Headlines
Inside the
Industry
News from Worldwide
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Special Features:
Barcelona a successful venue for both the EIBTM
Show and SITE's International Conference.
Nicely timed for both exhibitors and SITE members, this
years show and International Convention fed of each other.
With both the show and convention posting record numbers of
attendants. In fairness this years EIBTM Show was a
high quality event in a settled period with many exhibitors
feeling comfortable with business and it showed on the show
floor both in the size of the booths and the number of
people manning them, not to mention the record attendance
figures. SITE's international Convention was a well
attended event which followed right on the heels of the
trade show, with many exhibitors putting their weight behind
the SITE organization. Barcelona and the folks which
gave so generously of their time to put the event together
as well as the generosity of the sponsors of the many well
planned and well executed events as well as the high quality
of the speakers at the seminars all went together to make
the event the success it was.
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Two great value Buy-in's
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details.
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Markets can take rather unexpected turns.
The cruise ship market could grow by leaps and bounds
if
millions of retirees
move permanently onto ships.
Will Cruise Ships Become Old Age Nursing Homes?
Living on a cruise ship is
a feasible and cost-effective option to
assisted living facilities, and the services
offered on a cruise ship parallel — even
surpass — what is provided in senior care
facilities, according to a study in the
November issue of the Journal of the
American Geriatric Society.
Offering many amenities,
such as three meals a day with escorts to
meals, physicians on site and
housekeeping/laundry services, cruise ship
could be considered a floating assisted
living facility. Seniors who enjoy
travel, have good or excellent cognitive
function and require some assistance with
activities of daily living are the ideal
candidates for cruise ship care.
The study compared costs
over a 20-year life expectancy after moving
to assisted living facilities, nursing homes
and a cruise ship, including costs of
treating acute illness, Medicare
reimbursement and other factors, it was
found that the net costs of cruise ship
living were only about $2,000 higher
($230,000 vs. $228,000) than those
associated with the assisted living
facilities but resulted in higher quality
over the 20-year period.
The study plan would
include integration with regular passengers,
with seniors selecting a cabin to inhabit as
home during their prolonged cruise, whereas
other passengers would disembark as usual
Headlines
Las Vegas-based
multimillionaire says he will spend $500 million to build a
cruise ship that will carry 100 passengers and 50
crewmembers in orbit around the moon.
Looking for a new cruise destination? So are many
others including Bigelow. But Bigelow
also has formidable resources and a plan to change the
situation. The Las Vegas-based multimillionaire says he will
spend $500 million to build a cruise ship that will carry
100 passengers and 50 crewmembers in orbit around the moon.
Bigelow, whose holdings include the hotel chain Budget
Suites of America, has formed a company called Bigelow
Aerospace and is hiring rocket scientists and others to work
on the lunar project. He hopes to bring other companies into
the effort as well, and to have the spacecraft ready for
launch in 15 years.
According to preliminary plans, the cruise ship will be
roughly half a mile from one end to the other -- far larger
than any current-day spacecraft. The craft will rotate
slowly to provide artificial gravity at some 40 percent that
of the Earth; the passengers will not have to worry about
the discomforts of weightlessness.
Why shoot for lunar orbit rather than the more modest
goal of putting tourists into Earth orbit? The moon, says
Bigelow, "is sexier." He expects a "much greater volume of
hands to go in the air" when a lunar mission is offered
rather than a trip that provides "the same view of Earth
over and over."
In any event, says Bigelow, tourism will "get Uncle Sam
out of the field as the exclusive owner of space." Indeed,
the Las Vegas businessman speaks scathingly of current
government-run space projects. The International Space
Station, he says, "is a huge economic fiasco, and it's not
even fully deployed."
He adds, "If things continue as now, it's doubtful that
in your children's lifetimes they would see the opportunity
to go into space."
Bigelow intends
to change that...
NCL's newest ship -
Norwegian Pearl arrives in Miami
The newest NCL cruise
ship - Norwegian Pearl berthed in Miami over the weekend.
NCL took the opportunity to show her to the trade, with a
number of various functions which ranged from a two day mini
cruise to dinner and luncheons on-board. Check
Worldwide's revue of the new ship on our web-site after the
holidays.
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RSSC recently refurbished Seven
Seas Navigator was also in Ft. Lauderdale.
With some pretty serious alterations to
enlarge the spa area and add some additional cabins, this
was more than just a refurbishment. Check
our
revue on our web-site.
Carnival Cruise Line
orders it's largest cruise ship yet.
CCL announced that it had exercised it's
option for a new 130,000-ton ship. This would be
Carnival's biggest ship yet, their current largest being
110,000 tons. The new ship, as yet unnamed, is planned
for delivery in the summer of 2010 and will cost around
$740M. It is to be constructed by the Italian shipyard
Fincantieri who are also constructing thirteen of the new
nineteen ships Carnival currently has on order.
Carnival currently owns 81 ships spread across their 12
international brands.
Inside the Industry
Celebrity Cruises has taken another
significant step in its quest to expand the "Celebrity
Expeditions" extension of the brand.
Celebrity Quest will join Celebrity Expeditions in 2007,
pairing new avenues for delivering the "Celebrity Treatment"
with exotic new itineraries for the vessel and its sister
ship, Celebrity Journey. The three-ship class includes
Celebrity Xpedition, which has sailed in the Galapagos
Islands since 2004.
"Rounding out the Celebrity brand has been
a strong focus for our company, and the expansion of
Celebrity Expeditions furthers that strategic objective,"
said Celebrity's President Dan Hanrahan. "Celebrity Quest,
Celebrity Journey and Celebrity Xpedition combined represent
a natural extension of the brand as we move into new markets
with tailored-to-market products."
710-guest Celebrity Quest - most recently
sailing as Blue Moon, owned by Pullmantur - will join the
Celebrity Expeditions fleet in October 2007. Like Celebrity
Journey, which sets sail in May 2007, the vessel's smaller
size allows for greater versatility in deployment, allowing
Celebrity to offer guests exceptional destination
experiences, while adding 32 new ports to the line's
itinerary portfolio. With those, the Celebrity brand next
year will call on 247 ports.
"These smaller, upscale ships are the
perfect complements to the premium destinations they'll
visit, while offering the best of what the Celebrity brand
is all about - unparalleled service, extraordinary dining
experiences, revitalizing spa programs, truly exotic
destinations and exceptional shore excursions," said
Hanrahan.
Unique to Celebrity Journey and Celebrity
Quest will be a more exclusive guest experience, with two
specialty restaurants, 15 classes of accommodations, butler
service and concierge amenities in every stateroom and
suite, and expanded spa services, including in-room
offerings.
Both Celebrity Journey and Celebrity Quest
will undergo a combined $35-million revitalization during
separate one-month drydock periods to incorporate 32 new
suites on each ship, entirely new bedding and soft goods,
and a variety of Celebrity's most popular signature
elements, including the Martini Bar, Cova Cafe, Sushi Cafe,
Michael's Club jazz/piano bar, casino, Boutique C, AquaSpa
by Elemis, Acupuncture at Sea and Online@Celebrity.
Celebrity Journey will sail seven-night
Bermuda cruises from May through October 2007, then will
present an exceptional series of 12- to 18-night cruises in
remote areas of Antarctica, Brazil, the Chilean Fjords and
other faraway regions of South America, from October 2007
through April 2008.
Celebrity Quest will make its first
sailing under the Celebrity Expeditions banner in October
2007, introducing a series of 12- to 14-night Caribbean
sailings featuring several first-time ports of call,
including those in St. Barts, Guadeloupe, Dominica, and
Turks & Caicos, followed by a series of 14-night Eastbound
and Westbound Panama Canal itineraries featuring some of the
most exotic destinations in Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua
and Panama. Additionally, each port will feature a new,
immersive series of shore excursions.
Fortifying the Celebrity fleet remains a
strong focus for the company, with the expansion of
Celebrity Expeditions falling on the heels of announcements
for three extraordinary new ships - Celebrity Solstice,
Celebrity Equinox, and a third Solstice-class ship,
launching in 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively. Setting the
stage for the build-up was a $55-million revitalization of
Celebrity's Century, completed in May.
Central to Celebrity's recent expansion
was the agreement between Celebrity's parent company, Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL), and the shareholders of
Madrid-based cruise and tour operator Pullmantur S.A.,
signed in August, to buy all the company's capital stock. In
October, RCCL announced plans to swap Celebrity's Zenith
with Pullmantur's Blue Dream, renamed Celebrity Journey,
which enters service in Bermuda in May 2007. RCCL completed
its purchase of Pullmantur on November 14, 2006.
"Only two months ago, we pledged to
realize increasingly greater synergies as a result of our
new partnership," said Pullmantur General Manager Alfonso
Lopez Perez. "This is a vivid and significant outgrowth of
that pledge, and of our shared goal to provide guests with a
wide variety of cruising options worldwide."
Celebrity Quest was constructed in France and entered
service in November 2000 as R7. Like Celebrity Journey, the
ship is 30,277-grt and has 355 staterooms
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Royal Caribbean
International Names Shaiken Vice President of Onboard
Revenue
Royal Caribbean International today announced that it has
named seasoned retail executive Steve Shaiken as vice
president of Onboard Revenue. Shaiken will be responsible
for enhancing and promoting Royal Caribbean's onboard
revenue products, including casino operations, retail
boutiques, art auctions, and the ShipShape Day Spa and
salon, in addition to multiple other onboard revenue
streams. "We are delighted to have someone of Steve's
caliber join the Royal Caribbean executive team," said
Michael Bayley, senior vice president of Hotel Operations.
"His breadth of retail management experience makes him
ideally suited for this vital role."
News from Worldwide
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Please note & change our fax number - now
+1 954 252 3945
Friday saw some technical problems in our
offices when several of our telephone/fax lines where
damaged. In view of this and to keep in-touch with our
clients we changed our incoming fax number to +1 954 252
3945. Please do note this and change it in your
system.
Worldwide honors two long term clients at
it's annual supplier thank-you party.
Gatsby's in Davie, Florida was once again the
chosen venue for Worldwide's Supplier Thank-you-Party.
This annual event draws cruise line people from most of the
major cruise lines, not only from the Florida area, but also
all the way from Seattle WA.
The informal get together is our way of
thanking all those hard working folks we deal with on a
day-to-day basis for their patience, goodwill and assistance
in often doing the near impossible to make our charters and
corporate programs run as smoothly as they do.
Honored this year were
two clients who's
loyalty has transcended ten years of mutually profitable
business. Jeffery Hockersmith, the President & CEO of
Jornee Unlimited, an incentive house based in S.
Florida received a plaque from the Worldwide Partners - Jim
Castle, Diana & Steve Bloss.
Also honored for his long time loyalty was
Roger Naber, the President of Rhythm & Blues Cruises a
multiple ship charter client who does 2 or 3 Holland
America's charters every year for his musical cruise
programs.
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For more
information on any of OUR ASSOCIATES go to our website or,
email us.
