THE CAPE
MAY LIGHT and the Cape Cod light, the two coastal cruise
vessels commissioned by the now-defunct American Classic Voyages,
may have a new owner: Hornblower Marine Services, a New Albany,
Indiana-based company that, according to its site, provides marine
management and consulting. The company said it would purchase the
two 224-passenger vessels, which have been property of the U.S.
Maritime Administration since 2001; terms were not immediately
disclosed.
CARNIVAL
CRUISE LINES cancelled the Celebration's Aug. 21 five-day
Caribbean sailing from Jacksonville, Fla., in order to move the
ship to the Grand Bahamas shipyard in Freeport, Bahamas, and repair
its propulsion system; the vessel hit the sea bottom while
attempting to dock in Nassau on Aug. 15. The Celebration's previous
itinerary, a four-day cruise from Jacksonville, missed its
scheduled call in Freeport on Aug. 18 due to the ship's reduced
sailing speed, Carnival said. Carnival said the problem only
affected the Celebration's sailing speed and that all other systems
and services were functioning normally.
NCL
CORP. said that fuel costs, plus rising interest rates and
a weak dollar affected its $35 million second quarter loss. The
company's revenue increased by 33.5% compared with second-quarter
2005, thanks to a 19.5% increase in capacity and 9.2% higher net
yields, but fuel costs were up 55.5% and interest expenses
increased 100%, to $33.9 million. Colin Veitch, president and CEO
of NCL Corp. said in an earnings call with analysts that the
Caribbean continues to be "very challenging" and that the slowdown
of the housing market, high fuel costs and an overall weaker
consumer confidence were dragging down NCL's "lower priced trades."
Alaska and Europe remain strong, he said; Hawaii is doing well, he
said, but NCL tripled its capacity there in 24 months, and it was
being met, in some cases, with downward pricing trends.
THE PORT OF
NEW ORLEANS will get a second Carnival Cruise Lines ship
in August 2007 when the 2,758-passenger Carnival Triumph begins
operating year-round, seven-day Western Caribbean cruises. The
Triumph will join the Fantasy, which will begin sailing out of New
Orleans on year-round four-, five- and seven-day cruises to the
Western Caribbean in October. With both ships, Carnival said it
expects to carry 320,000 passengers annually from New Orleans,
making the port one of its fastest growing departure points. The
Carnival Freedom, a 110,000-ton ship currently under construction
at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera, Italy, will take the
Triumph's place in Miami in November 2007 and will offer
alternating seven-day Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises. The
2,974-passenger ship will debut in Europe and will sail
Mediterranean and Greek Isles voyages from March 14 to Oct. 16,
2007; a 14-day transatlantic crossing from Rome to Miami is
scheduled Oct. 28, 2007.
OCEANIA
CRUISES reported that it took 856 reservations on Aug. 15
that accounted for about $10.9 million in revenue for the line,
both records for any single day in the company's history. The
record sales coincided with the first day that Oceania's new
Australia and New Zealand itineraries went on sale; the voyages
begin in January 2008. Approximately 30% of its Australia and New
Zealand inventory is sold already, with two voyages more than 50%
sold, Oceania said, and close to 50% of its 2007 Europe inventory
has been booked.
Cruise
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