Headlines

 

10 year old river ship company closes down operations.
RiverBarge Excursion Lines has ceased operations, according to a statement on the company’s website. The New Orleans-based company operated the 196-passenger River Explorer, a set of connected barges that sailed on American rivers and inland waterways.

“RiverBarge Excursion Lines Inc. has been forced to curtail all operations for 2009 due to economic conditions. Rising costs and very soft bookings have forced this decision,” the company said in a notice on its website. “We want to assure our guests that RiverBarge Excursion Lines Inc. deposits all payments for excursions in a special escrow account at the Whitney National Bank. This escrow account is overseen and regulated by the Federal Maritime Commission. As soon as these funds are made available to us, guest refunds will be processed. RiverBarge Excursions would like to express our gratitude to all guests who have traveled with us in the last 10 years and thank you for your support and for being a part of the RiverBarge family.”

The company’s phones were being answered on Dec 31, but an official spokesperson was not available to answer additional questions. The company was founded 10 years ago by Eddie Conrad Jr., who chose to call his vacation product an “excursion” instead of a cruise.

MSC Cruises’ MSC Orchestra arrived in Port Everglades to begin its inaugural season
MSC Cruises’ MSC Orchestra arrived in Port Everglades on Jan. 2 to begin its inaugural season of Caribbean sailings. “We are very excited to introduce MSC Orchestra to North America,” said Richard E. Sasso, president and CEO of MSC Cruises (USA). “It is an elegant ship in every respect -- spectacular public areas, and a wealth of choices for dining, entertainment and activities, all with a style that epitomizes MSC Cruises.” MSC Orchestra is the largest of the line’s ships to sail in North American waters. At 92,400 gross tons, the MSC Orchestra can carry 2,550 passengers and the majority of staterooms have private balconies.

The ship has five restaurants -- L’Ibiscus, Villa Borghese, La Piazzetta, Four Seasons and Shanghai Chinese -- 10 bars, three meeting and conference rooms, a 21-by-12-foot outdoor LED screen, and the 16,146-square-foot Body and Mind Spa. MSC Orchestra will sail alternating seven-night roundtrip itineraries from Jan. 10 to April 18, 2009. The Eastern Caribbean itinerary calls at Cayo Levantado, Dominican Republic; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; St. John, Antigua; and Nassau, Bahamas. The Western Caribbean route visits Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Cayo Levantado. A seven-night roundtrip Bermuda sailing departs Fort Lauderdale on April 25. This itinerary includes three days in King’s Wharf, Bermuda, and a day in Nassau.

During its inaugural season, MSC Orchestra will host Major League Baseball greats on its Jan. 24 Western Caribbean itinerary and its Feb. 28, March 28 and April 11 Eastern Caribbean itineraries. MSC Orchestra is scheduled to depart Fort Lauderdale May 2 on an 18-night voyage that will include a two-day visit to New York before heading eastbound to Copenhagen. The itinerary includes calls at Ponta Delgado, Azores; Lisbon, Portugal; Vigo, Spain; La Coruna, Spain; and Dover, England.

Worldwide's team had the opportunity to sail on the trade inaugural over the weekend - comments from our team where; the ship is great, the service is very poor, the crew attitude is dreadful as was the food in general.  Hopefully the negative comments are simply due to the pressure the crew feel bringing a new ship on line.  Given some time these issues should be resolved.

MSC move back delivery of their 4th Musica-class ship
With the news that MSC Cruises is taking delivery of its fourth Musica-class ship not late this year but in 2010, the number of new berths coming in 2009 sinks to 23,700. That is less than the nearly 26,000-berth capacity addition in 2008.

The 2,550-berth MSC Magnifica was originally planned for delivery in 2010 from STX France but subsequently moved forward to December this year. The revised date is now March 2010.

During a US introductory event for MSC Orchestra Friday night, Seatrade Insider asked about MSC’s renegotiation of the fifth and sixth Musica-class ships, as disclosed by ceo Pierfrancesco Vago during inaugural activities for MSC Fantasia last month.

‘When it comes to investment, we are not scared. We are looking to the future,’ said Achille Staiano, Naples-based commercial manager, international market, for MSC Cruises.

He underscored that the two ships are still planned but did not say whether the 2011 and 2012 delivery dates for MSC Meraviglia and MSC Favolosa will hold.

‘As we said before, we are looking at the timing of these deliveries. It has nothing to do with a crisis,’ Staiano added.

The agreement to build the pair of ships was announced Aug. 14. Industry sources say there is no deal between STX and MSC because of subjects including financing that were to be lifted late last year and allegedly were not.

However, while noting the agreement is subject to financing, an STX Europe corporate spokesman maintained: ‘This is a live order.

Ecoventura Rolls Out Green Vessel in Galapagos
Small-ship company Ecoventura said one of its fleet of four motor yachts now sports a new sustainability technology heretofore applied only to small private boats. Ecoventura’s Eric is the first hybrid energy tour boat in the Galapagos following a $100,000 installation of 40 solar panels and two wind turbines on the upper deck. The work, which began in October 2008, also included replacing canvas awnings with a hard fiberglass top for structural support. The goal is for the solar panels and wind-powered generators to provide enough power to initially support approximately 17 percent of the energy formerly produced by two carbon fuel-based generators. This project was financed through a partnership with Toyota, a supporter of the World Wildlife Fund. The target goal is to have full fleet implementation by 2011

Team Building Program? This has to be the one.
Corporate team building programs can be fun as well as productive.  Sailing and racing, team against team, is one sure way of pushing everyone to the limit.  When the program operated in one of the most amazing cruising areas anywhere, the anticipation, enthusiasm and overall return will surely be a nice surprise to all.

Sunsail Yacht Charter's open a third base in northern Croatia.  The new base, Sunsail’s third in Croatia alongside Kremik and Dubrovnik, will open in May with a fleet of monohulls available for bareboat or skippered charter. Pula is located on the Istrian Peninsula, which borders Slovenia and is close to Italy. Pula will offer a range of yachts 39 to 47 feet, including the new Sunsail 44i by Jeanneau. The Sunsail base is a 15-minute drive from Pula airport in Marina Veruda, a facility with a number of bars and restaurants, showers and a supermarket.

Looking for a unique short cruise opportunity - here it is.
On 12/1/09, the Oasis of the Seas will be sailing on a one-time only special 4 night cruise departing from Port Everglades, FL with 2 days at sea and 1 port of call, Labadee, Haiti.  What a great opportunity to experience this magnificent ship (with 2 full days to explore her 7 unique "neighborhoods") during a 4 day voyage.

Immediately following this sailing, the Oasis of the Seas will begin her scheduled 7 night Caribbean voyages roundtrip Port Everglades, FL. departing form the newly cruise terminal in Port Everglades just to house this 180,000 ton vessel.  For more info on the Oasis of the Seas, visit www.oasisoftheseas.com.  To book call Steve on +1 954 663 8806

Times are tough?  Yet record booking are recorded
Princess Cruises had the biggest booking day in its history on Jan. 12, with volume up 17 percent over the best previous day. “Travel agents have been working hard to deliver the value message in these challenging times, and there’s no more exciting outcome of their efforts than to have a record-breaking reservations day,” said Jan Swartz, Princess executive vice president of sales, marketing and customer service. “The volume of bookings we received on Monday is a testament to the strength of our brand, and also to the success of our many promotional efforts during wave period, most notably our ‘Balcony Bonanza’ program.” The “Balcony Bonanza” enables agents to provide a free upgrade to a balcony stateroom for the price of a standard ocean-view stateroom, representing a savings of up to $1,200 per cabin. It applies to most 2009 summer sailings to Alaska, Europe and the Caribbean.