The fast ferry service due at this port is once again delayed!

In this week’s issue we report on two new fast ferry services, one in Northern Europe and one in the Arabian Gulf. It remains to be seen which one will be the first into actual operation! Since ‘Off Radar’ first started publishing we have been reporting on the proposed new cross-channel fast ferry service by UK newcomer Euroferries. Four years ago the service was to start between Dover and Calais, but there was an on-going problem sourcing a suitable vessel for the run. After many, many false dawns Euroferries disappeared off the radar, only to return at the start of this year claiming to be about to start, imminently, a new service between Ramsgate and Boulogne. It then went all quite again. Euroferries then started making noises in the spring that it had acquired a suitable vessel for the run, had a new management set up and co-operation from Canary Island’s fast ferry operator Fred Olsen. Thing’s looked promising for a service start up at the end of August. It’s now nearly the end of August, still no sign of the ferry in UK waters, no details about timetables and ticketing prices from Euroferries. Another false dawn? Surely if you are serious about stating a new fast ferry service you make sure that you have a vessel, or vessels, have berthing rights in the two ports, make a marketing strategy, a timetable, ticketing prices etc, before you tell the world about your new service. The Euroferries fiasco continues. If they do manage to start the service, will they get any business from the tourist trade in the UK and France that they are targeting, after so many failed promises. The latest news from Euroferries is that they will be introducing a second vessel on the run as soon as possible. Let’s just see the arrival of the first ship please!  Sphere: Related Content

Pimentel to return at Azamara?

As ‘Off Radar’ went to press, there were strong, unconfirmed reports, that luxury cruise industry veteran Larry Pimentel was to return to the industry as the head of RCCL’s deluxe brand Azamara Cruises. Pimentel most recently was the boss and co-owner of SeaDream Yacht Club, until standing down. We hope to report in more detail on this story in next week’s edition. Sphere: Related Content

Falkland Islands cruise tourism threat

The cruise season for the Falkland Islands which ended in April was another record year for the South Atlantic UK territory with more and more large vessels putting into Port Stanley. Once again the ‘day record’ was broken when nearly 5,000 passengers came ashore from three ships. However, this boom in tourism is a double-edged sword. Although cruise tourism this last season generated a £3m spend by the passengers coming ashore, Stanley’s infrastructure is not geared up to having such a large number of people in town at the same time and investment needs to be carried out here. However, there is a dark cloud on the horizon with the pending restrictions on large cruise ships operating in Antarctic waters and a limitation on the numbers of passenger ashore at any one time. This will ultimately mean that many of the larger ships will drop Antarctica from their schedules, which will have a knock-on effect on Falkland’s cruise tourism. Sphere: Related Content

Arabian Gulf faces credit crunch pressures

Travel commitments last week meant that it was not possible to publish ‘Off Radar’, apologies to all of our readers. So this is a bumper combined issue.

The global economic downturn is taking its toll in many areas of the shipping industry, including the cruise and ferry sectors. One area of the world that was thought to be immune from the credit crunch was the Arabian Gulf. Not so! Dubai, for example, is really suffering with major construction projects shelved, many overseas workers leaving the Emirate and dumping their hire/leased cars at the car park at Dubai airport. There is a major question market about the planned conversion of the QE2 into a floating hotel and leisure complex. It remains to be seen if the global downturn will affect the cruise business in the Arabian Gulf, which has been growing each year with bigger and bigger vessels being deployed for the winter months cruising out of Dubai to other UAE ports, Oman and Bahrain The global credit crunch doesn’t seem to have impacted on Dubai’s ruling family too hard though! Members of the family have bought the two original Renaissance Cruises small cruise ships Renaissance One (ex Leisure World I) and Renaissance Two (ex easyCruise One) and are having them converted into Super Yachts at Dubai’s Platinum Yachts. Tough times ahead for some, but not others. Sphere: Related Content

Are ferry passengers concerned about brand image?

Last week I was in France sampling the services of relatively new French operator LD Lines on its Portsmouth-Le Havre route and its brand new Dover-Boulogne run. LD Lines is owned by well known French shipowner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and also operates Transmanche Ferries, the latter running between Newhaven and Dieppe. The re-opening of the Dover-Boulogne service was big news for the French port which had thought that it would loose its lucrative UK tourists following the demise of budget fast ferry operator SpeedFerries last year. The new conventional service is branded very much LD Lines, so it is something of a surprise to see the service operated by one of the two Transmanche Ferries sisterships. For the maiden arrival of the ship in Boulogne, the great and the good were assembled on the quayside to welcome the first LD Lines sailing – instead of a red, white and blue ferry with LD Lines on the side, passing through the harbour entrance was a yellow and white ferry with Transmanche Ferries painted in large green letters down the side! The only sign of anything to do with LD Lines was a small house flag flying from the jack staff! LD Lines boss Christophe Santoni told ‘Off Radar’ that the ship wouldn’t be repainted in LD Lines colours, because she would still run between Newhaven and Dieppe. So it’s somewhat confusing for passengers trying out the new route – or is it? On the maiden passenger carrying service from Boulogne to Dover, I asked a British couple why they had selected LD Lines. They told me that they had no idea that this was a new operator, a maiden voyage; they had just booked online for the cheapest crossing! To them, the ferry company, brand etc, didn’t come into the equation, just the price! Sphere: Related Content

Anyone for tennis?

Cruise lines are constantly striving to offer passengers new and exciting shore excursions and many of the world’s top sporting events feature in a number of shore programmes. However, most of the top of the range events are only offered by the upmarket lines and at a price. So it’s interesting to see that this years Wimbledon tennis championships feature in at least two cruise lines programmes for 2009, lines from both ends of the market in terms of ‘lifestyle.’ For those with the cash in an area of the global credit crunch, Crystal is offering a six night land programme with VIP access to the semi finals and finals. The package is available following Crystal Symphony’s June 19 cruise from London to Stockholm. In addition to Centre Court tickets, participants will have access to the Fairway Village, Wimbledon’s hospitality area near Centre Court, private car service and accommodation at London’s famous Savoy Hotel. The post-cruise package, including Business Class flights from Stockholm to London is priced at a cool US $25,299 per person, based on double occupancy. Of course you have to add on the price of the cruise if you wish to undertake this add on. If that’s a bit too much for your pocket, how about trying UK operator Page & Moy’s 10 day ‘Historic Britain & Ireland’ cruise aboard the ageing Ocean Majesty. During this vessel’s call in London, passengers can avail themselves of a trip to Wimbledon to watch either the Veterans or Junior finals on No, 1 Court. The price – a bargain at just £65 per person, including return transport from the ship! Prices for the cruise range from £799 to £1,849 per person. Who says that Finals Day at Wimbledon is just for high rollers? Sphere: Related Content

Cruise credit crunch

It was only a matter of time before the global credit crunch impacted on the cruise industry. Last week leading cruise line RCCL announced that as part of its cost savings programme 400 shore-side jobs would go. With record fuel prices being paid by cruise lines there is only so much you can do to cut fuel consumption. So the axe had to fall on some of the company’s people. I wonder which line will be next in a major personnel culling exercise? Sphere: Related Content

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