to Africa and the Indian Ocean grew more than 250
percent between 2004 and 2005. The appeals of the Dark Continent
are many and varied, but topping the list of attractions are
photo safaris. Most lines offer optional safaris to Kenya, Tanzania
or South Africa before or after voyages through the Indian Ocean.
Although well known by French and Italian tourists, the islands
of the Indian Ocean have been relatively undiscovered by Americans;
these include the Seychelles, Maldives, Comoros, Sri Lanka,
Mauritius, Reunion and Madagascar, among others.
Cruises also visit West Africa’s Ivory Coast,
often in combination with European ports. Ports of call along
the Ivory Coast include Casablanca in Morocco and various of
the Canary Islands, just off the African mainland. According
to Terry L. Dale, CLIA’s president and CEO, “The pristine isles
of the Indian Ocean and all of Africa, are fascinating and can
be culturally mind-boggling. A cruise in the region offers North
American travelers a comfort factor when exploring such exotic
parts of the world.”
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. announced in
July that net income for the second quarter of 2005 that ended
June 30 was $154.5 million, or $0.71 per share. This compares
to $122.2 million, or $0.58 per share, for the second quarter
of 2004. Revenues for the second quarter of 2005 increased 5.3
percent to $1.2 billion from revenues of $1.1 billion in the
second quarter of 2004. The increase in revenues was attributable
to an increase in cruise-ticket prices and onboard revenues.
Gross Yields and Net Yields for the second quarter of 2005 increased
5.6 percent and 6.3 percent from the second quarter of 2004,
respectively. "Clearly we had an excellent quarter that
exceeded our expectations," said Richard D. Fain, chairman
and chief executive officer. "Despite the spike in fuel
prices we are pleased to report a 26 percent increase in earnings
with no increase in capacity."
The company estimates that lost revenue and
costs associated with previously disclosed cancelled/modified
voyages reduced second quarter 2005 earnings per share by approximately
$0.05.
Outlook: Current consumer demand
remains strong and the company continues to enjoy price increases
over those experienced in the prior year. Assuming there are
no external shocks and current booking trends continue, the
company reaffirms its prior estimates for Net Yields to increase
in the range of 6 to 7 percent in 2005 compared to the prior
year. The company currently expects Net Yields for the third
quarter of 2005 will increase by approximately 6 percent.
However, fuel costs remain unpredictable.
If fuel prices for the remainder of the year remain at today's
level, the company estimates that its fuel costs (net of hedging
and fuel saving initiatives) will increase approximately $32
million and negatively impact earnings per share by $0.14 compared
to the company's last guidance. Based on this fuel assumption,
the company estimates that Net Cruise Costs per APCD for 2005
will increase in the range of 6 to 7 percent as compared to
the prior year. Higher fuel costs account for approximately
4 percentage points of this increase. The company's expectations
for Net Cruise Costs excluding fuel have not changed from previous
guidance despite incurring costs associated with vessel incidents.
Based on the aforementioned fuel assumption,
the company estimates that Net Cruise Costs per APCD for the
third quarter of 2005 will increase approximately 9%, compared
to the same quarter in 2004. Higher fuel costs account for approximately
5 percentage points of this increase. Depreciation and amortization
is expected to be in the range of $405 to $415 million and net
interest expense is expected to be in the range of $285 to $295
million.
For the full report, visit http://www.rclinvestor.com
Radisson Seven Seas Cruises®’ Seven Seas
Society members will soon enjoy a series of enhancements in
their past passenger program. The new, tiered loyalty program
will feature exclusive experiences, savings, communications,
offers and benefits. “Our goal is to make the Seven Seas Society
more personalized and benefits-centered for our loyal guests,”
said Kenneth Watson, executive vice president, marketing and
sales for Radisson Seven Seas. “This program enhancement is
a concerted effort to continue to recognize and reward our highly
prized repeat customers. In fact, the changes are the direct
result of feedback we’ve received from them in the past year.”
After guests sail once with the luxury cruise
line, they automatically become Seven Seas Society members.
Among its benefits, membership now includes savings of up to
10 percent on select sailings, instead of the previous uniform
5 percent discount.
The new four-tiered program will recognize
guests with benefits based on the number of nights they have
sailed with the line. Among the new program highlights: exclusive
activities and events onboard and ashore; invitations to special
Seven Seas Society cruises; stateroom/suite one-category upgrade
certificates; complimentary onboard Internet access and laundry
service; priority access to itineraries; early boarding; priority
restaurant and spa reservations; spa certificates and more.
Seven Seas Society members will enjoy access
to their own newly enhanced section of www.rssc.com.
Membership will carry additional privileges, as participants
will be privy to exclusive benefits unique to the Seven Seas
Society, including enrollment in the luxury line’s new Signature
Cellars wine club.
The enhanced Seven Seas Society program will
be fully launched in the fall and will be in place for 2006.
In the meantime, members can reap immediate benefits with a
one-category stateroom/suite upgrade on all 2006 seven-night
Baltic sailings, if booked by September 30, 2005.
Silversea guests sailing aboard ultra-luxury
Silver Shadow this month will be the first to experience
the transformation of the Terrace Café into La Terrazza, an
innovative Italian restaurant that will be open exclusively
for dinner. The new dining concept and menu for La Terrazza,
created under the guidance of Marco Betti, owner of the award-winning
Antica Posta restaurants in Atlanta, Georgia, and Florence,
Italy, are a further product enhancement designed to reflect
the line's unique concept of luxury—one that arises from, and
is shaped by, its Italian heritage. And it is only fitting that
an Italian-owned company would offer a new dining experience
that reflects one of the world's most luxurious culinary trends,
the Slow Food Movement, launched in Italy 19 years ago and dedicated
to preserving gastronomic traditions through the use of fresh—not
processed— traditional foods. "For several years, Marco
and his two chef brothers, Gianni and Alessandro, have been
dazzling and delighting sophisticated diners in Atlanta and
Florence with a taste of the Old World in their innovative Tuscan-style
and regional Italian cuisine," said Erling Frydenberg,
Silversea's chief operations officer. "This is a further
step in our ongoing program of enhancements designed to give
our concept of luxury a distinctly Italian touch."
La Terrazza will be rolled out aboard Silver
Wind in September, while the line's other two ships, Silver
Cloud and Silver Whisper, are set to offer the new
dining venue later in the year. The Terrace Café will remain
each ship's casual alternative restaurant for breakfast and
lunch during daytime hours.
Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity
Cruises are simultaneously launching online check-in for their
guests, reducing the check- in process at the pier from minutes
to seconds. Titled "SetSail" for Royal Caribbean International
and "Xpress Pass" for Celebrity Cruises, online check-in
is now available for guests booked on Royal Caribbean's Navigator
of the Seas and for those on Celebrity's Zenith.
The company expects online check-in to be available for both
brands' entire fleets by September.
The new online check-in process allows guests
to fill out all pertinent cruise documents before arriving at
the pier. Boarding documents, immigration forms, onboard accounts
and ticket contracts can be completed with just a click of the
mouse. "This is a truly innovative development, basically
making the web our 'virtual check-in agent,'" said Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Associate Vice President Guest Port Services
Juan Trescastro. "By averting the need to complete paperwork
at the pier or while in line, we're reducing the time involved
at the pier from an average of three to four minutes to an average
of 30 seconds per guest."
To check in online, guests are asked to visit
either http://www.celebrity.com or http://www.royalcaribbean.com,
and then click Before You Cruise on Celebrity's site,
and Before You Board on Royal Caribbean's site, followed
by Online Documentation where guests will be asked to
provide their booking number, ship and sail date, and then follow
four easy steps to complete the process. When the process is
completed, guests will receive an e-mail confirmation stating
that their documents have been processed. They can print the
confirmation and provide it, along with identification, to agents
at a special express counter at the pier.
Carnival Cruise
Lines, a unit of Carnival Corporation launched its newest cruise
ship, the 110,000- ton Carnival Liberty this month in
Civitavecchia, Italy. Academy Award winning actress Mira Sovino
served as godmother at the ship naming ceremonies on July 19.
The 2,974-passenger ship—the 21st vessel in Carnival's "Fun
Ship" fleet—also inaugurates the line's first-ever Mediterranean
cruise program.
Carnival Liberty's seven-port, 12-day Med
cruises from Civitavecchia include visits to Naples, Italy;
Dubrovnik, Croatia; Venice, Italy; Messina, Sicily; Barcelona,
Spain; Cannes, France; and Livorno, Italy. Following this program,
Carnival Liberty will depart Civitavecchia on a 16-day transatlantic
crossing Oct. 24 and arrive in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., November.
9, 2005, positioning the vessel for a one-of-a-kind program
of six- and eight-day Bahamas/Caribbean voyages beginning November
12. She will return to Europe in May 2006 for another season
of 12-day Mediterranean cruises.
Stylish and top-rated SeaDream Yacht Club
has published a new brochure this month that will be available
on a complimentary basis worldwide to travel professionals and
the general public. The full-color compendium features dramatic
photos of life aboard SeaDream I and II, the company’s
twin, ultra-luxury mega-yachts, as well as colorful schematic,
deck-by-deck renditions of SeaDream I and II to orient the viewer,
and a page for Terms and Conditions of sailing with SeaDream.
Designed with an insert sheet detailing current
Caribbean and European schedules and itineraries., the brochure’s
inserts will be updated regularly and made available to travel
agents and the public. It should be noted that the insert sheets
do not include pricing. “In the real world prices change, increasing
or even decreasing as availability fluctuates,” said Larry Pimentel,
CTC, SeaDream’s President and CEO. “The most up-to-date pricing
information will always be found on our website [ www.seadreamyachtclub.com] and is
easily accessed.”
At 21 pages (12 inches by 8.5 inches) the
new SeaDream brochure is light-weight and compact.
In a new luxury cruising initiative, Radisson
Seven Seas® today announced the launch of “The Travel Concierge,”
a multifaceted tour and hotel program that expands upon the
line’s distinctive roster of destination offerings with the
addition of exclusive, more highly customizable land options.
Concierge Choice, Concierge à La Carte, Concierge Collection
and Hotels à La Carte options are available fleet wide. Whether
it’s a helicopter ride over the Amalfi Coast, renting a vintage
sports car with a private villa in Tuscany, dining by candlelight
in the Cisterns of Istanbul, or any number of other imaginative
options, the new “Travel Concierge” program gives guests the
freedom to go beyond traditional land and city tours to explore
each destination in greater depth - imparting a more personal,
experiential touch in every locale.
As luxury goes exploring, guests will now
be able to choose from an exciting array of optional services
including intimate group tours and the opportunity - via personalized
one-on-one consultations - to tailor their time ashore to their
own interests, resulting in fully customized, individually designed
experiences in ports of call. A dedicated toll free phone line
is now open for guests to discuss and set up their own customized
programs with the Concierge department. “The destination experience
lies at the heart of luxury cruising, and the launch of our
Travel Concierge program will further enhance how our guests
go exploring the many intriguing places we call,” said Mark
Conroy, president of Radisson Seven Seas. “We’ve created a program
that reflects the direct feedback of our guests - and what they’ve
told us they want is more intimate, more uniquely personalized
and - in some cases - tailor-made experiences when they step
ashore. (More details in Cruise Itinerary
News/Offers)
Carnival Corporation & plc has ordered
a 68,500-ton cruise ship for its AIDA Cruises brand, which caters
exclusively to the German-speaking market, marking the third
new ship order placed for its German cruise line in the past
nine months. The 2,030-passenger vessel, which will be constructed
by Germany's Meyer Werft shipyard at an all-in cost of euro
315 million, is scheduled to enter service in April 2008. It
will be a sister ship to AIDA's two previously announced 68,500-ton
cruise ships which will be built at Meyer Werft and are expected
to enter service in April 2007 and April 2009.
Like its sister ships, the new vessel will
operate under AIDA's informal "club resort" cruise
concept which is aimed at younger, more active vacationers and
offers a host of on-board amenities and facilities. "With
an expected passenger base of approximately one million by 2010,
the German market is expanding at a very rapid pace. Ordering
a third 68,500-ton 'club resort' newbuild for AIDA continues
our European strategy of developing this fast-growing market
by offering cruises with the most exciting, modern ships available
for German vacationers," said Micky Arison, Carnival Corporation
& plc chairman and CEO.
AIDA Cruises revolutionized the German cruise
market with the introduction of its first club ships in 1996.
By 2009, a total of seven club ships will be in service, operating
voyages to the Mediterranean, the Canaries, North Sea, the Baltic,
the Caribbean and Central America.
When Queen Mary 2 departs New York
on January 15, 2006, her guests will be embarking on an historic
voyage to the bottom of the world on the largest ship to ever
cruise around Cape Horn. Queen Mary 2's New York to Rio sailing
is the first leg of the 38- or 36-day adventure, and will offer
guests a colorful blend of the Caribbean and Brazil on the ship's
journey southward. Alternatively, guests have the option of
departing from this dazzling South America city on the last
leg of the 38- or 36-day eastbound reverse itinerary, departing
Rio on April 3, and arriving in Ft. Lauderdale on April 13 and
in New York on April 15. "Cunard's 2006 South American
liner voyages are the pinnacle of civilized adventure, offering
a mesmerizing glimpse into the experiences of history's greatest
explorers, while guests enjoy the Cunard hallmarks of opulent
surroundings, fine dining, and renowned White Star Service(TM),"
says Jan Swartz, senior vice president of customer service and
sales for Cunard Line. "'Route to Rio' is an exciting kick-off
to Queen Mary 2's maiden foray into the rich history and traditions
of South America."
(More details in Cruise
Itinerary News/Offers)
Celebrity Cruises will build a new cruise
ship and launch a new class of landmark ships, Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd. and German shipbuilder Meyer Werft announced in
July after signing a letter of intent. Celebrity also has an
option for a second ship. The agreement is subject to customary
conditions being satisfactorily met.
The new ship, Celebrity’s first wide-body
construction, has a volume of 117,000 gross registered tons,
and length and width of 1,033 feet by 121 feet, making it a
post-Panamax vessel. The 1,425-stateroom ship accommodates 2,850
guests (double occupancy) and 1,250 crew. The average standard
stateroom on Celebrity’s new ship will be 215 square feet. “We
are excited to be collaborating with Celebrity on this new,
breakthrough design and its market-leading innovations,” said
Meyer Werft Managing Partner Bernard Meyer. “It has taken us
many months to develop a strong, working prototype and this
next-generation of ships is truly extraordinary.”
Celebrity expects delivery of the new ship
in fall 2008 and estimates the all-in cost of the ship to be
approximately $225,000 per berth. The exercise date for the
second ship is March 15, 2006, subject to certain conditions.
With today’s new ship and current
ship orders, the company predicts fleet capacity to increase
by 2.8 percent in 2006, 7.4 percent in 2007, and 7.2 percent
in 2008.
Advocating for responsible ecological practices—and
taking a stand against the wanton capture and use of marine
mammals for the amusement of travelers—Radisson Seven Seas Cruises®
announced it will no longer offer dolphin encounter programs
in any of its ports of call. The luxury cruise line supports
the World Society for the Protection of Animals’ worldwide campaign
to halt dolphin encounter operations, and, through its onboard
environmental education programs in partnership with Jean-Michel
Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society, encourages guests to become
responsible environmental citizens. “Sadly, under the guise
of communing with nature or advancing our scientific understanding,
dolphin encounter programs too often overlook the way dolphins
actually exist and interact with each other in the wild, rather
than respecting their natural place in the marine ecosystem,”
said Darius Mehta, director of land programs for Radisson Seven
Seas. “While some parks may obtain dolphins legally, many use
illegal and cruel means to capture these magnificent animals.
While we will continue to employ programs that allow our guests
the wonderful experience of observing dolphins in the wild,
we’re opposed to those that interfere with dolphins’ natural
behavior.”
Radisson Seven Seas and its partner the Ocean
Futures Society have a shared commitment to inspire deeper knowledge
of the world’s oceans and to work to end cruelty to marine life
with its adverse impact on the environment. “We should enjoy
the abundant variety of marine life as it moves about and inhabits
its own environment - without imposing artificial means on sea
creatures to make them interact or ‘perform’ for people,” Cousteau
said. “Capturing marine mammals for the purpose of orchestrating
structured encounters with humans or to display them in unnatural
circumstances is unethical, puts them at risk and interferes
with their natural and appropriate life cycles.”
Cousteau said he supports and commends Radisson
Seven Seas for “making a vital and forceful statement to the
travel and tourism industry that these encounter programs should
be avoided at all costs.”
The mission of Ocean Futures Society is
to explore the global ocean, inspiring and educating people
throughout the world to act responsibly for its protection,
documenting the critical connection between humanity and nature,
and celebrating the ocean's vital importance to the survival
of all life. In French Polynesia, Radisson Seven Sea’s
ambitious “Ambassadors of the Environment” program with the
Ocean Futures Society promotes ocean responsibility and engages
youngsters aboard the Paul Gauguin® with fun learning activities.
The partnership is enhanced with an engaging, fleet-wide lecture
series featuring Ocean Futures Society experts, personal appearances
by Jean-Michel Cousteau on select sailings, original in-suite
TV programming, plus live TV uplinks from dives conducted by
Cousteau and his team during select Radisson Seven Seas cruises.
Website: http://www.oceanfutures.org
