CRUISEPATH NETWORK, which provided online booking
tools for travel agents, ceased operations May 5. CruisePath
products, which include CruiseManager and CruisePro, will no longer
be available for use. The company, which was formerly known as
GoCruise Direct, voted May 2 to move the company into Chapter 7
proceedings. CruisePath had been operating under Chapter 11
protection since November. Reorganization efforts "have not
materialized," the company said in a statement. CruisePath operated
cruise booking platforms through Worldspan and Sabre and had
relationships with TRAMS and Trisept Solutions; last December,
CruisePath's president John Stewart said the company had about 300
to 400 direct agency customers. Stewart could not immediately be
reached for comment.
ENTERGY CORP., New Orleans' utility company,
unveiled a plan to raise the power lines that hang over the
Mississippi River--which would allow the Carnival Conquest to sail
to and from its New Orleans berth unobstructed. Work to raise the
lines by another 23.5 feet will begin in June and should be
completed by October, Entergy said. The Conquest will stay in
Gulfport, Miss., through June 2, where it was moved when the river
rose too high for the ship to navigate under the wires; a spokesman
said. Entergy said it is working on a permanent solution to bury
the wires underground.
PRINCESS extended its Canada/New England
program for 2004 and will send the Regal Princess and the Grand
Princess to the region. The two ships will offer 13 voyages,
including seven roundtrip seven-day sailings from New York on the
Grand Princess, five New York-Montreal sailings on the Regal
Princess and one cruise on the Regal Princess from Montreal to Fort
Lauderdale.
RESIDENSEA released its 2004 itineraries for
its condo-cruise ship, the World. The vessel will start the year
with a visit to Antarctica and the South Shetland Islands and a
three-day call in Valparaiso, Chile. The World will spend the
balance of the summer in Europe and finish the year by calling in
Cape Town, South Africa.
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS are sponsoring a plan to
levy a $50-per-head tax on Alaska cruise passengers. Organizers
collected the required 100 signatures and submitted the proposed
ballot initiative to the Alaska Division of Elections for approval.
Once certified, organizers will spend the summer collecting the
needed signatures to get it on the ballot. The measure, if adopted,
would also require cruise ships to pay Alaska corporate income tax,
get wastewater discharge permits and turn over a percentage of
gambling profits to the state.