Tuesday, September 16, 2008

‘The Ultimate Ship Tour' - are you ready to join an excirsion?

Due to serious technical problems at the editorial office of ‘Off Radar’ last week we were unable to bring you ‘Off Radar’. I apologise for the inconvenience. ‘Off Radar’ is now back up and running.

One of the most contentious points on a cruise today is the pestering by passengers to visit the bridge and other areas off limits to passengers, such as the engineroom, galley etc. While many cruise lines allow limited passenger access to the bridge, and some upmarket lines with small vessels offer an ‘open’ bridge policy, it’s just not possible on today’s Mega ships to have a continuous procession of passengers traipsing over the bridge, getting in the way of the deck officers and crew going about the operation of the vessel. There are a number of health and safety issues to be considered when passengers visit the bridge, as well as insurance issues, if something goes wrong. This is why it’s almost impossible to visit a ship’s engineroom today. However, Princess Cruises have come up with a novel answer to the continuing requests from passenger to visit the bridge and other ‘off limits’ areas. When its latest ship, Ruby Princess, enters service this November, passengers will have the opportunity to visit what the line calls ‘back of house’ areas that are normally off limits to all but the crew. Passenger will be able to join the three hour ‘The Ultimate Ship Tour’, which takes in not only the bridge but also the engine control room, medical centre, print shop, laundry, photo lab and other areas. The tour will be offered once or twice a cruise on a sea day for a limited number of passengers. Princess Cruises will also be offering this tour on the rest of its fleet. However, there is a catch. If you want to undertake ‘The Ultimate Ship Tour’ it will cost you $110!

Branding is a very important area for cruise lines. However, those involved in branding can get carried away slightly by the importance of it, or lack of importance, to the passengers undertaking a cruise. There’s an awful lot of drivel written about why a cruise line has developed a new brand image or company logo, with the marketing and graphic design departments waxing lyrical about the ‘thinking’ behind the new design. This was brought home to me last week when it was announced that the very successful Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention, held annually on Miami Beach, was being re-branded. Apparently the existing diamond logo doesn’t acknowledge the bond between the show and its location. From 2009 the show will be renamed ‘Cruise Shipping Miami.’ According to the show organisers, CMP Information, ‘the new corporate design evokes water without competing with the numerous cruise and ocean images used in business. It positions the show on the industry side, serving all sectors from shipbuilding through services, technology, operations and destinations. The graphic elements reflects rippling water imagery, while a C and concentric circles locate the event at the centre of the industry, Miami, underlined in the show tagline: ‘Home Port of the cruise Industry.’ Great stuff! But does anyone give at toss? Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

New life for QE2?

November this year will see the end of the line, in terms of maritime service, for arguably the world’s most famous passenger ship, Cunard’s venerable QE2. She is off to a new life in the Emirate of Dubai, as a floating hotel that will be part of the massive new Palm Jumeirah development. But still there remains much secrecy about her last few months with Cunard and any planned send-off celebrations. Much more secrecy surrounds what her new owners, Dubai World, have planned for the vessel. Some of the reports that I’ve received from Dubai are slightly worrying, especially for the many thousands of QE2 devotees in the UK, US and elsewhere, and contradict what Dubai World’s chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said when it was announced that Dubai had bought the ship from Carnival for US 100m. ‘Dubai is a maritime nation and we understand the rich heritage of QE2. She is coming to a home where she will be cherished,’ he said. However, some of the plans that I’ve heard about for the ship in Dubai are a bit tacky. I hear that the ship’s iconic funnel will be taken ashore and used as the entrance to the new hotel, being replaced by a glass replica that also houses a Penthouse Suite. Furthermore, a number of additional decks with Balcony Suites will be added to the upper deck of the ship. Meanwhile, as QE2 won’t be sailing off anymore, her diesel engines are to be taken out and sold off to power pumping stations in Dubai and Panama. Not exactly the ending that many in the industry had hoped for the vessel. Sentiment shouldn’t come into hard-nosed business decisions, I know. But you only have to look around Dubai at present to see what Dubai classes as forward thinking designs in terms of hotels, leisure resorts etc; tacky Las Vegas-style developments. I wonder what Cunard’s chairman Sir John Brocklebank, who signed the contract to build QE2 at John Brown, Clydebank, would say if he could see what’s about to happen to his baby? Sphere: Related Content