What does Costa Victoria, Celebrity Century & Minerva have in common? Reply

Along with Carnival Paradise, Costa NeoRomantica, Seabourn Legend amongst others… They have had Balcony Surgery. It’s the latest fad in the cruise industry and cruise lines are jumping head of heels to add Balconies to their fleet.

MSC Announces MSC PREZIOSA? 1

© Gilbert CAILLER

I don’t want to say I told you so, but I think you will find I did. Either that or STX is being a bit adventurous. Photos have arrived online suggesting that MSC has purchased the former Libyan cruise ship as MSC PREZIOSA. The ship is the same class as the soon to be launched MSC Divina and sister ships MSC Fantasia and MSC Splendida.

Christmas Presents for STX Reply

STX looks set to have a bumber Christmas and New Years if everything goes to plan!

All Rivers Lead to the Ocean

Viking River Cruises has ordered two ocean going cruise ships, with the option of a third from STX in France. This is great news for STX workers, who have faced an uncertain future with the yards struggling for work in the recession.

DSME has Ambitions in Cruising : Cruisia Reply

DSME, Daweoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, has been trying for the past few years to make it ‘big’ in the cruise industry, DSME is one of the worlds largest shipbuilders but has not yet built a cruise ship, as the market appears to have been carved up by the European Yards, Meyer Werft, AKER (Now STX) and Fincanteri.

Do prove to the industry that DSME has what it takes to build a world-class cruise ship they created the Cruisia concept, just like EOSEAS, it is not expected that this ship will be built, just that it will prove that the ship builders have the facilities, knowledge and technologies to build such a vessel.

Cruisia proves to be an interesting ship, at 135,000GRT, carrying a maximum of 4500 passengers and a length of 315meters. That makes it the same length as Celebrity Solstice. The ship was design to be as safe and energy efficient as possible, so is already ‘Safe Return to Port’ ready. The ship was designed in co-operation with Tillburg Design, FORESHIP, Safety at Sea and Lloyd’s.

The ship seems inoffensive enough in design, despite the sharp stern it is a profile which grows on me. The ship also has ‘Loft Style’ cabins, which already feature on Oasis and Allure of the Seas, and will almost certainly feature on Royal Caribbean’s new ‘Project Sunshine’- class ships. (We have a blog for that). However only 53% of cabins have a balcony, and only 63% of cabins are outside. I would expect more from a new cruise ship design, especially as a long-term trend to balconies is well underway.

We have a brochure for DSME’s Cruisia, which also covers their plans for three other sized ships:  
One at 110,000GRT, 3301 passengers, 295meters. Looks just like MSC Musica class.
One at 73,000GRT, 2720 passengers, 250meters.
One at 20,000GRT, 300 passengers, 160meters
You can find pictures of all of these on our Facebook page!

As mentioned above, traditionally the American and European cruise lines have ordered from European yards, only Norwegian Cruise Lines ‘Pride of America’ being partly built in America and finished in Europe. STX believed that through taking over Aker Yards it would be able to get into the cruise ship market, however the industry has curtailed new building programs as the global recession has hit, meaning STX’s European yards are dealing with less business than before, and it’s not just STX. Fincanteri is also suffering from lower volumes and is talking about restructuring.

Previously however Princess Cruises has had Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess delivered from Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, These ships swapped names during construction as there was a fire which gutted the vessel. However Carnival has recently ordered two 125,000GRT cruise ships from Mitsubishi for their German brand Aida, it is believed these ships will be of an entirely new design. One of the most exciting new building projects, I am looking forward to hearing more.

As for DSME it will be interesting to see if any cruise line will pick up on the proposal, Fred Olsen, Louis and SAGA have all been linked to building a new ship in the Far East. Don’t forget to check out our facebook page for extras and to follow us on twitter to keep up to date.

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Liam
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STX has a Reason to Smile: TUI Orders New Ships 5

It would appear that this hasn’t really been in the news much despite us knowing about this two days ago, probably as the ship will be built for the German market.

TUI Cruises has ordered a new 97,000GRT cruise ship to be built at STX Turku For delivery by March 2014. This ship will be joining Mein Schiff 1 & 2, and are the first new builds for the line. TUI Cruises is a joint venture between TUI AG and Royal Caribbean, the company was formed when TUI and Carnivals plans for a new German brand failed due to competition issues.

TUI AG own Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, who have the new Europa 2 under construction at STX France, and Thomson Cruises the mix of chartered ships serving the UK market. TUI AG is one of the worlds largest tourism companies.

The new ship is of a totally new design, however look similar to Royal Princess and the new Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway, however it is smaller. As the rest of the TUI Cruises fleet has rather boring names we are hoping that these future ships will get some exciting (no numerical) names!

While this ship is not iconic, it will be interesting to see how they are refined during the building process. STX will be very happy for the order, as they have struggled to get new orders, with the decline in shipbuilding due to the recession and the growth of Meyer Werft in the cruise industry

Thanks,
Liam
- Liam@Crociere.co.uk
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The Rise & Fall of: Festival Cruises 3

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
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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

For Sale. One Owner: Gaddafi 3

The cruise ship for Libya, known as Phoenicia, which is currently under construction in France is up for sale. This follows the default on payment for the second instalment of the payment plan.

Phoenicia is part of the Fantasia class, of which MSC have MSC Fantasia, MSC Spendida and MSC Divina. The similarity in the design has meant that MSC are seen as the lead bidder for the 140,000GT cruise vessel, the ship is currently due for delivery in December 2012. MSC Cruises head Pierfrancesco Vago has been quoted as saying the ship would make a suitable addition to the fleet, In addition Lloyds List reported that MSC FRANCE boss Erminio Eschena said his company was considering to buy the vessel.

When ordered, it was widely wondered why Libya’s GNMTC (General National Maritime Transport Company) has ordered one of the worlds largest cruise ships, who would cruise on Gaddafi’s cruise liner? And with 4000 passengers this would not have been a small operation, with Americans likely to stay away the ship would likely have been targeted to the Domestic and Southern european market. There was also a suggestion the ship would be chartered to MSC. At the time or ordering GNMTC were quoted as saying ‘We haven’t got any plans for the time being. We have just ordered it.’

As for the interior decoration of the vessel would also be similar to that of the others in the Fantasia class, which would mean that for a traditional cruise operator to take over changes in design could be small. 

Other possible bidders include TUI Cruises who have been continuously mentioned as requiring an additional cruise ship and P&O Austalia, as competition down under heats up. Perhaps even NCL, with their previous history of buying abandoned cruise ships will prevail? Who knows, but they will have to be quick for a December 2012 launch.

Personally I hope its MSC, as MSC Phoenicia sounds quite nice, and it would make a suitable addition for the rest of the fleet, with her three sister ships. Once MSC Divina is delivered next year MSC have no further ships on order.

Would you have cruised with Gaddafi? Facebook, Twitter, Comment & Email!

Thanks,
Liam
- Liam@Crociere.co.uk
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Links
Tripoli Post – http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=4681
GNMTC Press Release – http://www.gnmtc.com/default.php?pname=News&cat_id=1&art_id=81&la=1

The Sepdecuplets : The 17 Ships of the Spirit & Vista Class Reply

In 2000 Costa Atlantica debuted as the first of the Spirit Class. Built by Aker Yards the ship was not record-breaking in any way shape or form, or particularly innovative, but it did however allow for flexibility, being suitable to fit down the Panama canal and also had a significant amount of balconies.

The Vista Class, originally intended to be Holland America’s evolution of the Spirit Class, it soon became a standard across the Carnival Corporation & PLC Fleet, almost by accident. Following the success of the QM2, one of the Holland America Vista’s was transferred to Cunard to become the Queen Victoria. However during building it was decided that the Queen Victoria should incorporate more concepts from the QM2, so the ship was transferred to P&O Cruises as Arcadia. During recent refits Holland America & P&O Cruises made changes to its Vista Class ships by adding more balconies at the back, to improve the revenue from this ships.

For Cunard a new extended Vista class ship was planned, slightly longer but still able to fit down the Panama Canal. The ship emerged as the new Queen Victoria in December 2007. In October 2007 a new Queen Elizabeth was ordered as an ‘improved’ version of Queen Victoria, showcasing a new Sports deck, which gives her a ‘crown’ like profile at the front.

Nieuw Amerstdam and Eurodam are classed as Signature class ships, however they are in effect a slight change in design from there Vista class comrades with an additional deck. Finally Costa decided that they should take the best of the Spirit class and Vista class to create two hybrid ships, known as Costa Luminosa & Costa Deliziosa

It is unlikely any more of these class of ships will be built, as new ‘safe return to port’ legislation by SOLAS may mean that they will not fit the criteria and higher standards now required from new builds.

There can be problems with having such a large class of ships from an economic perspective, the next major change in the cruise product could mean these vessel, all 17 of them will require the same changes. Like the ship classes of the 1990′s have required Balconies to be retrofitted, not always the best option.

Also as the ships appear across various market segments, there can be a problem that people think that the product is degraded from the Luxury end. A common problem which is mentioned amongst shipping enthusiasts regarding Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria, as nothing more than a more expensive Arcadia. However most people , once the hull is a different colour and a different funnel is used have no idea.

The onboard product of these ships varies differently, from the Las Vegas style of Carnival, to the Ocean Liner Art Deco styling of Cunard, its is unlikely people will realise they are sister ships at all. For those who are interested the 17 Ships are at the bottom of this article.

Have you cruised on the Vista class, do you agree with this concept of using the same ship across brands? Facebook, Twitter, Email and Comment!

Thanks,
Liam
Liam@crociere.co.uk
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(The Picture of the Golden Retriever is from our CruiseHound section Click Here to Visit!)

SHIPS:
1- Costa Atlantica – Spirit Class
2- Carnival Spirit - Spirit Class
3- Carnival Pride - Spirit Class
4- Carnival Legend - Spirit Class
5- Costa Mediterranea - Spirit Class
6- Carnival Miracle - Spirit Class
7- Zuideram – Vista Class
8- Oosterdam – Vista Class
9- Westerdam – Vista Class
10- Noordam – Vista Class
11- Arcadia  – Vista Class
12- Queen Victoria – Enhanced Vista
13- Queen Elizabeth - Enhanced Vista
14- Eurodam – Signature Class
15- Nieuw Amsterdam – Signature Class
16- Costa Lumiosa – Hybrid Spirit/Vista
17- Costa Deliziosa – Hybrid Spirit/Vista

Cunards Uncrowned Queen: The Q3 Project Reply

Cunard is cruising royalty, and the Cunard Queens are the monarchs of the sea. However at the start of the 60′s with the growth in air travel and an aging Queen Mary, Cunard planned a new Queen to serve along with the Queen Elizabeth.

The ship would have been 75,000 carrying 2270 passengers in three classes, A Government committee was set up to discuss the project and provide £18million towards the building of the ship. The overall price of the ship was expected to be £30million, and the contract was expected to be placed with Swan Hunter on Tyneside. The delivery date was intended to be April 1965.

The above picture shows a similar profile to that of Rotterdam, with thin small funnels, the front also acting as a mast. As this ship was a replacement for Queen Mary, We believe the name would probably have been Queen Mary 2. 40 years before the actually Queen Mary 2 was born. The arrangement of the funnels was regularly changed in the proposed designs.

The project, known as Q3, was cancelled leaving nothing much than drawings and artist impressions. As the project was developing the growth in air travel continued, and the project was cancelled in favour of a smaller but more flexible ship able more suitable for cruising, the end result being the QE2.

It has been discussed that had the ship have been built, like was planned, for the traditional liner market, would have bankrupt Cunard Line, and like the France and United States no doubt have entered lay-up. Unlike the French Line and United States Line Cunard did not receive and subsidies towards the operation of the transatlantic service, so once the ship started struggling she was liked to have bought the company down.

This is a viewpoint we support, as the ship would have been a pure transatlantic liner, she would have struggled to make the change to cruising, however it would not have been impossible, as witnessed on the France to Norway. However it certainly would have had a shorter life than QE2.

The project was cancelled by Sir John Brocklebank, following pressure from shareholder Raymond Gregory, who wrote to all 20,000 Cunard shareholders advising them that the Q3 project would be a ‘gigantic waster and ruin Cunard’ of these shareholders 16% replied, 4227 in support of canceling the Q3 project and 297 in favour of building the vessel.

On 19th October 1961 Cunard cancelled the Q3 project in favour of an entirely new project, known as Q4 which would embrace the space age and change what Cunard Line was about. This ship became the Queen Elizabeth 2. 

Do you have more to share on Cunard’s Q3 Project? Facebook, Twitter, Comment & Email!

Thanks,
Liam
- Liam@crociere.co.uk
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Our Project Sunshine 9

Royal Caribbean is planning new ships, slightly larger than the Freedom class, but smaller than the Oasis class. Royal Caribbean is like Apple, and is amazing at keeping ship under wraps. So we have to guess, and this is what we think will happen.

Now if we were Royal Caribbean we would be building this new ship in the style of the Oasis class, the media and the public have fell in love with these ships. They love how amazing the split superstructure allows inside facing balconies and the feel of Central Park and the Boardwalk. So we believe that the split superstructure will be a feature, this is set to become a Royal Caribbean signature just like the Viking Crown lounge was and now the Royal Promanarde.

However due the constraints of shipbuilding at Meyer Werft we do believe that the cabins on these vessels will be rearranged, just like Viking River has done with the new Viking longships (check our previous article). The below picture shows how much space the ships have to fit through.

The codename ‘Project Sunshine’ is of interest as we think this means the vessels will, unlike the Oasis class, be suitable for use worldwide.  We’re expecting thats the ‘Central Park/Boardwalk’ area to have a glass roof, which can open and close, allowing the vessels greater flexibility. If you remember Royal Caribbean didnt stop in Southampton to show off the Oasis or Allure as the outside areas look rubish in the rain.

Meyer Werft and Royal Caribbean are expected to promote the vessels green credentials, this could mean LPG and other technologies currently envisioned in concept cruise ship EOSEAS (another previous blog). Like fleetmates Oasis and Allure the ship is expected to use solar energy.

We expect in general that the Project Sunshine ships will be slightly scaled down versions of the Oasis class, with the ability to be operated in both the Med and Caribbean. Other are however expecting the ship to be an evolved Celebrity Solstice-class ship, for which we have a picture for. (if you click on it, it gets bigger).

We hope it doesnt end up as a Solstice class ship, as I would love to see the features from Oasis and Allure in this new vessel, but until Royal Caribbean tells us we wont know!

So what are your expectations of Project Sunshine? Let us know Facebook, Twitter, Comment and Email.

Thanks,
Liam

Liam@crociere.co.uk
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