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Special Features:
Valencia (Spain) witnessed the unusual
double defeat of the America's Cup defender - Alinghi, in
the finals of the Louis Vuitton Act12.
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Loosing
two races in a day doesn’t happen too often to the
defender, Alinghi, so the final day’s racing in the
round robin of Louis Vuitton Act 12 must have seemed
like quite a slap in the face for the Swiss.
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After the upset Alighi's strategist Jochen
Schuemann admitted: “We’re disappointed with the results,
but we are pleased that everyone stayed calm. We remained
close and still had a chance to catch up and even threaten
the leading boat, which I think is important. I think our
team is ready for these challenges.”
While on paper the result looks bad for
Alinghi, Schuemann pinpoints both defeats down to a very
specific phase of the race – the pre-start. “Our mistakes
were very early ones. We made them in the pre-start and with
these races there was a very clear wind pattern. Starting on
the wrong side of your opponent resulted in losing races.
Basically, the start was already the end of the race.”
Whereas last year SUI 75 (the race boats is named for its
sail number) seemed to be a cut above the Challenger boats
in terms of raw speed, the top few teams are now
sufficiently evenly matched on speed that Alinghi can’t
afford big mistakes any more. While outsiders might be
surprised at seeing the Defender yield three matches in the
11-race round robin, Schuemann remains philosophical. “There
was no magic, nothing new to learn. It just confirmed that
when we don’t do it perfectly and fulfill our strategy and
tactics, it can go pretty wrong.”
Check out the
action
and
latest news on our web site.
Note: We still have charter opportunities for the America's
Cup culmination - the 2007 years races - this will be a BIG
sporting event to rival any major international sporting
event, call us for charter opportunities.
Last chance - some individual staterooms
still available for the Ryder Cup 2006 in Ireland.
Seabourn Cruise/Ryder Cup Program.
There are a very limited number of staterooms
available to close out the 2006 Ryder Cup/Seabourn cruise.
This 4 day cruise starts in Dublin and ends in London.
Incredibly low pricing to close this sailing out.
Ryder Cup.
Time. In today’s world, many
travelers have trouble finding the time to get away from
their job
To
accommodate time-strapped voyagers, the cruise lines are
offering short itineraries that range from one to five
nights. These short cruises are ideal for people who want a
quick getaway. They’re also an excellent way for novice
cruisers to sample a seagoing vacation without committing to
a full week’s sailing.
Short getaway cruises typically embark from North American
home ports and visit a variety of destinations including the
Caribbean and the Bahamas, Florida, the Pacific Northwest,
and Baja Mexico and California ports. Additionally,
travelers in Europe can enjoy short cruises to Mediterranean
ports of call.
Although many cruisers opt for sailings of seven days and
longer, there really is no better way to test the cruise
waters, so to speak, then to book a short getaway voyage,
it’s a virtual guarantee that most getaway cruise passengers
will return to book another cruise.
Travelers with limited time often enjoy pairing short
cruises with land programs to create a week-long vacation.
Shorter cruises are also less expensive and provide
affordable opportunities to get away from it all.
Surprisingly, short itineraries are also popular with
veterans of past cruises, because while frequent cruisers
often embark on longer itineraries, they also capitalize on
as many opportunities as possible to hit the high seas. In
effect, these travelers are looking for short cruise
getaways between their longer sailings.
Shorter
cruises are popular for corporate programs as many incentive
winner have already cruised and enjoy doing so, plus a
shorter program are easier on budgets as well as only
having the winners away from their desks for a short amount
of time.
Check on
what's available -
shorter
cruises.
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Headlines
Passport News - Senate Panel Votes to Delay the
Western Hemisphere Travel
Initiative
The Senate Appropriations
Committee on Thursday approved an amendment authored by
Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, to
delay implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel
Initiative for 17 months, until June 1, 2009, and to require
the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of
State to certify to Congress that several standards are met
before the program moves forward. The WHTI would require all
Western Hemisphere travelers to carry a passport or other
secure identification card beginning Jan. 1,2008. A similar
amendment to delay the WHTI was included in the
Senate-passed immigration reform package. But because the
future of that legislation is now clouded, the two senators
worked to attach the amendment to must-pass legislation such
as two appropriations
bills.
The official ceremony of MSC Musica’s
delivery recently took place at St. Nazaire at Aker Yards in
France.
The official delivery ceremony of MSC
Musica’s took place on June 19, 2006 at the Aker
Shipyards in France, in the presence of the President
Patrick Boissier, shipowner Gianluigi Aponte and the CEO of
MSC Crociere Pierfrancesco Vago. The Ceremony has was also
attended by Karl Erik Kjelstad, President and CEO of Aker
Yards and Mrs Ela Aponte, godmother of the new flagship as
well as the famous French Film Star Gerard Depardieu
who is popular in Italy. .
The MSC Musica has been the center of
attention in Saint Nazaire since last Saturday, when almost
25,000 guests from the work force, relatives and families of
all the staff who have been involved in the construction had
the opportunity to visit this splendid new addition to MSC's
Italian fleet. MSC Musica is a new generation ship, custom
designed and built for MSC Cruises, she carries the latest
and most advanced technology developed by Chantiers de
l’Atlantique/Aker Yards France. The naval architecture and
design of MSC's new flagship, have ensured that its 22.000
sq.mt. of common areas have been thoughtfully planned to
guarantee the best possible guest/space ratio. With a
high percentage of outside cabins (80%), the majority of
which have balconies allows most of the passengers to
experience a cruise where the sea is the main feature.
Security on board is guaranteed by the use of extremely
sophisticated technology.
Soon after the delivery ceremony, MSC Musica
sailed from Saint Nazaire to Venice, where on June 29 she
was officially launched in the presence of her godmother
Sophia Loren and numerous VIPs. She then left Venice for her
first Mediterranean cruise, touching some of the most
beautiful destinations in Greece, Turkey and Croatia.
MSC Musica is the first of five ships
commissioned by MSC Cruises from Aker Yards France to be
delivered over a period of three years: next delivery will
be MSC Orchestra, followed by MSC Poesia and MSC Fantasia in
2008 and MSC Serenata in 2009. MSC Fantasia and MSC Serenata
will be the biggest ships ever commissioned by a European
company.
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The
U.S. government has chartered the Orient Queen to rescue
evacuees from war-torn Beirut.
The charter was arranged
by the Military Sealift Command through the intervention of
shipbroker Cruise Ventures, Inc. The vessel is
approaching Beirut and will soon begin ferrying evacuees to
Cyprus.
The 349-cabin Orient Queen
(ex Bolero, ex Starward) is owned by Abou Merhi Cruises of
Lebanon. The ship has capacity for 876 passengers. The
deal is the first cruise ship charter and the first U.S.
charter related to the current Middle East conflict.
Port & Itinerary News
Construction of Liverpool's cruise landing stage has
started with the facility being built in sections in dry
dock at the city's Canada Dock,
The £19m project is scheduled to be in position alongside
the city's famous Pier Head waterfront and operational by
mid-May 2007. The first cruise ship scheduled to use the new
facility is Regent Seven Seas' Seven Seas Voyager.
International construction firm Balfour Beatty is the
contractor for the project.
The 250mtr long landing stage will be capable of handling
ships up to 350mtr in length and will allow cruise guests to
disembark directly on to Liverpool's UNESCO-designated World
Heritage Site waterfront. Lengthy legal wrangles - including
last year's takeover of Mersey Docks and Harbor Company (MDHC)
- have delayed the plan by more than two years.
Eight cruise ships are scheduled to call in Liverpool in
2007, up from five expected this year. The official opening
ceremony for the landing stage, says Redhead, will tie in
with the September 2007 visit of Cunard's QE2 which is
undertaking a special round-Britain voyage to commemorate
the 40th anniversary of her launch.
In 2007 the city is celebrating its 800th birthday and the
city is planning a whole host of events to mark this
occasion. The city recently trained 28 local
volunteers to act as 'meeters and greeters' for cruise
visits. 'They are all retirees who sailed from the city in
the past. We want to make all cruise calls to Liverpool a
unique experience, offering that personal touch by giving
passengers the chance to meet Liverpudlians face-to-face.
And what of the name of the new landing stage? Rumor has it
that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's name is no longer
being considered. Peel Holdings (owners of Mersey Docks and
Harbor Company) also owns Liverpool John Lennon Airport so a
Beatles connection for the cruise facility has to be a
strong possibility. 'How about the Paul McCartney Cruise
Landing Stage?'
Princess Cruises
will offer 62, week-long Mexican Riviera cruises roundtrip
from Los Angeles and San Diego in 2007-08 on two ships.
The 2,600-passenger Golden Princess will take over for
Diamond Princess to operate the line’s classic voyage from
Los Angeles, while the 1,950-passenger Dawn Princess will
sail from San Diego on a similar itinerary with different
port times.
The Golden Princess route visits Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán
and Cabo San Lucas, with 31 departures on Saturdays between
late September 2007 and late April 2008.
Dawn Princess sails on Sundays during the same period with a
progam that provides a later stay in Cabo San Lucas, plus
Mazatlán and an evening in Puerto Vallarta. The ship also
will operate two coastal voyages at the end of the season --
a three-day direct journey from San Diego to Vancouver on
May 4 and a four-day Alaska sampler on May 7 from Vancouver
to Seattle with a call in Ketchikan.
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Oceania Cruises’ longstanding plans to visit Australia-New
Zealand will be realized in late 2007/early 2008.
Nautica will cruise Down Under after repositioning from the
Mediterranean next summer. The season will be split between
Asia and Australia-New Zealand before the ship returns to
the Med for Summer 2008. ‘We’re finalizing the itineraries
now,’ Oceania spokesman Tim Rubacky said. The company hopes
to open bookings within the next 30 to 45 days.
Carnival Corp.
stated that they would favor the relocation of Grand Bahama
Island’s cruise facilities to the more tourist-friendly area
of Lucaya.
Carnival commented
that there where however a number of issues that must first
be resolved. Right now, the port location is in the middle
of a container port. If we had the option we would move to
Lucaya as it’s more attractive,’ Micky Arison announced.
However, the Carnival chairman and ceo said there are
‘political, financial and other issues’ that need to be
settled.
Grand Bahama Port Authority chairman Hannes Babak has been
advocating the shift of cruise operations to a new site
owned by the port authority. He told local media a location
for a $200m facility has been identified and said an unnamed
partner would participate in developing a tourist village
with retail, restaurants, condos and timeshares.
According to the Bahama Journal, Babak also said talks are
underway with Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Inside the Industry
Dietmar Wertanzl, svp fleet operations, is leaving
Celebrity Cruises,
Celebrity and Wertanzl ‘have mutually agreed to end their
association,’ according to president Dan Hanrahan.
Hanrahan credited Wertanzl with introducing ‘a number of
luxury services and amenities on board our ships that
effectively have transformed Celebrity’s on board
experience. He has laid a strong foundation for Celebrity’s
next and most exciting period of growth and innovation, and
we are extremely grateful for his contributions.’ There was
no immediate word on a replacement, or on Wertanzl’s plans.
Wertanzl joined Celebrity in May 2002. During his recent
tenure at Celebrity, Wertanzl focused on training, service
and adding ‘a touch of luxury’ to the premium product.
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Silversea
Cruises has appointed Kate Innes to the position of vice
president global marketing.
Innes’s who returned to Silversea's this year after a
three-year absence will assume responsibilities in her new
role which will include the development of global branding,
partnership programmes and product innovation, based from
the company’s London office.
Innes, who initially helped develop partnership markets for
Silversea between 1994 and 2001, left the company to head up
the marketing programme for the W&O group (World Luxury
Group).
The Passenger Shipping Association has
appointed Andy Harmer as director of business development
for its agent-training arm.
PSARA (Passenger Shipping Association Retail
Agents Scheme). His role will commence at the end of this
month and will involve a complete review of the existing
agent training and education scheme.
Harmer's main objectives will be to introduce new agents to
cruising and to inspire existing cruise agents to help
further grow the UK cruise market. He takes over from Bryony
Coulson who left PSARA at the end of April.
Harmer joins PSARA from Hills Balfour Synergy where he was
UK and Ireland sales and marketing manager for Kenya Tourist
Board from September 2004. He is a fully trained economics
and business lecturer. Harmer started his travel industry
career at TV Travel Shop in 1998 where he rose to the ranks
to senior operations manager in 2003, managing a 400-seat
call centre and a team of eight sales managers.
Panama Canal enhancement vote set
for Oct. 22, 2006
Panamanians will go to the polls on Oct. 22 to decide on a
major expansion of the Panama Canal.
Lawmakers approved the referendum on Friday, and President
Martín Torrijos is expected to sign a bill today authorizing
the vote.
The $5.3bn expansion project would build a third lane and
locks to handle larger ships. Completion is targeted for
2014.
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