According to a survey conducted by the Falkland Islands Tourist Board, half of the cruise vessel passengers who take a cruise to Southern South Atlantic countries do so because the Falkland Islands is on the itinerary.
The survey showed that around 30,000 people during the 2004-20055 austral summer joined ships touring from Buenos Aires to Santiago because they saw that there would be a one-day stopover on the Falkland Islands.
A return to Israel, the Carnival in Rio, three days cruising Antarctica, three days in Dubai and Cape Town, and multiple African safari options are among the rare travel opportunities distinguishing Crystal Cruises´ 12th annual 2007 World Cruise.
Departing on January 12, 2007, from Miami, Florida to Southampton, England on a 109-day journey of discovery, the ultra-luxurious Crystal Serenity will explore 44 ports of call in 27 countries on five continents –the most extensive global crossing ever offered by the luxury line.
Celebrity Cruises will be rolling out a soft launch on November 20 of its Cirque du Soleil collaboration by moving its Cirque-themed concepts out of a lounge-style environment and into a theater.
The cruise line and the production company teamed up in 2004. Celebrity would sponsor Cirque productions and Cirque would create onboard entertainment for Celebrity.
The St. John´s cruise industry has set a record high in the of number of cruise passengers who have visited the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2005. A total of 18 cruise ships have called in 2005, carrying a record 13,576 passengers, up 71 percent from the 7,953 reported during the previous year when St. John´s hosted 17 cruise vessels in 2004.
Both the home porting and continuous voyage markets reached all time highs in 2005. St. John´s hosted 11,946 continuous voyage visitors this past season, a 75 percent increase from the 6,822 reported in 2004. Meanwhile, the home porting market reported a record 1,630 visitors, a 44 percent hike over the 1,131 seen in 2004.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines´ third-quarter profits jumped 32 percent to $374.7 million, while revenue increased 8.4 percent to $1.5 billion. Net yields for the second-largest cruise company, behind Carnival Corp., increased 6.9 percent from the third quarter of 2004.
Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean´s CEO, said in a statement last week that revenue enhancement efforts and a means to control costs “more than compensated” for fuel spikes and the company´s lack of capacity growth.
Argentina´s 2005-2006 cruise season, which promises to be a record-breaking one, kicked off Sunday with the arrival in Buenos Aires of the Norwegian-flagged Nordnorge with 350 tourists and a crew of 75.
Buenos Aires City sources forecast that an estimated 100,000 tourists and 75 cruise vessels will be calling in Argentina´s capital, a city that´s rapidly becoming one of the main attractions of the south Atlantic.