One Ocean Welcomes New Acquisition

On 18th October One Ocean Expeditions held a recommissioning ceremony at Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, for the company’s newest vessel, the 8,445gt/1991 built RCGS Resolute (above). The ship was Hapag-Lloyd’s Hanseatic until September 2018. This “new” vessel provides One Ocean with a springboard to further grow the number of sailings to remote destinations in the world, including Canada’s East Coast, the Canadian High Arctic and Antarctica. The ceremony at Sydney was steeped in centuries of old Naval tradition, including a champagne toast by the Commissioner of Nunavut and a blessing of the ship fulfilled by Reverend Canon Donald J Lawton (CD). The RCGS Resolute’s inaugural voyage departed from Ushuaia on 16th November with an “Antarctica – Off the Beaten Track’” itinerary. The RCGS Resolute is also the first in the company’s fleet to carry a custom-built 20ft container laboratory fitted out with state-of-the-art equipment for scientists to conduct their work in the isolated coastal areas explored. The ‘One Lab’ will also be installed on fleet mates Akademik Ioffe (6,450gt/1989) and Akademik Sergey Vavilov (6,344gt/1988), for Spring 2019.

Virgin Fleet Swells

On 31st October Fincantieri and fledgling cruise operator Virgin Voyages signed a contract valued at approximately €700 million for the construction of a fourth cruise ship, which will be delivered at the end of 2023. The newbuild will be a sistership to the three already on order with Fincantieri. Construction is underway at the Sestri Ponente shipyard (Genoa) and the initial trio of ships will enter the Virgin Voyage’s fleet respectively in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The fourth vessel will be approximately 110,000gt, 278m long, 38m wide and equipped with over 1,400 guest cabins designed to host more than 2,770 passengers, accompanied by 1,100 crew members. When delivered, the first vessel, Scarlet Lady, will offer Cuba as a destination during her inaugural 2020 season. On 8th November Virgin Voyages revealed details of the gastronomic delights that will be available aboard the Scarlet Lady via an expansive array of restaurants ranging from haute cuisine to casual fare via a total of 20+ food choices.

Ponant

Ponant’s new 150m long polar ice-class ship, Le Commandant Charcot, is being built for Ponant at VARD’s Søviknes yard in Norway and it has been announced that the luxury cruise vessel will be powered by Wärtsilä’s 31 DF dual-fuel engine type. The new hybrid ship is intended to operate in environmentally sensitive Arctic and Antarctic waters, hence she will run primarily on LNG. In addition to four 14-cylinder and two 10-cylinder Wärtsilä 31DF engines, Wärtsilä will also supply the fuel gas supply system, and the company’s Nacos Platinum navigation equipment. The Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled to be delivered in 2020, one year prior to the delivery of the ship. The previous eleven ships are all powered by Wärtsilä engines. The 9,976gt/2018 built Le Champlain was delivered to Ponant in late September and departed VARD’s Søviknes yard on 27th September. The official inaugural cruise departed from Honfleur, France, on 25th October after the ship had been formally christened at the town’s cruise quay on the banks of the River Seine. The 8-day cruise took the ship to Lisbon via Dinard (France), Pasajes and Vigo (Spain) and Leixões (Portugal). In mid-October the third Explorer Class ship, the Le Bougainville, was made ready to depart from the VARD shipyard in Tulcea, Romania, under tow to VARD’s Søviknes yard in Norway for final fitting out ahead of her 2019 delivery date. The vessel (Hull 850) was noted in the Mediterranean off Malta on 22nd October being towed by the 1,374gt/2011 built tug Fairplay-33.

From Victory to Radiance

On 16th October Carnival Cruise Lines announced a dry dock project that will transform the 101,705gt/2000 built Carnival Victory into the Carnival Radiance. This represents the final phase of a $2 billion fleet enhancement programme that has produced a consistent level of on-ship facilities such as the WaterWorks aqua parks, specialty dining, entertainment, enhanced accommodations and amenities. The refurbishment of the Carnival Victory will add the company’s popular culinary, bar and entertainment innovations and completes the “any ship, any port, any itinerary” fleet enhancement programme that commenced in 2011 across the fleet of 26 ships. Following a 38 day dry dock in Cadiz, Spain, the Carnival Radiance will enter service in 2020. The Homeport and itinerary details for the new look ship were to be announced in mid-November. Since 2011 Carnival has completed refurbishments on over 20 ships, taken delivery of three new ships and has three additional ships scheduled for delivery through to 2022. Since the process began, Carnival’s annual passenger count has grown from 4.1 million to 5.2 million guests. The number of children under 18 sailing annually has grown from 650,000 to 800,000, its employee base has grown from 34,000 to 40,000, its voyage operations have grown from 1,400 to 1,700 sailings per year and its lower berth count has grown from 58,000 to 70,000. As Carnival completes this phase of the capital investment and fleet expansion programme, it is now focussing on providing a better onboard technology experience for guests. The Carnival Hub App is now available on all 26 ships in the fleet and running ahead of projections with regard to customer adoption. The enhanced NextGen connectivity system has proven extremely successful on Carnival Horizon and Carnival Vista, enabling fast and reliable Wi-Fi at sea. The Carnival Radiance will also receive technology. The company is also piloting a “pizza anywhere” delivery capability on select vessels with the eventual goal of allowing guests to order food and drink options directly from the Hub App for delivery to their location on board!

Ultra-Luxury for MSC

On 18th October MSC Cruises and Fincantieri announced the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the construction of four ultra-luxury cruise ships for a total value in excess of €2 billion. The 64,000gt ships, the first of which will be delivered in Spring 2023, will feature 500 cabins with the sister vessels arriving one per year over the following three years. The cutting-edge ships will showcase highly-innovative design as well as introduce ground-breaking options for guest comfort and relaxation. The Ultra Luxury market is a natural evolution of the MSC Yacht Club. These ships will be able to offer unique itineraries, thanks to their size, and the guest services will be taken to another level, including a personalised MSC Yacht Club butler service, available 24/7.

No Joy in China

In June 2017 Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Joy was christened in Shanghai at the start of her career in China, having been custom built for that market. Her Godfather was pop star Wang Leehom. However, the 3,883 passenger capacity ship will leave the Asian market in April 2019 and receive a $50 million refit to realign her facilities with fleet mate Norwegian Bliss to serve the Alaska market instead, along with the Norwegian Jewel. A smaller NCL ship is due to deploy to China in 2020. After sailing in Alaska, the Norwegian Joy will move to Los Angeles to sail Mexican Riviera and Panama Canal itineraries in the winter of 2019 into early 2020. Cruise operators are reported to be struggling with the demands of the cruise passengers from the Chinese market, including excessive consumption of food at the buffets and the associated wastage.

Windstar Does the Triple

On 27th October 50% of the Windstar Cruises fleet was together in Barcelona, Spain. The 9,975gt/1989 built Star Breeze, 14,745gt/ 1989 built Wind Surf, and 5,703gt/1986 built Wind Star (representing two sailing yachts and one motor yacht in the fleet) were all in port at the same time by coincidence and departed in convoy that afternoon.

Silver Service for Genting

Genting Hong Kong is celebrating 25 years as leader of the Asian cruise industry in 2018. Originally founded in 1993 as Star Cruises, Genting Hong Kong has been an integral force in establishing the Asia Pacific as a cruise destination and introducing the cruise product as an attractive vacation option to the growing middle-class demographic in the region. In 2015, Genting Hong Kong enhanced its cruise portfolio with the acquisition of Crystal Cruises, and the unveiling of its brand-new premium cruise line, Dream Cruises, in order to accommodate the spectrum of passengers from contemporary to high-end, and now collectively known as Genting Cruise Lines. Dream Cruises’ highly anticipated first new Global class ship will be delivered in 2021, joining the 150,695gt/2016 built Genting Dream and 150,695gt/2017 built World Dream. Crystal continues to expand its portfolio with extensive refits carried out on the Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity and the enhancement of the River Cruises’ fleet (sisterships Crystal Debussy, Crystal Ravel, Crystal Bach and Crystal Mahler plus the Crystal Mozart) and Crystal Yacht Expedition Cruises’ 3,370gt/1991 built Crystal Esprit. The world’s largest luxury expedition yacht, the Crystal Endeavor, will debut in August 2020. Star Cruises continues to employ the 75,338gt/1999 built SuperStar Virgo, 42,285gt/1988 built Superstar Libra, 40,053gt/1990 built Star Pisces, 50,764gt/1992 built Superstar Gemini and 51,309gt/1993 built SuperStar Aquarius in Asia. Closing on 31st October, Dream Cruises also staged a naming competition for the first 204,000gt Global Class newbuild. Without doubt, Boaty McBoatface will not feature in the shortlist!

Delivering the Edge

On 1st November Celebrity Cruises took delivery of the innovative Celebrity Edge (above) at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s chairman and CEO Richard D. Fain and Celebrity Cruises’ president and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo hosted a handover ceremony on board the ship. Following the formalities for the Celebrity Edge, attendees made their way across the shipyard for the ceremonial keel laying of the Celebrity Apex, where a 762t block was lifted in the air and a lucky coin was placed on the dock before the block was lowered into position. On 6th November the 130,818gt/2018 built Celebrity Edge began her transatlantic voyage to her home port at T25, Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her inaugural season will be spent sailing alternating seven-night eastern and western Caribbean cruise itineraries, with her Maiden Western Caribbean voyage departing on 9th December 2018, and her Maiden Eastern Caribbean voyage departing on 16th December 2018. Then, in the spring of 2019, the Celebrity Edge crosses the Atlantic again to offer guests stunning vistas of the Mediterranean with a range of seven to 11 night sailings visiting iconic cities, including Barcelona and Rome.

Second Option for Sunstone

Ship owner SunStone Ships declared the first option at the China Merchants Heavy Industry shipyard (CMHI) for the Infinity-Class series of expedition cruise vessel designs in autumn 2018 and then declared option number two in early November bringing the total of CX103 designed vessels under construction at the yard for SunStone to 3. SunStone Ships originally placed one firm contract and nine options for the Ulstein Infinity Class expedition cruise vessels in 2017. The company has signed a long-term charter contract with Victory Cruise Lines on the third vessel, which will carry the name Ocean Victory for delivery in March 2021. The layout of these ships is designed for indoor luxury and outdoor enjoyment. Observation decks and balconies offer a range of views to the spectacular surroundings whilst a restaurant and bar serve all-day delicacies and refreshments. The vessel facilities include three restaurants and one open deck dining facility, observation lounge, lecturer lounge, piano bar, gym and spa facilities, library, shops, changing facilities for Zodiac excursions, 20 Zodiacs, swimming pool, Jacuzzis, & pool bar. The first ship in the 104.3m long/18.4m beam and 200 passenger/100 crew capacity Infinity Class, named Greg Mortimer, is scheduled for delivery August 2019 and will go on charter to Aurora Cruises, Australia. Every vessel boasts Polar class 6 and Polar code Cat B standards plus a dynamic positioning system and zero-speed stabilisers.

Princess 2020

Princess Cruises has announced that 2020 will be its biggest European season ever, with available capacity up by 15% on 2019. A total of 1.4m nights of cruising will be on offer from the UK, an increase of 30% on 2019 and, for the first time ever, Princess Cruises will have three ships sailing a full season of itineraries from Southampton. The company’s newest ship, the 142,714gt Royal Class Enchanted Princess, will be christened at Southampton in June 2020 before the ship heads to the Mediterranean for the summer. The Enchanted Princess will be the first of the company’s ships to be named in the UK since the 142,714gt/2013 built Royal Princess.

The 113,561gt/2006 built and 3,080-guest capacity Crown Princess will operate May to November, the 92,822gt/2003 built and 2,200 guest capacity Island Princess (above) will spend June to October sailing from Southampton to northern Europe and the 142,714gt/2014 built and 3,560-guest Regal Princess will offer Round Britain cruises from May to September 2020, her first time at Southampton.

Prior to her UK season, the Crown Princess (above) will sail a shorter series of fly-Mediterranean cruises in April and May.

Meanwhile the 142,714gt/2019 built and 3,660-guest Sky Princess (above) will spend her first spring and summer season operating from Copenhagen in 2020 meaning that the Enchanted, Sky and Regal Princess will all be based in Europe in 2020.

Further afield among the fleet’s other itineraries, the Diamond Princess (above) will operate from Japan and the Sky Princess/ Caribbean Princess will offer 16 Canada & New England sailings between them from Fort Lauderdale, New York or Quebec.