After a week in Orlando (which will be covered in a later article) I am now onboard Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas. The newest vessel in the Royal Caribbean fleet built by STX Europe and entered service in 2010 it is a sister ship to Oasis of the Seas, however Allure is reportedly a tiny tiny bit longer.
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You probably would say that the current economic environment would be one you that you would consider launching a cruise line, especially not two. More…
On the 21st May Liverpool Cruise Terminal will be finished, this temporary building, anticipated to be around every summer for 3 years while plans are drawn up for a permanent replacement. On May 29th Ocean Countess, the small cruise ship which has been operating out of Liverpool’s trouble Langton dock terminal will operate the first cruise starting from the Pier Head in 40 years. More…
This post has been a bit delayed as I actually typed it on my train home, but its been sitting on my iPad waiting to be published! Last month I visited the London Cruise Show. More…
2012 is nearly upon us, so what do we have to look forward to in the next year. Well five new cruise ships will be joining the oceans, Norwegian Cruise Line will be listing on the stock market and Costa Romantica will emerge as Costa NeoRomantica, after a daring refurbishment. So heres our guesstimations for the next year:
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For as long as I can remember Richard Branson has been linked to starting a cruise line, to date this has not yet surfaced, and recently its been even more quiet…
The core aspects of the Virgin brand is to create a memorable experience, with flair and fun. Virgin Atlantic succeeds very well in doing so, and their advertising campaigns show this. Richard Branson has said that any Virgin Cruise Line would target a 30-55 age group, so would likely carry over these core aspects.
The reason that such an endeavour may not have happened is that starting a cruise line is expensive, and the market is growing mature in Virgins UK home. However I believe there is also the problem that people actually like their cruise lines, with Royal Caribbean basically offering what Virgin Cruise Line would offer. Virgin has done well by going into an industry which isn’t particularly customer friendly – airline, telecoms and banking, and providing excellent customer service, something which is a core aspect of the Virgin brand.
Unfortunately for Virgin no cruise line actively annoys and disrupts their customers to make such a strategy worthwhile in the cruise industry. In 2003 I wrote to Virgin Holidays suggesting they should start a cruise line, their response being that they will look into all markets.
It was back in 2005 when Branson made lots of noise about starting a cruise line, he even met Stelios who had just launched ‘easyCruise’ (covered here) It is even reported he met with executives from Royal Caribbean over plans for a joint venture. Although the UK market quickly boomed with Island Cruises, Thomson and Ocean Village all quickly adding capacity. Ocean Village was probably most like what the Virgin product would have been like. It was a real belief at the time that it was just a few months away til Virgin Launched a cruise line there was even reports in Lloyds List.
Back in 2009 CruiseCritic suggested that Richard Branson would start his proposed cruise line within the year. While this has not yet been the case rumors still persist about Virgins entry into the cruising arena.
However if such a project was launched between Virgin and Royal Caribbean, we expect it would take a similar form as TUI Cruises, with Celebrity Century starting off the venture, with perhaps a new ship like what has been just ordered at STX Turku. Any Virgin Cruise Line would benefit from Virgin’s international airline system and worldwide brand partners, for which cross promotion would be irresistable!
Now with the closure of Ocean Village and the merger of Island Cruises and Thomson Cruises, it would be my belief that Virgin do not have a cruise product planned, as people are happy with what the market provides, only when the market gets it wrong will Virgin be able to make a valid attempt, otherwise we have another Virgin Cola.
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Thanks,
Liam
- Liam@Crociere.co.uk
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Links of Interest
- http://www.travelserver.net/travelpage/ubb-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=003425
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Continuing our series on ‘The Rise & Fall of’ we are looking at Festival Cruises, whose collapse is the most recent, declaring bankruptcy in 2004. If you used to work for Festival Cruises or had been on a Festival Cruise please comment below, send us an email (Liam@Crociere.co.uk) or contact us on Twitter & Facebook.
In 1992 George Poulides founded Festival Cruises, it started services in 1994 with The Azur, which had been acquired from Chandris Cruises, This was followed by Bolero and with continued success the company added Flamenco to the fleet in 1998.
In 1999 the company added Mistral, its first new build, at a cost of $240 million. The ship was built at the same yard as the Normandie & Queen Mary 2, Chantiers de l’Atlantique in St.-Nazaire, France.
The ship was built as part of a strategy to locate the company in the middle of the cruise market, just above Royal Caribbean, but below Celebrity, with a distinctly European flavour, the company was not allowed to operate in the United States under the Festival name, as it was deemed to be too similar to Carnival, so the company traded as First European in America.
Following on from Mistral, two slightly larger improved sister ships were ordered for delivery in 2001 & 2002, to be known as European Stars and European Vision. These ships features more balcony cabins, but, like Mistral were never going to win a beauty contest!
This would give the company three large new ships, in the growing European market. Upon delivery the older ships in the fleet were chartered out, making sure the brand had a solid identity, two further options for Mistral class ships were passed on, later being picked up by MSC Cruises, becoming MSC Lirica and MSC Opera (We have toured MSC Opera here)
In May 2000 P&O announced plans to acquire Festival Cruises for $600Million, who would join P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Swan Hellenic and Aida as a European brand. However two months later the merger plan was dropped, due to the low value of cruise shares at that time.
Also joining in 2002 was ‘the ship that sank the Andria Doria’ the former Stockholm, now named Caribe, this ship is regulary forgotten as operating for the Festival fleet, she sailed out of Havana. Now this ship operates for Classic International Cruises as Athena, and is one of the oldest operating cruise ships in the world. This could surely have only confused the Festival cruises product.
During 2003, an interesting concept was launched between Festival and Hilton, where there would be 25 ‘Hilton Suites’ on its new builds, these would feature butlers who had been trained by Hilton, and the suites would contain Hilton branded amenities. The idea being that the line could use a trusted brand to expand further into the America market.
In 2004, Festival Cruises ships were arrested, and the battle lines were drawn for a complex bankruptcy, drawn out over five months. During this time Royal Caribbean, who had lost out to Carnival for P&O Princess PLC, were linked to takeover the company. The ships were arrested as Alstom (owners of the shipyard) claimed Festival had broken its
contractual financial obligations.
The company made a series of announcements that operations would restart, but slowly, one by one its offices were closed and the ships auctioned off. The company even attempted to relaunch with just its new ships, Mistral, European Stars & European Vision. In July 2004 MSC acquired European Stars & European Vision, to join sister ships MSC Lirica and MSC Opera. European Stars is now MSC Sinfonia. European Vision now operating as MSC Armonia. Mistral was sold to a group of French investors, who have chartered her to Ibero cruceros now named Grand Mistral.
The company, like a lot of cruise industry failures, went too big too fast. If acquired by P&O it is likely the company would still be operating. Of most cruise lines which declare bankruptcy, I think this one has probably gotten the closest to success due to its modern ships, ironically it was paying for these modern ships that caused their collapse.
Did you used to work at Festival Cruises, do you have any memories of being on Festival?
Please get in touch; You can comment below, Use Facebook, Twitter or Email us.
If you liked this article you may like;
- The Rise & Fall of : Premier Cruise Line
- The Rise & Fall of : Regency Cruises
Thanks,
Liam
- Liam@Crociere.co.uk
- Our Facebook
- Our Twitter
Links
- Festivals Fuzzy Future – News article during bankruptcy
- Postcards of the Festival Fleet
- Festival & Hilton News Article
- MSC Opera Visit
- P&O + Festival Merger cancellation
