CRUISE NEWS YOU CAN USE
CRUISE NEWS IN BRIEF
Crystal peddles 16 bike excursions on two ships Crystal Cruises is launching 16 bike excursions this year on Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity sailings. The half and full-day excursions will be available from May to September in destinations such as Malta, Tallinn, Barcelona, Copenhagen Valencia, Dubrovnik, Corfu, St Petersburg and Helsinki. Prices range from $89 to $249.
crystalcruises.co.uk
QM2 adds spa treatments to celebrate 10th birthday Cunard is offering new spa and beauty services for Queen Mary 2’s transatlantic season this year to celebrate its 10th anniversary. New treatments include facials, eyelash extensions and teeth whitening.
cunard.co.uk
Voyages of Discovery adds 11 cruises for 2015 Voyages of Discovery is offering 11 new sailings in 2015. Voyager itineraries include a mini cruise, its first ex-UK sailing to the Azores and a return to the White Sea. The four-day mini cruise, which visits Honfleur, France, departs Portsmouth on May 12, 2015, and leads in at £299.
voyagesofdiscovery.co.uk
MSC pours drinks freely for Aurea passengers MSC Cruises has added an all-inclusive drinks package to its Aurea price category. Aurea guests can enjoy unlimited alcoholic and soft drinks and ice cream. Guests already booked will be upgraded.
msccruises.co.uk
Princess cuts Japan cruises and moves ship to Australia Hollie-Rae Merrick
Princess Cruises is decreasing its capacity in Japan and redeploying one of the two ships currently sailing there to Australia. The line introduced Japan
The number of Japan sailings operated by Princess Cruises this year
44
itineraries last year with just nine sailings, ramping up capacity to 44 this year on Sun Princess and Diamond Princess. As a result the line reported an almost 15-fold increase in bookings to Japan, which was one of the standout destinations for UK bookings during the wave period. Diamond Princess will continue to sail around Japan next year from Yokohama and Kobe. During the four-month summer season the ship will offer 20 sailings. Sun Princess will next year be deployed to
Australia. Jan Swartz,
president of Princess
Cruises, said: “We are very pleased to bring Diamond Princess back to Japan again next summer, this time with a broader variety of itineraries and cruise lengths
Agents credited for surge in Viking River Cruises bookings
Viking Cruises believes its commitment to the trade is paying off after a recent surge in sales for 2015 by agents. The river cruise line increased
its capacity across some key river routes for 2015 and reported “higher than expected interest” from agents. Neil Barclay, head of sales at Viking Cruises, said: “Agents make
22 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 1 May 2014
Veranda stateroom on a Viking longship
Sun Princess will be based in Australia next year
offering guests a diverse choice of experiences and destinations. “Moving Sun Princess to
Australia in 2015 doesn’t diminish our enthusiasm for the Japan cruise market. As [worldwide] demand for cruising grows further in Japan, we will review the opportunity to add additional capacity in the future.” The line is now looking for cruise demand for Japanese itineraries from international markets to catch up with that in the UK. Diamond Princess recently
underwent a refurbishment with the addition of a Japanese bath and a Kai Sushi restaurant. Other changes include a refurbished casino and a new sports court. The ship will begin its 2015 Japan season on April 29 with an eight-night Golden Week sailing from Yokohama, followed by a nine-night Taiwan and Korea cruise. The line has a new 10-night
Hokkaido cruise from Kobe calling at ports in northern Japan including Aomori, Hakodate and Abashiri.
princess.com
up a large percentage of our business and we have committed to even greater support this year through increased training, more frequent fam visits and a dedicated agent sales person in our call centre. “We recognise the need to
invest and support travel agents to help them to take advantage of the increase in demand for early river cruise bookings.”
The line is looking to double the number of fam trips this year.
vikingcruises.co.uk
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