Historic Agreement to Ease Travel across the Caribbean Basin during Cricket World Cup
The countries of the Caribbean are finally beginning to come together to operate as a single nation and to make travel to and between the various islands and nations easier than ever before. All of this has been precipitated by the hosting of the Cricket World Cup (CWC), the third largest global sporting event, by ten Caribbean countries and enabling those visitors to move freely between those ten nations during the time of Cricket World Cup as if they were a single country.

This historic agreement which will be in effect between February 1 and May 15 2007 (to cover the actual dates of March 5 to April 28 for the Cricket World Cup) promises to make travel to and between Caribbean countries much easier for cricket fans, other visitors and Caribbean nationals.

The ten nations participating in this so called Single Domestic Space are Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago.

This will mean that during the period announced, visitors to these countries, once they have cleared Immigration & Customs at their first port of entry, will be free to travel to and within all of the other nine countries as if they were a single nation. This initiative promises to be a substantial boon for multi-destination travel within the region even for vacation for purposes beyond Cricket World Cup.

All of this good news comes, however, with some unintended consequences. As with the creation of the European Union, some countries that did not require a visa for certain nationals to visit will now require those visitors to obtain a visa.

Because travel and tourism are so important to the economy of the Caribbean, officials will put an extraordinary number of initiatives in place to facilitate the issuance of visas to those visitors that have been affected.

Some of these initiatives include a special web site for the application of visas including answers to frequently asked questions, a 24 hour hotline to address any concerns, a three day turn around for requests for visas after receipt of complete applications in a processing centre, waiving of visa fees for children of age 12 and under and some special arrangements for emergencies.

Lindblad Expeditions plans journeys from the Arctic to Antarctica in 2007 aboard the 110-passenger National Geographic Endeavour, the company’s flagship and symbol of its strategic alliance with the National Geographic Society.


The ship will embark on 20 journeys ranging from 11 to 38 days and exploring diverse regions such as Scandinavia and the Baltics, Scotland, Britain and Ireland, Arctic Svalbard, the Mediterranean, Dal

Silverseas Silver Shadow sails from Port Everglades on 1st Leg of it's World Cruise

This past week has seen several ships depart from Port Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale's cruise port on Round-the-World Itineraries.  None however, have had the splash and fanfare of the Silver Shadow.

The line’s ambassador, actress & model Isabella Rossellini attended a cocktail reception and dined with the 143 passengers who are taking the entire 126-day world cruise during a dinner-dance at the landmark Boca Raton Resort & Club.  Trumpeters heralded the guests into a banquet hall where oysters, caviar, lobster, Pommery champagne and other delicacies were served.

Amongst the Silverseas Executive present, David Morris, Silversea’s evp sales and marketing for North America, noted that this was the line’s first circumnavigation an ‘historic event,’ with visits to 60 ports on six continents.

A number of high profile celebrity lecturers joining various legs of the voyage include newsman Walter Cronkite, political commentator William F. Buckley, film critic Rex Reed, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and correspondent Lynn Sherr, who attended the Boca send-off.

Marilyn Conroy, vp sales noted that a further five exclusive shoreside events are planned, in Santiago, Auckland, Dubai, Safaga and Rome. ‘These are unique. You can’t buy them anywhere,’  She credited the extensive enrichment extras as key selling points.

Joseph Proto, director of world cruise and business development for Silversea, said that in addition to the 143 full world cruise passengers, 45 are sailing at least 71 days and 80 are sailing 55 days. Silver Shadow’s capacity is 382.

Entertainment director Cliff Perry noted that a normal Silver Shadow cruise loads 1,300 pieces of luggage. This one will take 4,000. While most lines dispatch limos to take their full world cruisers to embarkation, Perry announced Silversea is sending a yacht. It will transport the guests to Port Everglades, where a marching band is among the scheduled bon voyage festivities.

Pearl Seas Cruises - orders 2 new ships

Newcomer Pearl Seas Cruises has announced that it has signed contracts with Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax to build two new luxury passenger vessels. The ships will carry 165 and 210 passengers. The first ship is scheduled to begin service in July of 2008 and the second in June of 2009.

The ships will sail international cruises in the Canadian Maritimes, Newfoundland and New England followed later in the year with itineraries in the Caribbean. The company says its intimate ships will be small enough to visit off-the-beaten-path destinations as well as larger, more-widely visited ports.

Look for the new vessels to feature elegant public rooms and luxurious accommodations. Facilities include a spacious dining room, several lounges, a well-stocked library and a state-of-the-art spa.

The ships will feature six passenger decks and 88 staterooms, each with private balcony measuring 240 to 510 square feet. Amenities include flat screen satellite TV, DVD players, individual climate control and Internet access.

To create brand awareness in the highly-competitive luxury cruise field, Pearl Seas has just become the 20th member of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), a trade organization whose member lines collectively represent 97 percent of the cruise capacity marketed in North America.

Carnival Behind New German Cruise Line

TUI AG, the world's largest tour operator, and Carnival Corporation recently announced the signing of a letter of intent to form a joint venture company to develop, market and operate two cruise brands.

Carnival's existing AIDA Cruises and a new TUI Cruises brand.

Through it's wholly-owned subsidiary, Hapag-Lloyd, of Hamburg, Germany, TUI operates one of five leading container shipping companies with over 140 container ships. Under the brands of Hapag-Lloyd in Germany and Thomson in the UK, TUI also operates a fleet of nine cruise liners.

AIDA, the German affiliate of Costa Crociere S.p.A., is currently the market leader in Germany with its "club resort" cruise concept aimed at younger, more active passengers. AIDA currently operates a four-ship fleet, with four additional ships under construction at Germany's Meyer Werft shipyard scheduled for delivery between 2007 and 2010.

Under the proposed joint venture agreement, a new TUI Cruises brand, which will target a different segment of the German cruise market, will be developed. It is expected that the first TUI branded ship, with an estimated 3,000 passenger berths, will be delivered in the spring of 2010.

Clipper Cruise Lines sell their 3 ships

Clipper Cruise Line which is held by Kuoni Travel Holdings have sold their three ship:

  • Clipper Adventurer
  • Nantucket Clipper
  • Yorktown Clipper

To First Choice Holidays for an undisclosed sum.

Australia's ship set to sail 3 day cruises from Hamilton Island

The 68-passenger Fantasea Ammari is due to arrive in the Whitsundays on New Year’s Eve to commence a new cruise operation following a two-month refit in Brisbane.

The 60-mtr boutique cruise ship is the former Rivage St Martin that was built by the Austal shipyard in Western Australia. She was bought from her Italian owners earlier this year by Riverside Marine, the Brisbane-based family-owned company that also acquired Fantasea Cruises, now trading as Fantasea Cruising.

David Gibbs, the spokesman for Riverside Marine said that the Fantasea Ammari has had a galley make over and that all the ‘super comfortable’ cabins have private facilities, air-conditioning, flat-screen TV and refrigerators. There is a restaurant, lounge, dance floor, shop, beauty salon and spa, swimming pool, sun-deck and indoor and outdoor bars.

Riverside Marine has also invested in the construction of a high-speed 32-seat tender for Fantasea Ammari.

Gibbs said Fantasea Ammari, which was due to enter service this month, will now commence weekly three-night cruises from Hamilton Island and Daydream Island on Jan. 7. The ship will cruise to Reefworld, the company’s private pontoon, for snorkeling and diving and to Whitehaven Beach. She will also anchor overnight off Hayman Island and Lindeman Island.

Fares start at A$1,782 (US$1,390) per person twin-share, which includes all meals, but not alcoholic drinks.

Pullmantur Cruises' Sky Wonder carrying about 1,600 Brazilian tourists was stranded off the port of Buenos Aires on Thursday after getting stuck on a sandbank, a port official said.

The ship got stuck several miles (kilometres) from the port along the vast River Plate, which separates Argentina and neighboring Uruguay.

Strong winds apparently caused problems for the luxury line after it set sail late on Wednesday, port officials said.

Pullmantur Cruises, Spain's biggest cruise and tour operator, is owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Emerald Princess successfully completed several days of sea trials off the coast of Italy after departing the building dock at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone yard. The Princess Cruises ship is scheduled to embark on its maiden voyage April 11, launching a summer season of 12-day Greek Isles and Mediterranean cruises and Caribbean in the winter. Emerald Princess will be named in a dual christening with Royal Princess (ex Minerva II) in Santorini on May 12.

Lindblad Expeditions 2007 Artic/Antarctica itineraries released for Endeavour

Lindblad Expeditions plans journeys from the Arctic to Antarctica in 2007 aboard the 110-passenger National Geographic Endeavour, the company’s flagship and symbol of its strategic alliance with the National Geographic Society.


The ship will embark on 20 journeys ranging from 11 to 38 days and exploring diverse regions such as Scandinavia and the Baltics, Scotland, Britain and Ireland, Arctic Svalbard, the Mediterranean, Dalmatian Coast and Antarctica. Pre- and post-voyage extensions to Easter Island, Torres del Paine National Park, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Athens and Crete are available.

Through the National Geographic alliance, passengers will gain insights from scientists, naturalists and historians, and the ship offers numerous exploration and observation tools, including Zodiacs, kayaks, hydrophones, video microscopes, ‘splash cams’ and underwater video cameras.

Aruba to invest over $350M into their tourism infrastructure

At the first press conference of the Caribbean Hotel Association’s 28th Caribbean Marketplace in Aruba, the host island’s top tourism officials announced financial investments totaling more than $350 million that would encompass nearly every sector of the tourism industry.

Some of the major developments include more than $35 million to improve Queen Beatrix International Airport. All of the improvements are expected to be completed by 2010 and include the first-ever private jet terminal, which will open at the end of January.

Other major projects include a more than $24 million investment by Occidental Grand Aruba. The Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino is also undergoing a $40 million upgrade.

The Port of Barcelona has reported a new record of 1.4m cruise passengers handled during 2006, a gain of 14.5% from the total of 1.23m in 2005, which had shown 19.9% growth from 2004. Cruise ship calls rose to 714, against 689 in the previous year.


During 2006, 625,000 passengers were in transit, 44.4% of the total, while 393,000 were embarking and 389,000 disembarking, together representing 55.6% of overall traffic as homeport-based.

In each month from July through October 2006, more than 200,000 passengers moved through Barcelona. No month in previous years had reached that figure. May and June were also strong, while April and November showed respectable numbers, reflecting a gradual stretch of the Mediterranean cruise season.

Indian Ocean Cruises’ 250-passenger Ocean Odyssey (ex Jason) will leave Goa this Sunday on her debut 14-day return itinerary. Routing will be Mangalore, the Lakshadweep Islands (Tinnakara, Suheli), Cochin, Colombo, Tuticorin, Trivandrum, Lakshadweep (Cheriyam) and Goa.

Passengers embark tomorrow when an inauguration ceremony will take place presided over by Ravi Mehrotra, chairman of the Foresight Group of Companies (of which IOC is part); Les Royle, ceo of Indian Ocean Cruises; and officials of the Port of Murmagao (Goa). Indian tradition at ship christenings is to smash a coconut, rather than a bottle of champagne, to bring good luck.

MS Ocean OdysseyOcean Odyssey is expected to normally sail with around 200 passengers to ensure optimum guest comfort. Initial sailings may have only around 50% capacity, however, because flights into Goa are fully booked during India’s peak holiday season,  The company is now working on preventing future airlift problems.

Highlight of IOC cruises will be the visits to the pristine Lakshadweep Islands, where special government approval was required to land passengers ‘under strict environmental controls with IOC is employing a specialized clean-up company to ensure no traces are left on the islands.

Ocean Odyssey, built in 1965, underwent an extensive $5m refit in Greece last spring. The ship then carried out summer charter operations in the Med before sailing to India, where it had been hoped to start cruises at the beginning of the high season in November.

Strong Euro Makes Cruising a Better Value Than Land-Based Programs

 
Seattle, WA, January 15, 2007 —Vacationers with their sights set on Europe this year will find a significant benefit of touring with Windstar Cruises.  A strong Euro translates to higher prices on land, but on board a Windstar ship, guests visit charming European ports daily with rates paid in U.S. dollars.

 

“By booking a European cruise with Windstar, guests are locking in today’s prices at a time when the Euro is gaining strength against the dollar,” says Diane Moore, Windstar’s vice president of marketing and sales. “Also, if comparing the cost of a land-based vacation with expensive hotels, meals and transportation between cities—a cruise provides significant savings by offering one package with one price paid in U.S. dollars.” 


Windstar’s fleet of three sailing ships are in Europe from April through November. The 312-guest Wind Surf sails seven-day cruises in the Western Mediterranean from Lisbon, along the coast of Spain, France and Italy to its easternmost port of Venice.  The 148-guest Wind Star and Wind Spirit spend most of the season sailing in the Greek Isles with a few Mediterranean cruises in April and November.
 Homeports for the Wind Surf include Lisbon, Barcelona, Rome, Nice, Venice and Monte Carlo.

 

A new seven-day itinerary from Rome to Venice visits picturesque harbors of Amalfi, Italy; Taormina, Sicily; Corfu, Greece; and Dubrovnik and Hvar, Croatia. On the reverse, from Venice to Rome, the Wind Surf visits Dubrovnik and Korcula, Croatia; Corfu, Greece; and Messina and Sorrento, Italy.  


 Guests seeking longer vacations in Europe may opt for a cruise from Windstar’s “Connoisseur Collection,” a selection of seven-day cruises ideal for booking back-to-back for a longer voyage. Wind Surf’s itineraries have been coordinated for a seamless 14-day voyage without repeating ports.  


Guests booking back-to-back receive 5-10% off the total cost of the cruise depending on date and itinerary. Prices for a fourteen-day European cruise aboard the Wind Surf begin at $4,309 per person, based on double occupancy. On May 28, a 13-day cruise roundtrip from Nice starts at $3,499 per person, based on double occupancy.


On board the ship, guests enjoy many complimentary amenities found only at high-priced luxury hotels. Gourmet cuisine created by acclaimed Chef Joachim Splichal is served in The Restaurant and in Wind Surf’s alternative restaurant Degrees. Luxury bedding and mattresses ensure a premium resting spot after the day’s excitement. Shea butter bath amenities by L’Occitane and Egyptian cotton towels are in all bathrooms. Also found in suites and staterooms are flatscreen televisions, DVD/CD players, Bose SoundDock speakers for docking mp3 players, waffle terry spa robes and slippers.

 

Complimentary activities include water sports—water-skiing, snorkeling, sailing, kayaking, ski-tubing, wind surfing—fitness center, nightly port talks by the ship’s host, Captain’s reception, tea time at 4pm, relaxing in the hot tub, lazing in hammocks on deck and lounging by the pool. 


Windstar recently announced a multi-million dollar investment in all three ships to add even more luxury amenities on board and update public spaces and staterooms. The Wind Surf was the first ship to be completed in December 2006. Highlights include two new luxury Bridge Suites, remodeled bathrooms in all suites and staterooms, and The Yacht Club—the new social hub of the ship with an espresso bar, comfortable seating, computers and Internet.

 

The Wind Spirit  renovations will be completed prior to the European season in spring 2007, with the Wind Star following in fall 2007.

Hong Kong-listed shares in cruise line operator Star Cruises Ltd. were suspended
Hong Kong-listed shares in cruise line operator Star Cruises Ltd. were suspended before the start of trading on Friday, pending release of a statement on a potential deal that is price sensitive, a statement issued through the Hong Kong bourse said.

Hong Kong shares in Star Cruises were set to open 10.5 percent higher at HK$2.53 each, based on pre-market trading.

Macau casino mogul Stanley Ho is set to buy a stake in Star Cruises, a cruise and gaming company controlled by Genting Group with a stake in a massive casino resort project in Singapore, the Straits Times newspaper said on Jan 16.

Ho will be invited to buy up to 10% of Star Cruises, which in turn is expected to secure rights from the gaming magnate to build and operate a casino in Macau, the report said, quoting unidentified financial executives close to the deal.

Pricing details for Ho's investment in Star Cruises have yet to be finalized. The report said the transaction would be announced this week, maybe as early as Jan 16.

The deal is part of a plan by Star Cruises and Singapore-listed Genting International, both part of Malaysia's gaming mogul Lim Goh Tong's empire, to raise funds to develop a US$3.4 billion (RM11.9 billion) casino resort on Singapore's Sentosa island, the report said.

Genting International's shares rallied on hopes that Ho, who has been losing market share in Macau, would pay a good price for any stake in Star Cruises. The stock climbed 7% to a high of S$1.03 (RM2.35) in heavy early trading.

Trading in the Singapore- and Hong Kong-listed shares of Star Cruises has been suspended since Jan 12. Its Singapore-listed stock surged by a third to 38.5 US cents late on Jan 11 before the suspension.

The company has a stock market value of US$3 billion.

A Star Cruises spokesman declined to comment on the report.

"I am a bit surprised that it is Stanley Ho. The talk was that the tie-up would be with Galaxy because of the close ties," said Michael Zhang, gaming analyst at CIMB-GK in Hong Kong.

"But it will be good for Star Cruises as they are highly geared," he said.

Star Cruises, which generates about 60% of its operating profit from North America where it operates cruise ships under the NCL group, recently raised HK$1.6 billion (RM718.72 million) from a rights issue. It has long-term liabilities of US$2.54 billion as of end-September 2006.

If Ho succeeds in taking a stake in Star Cruises, which has a 25% stake in the planned casino resort on Singapore's Sentosa island, it would give him a back-door entry into the city-state's gaming market.

Ho's son Lawrence controls Melco International, which was one of the final bidders for the Sentosa resort. It lost out to Star Cruises and its sister company Genting International.

Last month, Stanley Ho also made news in Singapore by leading a group of investors who forked out US$60 million - setting a record - for half a dozen penthouses in Singapore which would overlook a yet-to-be-built casino in the downtown area.

Ho has been facing growing competition in Macau, where his gaming assets are held under Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), since his monopoly on gaming was broken in 2002.

Zhang noted that SJM's market share of gaming revenue in Macau fell to 51% by end 2006 from 75% a year ago.

Return

Ocean Cruise Line lose their President

Mr. Arthur Pollock, recent president of Ocean Majesty Cruise Lines, probably the most successful operator of short cruises to the Bahamas is no longer with the company.

The lines was for several years the biggest mover of passengers through Port Everglades.  Operating 2/3 days cruises to the Bahamas the line built on partnership with timeshare companies.  For various reasons the timeshare incentive programs have been dramatically scaled back which left the line with no alternative but to make cuts where they could.

We are advised that Mr. Arthur Pollock remains Chairman of the ships ownership company.

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Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD. Names New VP Corporate Strategy

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL), which operates both Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, today announced that Vance Johnston has been named vice president of Corporate Strategy for the global cruise vacation company.

Johnston will be responsible for leading the company's strategic planning processes, corporate development activities and other major initiatives, and will report to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Luis Leon.

Johnston joins RCCL after serving as vice president of Strategic Planning and Development for OfficeMax, Inc. Prior to that, he held a variety of senior executive positions in strategic planning, operations and finance with organizations including Burger King, OfficeMax, Ernst & Young LLP, and KPMG Peat Marwick LLP. Johnston has significant experience in mergers and acquisitions, strategy development, and international operations.

"We're thrilled to have someone with Vance's experience and demonstrated record of success fill this vital position," said Leon. "I'm confident he will make an immediate and positive impact on our growing business."

Johnston holds a master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree in Business from the University of San Diego.

Classic Luxury motor yacht - SAVARONA

The M/Y Savarona is the 4th largest private yacht in the world with a length of 446 feet and 17 spacious suites each over 485 ft². Her 47360 ft² of covered and 38 feet of open space, offer a wide and spacious living area and state of the art recreational facilities. Her 17 luxurious suites, in addition to the master suite, average 538 square feet (50m²) in area. The services on board outclass by far those of the finest 5 star hotels and cruise vessels.

The Savarona was commissioned and built at a cost of $4 million at the Blohm and Voss shipyards in Hamburg in 1931 by Emily Roebling Cadwallader grand daughter of John Roebling the engineer who built the Brooklyn Bridge. Mrs. Cadwallader sold Savarona to the Turkish Government in 1938 and was used by the Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who was ill at that time and spend six weeks aboard Savarona and there he held all his cabinet meetings up to his death November 10, 1938.

 

The Turkish Navy started using Savarona as a training ship after the end of World War II. In 1989 Mr. Kahraman Sadikoglou leased the yacht for 49 years and started a three year refurbishing program at a multi million dollar cost to bring Savarona at her former glory. This was achieved with the help of Donald Starkey who designed her interior. And today Savarona proudly again sails the waters bringing satisfaction to those seeking the ultimate enjoyment in luxury yachting.

Contact Worldwide for more details:

Worldwide's web site problems.

Thank you to the many clients and visitors to our web-site for advising us of an on-going problem.  Starting sometime after the start of the New Year we experienced an intermittent problem with the site navigation buttons, they would not display their contents.  The problem then extended to the product section of the site when all the hyper links disappeared.

 

We suspect that the site got hacked and a virus started the problems.

 

This has now been mostly fixed by taking the site completely down and clearing the whole program from our servers.  We have now copied back the content of the site but many link remain to be hooked up. The site is still usable if one uses the back arrow to move around the pages. We expect the site to be fully up and running by Monday Jan 22.

 

Worldwide appreciate your patience whilst this frustrating problem is fixed.

Fantastic buy-in opportunity - 5Star Ship Venice to Monte Carlo - May 07 - priced to sell

Worldwide is pleased to be able to offer our clients a really excellent value buy-in opportunity.  Please click on the above link for full details.  This offer is ONLY available via Worldwide so please contact us directly.

Equally frustrating is the difficulty we have experienced communicating with our clients by e-mail.  This is not related to our web-site problem, but appears to be simply that our domain name - cruiseco.com - is being blocked by either anti-spam, anti-popup or anti-virus software.

We have several large programs and charter nearing delivery and not being able to communicate with our clients especially when attachments need to be sent, is a most frustrating issue for both parties.  Please do ensure we are not being blocked in your offices.  Who knows what messages, information and offers are not arriving on your desk.

If you receive any newsletters or other communication from us and feel you would rather not.  Please do request to be removed from our circulation list.  Every message of this nature carries a link to allow you to request your name be removed.