CARNIVAL
CRUISE LINES will get another ship from parent company
Carnival Corp., to be delivered in spring 2008. The vessel, a
112,000-ton 3,006-passenger ship, is slightly larger than the ships
in the 110,000-ton Conquest-class series, and it will be the first
Carnival ship to top the 3,000 lower-berth mark. Carnival said the
ship will represent a new design and will offer a larger spa and
kids facilities. The new ship, which is still unnamed, is the final
ship in a multi-vessel deal struck between Carnival Corp. and
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri last fall.
CONGRESS plans to appropriate $175 million
for port security grant funding in the Department of Homeland
Security budget during fiscal year 2006, the American Association
of Port Authorities (AAPA) said. The budget must be ratified by the
House and the Senate and signed by President Bush. The AAPA said it
was pleased that Congress had rejected a plan to eliminate port
security grants and instead lump them, along with funding for other
transportation modes, into a discretionary funding program. But,
the organization said, the funds are still not enough to cover all
the security needs of various member ports and called for $400
million a year to harden security at all seaports.
SEVERAL
LAWMAKERS last week questioned the arrangement between
Carnival Cruise Lines and the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) to charter three of its cruise ships in exchange for $192
million plus up to $44 million in reimbursements. Carnival Corp.,
Carnivals parent company, has strongly defended the arrangement and
said last week that the contract price was not based on a per-berth
formula. It was calculated based on what Carnival would have earned
during the charter period if the ships had been kept in regular
cruise service.
A GENEROUS
OFFER from Carnival was how Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush
characterized the Carnival-FEMA deal during the opening remarks of
the Cruise Lines International Associations first Cruise3Sixty
convention, which took place last week in Fort Lauderdale. I
applaud the cruise industry and Carnival Cruise Lines in this case,
he said.
OTHER NEWS
FROM CRUISE3SIXTY:
"
CLIA was able to pull in three of the industrys
top executives - Carnival boss Micky Arison, Royal Caribbean chief
Richard Fain and NCL Corp. CEO Colin Veitch - for so-called
fireside chats about the business broadcast on a TV screen
onstage.
" Arison said palatable euro-dollar
rates to order a ship would reside somewhere in the $1.10 to $1.15
to 1 euro range. But with the company just that morning assigning a
new ship to Carnival Cruise Lines, Arison said, We work hard to
find solutions.
"
Windstar will embark on a redesign program called
Degrees of Difference that is a version of the Signature of
Excellence initiative its sister company Holland America Line is
undergoing. In Windstars case, upgrades include things like iPods
and Bose speakers in the cabins, new soft goods and a deal with
LOccitane for shampoos and body lotions.
"
Seabourn is changing its lido deck eatery to offer
a more modern, casual dining option at night. The new restaurant
will be called 2.