Category: The Cruise Examiner

by Kevin Griffin

Last week it was announced that a new shipbuilding joint venture, Marriotti Damen Cruise, will build two 23,000-ton 264-berth PC6 luxury expedition ships for Seabourn, for delivery in 2021 and 2022. Meanwhile, the Prinsendam, once Seabourn Sun, is to leave the affiliated Holland America Line fleet in 2019. And P&O Cruises have released a rendering and some details of the new Grand Atrium proposed for the Iona, due in 2020. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week it was announced that the 1995-built Oriana would be leaving P&O Cruises in 2019 after a career of twenty-four years, possibly to cruise in Chinese waters. Elsewhere, Great Yarmouth has been added to the roster of UK cruise prost with the arrival of Seabourn as its first cruise line customer. Finally, we have an advance view of the double-width river cruiser AmaMagna on the Danube. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

A pioneering entrepreneur among today’s container ship giants, Jaques Saadé was the founder and driving thrust behind the third largest of these companies, CMA CGM. The others, Maersk Line of Copenhagen, controlled by A P Moller and MSC of Geneva, controlled by the Aponte family, are the others. All three are family-controlled firms. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

The big question before last week was who would eventually take over Silversea Cruises, and the shoe has finally dropped. After some experimental financing through Chinese interests on recent years, Royal Cariibean Cruises has finally walked away with a two-thirds share of Silversea for about $1 billion. Elsewhere, Quark Expeditions has ordered a new 13,000-ton 200-berth expedition ship, and Turkish port operator Global Ports Holding has signed a 15-year contract to manage the cruise port in Havana. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week came news that Carnival Corp & plc, through a member of its subsidiary Holland America Group, was acquiring the 400,000-passenger White Pass & Yukon route, the narrow gauge railway that connects Alaska’s Inside Passage with Canada’s Yukon Territory over the Gold Rush route of 1899. Elsewhere, we look back a little more than a century to one of the world’s first expedition cruise ships, the Polaris of 1913, which in 1914 would become Shackleton’s Endurance. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

From its beginnings in April 1988, when it was founded by several officers of the French mercant marine, Ponant has been the only cruise line to sail under the French flag. The line has introduced a new style of cruising, an amalgam of sea travel, exceptional itineraries and elegant hotel service aboard ships of an intimate scale. And now, by 2021, it will be the world’s largest expedition cruise company, with a full icebreaker, ten expedition ships and the line’s mascot, the original sailing ship Le Ponant. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Virgin Voyages, the new cruise line that does not enter service until 2020, has revealed some images of its proposed ships’ interiors. Meanwhile, P&O Cruises in the UK has announced the name Iona for its newest and largest ship, which also enters service in 2020. And this week we look at itineraries of the Baltimore-based Grandeur of the Seas. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

As the German and international cruise markets continue to grow TUI Group has chosen to order a third 230-berth “Hanseatic” class expedition ship, for delivery in 2021. And with the addition of a third ship, Azamara Club Cruises has announced that South Africa will be added to its itineraries in 2020. Finally we have a look at changes on the river cruise line scene in the UK. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

As the first of two sister ships delivers this week to TUI UK’s Marella Cruises, we have a look at the original Celebrity Cruises trio of Century, Galaxy and Mercury. Elsewhere, the Norwegian Bliss has today set a record for largest cruise ship to transit the Panama Canal. And Oceania’s Sirena offers an interesting Calfornia itinerary for December 2019. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) reported a record of 51,700 cruise and expedition visotors to Antarctca in 2017-18, a new record. The 1st Quarter Earnings report from Lindblad Expeditions came as evidence of this growth. Elsewhere, Princess is reporting strong demand for a UK to Canada and New England cruise in 2019 with the 2,670-berth Sapphire Proncess. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week SunStone Ships firmed up the second of a planned ten expedition ship orders from the China Merchants shipyard near Shanghai. In Chile, Antarctica 21 revealed its new branding. And EYOS Expeditions is planning an Antarctica explorer yacht voyage with the 30-berth Legend for January 2019. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week Norwegian Cruise Line chief Andy Stuart spoke to Cruise Critic about the new Italian-built “Leonardo” class project of four 3,300-berth ships on which the line also has further options. On coastal and inland waterways, meanwhile, Emerald Waterways is adding a 36-berth yacht, the Adriatic Princess II, on the Dalmatian coast in 2019. And APL has now built up its passenger-carrying container ship fleet to fourteen ships. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week saw the delivery of Crystal River Cruises’ fifth ship and fourth newbuilding in eight months, when the 106-berth Crystal Ravel was delivered in Wismar, Germany. Elsewhere, Cunard’s former North Atlantic liner Queen Elizabeth 2 is finally advancing towards opening this October as a floating hotel in Dubai. And Princess Cruises, with its Majestic Princess, Golden Princess, Ruby Princess and Sun Princess, prepares for a 200,000-guest season in Australia and New Zealand in 2019-20. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week saw the return of regular cargo-passenger service between Europe and New York, as well as Canada, with Atlantic Container Line inaugurating weekly passenger service on its new G4 roro container ships, carrying up to twelve passengers each. From Norway meanwhile came news that Viking Cruises was planning to order two “special” cruise ships from shipbuilders Vard. Finally, for this week’s voyage we look at Cruiseco’s Bravo Cruise of the Performing Arts on board Celebrity Silhouette in May. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

The Norwegian Government has announced that effective January 2021 it will reorganise its subsidised coastal voyages by dividing contracts between two operators, the exisiting company, Hurtigruten, and newcomer Havila, who will build four new ships. Elsewhere, the world’s largest cruise ship, the 228,081-ton Symphony of the Seas, left Malaga on a sampler voyage on Saturday before setting out on her maiden voyage from Barcelona this Friday. Finally, for our special voyage this week we have chosen One Ocean Expeditions’ newest addition, their RCGS Resolute, which has been chartered by UK-based Exodus Travels for a special Antarctica voyage in November. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week, at the keel-laying of Lindblad Expeditions’s new 12,300-ton 126-berth expedition ship, it was announced that she would be named National Geographic Endurance, after Shackleton’s ship. She could prove to be the first of three such Polar 5 sister ships, higher-rated than any expedition ship other than Ponant’s planned Polar 2 icebreaker. Elsewhere, Royal Caribbean has decided to close its SkySea joint ventuire with China’s CTrip and their SkySea Golden Era will be transferred to TUI’s UK affiliate Marella Cruises as Marella Explorer 2. Finally, MSC has announced that it will christen its 4,500-berth MSC Bellissima in Southampton on March 2, 2019. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

While recent news indicates that Viking Cruises’ ocean fleet may eventually number sixteen 930-berth ships, there is the possibility of four 700-berth ships being built for MSC Cruises, and four more 600-berth vessels for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines. These would be in addition to the pair of 999-berth ships being built by Meyer Werft for Saga. The latest statistics for the UK cruise market revealed paltry growth last year, at 0.5%, for a total of 1,959,000 Brits taking a cruise. Germany surpassed two million cruisers in 2016. Finally, Cruise & Maritime Voyages has announced yet another acquisition, whose name will be announced tomorrow. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Eight more cruise ships were ordered last week, bringing the total now on order to 100 according to Seatrade Cruise News. Viking Cruises ordered six 930-berth ocean-going cruise ships from Fincantieri for delivery between 2024 and 2027. In addition, Ponant ordered two more of its 184-berth “Explorer” class expedition ships for delivery in 2020. And Genting Hong Kong meanwhile announced the move of its first “Global” class cruise ship order from Star Cruises to its more upmarket Dream Cruises brand. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Carnival Corporation last week ordered a third mega-cruise ship from Meyer Werft in Germany. One of nine LNG-powered ships, she will join the AIDA fleet in 2023. Elsewhere, UK-based river cruise lines Riviera and Titan will be adding another three ships in 2018-19. And for this week’s voyage we have a look at Norwegian Bliss’s maiden Transatlantic voyage from Southampton to New York next month. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

A week from today, Silversea’s nine-year old 540-berth Silver Spirit will enter dry dock in Palermo to commence her stretching to become a 608-berth Muse-like vessel, with more capacity and updated facilities. With the recent increase in ship size, meanwhile, Vancouver is considering a new facility outside its main port area, which the new mega ships can not access because of the height restiction of the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Elsewhere, little-known Dallas-based Delos Shipping has acquired the Deutschland. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

The Cruise Show season is with us in London yet again and here is this week’s report. The most interesting comparison is between this weekend’s Daily Mail Cruise Show and next weekend’s DailyTelegraph Travel Show, which features a Cruise showcase. And the most interesting finding is the lines or operators that are exhibiting at both shows. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

A fortnight ago China, as a Near Arctic State, released its new Arctic Policy, which happens to coincide with the construction of up to ten polar expedition ships by the China Merchants shipyard near Shanghai. The first of those ships will be Aurora Expeditions’ Greg Mortimer, one of four such ships now being built for SunStone Ships of Miami. In another realm, the supply ship St Helena made her last departure from the island of St Helena on Saturday, now that the once-distant island is served by a new airport. And this week we look at an extended 27-night two-ship three-voyage cruise being offered by Imagine Cruising in the UK on board Queen Mary 2 and Anthem of the Seas. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week Crystal Cruises confirmed that its three new cruise ships would be smaller than 100,000 tons and carry more like 800 than 1,000 passengers. Meanwhile, at the launch of Scenic Eclipse in Croatia, Scenic announced a sister ship to be named Scenic Eclipse 2. And from Italy came news that MSC was considering entering the luxury ship market with four newbuildings. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

There was more news last week from P&O Cruises ordered a second 5,200-berth LNG-fuelled mega cruise ship for the UK market. Meanwhile, Oceanic Group of Singapore has announced that it will intoduce a dedicated Cartoon Network cruise ship from Singapore. And in Europe, CroisiEurope has announced that it will be packaging the 68-berth Jacques Cartier, a small cruise ship that will sail between Quebec City and Toronto. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Today, instead of the usual column, we have decided to update earlier news on new orders for expedition, adventure and small ships. This number has now reached twenty-seven vessels, twenty-three from European shipyards and four from China. Thirteen of these ships, will be completed in Norway, seven of which are due from Fincantieri affiliate Vard and the others from Kleven and Ulstein. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Announced before Christmas, Norway’s Hurtigruten is to join the cast of lines transitting Canada’s Northwest Passage, following in the steps of the Crystal Serenity, The World of Residensea and a number of smaller ships doing the full passage in recent years. The 530-berth Roald Amundsen will be the third largest passenger ship to do so when she sails through in August 2019. Meanwhile, Azamara Club Cruises’ new 684-berth Azamara Pursuit is being refitted at the historic Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast before departing on her maiden voyage from Southampton on August 1. And finally, Croatia’s Uljanik shipyard in Pula is looking to restructure. Uljanik is building the 228-berth Polar 6 expedition ship Scenic Eclipse. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Noises from China have been speculating that that market is becoming overtonnaged and those noises have been followed more recently by annoucements of transfers of ships to other markets. Last Thursday, Tom Hancock gave probably the best summary to date of elements that are affecting the China market in The Financial Times. Meanwhile, as a result of that softness in the China market, two fairly new megaships will be finding their way to Alaska over the next year or two. Elsewhere, Russian and Azerbaijani cruise companies have come to an agreement to introduce cruise ships to the Caspian Sea. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week Ponant announced its latest order, in this case for a 270-berth Polar Class 2 icebreaker capable of taking passengers to the North Pole. Elsewhere, Cruise & Maritime Voyages is sending its 1,250-berth Magellan to Mexico for the winter of 2019 and Carnival Australia’s seven brands booked a million passengers this year. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

This weekend saw two items of news from Viking Ocean Cruises. First, the Viking Sun sailed on the line’s first World Cruise, four months plus from Miami to London. And second, Viking has firmed up orders for its seventh and eighth ships and confirmed options for two more that would bring its ocean fleet to ten ships. Elsewhere, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line reinstates its West Palm Beach to Freeport service this Saturday and has announced that its second ship, to be named Grand Classica, will enter service in April. Finally, One Ocean Expeditions has announced a 56-night “circumnavigation” of Canada, tying its summer Canadian Arctic itineraries with the Akademik Ioffe with a Trans-Canada rail adventure from Vancouver to Halifax that uses Fairmont Hotels ashore. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

As MSC Cruises’ new MSC Seaside, first of a new class of cruise ship heads for her christening by Sophia Loren in Miami next week, we have a look at her on board offering. Montreal meanwhile reports a record cruise season, with 114,517 visitors. And Maersk Line’s December 1 acquisition of Hamburg-Süd sees the latter’s cargo ships leaving the passenger trades. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

As MSC Cruises’ new MSC Seaside, first of a new class of cruise ship, is being prepared to enter service later this month, an order has been placed for two “Seaside Evo” ships that will carry an extra 420 passengers. Elsewhere, Princess Cruises has announced that its fourth ship of the “Regal Princess” class will be named Sky Princess when she enters service in 2019. And in British Columbia, the third of their northern tourist ships, the Northern Sea Wolf, has now passed through Panama and will arrive soon for conversion into a day cruise ship between Vancouver Island and Bella Coola in the Great Bear Rainforest. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week, Dream Cruises christened its new 3,352-berth World Dream at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong. Also last week, Celebrity Cruises announced that it would be introducing a newly-built 100-berth cruise ship to the Ecuadorean-flag Galapagos Islands fleet on 2019, and that a sister ship was planned to follow. Meanwhile, Athens-based Celesytal Cruises has confirmed that the Thomson Majestic would be joining the Louis-owned Celestyal Cruises fleet as Celesytal Majestic. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Lindblad Expeditions has now joined Aurora Expeditions in ordering a new 138-berth X-Bow expedition ship in Norway. The similar Aurora ship is being built in China. Elsewhere, current ferry builder Guangzhou Shipyard has exhibited a new design for a mid-sized cruise ship at the China Cruise Shipping event in Sanya last week and Carnival Cruise Line and Shell have announced an agreement for LNG bunker barge fuelling of two new ships to be built for Carnival. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last Tuesday, Virgin Voyages unveiled initial details of its trio of 110,000-ton 2,860-berth new generation cruise ships. The most important announcement was that to the relief of many they will be adult ships. No waterslides, no bumper cars, no cartoon characters and noone else’s children. Still in the adult world, Coral Expeditions has announced its opening itineraries for its 120-berth Coral Adventurer, due out in 2019. And guest writer Shawn Dake from Long Beach tells us how the Queen Mary in Long Beach, which still accommodates regular guests, is getting a long overdue lick of paint after fifty years in Long Beach. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

In May 2019, after crossing the Pacific from Japan, Cunard Line’s 2,101-berth Queen Elizabeth will offer a spring season of four cruises from Vancouver to Alaska. This will also be the first time a ship called Queen Elizabeth has visited British Columbia since 1942. Meanwhile, the Panama Canal Authority marked the passage of the first super-sized Neo-Panamax cruise ship to use the expanded waterway, when the 3,114-berth Caribbean Princess did so last Thursday. And back up north, the Canadian port of Saguenay closed out another successful cruise season. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week, it was announced that the Celebrity Edge, the first of four new generation ships, will be based in Europe in 2019. On top of this, the existing Celebrity fleet of nine will be refurbished between 2019 and 2023 as the four new ships are delivered. Elsewhere, the world’s first cruise ship designed for Millenials, U by Uniworld’s The B, is to enter service on the Seine next spring, to be followed by a second ship, The A, on the Rhine. Finally, Crystal Cruises has added to its selection of short cruises with five 6- to 8-day cruises for 2018 in addition to the seven that are being sold this year. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week, Thomson Cruises, now the UK’s second-largest cruise line, announced that it would be taking on a new name, Marella Cruises, in order to differentiate the UK cruise brand from the German-based TUI Cruises. This will also mean a new naming scheme for the TUI Discovery and other UK ships that had been earmarked for TUI names. Meanwhile, poor bookings have seen Voyages to Antiquity cancel its 2017-18 Caribbean season, which was to have included Cuba. And in China, the SkySea Golden Era has sailed on her two-hundredth cruise for SkySea Cruises, the joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruises and China’s Ctrip. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week, on fairly short notice, Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 added a new port of call to her collection when she made her first visit to Sept Iles, on the Quebec North Shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence. A former fur trading centre and now an iron ore port, Sept Iles has been going after cruise business since opening a cruise terminal at its Quai Monseigneur Blanche berth in 2010. Elsewhere, Norwegian Cruise Line has announced that it will be moving its New York ship, Norwegian Breakaway, to the Baltic next summer and then to New Orleans at the end of 2018. Viking Cruises, meantime, has announced that its fifth ship, Viking Orion, will be sent to cruise in Alaska in 2019. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Last week Azamara Club Cruises announced that it was acquiring the newest of the eight “R” class ships, thus giving it a fleet of three sister ships. She will be named Azamara Pursuit. Still in the all-inclusive arena, Silversea has announced that it will lengthen its Silver Spirit so as closely to approximate the size of its newest ship, the Silver Muse and her planned sister ship Silver Moon. Both Azamara Pursuit and the lengthened Silver Spirit will be delivered in March 2018. Elsewhere, with two new ships due to be introduced to the Great Lakes in 2020, initial itineraries can now be pre-booked with both lines. But the question arises as to where they will berth in Chicago. (more…)

by Kevin Griffin

Today, the announcement was made by Cunard Line that it had ordered a fourth ocean liner, for delivery in 2022. The 3,000-berth vessel will be based on Holland America Line’s Koningsdam platform. Elsewhere, Saga Cruises announced last week that it had ordered a second 999-berth ship, to be named Spirit of Adventure, from Meyer Werft in Papenburg. And finally, Crystal Cruises is calling time after two successful Northwest Passage transits and has made it known that the next such crossing would be made by its newbuilding, the Crystal Endeavour, in 2019 or 2020. (more…)