Difficult times for Cruise & Ferry operators

Upmarket cruise line Silversea is feeling the pinch at the moment. Not only is it being hit hard by rocketing bunker prices, but the slow down of the US economy is hitting it hard in passenger numbers, as more than half of its customers come from the US. Added to this is the fact that it’s having problems recruiting and holding onto quality staff. Not a good state of affairs for a company that’s investing US $500m in a new ship and refits for two of its fleet. I wonder how many other luxury brands are in the same situation.

The lot of the humble ferry foot-passenger has not been an easy one in recent years as car/coach passengers rule the roost on many routes, particularly in Northern Europe. So it comes a no surprise to hear that French cross-channel operator SeaFrance won’t be carrying foot-passengers aboard its latest vessel, SeaFrance Moliere, when she comes into service, hopefully, at the end of July on the busy Dover-Calais run. The former Mediterranean ferry is completing a delayed £12m refit in Dunkirk to enable her to meet the demands of her new route, being equipped with new facilities for car and coach passengers, as well as freight drivers. However, it seems that there’s not enough money in the pot to fit her with foot-passenger boarding doors! The ferry operator says that only three per cent of its loadings on the Dover-Calais run are foot-passengers. So I guess that they will have to use rival operator P&O Ferries instead. Sphere: Related Content

Cruise ship naming going overboard!

It seems that today the major cruise lines are all trying to outdo each other when it comes to naming new ships. In the old days a ‘celebrity’ was chosen and a bottle of good champagne was broken over the bow. Not any more it seems! Recent cruise ship christenings have seen events akin to Broadway Shows or the official opening ceremonies of the Olympics or football World Cup. Today, it’s the done thing to have a world famous celebrity, even if many people don’t know who they are, or Royalty, as was the case with HAL and it’s new Eurodam. The exception here was RCCL which choose an ordinary British woman to name there new Independence of the Seas. The latest ship naming took place last week in the UK port of Dover where Carnival Cruise Line’s 113,000grt Carnival Splendour was named by British classical musician and singer Myleene Klaas. Not to be outdone by P&O Cruises, who choose Dame Helen Mirran to name their latest vessel Ventura earlier this year and had two Royal Marine Commando’s abseiling down the ship to break the bottle of champagne, Carnival decided to use a Royal Navy clearance diver to rise stealth-like from the sea, climb a 60ft rope up the ship’s bow to break the bottle – not champagne this time but a bottle of English sparking wine! The signal for the diver to emerge from the deep was provided by a radio signal when Myleene Klaas started playing a classical rendition of Rod Stewart’s famous song ‘Sailing’. All very ‘James Bondish’. Am I the only one out there who thinks that cruise ship naming are going slightly overboard? No pun intended! Sphere: Related Content