Cruise ship news

First Asian taking command of a RCI Cruise ship:

The future cruise ship??:

From Sysla by Google Translate

More big cruise ships for you to chose from coming your way.
RCC order another Edge-class ship for their Celebrity brand:

A new cruise ship will be entering the BC and Alaska market in the summer of 2021:

This is one of the series of Ulstein designed ships under building for Sandstone in China:

Anybody think it would be wise for the cruise industry to study the last 5-10 years of the offshore oil industry?

For what purpose? Learn how to swallow dip spit?

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Apparently some in the cruise industry has done just that. (But maybe not the way you mean?)
Many of the smaller, so called expedition cruise ships, are built based on designs developed for the offshore oil & gas and wind markets.
The same goes for some mega yachts intended for more than sitting in Monaco or St.Tropez and cruising the Caribbean.

FYI the offshore oil industry isn’t something only happening in the GoM any more. Few “dippers” to find outside the GoM though.

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No (I’m sure there are plenty of cruise ship officers that dip). I’m referring to the oversupply of capacity and parking of ships/rigs that occurred when oil prices crashed.

The amount of massive new cruise ships recently splashed and currently being built is quite insane. It’s a floating hotel, and the rooms must be filled. Also consider that it’s likely the majority of ships were all built on credit.

Like with the ever increasing size of container ships, eventually, somebody is going to be left holding the bag but the super wealthy who drive these huge investments always seem to come out on top. They have a knack for using other people’s money so when the bottom falls out, they walk away scot free. See the Art of the Deal.

I thought that is what you were referring to, but the market for cruise ships, both the ugly large boxes offering cheap 1-2 week holidays (complete with amusement park and shopping on board, like this one):


The smaller luxurious kind that take longer trips to exotic places:

Or the small expedition type ships that offer “adventure” in a safe and comfortable manner, like the one at the top of this thread.
The cruise market is expected to grow into heaven, as long as there is an ever growing middle class, which is the case in many parts of the world, especially in China, but also in India, S.E.Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe and even parts of Africa.

Of course Trump’s trade wars and sanctions can trip up this rosy picture, which will be felt all over the world and affect not only the cruise market but all other aspects of trade and the world economy.
That include the oil market, which we can already see by the falling price of crude.

PS> I don’t think there are many “dippers” on the cruise ships. Or have you seen any example of spit cups standing around on the bridge on any of them?

So was the oil market. And the container market. and the…

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The first of the Sandstone Expedition cruise ships built in China is now in Cape Town on her way to Ushia to start the first cruise of the season to Antarctica.

image
Here is a presentation of the Greg Mortimer:

Holiday from hell. Passengers of the Norwegian Spirit demand a refund.


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Oops. Sounds like the locals did not want a huge ship full of annoying tourists coming to their town.

The passengers will not get their money back. Read the fine print, suckers.

The small town in Norway that they visited was Aalesund (Friday 04. Oct):



The call was not on the list of cruise ship calls issued at the beginning of the year, but that is not unusual, since things may happen that force changes to schedules.

That the cruise season is over and that the town was closed with not even anywhere to get food is wrong. I was in town that day and saw a lot of pax from the N.Spirit walking around.(Mainly Chinese)
I even had a beer in the pub and microbrewery that is next to the gate from the cruise terminal. ( Seen on the second pix) Quite a few of the Brits from NS were in there sampling the beer and their hamburgers.

As can also be seen on the pix, a small sightseeing boat taking cruises to the fjords around was active and tour buses were lined up to take them to the usual tourist sites.
The day before another cruise ship of about the same size, the AIDASOL, visited and today the Queen Elizabeth is in town:



Last scheduled cruise call for the year is the Queen Victoria on 19.Nov. for a days stopover on her way to Tromsø and the northern lights.
Next years season starts shortly after New Year with more ships breaking up the trip to the north. (Not sure when, but last year the first was on New Years Day)
(Pictures off Ålesund Havn webcam: http://www.alesund.havn.no/no/Webkamera)

That must have given you a hard on that lasted all day.

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Hard on?? No it takes more than that these days.

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Worked on cruise ships for 10yrs, lots of contracts with Norwegian Cruise Lines. That idiot with the phone is the type of guy that wants to protest because the inside cabin he booked doesn’t have a window. It was getting bad the last few years i worked there. People trying to protest or starting petitions around the boat for the smallest things. Not saying they don’t have some sort of grievance but being an asshat is not the way to fix it. I was really hoping one of the Ghurka’s was going to take him down.

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One of the places the ship touched was a village, not a town, called Ymuiden. It is located at the entrance of the canal to Amsterdam and the home of the Tata steel factory, the major CO2 emitter in our country. Black soot from the factory descends on a regular basis on the village.

There is absolutely nothing to do in this tiny smelly place but the layover there surely saves on port dues which seems to be a company policy if you look at the other places that are visited. Clever marketing trick to call this a mystery tour…

Keel laying ceremony for the 2nd Polar Expedition vessel to be built for Lindblad NG at the Crest shipyard in Poland:
https://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/284441/keel-laid-for-lindblads-2nd-polar-expedition-cruise-ship/

The hull will be towed to Norway for outfitting at Ulstein Verft. Delivery is scheduled for Q3 2021.
The first Ulstein vessel for Lindblad NG is due to be delivered Q1 2020.

PS> If you haven’t yet got used to the X-Bow you may as well start to do so, since there are more and more vessels of different types with this feature coming out.