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A New Day For Nassau's Cable Beach

The Baha Mar resort advertises itself as “the new Riviera.” It occupies 1,000 acres along Nassau’s Cable Beach.

Golfers were supposed to be swinging their clubs at the Baha Mar Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course by now and gamblers placing bets at the $3.5billion resort’s state-of-the-art casino.

But Baha Mar is behind schedule, and the Bahamas’ newest resort, which was largely financed by the Chinese government and built with the help of about 4,100 Chinese laborers, will miss all but the tail end of the all-important high season.

Instead of opening in mid-December as planned, the 1,000-acre resort along Nassau’s Cable Beach is scheduled to begin receiving guests at three of its hotels on March 27 and at a fourth — the Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar — on May 1. The grand opening ceremony, produced by Jamie King and Emilio Estefan, is planned for May.

“They will miss the high season, but they will spend the time making sure everything will be in place for the next high season,” said Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe. “We feel we will do well in terms of arrivals for Baha Mar and expect high occupancy rates and high room rates.”

When the Baha Mar casino is ready to open, the gaming license will be transferred from the Crystal Palace Casino at the Wyndham Nassau Resort, which occupies prime territory in the Baha Mar complex. The only thing the tired Crystal Palace Casino will have in common with the new casino is the license. “They are totally different. It’s not even fair to compare the two,” said Sands.

Though the Crystal Palace Casino remains open, the hotel was closed and is now being used as a training center for new Baha Mar employees. All told, it will take about 4,000 workers to keep Baha Mar humming. Already about 650 people have been trained at Baha Mar’s Leadership Development Institute.

What the future of the old Wyndham will be is something that will be addressed once Baha Mar has been completed and is operating, said Sands.

Baha Mar isn’t the only mega resort in the Bahamas. Across the water from Baha Mar on Paradise Island sits Atlantis with tanks full of thousands of fish and other marine life, a mile-long water ride and a casino. With 3,414 rooms, it is bigger than Baha Mar, but it was built in three distinct phases over 14 years, rather than all at once, like the new Cable Beach resort.

Though the two resorts certainly represent competition for each other, executives say they’ll complement rather than cannibalize each other. Atlantis, which revolves around recreating the myth of the lost city of Atlantis, is more family-oriented while Baha Mar is expected to appeal more to adults.

Tens of million are being spent on marketing the new resort, Sands said. While Baha Mar is targeting key U.S. cities such as Miami, “we will be focusing a lot of efforts in China,” said Sands. That means enticing not only mainland Chinese, but high-net-worth Chinese in cities such as Vancouver, London, Toronto and New York, he said. Beyond the Baha Mar ads that have begun to appear in local media, there’s another Miami connection. Estefan produced the soundtrack for the short online film The Voyage that is featured on the resort’s reservations site.

Also expected to boost occupancy is a visa waiver agreement that China and the Bahamas signed last year. It will allow Chinese tourists to travel to the Bahamas and Bahamians to go to China for up to a month without getting a visa.

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Miami Herald Staff Writer Jacqueline Charles contributed to this report.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article7066028.html#storylink=cpy

MSC Cruises to station new ship, Seaside, in Miami

MSC Cruises said it would deploy a ship scheduled for delivery in 2017 on year-round Caribbean itineraries from Miami. The ship, to be called MSC Seaside, will be the brand's first new ship placed directly into service in North America.

MSC brought the Divina to Miami in November 2013 for year-round service, but that ship had sailed previously in Europe. The Divina will return to Europe and sail in the Mediterranean this summer.

Seaside is the first ship in a new class; a second ship is anticipated in 2018. At a news conference at the Cruise Shipping Miami conference, company CEO Gianni Onorato said the 4,140-passenger Seaside will be christened in Miami, another first, and will have its own terminal area at Port Miami. 

“Today is a very exciting day for the company as this is the first major announcement related to the company’s new builds and demonstrates our enthusiasm and long-term commitment to continuing to expand our presence in North America,” Onorato said.

Crowning the Seaside will be a five-slide aqua park designed by the industry’s premier vendor, Vancouver-based White Water West Industries. Among the slides are a 525-foot twin tube ride and an interactive raft slide that challenges riders try to match flashing colored strobe lights along the course of the slide by punching colored buttons on an embedded game controller.

 

 

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Grandeur of the Seas-Ship Inspection in Baltimore, Maryland

 

 

 

The Grandeur of the Seas sails out of Baltimore, Maryland, port of Baltimore. Grandeur is a Royal Caribbean ship that sails to the Caribbean on 7-10 day cruises. I recently had an opportunity to inspect the ship and I 'm please to report the good news.

The ship offers great dining and entertaining, wines from around the World, Broadway style shows and eight bars and  lounges. Adult only solarium, rock climbing wall, poker and slot, De-stress at the Vitality Spa.

Great programs for kids of all ages, a program for children with Autism with Autism friendly toys and activities. This ship is sure to satisfy, including no airfare for those living within driving range of the Baltimore Port.

This week, cruise line movers and shakers are gathered in Florida for Cruise Shipping Miami, the industry's largest conference. We're on the ground to give you the latest and greatest breaking news and trends.

(3:15 p.m. EDT) -- Asia's hot, but the Caribbean is still pretty darn warm, according to cruise line executives who spoke Tuesday, March 17, about both markets at Seatrade's annual Cruise Shipping Miami conference.

With Asia being the talk of the industry for the past couple of years, it's not surprising that cruise lines have ramped up efforts to attract customers in that region -- China, in particular, which makes up almost half of the entire Asia cruise market, according to Adam Goldstein, chief operating officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and chair for the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

Asians typically take even shorter vacations than Americans do, and nearly half of all existing cruise passengers are younger than 40, Goldstein said. Cruise lines are adapting by changing their marketing tactics and by primarily offering sailings that are shorter than a week in length. Lines also are doing special outreach to Chinese travel agents who aren't as familiar with cruises as their North American counterparts and, therefore, aren't as comfortable selling them to their clients.

Goldstein said the Asia market has nearly doubled from 2012 to 2014, but there's plenty of room for growth. Only 1/12 of the Chinese population traveled last year, and less than 1 percent of those who traveled did so by cruise ship.

With so much of the industry's focus on China, where exactly does that leave the Caribbean?

The answer: In a pretty good spot.

During a panel discussion on the state of the Caribbean, Michele Paige, president of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), said market share is down slightly due to the focus on Asia, but more than 20 million people will still be cruising to the Caribbean in 2015.

While demand for Caribbean cruises remains steady, the industry's capacity in the region increased by about 13 percent last year.

"The Caribbean was, is and will always be the most important destination [for the North American market]," Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean International's president and CEO said.

With demand even, the cruise industry is looking for new ways to fill the larger capacity, including trying to draw passengers from other markets, Bayley said.

"We've got demand issues," said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. "I think we're much more focused now on how to find the right target market."

Richard Sasso, president and CEO of MSC Cruises USA agreed, saying it wasn't that the lines had purposely neglected to market the Caribbean, but rather several lines saw a void in capacity and tried to fill it at the same time, causing a surplus. "Our nimbleness in changing deployment happened at the same moment," he said, adding that 20 years ago, it wasn't typical for cruise lines to move ships around so much. They'd plan itineraries two years in advance and never think about changing them.

Naturally, Cuba came up during the discussion, and the general consensus was that opening it up to cruise travel from the U.S. will help to draw more passengers -- particularly Americans -- to the Caribbean with the promise of something new and previously off limits.

Sasso supported that point, saying that many people don't cruise until they have a reason besides the cruise itself -- theme cruises, group travel, Cuba, etc. -- to do so.

"I think it's hugely exciting for the region and for the industry," said Andy Stuart, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line, adding that his boss, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings president and CEO Frank Del Rio, wants to be the first to go and added that Norwegian Cruise Line could be ready to deploy ships there almost immediately when the opportunity finally presents itself.

When asked what the cruise lines can do to ensure passengers want to return to the destinations they visit on their Caribbean cruises, Sasso didn't mince words: "Our job is to bring the people to the destination. Getting them to return is the responsibility of the local government, the people and the destination. If the people are smiling and the food is good, people will come back. If not, they won't come back, and they'll write letters to us, asking us not to go there anymore."

Executives also agreed that ports need to differentiate themselves by offering shopping, dining and excursion experiences that are new and different. Otherwise, passengers may stay onboard their cruise ships.

But make no mistake, the cruise lines said, Caribbean cruising is here to stay.

"Cruise lines do not create demand," Paige said. "Cruise lines go where their passengers want to go and where they can make money." So, as long as cruisers continue to crave sun, sand and fruity umbrella-adorned drinks, the Caribbean isn't going anywhere.

--By Ashley Kosciolek, Cruise Critic Editor

Carnival Cruise Line is bringing Carnival Sunshine to New York City

 Carnival Cruise Line is bringing Carnival Sunshine, its first cruise ship to feature all of the line's Fun Ship 2.0 dining and entertainment venues, to New York City in 2016 for 20 sailings between June and October. Carnival Sunshine also will sail a short series of cruises from Charleston and Norfolk.

Carnival Sunshine's New York City sailings, which replace Carnival Splendor's sailings, will range from two one-night cruise-to-nowhere outings to nine-night Caribbean voyages. Sunshine also will sail a handful of New England and Canada cruises including two three-night cruises to Saint John, three four-night sailings to Saint John and Halifax, and five one-week Canada/New England cruises that visit Boston, Portland, Saint John and Halifax. Caribbean sailings include six one-week Eastern Caribbean sailings, plus a nine-night Carnival Journeys voyage.

Carnival Sunshine also will sail from Charleston and Norfolk in summer and fall 2016.

Charleston sailings include an overnight cruise to nowhere in November, a three-night jaunt to Nassau in May, a four-night Bahamas cruise in May and November, and a nine-night Carnival Journeys sailing departing the end of May.

Norfolk sailings include two overnight cruises to nowhere in June and October, a four-night Bahamas cruise in June, a four-night Bermuda cruise with an overnight in King's Wharf in October and a five-night Bahamas cruise in October.

The ship will finish out 2016 back in its current homeport of Port Canaveral, where it will sail a schedule of four- to seven-night Caribbean cruises.

--By Dori Saltzman, Editor

Cruises out of Baltimore, Maryland on Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Lines

Vacation cruises offer all inclusive benefits. Many discount cruises can include your stateroom, meals, and entertainment costs into one great cruise deal. Whether you prefer constant activities or just kicking back by the pool, Cruises out of Baltimore are a great opportunity to save on airfare and avoid airport hassles.

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