What's In A Name?

Creativity, if you buy the description in the dictionary, is classed as a mental and social process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts. 

Notice that word - new.  As in different.  As in distinguishing or original. 

A report on Cruise Critic's Princess board hinted that the new vessel rumored to be in the works for Princess may end up being called Opal Princess.  This is entirely speculative and unconfirmed, but it did get us thinking - when did this trend start requiring cruise lines to name ships after precious stones?

We have Jewel of the Seas, Norwegian Jewel, Pacific Pearl, Norwegian Pearl, Emerald Princess, Ruby Princess, Norwegian Jade, and now...Opal Princess. 

Confusing?  The copycat naming scheme doesn't stop at gems and rubies.  Had Norwegian Dream still been with the NCL fleet, Carnival Dream would have complimented her nicely.  The two couldn't be more different physically, but one has to wonder how many people would have come home and said 'we had a great trip on the Dream!' without adding whether it was Norwegian or Carnival.

Other similarities:
Carnival Freedom / Freedom of the Seas
Carnival Liberty / Liberty of the Seas
Pacific Star / Norwegian Star
Pacific Sun / Norwegian Sun
Seabourn Pride / Carnival Pride
Seabourn Spirit / Carnival Spirit / Norwegian Spirit

However, there are some nice, standout names.  Holland America Line has always named their ships after previous ships in the fleet, with the exception of the one-off Eurodam.  The line's upcoming Nieuw Amsterdam will be the fourth vessel in the company's history to bear the name.

Other unique names include Celebrity's fantastically named Celebrity Solstice, Equinox and Eclipse.  MSC also continues their tradition of ships names ending in 'a' with MSC Splendida and MSC Fantasia.

Cunard also remains unmistakable - there can be only one RMS Queen Mary 2.

P&O Heads North To Alaska

It turns out that Disney won't be the only line dipping its toes into the Alaska market in 2011 -  Southampton-based P&O Cruises recently announced it intends to send Arcadia to Alaska in 2011 for one 72-night Grand Voyage.

Departing April 12, 2011, Arcadia sails across the Atlantic, visiting the Caribbean before transiting the Panama Canal and proceeding up the Baja coast to San Francisco before journeying to Seattle, Ketchikan, a full day in Juneau, Yakutat Bay, College Fjord, Whittier, Skagway, Sitka, Tracy Arm, Victoria and finally Vancouver. 

Arcadia then sails south to Los Angeles before heading back through the Panama Canal and up the Eastern seaboard, calling at Port Everglades, Port Canaveral, Charleston, two full days in New York, Newport RI, Boston, then across the Atlantic to Ponta Delgada, Spain and on to Southampton.

Prices for the full 72-day voyage start at £6,999 per person.  The voyage is also available in two shorter segments: a 44-night cruise from Southampton to Los Angeles starting at £4,399 per person, and a 45-night cruise from Los Angeles to Southampton starting at £4,599 per person.

While the voyage is unlikely to appeal to North Americans due to the destination and pricing in pounds sterling, for Europeans looking to experience North America and Alaska without having to take a transatlantic flight, the voyage promises to be worth every penny.

For the exact itinerary, visit the P&O Cruises Press Release.

From Tahiti to the Ocean

Cleaning the rudders on the soon-to-be Ocean Princess.

Photo courtesy Princess Cruises

Once again, Princess Cruises is taking us behind the scenes on yet another extensive drydock refit, though this time it has a slightly different twist: readers get to follow along as Tahitian Princess is transformed into Ocean Princess.

From November 19th to December 2nd, viewers will be able to watch the refurbishment process take place as the ship is not only revitalized both inside and out, but rebranded as Ocean Princess.  This includes the removal of the name on the bows and stern of the ship, as well as lifeboats, life rings, and signage throughout the ship. 

Tahitian Princess was so-named because her original itineraries seldom took her outside of, surprise, Tahiti.  However, as the smaller ships of Princess experience more demand in a wide variety of destinations, the decision to re-brand the ship as Ocean Princess to reflect her global itineraries is a timely one. 

Even Princess recognizes how popular their past drydock photo-journals on Golden, Dawn, Sea and Coral Princess have been.  Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises Executive Vice President, said "This latest journal will give cruise fans yet another insiders' peek behind the scenes, with the added interest in seeing the name change."

To follow along, view the Ocean Princess Drydock Photo Journal. 

Concern Over NCL's Future Liquidity

Norwegian Sun

Photo Courtesy Norwegian Cruise Line

As Royal Caribbean is preparing to take delivery of the $1.4 billion-dollar Oasis of the Seas, one cruise line is having to face some harsh financial realities about their own newbuild plans.

Genting Hong Kong, stakeholder in half of Norwegian Cruise Line, issued a statement on Monday cautioning investors that there can be no assurance NCL will have sufficient cash flow and financing agreements to fund the company's obligations one year from now.

Genting Hong Kong did point out that it has secured up to $970.5 million in export credit financing for Norwegian Epic, which will allow that vessel to be built as planned, and that it expects to have enough cash on hand to last another year. 

The report also states that, while the expect Norwegian Epic to be completed on time, if any delay was to occur it could impact the company both financially and operationally.  

What the report doesn't say is that while they can afford to build Norwegian Epic, once it launches NCL may be so cash-strapped that the line is forced to either sell off some or all of their ships, which were placed as collateral against their current debt load, or cease operations altogether.

NCL stated in a press release dated November 5, 2009 that it had placed Norwegian Dawn, Norwegian Spirit, Norwegian Star and Norwegian Sun up as collateral in order to secure a Revolving Credit  Facility.  This freed up the necessary cash in order for NCL to complete Norwegian Epic and fund itself for the next twelve months.

Does that mean the future for NCL is doomed?  Not necessarily.  If NCL had a nickel for every time it almost went under, it wouldn't be in financial trouble.  But Genting Hong Kong's statement can be seen as a dire warning to potential investors, effectively stating "it's out of our hands."

Who is Genting Hong Kong, by the way?  You might remember them better as Star Cruises, the company that bought controlling interest of NCL back in 2001.  They have changed their name to Genting Hong Kong, effective November 30th. 

To read the Investor Release, go here and scroll down to the November 16, 2009 Corporate Announcement. 

An Oasis-size News Roundup

Oasis of the Seas arrives Fort Lauderdale.

Photo courtesy Royal Caribbean

There seems to be no getting around it: Oasis of the Seas is the dominating story in the cruise world, and show no signs of letting up in advance of its anticipated maiden voyage at the end of the month.  In fact, Royal Caribbean may be intent on pushing the publicity envelope if recent accounts on their Twitter page are any indication: Oasis of the Seas will have seven - yes, seven - godmothers. 

Christening a ship is an enormous undertaking even with one godmother - no information on how Royal Caribbean plans to handle seven was available at this time.  Which begs the question: is Royal Caribbean running the risk of over-hyping Oasis of the Seas?

An interesting event occurred during Royal Caribbean's last quarterly conference call with industry observers and analysts.  One such person questioned Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain about whether RCI felt they were devaluing their older, less appealing ships.  Fain quickly set the gentleman straight, saying the line values all its ships.  At the time, the question seemed a little flippant on the part of the reporter, but with continued press events, it seems the overriding theme being communicated, at least to the media, is this ship is better than anything else we have in our fleet.

Which of course is not the case - Royal Caribbean takes better care of its older ships than many other lines do.  The question remains, though - how does Royal Caribbean, as innovative, forward thinking, and creative as they are, plan to fill a 6,000-plus passenger vessel every single week?

Also in our news roundup: the overshadowed Carnival Dream has set sail from New York for its homeport of Port Canaveral, Florida, and Seabourn Odyssey arrived in Fort Lauderdale this week after her maiden transatlantic crossing from Europe. 

Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam was floated out of the docks at the Fincantieri shipyard just off Venice, Italy.  It will be a direct sister ship to Eurodam, and the fourth vessel to bear that name. 

Also in the news, Silversea's Silver Spirit took to the water for her sea trials last week, which were reportedly a great success. 

That concludes our news roundup for today - hopefully two more weeks won't pass before our next update!

Taking a Holiday

Holiday at Sea.

Photo courtesy Carnival Cruise Line

With all the media attention and anticipation surrounding the imminent arrival in Florida of  Oasis of the Seas, the figurative passing of another cruise ship has gone largely unnoticed: Carnival's Holiday has left the fleet.

This month, Holiday will sail across the Atlantic and into the open arms of Iberocruceros, who will refit and rename her the Grand Holiday.  Holiday's short runs from Mobile, Alabama will be temporarily replaced by Carnival Fantasy before Carnival Elation takes over in 2010. 

Holiday was built for Carnival in 1985 as the first of what would be three sister ships, and paved the way for Carnival's extremely successful Fantasy-class vessels.  The Tropicale, officially Carnival's first newbuild in 1981, was a one-off: she had no sister ships.  Holiday, however, was the first newbuild in a class of ships.  She is also the last of that class to serve in the Carnival fleet.

Why is this a big deal?  It's important to remember when she was built: in 1985, many major cruise lines were still running hand-me-down ocean liners in the twilight of their careers; the idea of purpose-built cruise vessels simply hadn't emerged in a big way yet.  Holland America had built the highly successful Noordam and Nieuw Amsterdam the year before, and Sovereign of the Seas, which would launch Royal Caribbean into the megaship race, was but a twinkle in their eye at this time. 

It also shows the degree that cruising has changed, and just how far ship design has come.

We wish Holiday all the best in her new incarnation as Grand Holiday.