Celebrity Cruises will be rolling out a soft launch on November 20 of its Cirque du Soleil collaboration by moving its Cirque-themed concepts out of a lounge-style environment and into a theater.
The cruise line and the production company teamed up in 2004. Celebrity would sponsor Cirque productions and Cirque would create onboard entertainment for Celebrity.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines´ third-quarter profits jumped 32 percent to $374.7 million, while revenue increased 8.4 percent to $1.5 billion. Net yields for the second-largest cruise company, behind Carnival Corp., increased 6.9 percent from the third quarter of 2004.
Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean´s CEO, said in a statement last week that revenue enhancement efforts and a means to control costs “more than compensated” for fuel spikes and the company´s lack of capacity growth.
The St. John´s cruise industry has set a record high in the of number of cruise passengers who have visited the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2005. A total of 18 cruise ships have called in 2005, carrying a record 13,576 passengers, up 71 percent from the 7,953 reported during the previous year when St. John´s hosted 17 cruise vessels in 2004.
Both the home porting and continuous voyage markets reached all time highs in 2005. St. John´s hosted 11,946 continuous voyage visitors this past season, a 75 percent increase from the 6,822 reported in 2004. Meanwhile, the home porting market reported a record 1,630 visitors, a 44 percent hike over the 1,131 seen in 2004.
Argentina´s 2005-2006 cruise season, which promises to be a record-breaking one, kicked off Sunday with the arrival in Buenos Aires of the Norwegian-flagged Nordnorge with 350 tourists and a crew of 75.
Buenos Aires City sources forecast that an estimated 100,000 tourists and 75 cruise vessels will be calling in Argentina´s capital, a city that´s rapidly becoming one of the main attractions of the south Atlantic.
British billionaire Richard Branson, whose business empire covers airlines, trains and space tourism, is looking at setting up a cruise ship joint venture.
Branson is in talks with potential partners about a cruise ship operation, possibly in Florida and the Caribbean, based on a similar model to his airline Virgin Atlantic, his company said on Friday.
Savings heat up when temperatures cool down this November and December, with two-for-one fares on six luxurious Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Mariner cruises.
Choose from a leisurely Transatlantic sailing or a smorgasbord of island-hopping Eastern and Western Caribbean and Mexican Riviera jaunts for five to eight nights, and prepare to enjoy sweeping ocean vistas from private balconies aboard the acclaimed 700-guest, all balcony-suite vessels.