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.
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.
Reps from London-based EasyCruise said that occupancy on the orange-painted EasyCruiseOne during its first two weeks in the Caribbean is in the neighborhood of 86 percent.
Sources close to the line´s front office said about half of the passengers booked on its winter cruises are from the U.S., and 30 percent are from the U.K.
A noted team of polar explorers and lecturers will accompany Discovery World Cruises´ third consecutive season of Antarctic cruise expeditions.
Travelers will learn about the world´s most fascinating continent while exploring the maze of icebergs and floes found in the South Polar waters aboard the line´s Discovery. Excursions by motor launches and multiple landings on the Antarctic Peninsula enhance the experience.