Wave season for 2015 has just completed, and the cruise lines all seem relatively upbeat regarding present and future bookings. Carnival reported that their prospects for the year look so good that they will not have to resort to close-in pricing discounts later in the year to get their ships filled. The world’s largest cruise company reported a net income of $49 million on revenue of $3.5 billion, and they reported that the upcoming Alaska season as “super strong”.
Carnival apparently feels so upbeat about future prospects that they reported that they had reached agreements with two European shipyards to build nine ships in the 2019-2022 time frame. It represents the largest order of ocean-going ships in cruise history. It is not certain exactly which cruise line will get the new builds or how many, but Carnival has plenty of lines under her umbrella, including Princess, Holland America, Costa, Cunard, Seabourn, and a couple of European companies, Aida and P & O.
Not to be outdone, Royal Caribbean announced a couple of weeks ago that their third “Quantum” class cruise ship, the Ovation of the Seas, will be sent to China when she debuts in April 2016. It is not the first time for RCCL to be in China. The Ovation will be based in Tianjin which is located about 70 miles southeast of Beijing. Other ships are based in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Xiamen, sailing itineraries of 3-12 nights to Asian destinations that include Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Norwegian Cruise Lines made the announcement this week that they will begin offering legal weddings at sea performed by the ship’s captain. They will not be available on the entire fleet, but on the new builds Norwegian Breakaway and Getaway and the Norwegian Escape which is scheduled to enter service this fall. Most of the cruise lines have been offering wedding opportunities on their ships, but only while in port and before embarkation.
The new NCL Wedding at Sea package is priced from $2,199 and it includes the ceremony performed by the ship’s captain, bouquet and boutonniere, cake, champagne toast, bistro dinner for two, three bottles of wine, chocolate-covered strawberries, canapés delivered to the stateroom, priority tendering and debarkation, and one hour of photography services. NCL’s renewal-of-vows ceremony will be continued at a cost beginning at $499. It includes the ceremony performed by a ship’s officer, a single red rose, a cake, champagne toast, 8x10 framed photograph, certificate, and a bottle of sparkling wine, chocolate-covered strawberries and canapés in the stateroom.
The largest river cruise line, Viking has also announced plans to bring their river cruise product to the United States. . .the Mississippi River to be specific. They are expecting to begin service in late 2017, being based in New Orleans.
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