CARNIVAL
CORP. reported record fourth quarter and full-year
earnings last week, with net income up 23.8% to $416 million for
the quarter and up 1.3% to $2.28 billion for its fiscal year 2006,
which ended Nov. 30. Revenue for the quarter rose 9.3% to $2.8
billion, driven by a 5.5% increase in cruise capacity and better
yields, the company said. For 2007, Carnival said that while
pricing and bookings appeared to be down for the first quarter, the
introduction of four ships and an 8.4% increase in capacity for the
European market over the course of the year would drive earnings
growth. Carnival said that its ship in China, the Costa Allegra,
was underperforming, but that it intended to stay the course there.
ROYAL
CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL will name its third Freedom-class
ship the Independence of the Seas when it debuts in May 2008. The
vessel is currently under construction at Aker Yards in Turku,
Finland. Along with sister ships the Freedom of the Seas and the
Liberty of the Seas, which will debut in New York in May, the
160,000-ton vessel will carry 3,634 passengers and will share the
title of world's largest cruise ship. Like its sister vessels, the
Independence of the Seas will have amenities that include the
FlowRider surf simulator, the H20 Zone aqua park, cantilevered
whirlpools, an ice-skating rink, a boxing ring and the 1,215
square-foot Presidential Family Suite that accommodates up to 14
passengers.
NORWEGIAN
CRUISE LINE made several changes to its North American
fleet rotation. The line will send the Norwegian Sun from New
Orleans to Miami in October, move the Norwegian Spirit from New
York to New Orleans in November and assign the Norwegian Gem, which
debuts in October, to New York beginning in December to sail to the
Bahamas and Florida. In Hawaii, NCL America will lose a ship when
the Norwegian Wind is transferred to parent company Star Cruises'
Asia fleet. Starting in September, the Pride of Aloha will operate
10- and 11-day interisland Hawaii itineraries, with every fourth
sailing including a call at Fanning Island in Kiribati.
NORWEGIAN
COASTAL VOYAGE will sail its first world cruise in
September. The expedition line unveiled a 66-day cruise that will
visit 44 ports in 17 countries on four continents on a longitudinal
route from pole to pole. The line's newest ship, the 160-passenger
Fram, will embark on Sept. 18 from Reykjavik, Iceland, and sail via
Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the Eastern U.S., the Caribbean, the
Panama Canal, the west coast of South America, the Chilean fjords
and Antarctica, and end in Ushuaia, Argentina, on Nov. 22. The
voyage would be the industry's first world cruise from the Arctic
to Antarctica, NCV said.
EASYCRUISE
CEO Gwyn Hughes will step down when the no-frills cruise
company moves its center of operations from Monaco to Athens,
Greece, where the EasyCruiseOne will be based in summer 2007. The
line said that Hughes would step down after overseeing the move.
Hughes will focus on shipbuilding contract negotiations that are
expected to continue with shipyards for at least another six
months, said EasyCruise founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, pending EU
regulatory processes relating to export credit guarantees.
Recently-appointed Finance Director Stelios Panagiotou will be
based in Athens, and the company is searching for a general manager
to head the Greece operation.
Cruise
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