8/20/2019 Cruise Weekly for Thu 10 Dec 2015 - SuperStar Virgo, SOO Cruise, Elvis, Lindblad newbuilds, Celestyal, Hurtigrute…

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cruise  W E E K L Y  

Thursday 10 Dec 2015

Website:  www.cruiseweekly.com.au | Phone: 1300 799 220 | Fax: 1300 799 221  | Email: info@cruiseweekly.com.au Page 2

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New balconies for CelestyalCELESTYAL

Cruises has added

43 new balconies to

ts Celestyal Crystal

pictured) as part

of an extensive

efurbishment

program.

Eight of the

hip’s exisng balconies were

efurbished and extended while

26 new balconies were added to

abins on deck six while 17 were

added on deck seven.The ng was completed in

he city of Piraeus, Greece in just

under three weeks in tandem

with other hotel upgrades and

echnical maintenance.

Each balcony extends 1.4 metres

rom the ship’s bulkhead; the

ength of each balcony is between

2.8 metres & 5.8 metres.

Refurbishment of other

Celestyal Cruises’ ships is

ongoing, Celestyal Olympia which

s having 21 junior suites, nineuites, the remaining 227 outside

cabins and public areas upgraded.

The current work marks the

second phase of the company’s

investment program which will

also see a so refurbishment ofcabins and public spaces aboard

the Celestyal Nefeli .

“We are certain the improved

décor & comfort on all of our

vessels will help us provide our

cruisers the best, most authenc

on board experience going

forward,” the line said.

Celestyal is the only cruise

operator home porng in Greece,

and has also launched a new

Cuba Cruises brand which will

operate seven-day voyages to theburgeoning desnaon.

Origin spirit at seaP&O Cruises is taking Australia’s

greatest sporng rivalry to sea,

announcing the inaugural State of

Origin Cruise.

Priced from $799 per person

the cruise will depart Brisbane

on 28 May with an overnight stay

in Sydney for the series opener

on 01 June as well as calls at

Moreton Island and Newcastle.

The seven-night Pacifc Dawn 

cruise includes a bronze State

of Origin cket for each guest

plus transfers to and from ANZ

Stadium, with the opon to

upgrade seats for a nominal fee.

P&O Cruises senior vp Sture

Myrmell said the cruise line’s

expansion to a ve-ship eet

had allowed it to bolster its

event oering to include one of

the biggest xtures on the local

sporng calendar.

“Guests on the inaugural State

of Origin cruise will be geng

some of the hoest ckets in

town included as part of their

cruise fare - it’s seriously great

value,” Myrmell said.

Amazon HurtigrutenFROM 2017 Hurgruten’s

expedion ships will operate new

voyages to the Amazon rainforest,

as well as Canada and even the

world’s longest ord.

When it comes to the Amazon,

Hurgruten’s rst ever inland

sailing will travel through the

Brazilian rainforest on a new 16

night expedion cruise.

Other highlights of the 2017

program include four new trips to

Newfoundland & Labrador with

highlights including Ban Bay,

Torngat Mountains Naonal Park,

Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

Hurgruten ceo Daniel Skjeldam

said the company wanted to oer

guests unique and meaningful

experiences regardless of the

water temperature.

“People no longer want to

spend their vacaons being

passive spectators.

“Therefore Hurgruten oers

acve and educaonal voyages.

We want to give guests genuinely

close encounters with nature and

culture.” Skjeldam added.

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cruise  W E E K L Y  

Thursday 10 Dec 2015

Website:  www.cruiseweekly.com.au | Phone: 1300 799 220 | Fax: 1300 799 221  | Email: info@cruiseweekly.com.au Page 3

Cruise Weekly  is Australia’s leading travel industry cruise publicaon.

An industry-focused PDF edion of Cruise Weekly is published every Tue and Thu, andthere’s also a consumer-facing email newsleer published each Wed - sign up free at

www.cruiseweekly.com.au.

Postal address: PO Box 1010, Epping, NSW 1710 Australia

Street address: 4/41 Rawson St, Epping NSW 2121 Australia 

P: 1300 799 220 (+61 2 8007 6760) F: 1300 799 221 (+61 2 8007 6769)

Cruise Weekly is a publicaon of Cruise Weekly Pty Ltd ABN 73 123 041 485. All content fully protected by copyright. Please obtain wrien permission to reproduce any material. While every care has been taken in the preparaon of

the newsleer no liability can be accepted for errors or omissions. Informaon is published in good faith to smulate independent invesgaon of the maers canvassed. Responsibility for editorial comment is taken by Bruce Piper.

Editor: Bruce Piper  info@cruiseweekly.com.au

Contributors: Guy Dundas, Jenny Piper, Nathalie Craig, Bonnie Tai, Jasmine O’DonoghueAdversing and Markeng: Sean Harrigan and Magda Herdzik ads@cruiseweekly.com.au

Business Manager: Jenny Piper accounts@cruiseweekly.com.au

Part of the Travel Daily group of publicaons.

business events news

P O R T H O L E

ELVIS is alive - and cruisingthrough Southeast Asia.

The Cruise Gallery - part ofVictorian travel agency MeridianTravel - has launched a “Rockin’the Mekong” music cruise whichfeatures one of Australia’sleading tribute artists, DamianMullin (pictured below).

The 13-day trip departsAustralia on 18 Sep 2016 andwill include a Mekong voyageaboard RV La Marguerite through Vietnam and Cambodia.

Cruise Gallery director JodieQuick said the unique departureis “an opportunity to presentsomething diferent with a moreintimate atmosphere”.

“Most music cruises are onlarger ships sailing around thePacic Islands. Rockin’ theMekong gives passengers the

chance to travel somewheremore adventurous and exoticwith the comfort of Elvis’crooning!” she said.

A special bonus will seebookings made by 31 Jan receivea free ticket to an upcomingElvis tribute show in Sydney orMelbourne.

You’d have to feel sorry forMullin, who will probably geta little hot and bothered inthe steamy Indochina climate

wearing his Viva Las Vegas outt.

Jill Abel - CEO

ACA Update

Land evolutionAS cruise lines are constantlyupping the ante for what theydeliver on board, ground operatorsare also evolving their land-basedtouring options to meet the needsof international and domesticcruise passengers.

“The cruiser of yesterday is notthe cruiser of today,” says TylerWood of the Bob Wood CruiseGroup. “With many diferent agegroups and interests to appeal to,ground operators need to ofer amore diversied touring program.”

Wood cites cost efective citytours as the most popular amonginternational clients but these arenow being tweaked to includemore interactive experiences,meeting locals and highlightingtrending interests such as the

cofee culture.A new tour that’s appealing for

multi-generational family groupsis a golf buggy scavenger hunt onHamilton Island. Wood says this isa fantastic way for families to havefun together.

At Akorn/Abercrombie andKent, Toby Biddick says luxuryclients prefer small grouptouring ofering intimate localexperiences to get to the heart ofa destination.

Biddick cites their Botanical Arktour as a good example. This smallgroup experience travels intothe Daintree Rainforest to visit aprivate ethno-botanical garden.Guests take an interpretive tourwhere they learn about uniqueplant species from endangeredrainforests throughout the world.

Biddick says “Communityintegration has become criticallyimportant to providing amemorable experience at eachport of call.”

Koningsdam video

HOLLAND America Line has

launched its second ‘Countdown

to Koningsdam video (TD 19 Dec)

which provides the latest updates

on the new ship’s construcon.

Hosted by the ship’s inaugural

cruise director, Jonathan Rogers,

the new video features HAL vice

president deployment and tour

markeng, Linda Springmann,

talking about the ship’s inaugural

year ineraries which include

voyages in the Mediterranean,

northern Europe and

Caribbean.

To view the update see

cruiseweekly.com.au/videos .

RCI promotionLORI Cassidy has been named

Associate Vice President of

Global Corporate, Incenve &

Charter Sales at Royal Caribbean

Internaonal.

Cassidy will connue to report

directly to Vicki Freed, senior

vp of sales and trade support &

service, with responsibility for

all sales, service and markeng

eorts pertaining to global

meeng, incenve and full-ship

charter business.

That also includes the

RCI loyalty gi card and

individual incenve

cercate programs.

Azamara referralsAZAMARA Club Cruises has

launched a new ‘Refer & Receive’

component for its Le Club Voyage

loyalty program, giving the

scheme’s 90,000 members the

opportunity to earn up to US$900

in future cruise credits for

referring new guests to the line.

Lindblad confrms two newbuilds

LINDBLAD Expedion Holdingshas announced denive

agreements with Nichols Brothers

Boat Builders for the construcon

of two new US-agged coastal

cruise vessels.

The new 100-guest ships have

been designed with the input

of “decades of experience of

captains, expedion leaders,

engineers and designers,” the

company said, with the rst set

for compleon in the second

quarter of 2017 and the secondone a year later.

“These new ships mark an

excing step in the long-term

growth of the company, and

enables us to capitalise on the

substanal demand for our

expedions,” said the company’s

ceo Sven Lindblad.

The ships will have 50 cabins,

22 with balconies and eight that

can be congured into adjoining

cabins for families.

They’ll have a eet of seakayaks, paddle boards and

specially designed landing cra, a

fully equipped tness room and

wellness spa and a full suite of

warm and cold water diving gear.There will also be “state-of-

the-art expedion technology”

including a remotely operated

vehicle, video microscope and a

hydrophone and bow-cam.

The ships will cost US$48m and

US $46.8m respecvely.

Nichols Brothers previously built

Lindblad’s current US-agged

ships, the Natonal Geographic

Sea Lion and Natonal Geographic

Sea Bird .

“With our signicant resourceswe can connue to deliver on our

promise of expedion travel at

its best, and can now expand our

unique oerings in the Americas

where we have very strong

demand,” Lindblad said.

NOVE MBE R 2015

WORLD AIRLINES

POLARREGIONS

2016 HOT SPOTS

BEAUTIFUL BALI

 Spotlight onsomeofthe

 travelindustry’s greatest family

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 TRavel The

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OC TOBE R 2015NOVE MBE R 2015

F Cto SOI  Nov.i nd d 1 2/11 /  2 0 1 5 1 :11:21 PM

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