The year’s most-read stories as reported on Seatrade Cruise News, in chronological order of appearance:
The new Crystal
January saw the launch of the new Crystal with its website going live and inaugural voyages for Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony — with their enlarged accommodations and reduced occupancy — presaged for July and September.
A&K Travel Group acquired Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony for $128m at auction in June 2022 as well as the rights to the Crystal brand. The new tagline, 'Crystal: Exceptional at Sea’ was revealed and that the brand is just Crystal.
World Dream sold to Cruise Saudi
End February came breaking news: the 5,000-passenger World Dream, previously part of Genting Hong Kong's Dream Cruises, was sold to an unnamed buyer that multiple sources identified as Cruise Saudi. That was confirmed by the company a couple of days later and the ship is joining a new brand, Aroya Cruises.
World Dream was auctioned following its March 2022 arrest by KfW IPEX-Bank in Singapore. The ship is undergoing an upgrade at Bredo Dry Docks in Bremerhaven that's expected to take well into 2024.
Four Seasons Yachts bulks up its team
An exclusive story ran in March when Four Seasons Yachts CEO Larry Pimentel disclosed to Seatrade Cruise News he was adding six more professionals to the shoreside team and expanding Thatcher Brown's duties.
Founding team member Brown, chief commercial officer, added the title head of joint yacht operations and joining the team were John Polimenakos, chief information officer; Tim Littley, VP strategic development and port operations; Nils Lindstad, executive director, sales excellence and partner services; Peter Honan, director, business development - travel; Irene Lezama-Ameijeiras, director of product marketing; and Stacey Levy, special advisor, luxury lifestyle experiences.
Michael Thamm exits
April saw the surprise departure of Michael Thamm, one of Carnival Corp. & plc's senior leaders over many years, who left his role as Costa Group CEO. Mario Zanetti, president, Costa Cruises, and Felix Eichhorn, president, AIDA Cruises, began reporting directly to Josh Weinstein, president and CEO, Carnival Corp., and the Costa Group CEO role was not backfilled.
Thamm took leadership of the Costa Group (Costa Cruises, AIDA, Iberocruceros and Carnival Maritime) in 2012, adding responsibility for Carnival Asia in 2017. He had served as AIDA president from 2004 to 2012.
Carnival Corp. restructuring
In June, 10 months in as CEO, Josh Weinstein announced a restructuring of Carnival Corp. & plc to remove layers, doing away with previous groupings such as Holland America Group and Costa Group, to create six operating units — Carnival Cruise Line, Carnival UK (P&O Cruises and Cunard), AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises.
He also brought Jan Swarz, former Holland America Group president, into the new corporate role of EVP strategic operations for Carnival Corp.
Frank Del Rio's share sales
End June saw the retirement of Frank Del Rio, president and CEO, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, but not before he sold $5.5m in NCLH shares. The shares were sold June 12 in multiple transactions at prices ranging from $18.40 to $18.56, or a weighted average of $18.44. At mid June Del Rio still owned 926,505 shares of common stock directly and 27,875 shares indirectly through a family trust.
Brightline
Summer heralded the opening of Brightline's Orlando station (on Sept. 22) connecting riders between Central and South Florida, including four cruise homeports.
Nobody is a bigger champion of this high-speed train than Royal Caribbean International's Vicki Freed, SVP sales, trade support & service, who rides it daily between her home in Boca Raton and the cruise line's PortMiami office.
'I love it. It's game-changing for us,' Freed said. They've given up the hassles of driving on I-95, for a fast, smooth ride where they catch up on emails, work and sometimes have one-to-one meetings. Other Brightline commuters include regular employees from RCI, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea.
Brightline's benefits also apply to cruisers. Stations serve four cities with cruise ports: Orlando, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami,. Brightline covers the 230-mile Orlando-Miami trip in 3.5 hours.
Carnival Australia chief resigns
Moving Down Under, August recorded the resignation of Marguerite Fitzgerald, president of P&O Cruises Australia and Carnival Australia, for family reasons.
A company spokesperson said Fitzgerald had successfully led the return to cruising in the region following the COVID-19 pandemic and thanked Marguerite for her significant contribution in restoring confidence and certainty in the industry.’
P&O Cruises Australia's Peter Little, SVP guest experience, is serving as interim leader of both companies, reporting to Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy.
Hurricane Lee
September saw Hurricane Lee impacting some Caribbean, Bermuda and Canada/New England cruises as it turned northward from out in the Atlantic.
Several ships switched from eastern Caribbean to western Caribbean itineraries while other re routed Bermuda cruises into Bahamas voyages.
Many ships in the Canada/New England region for fall foliage season revised their routings.
Inside two weeks Lee lost hurricane status when it made landfall September 16, on Long Island and Nova Scotia.
Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's growth plans
Big growth is afoot for The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, which is planning eight to 10 new ships for multiple Marriott International brands and expects to go public in the next three to four years, Executive Chairman and CEO Jim Murren told Seatrade Cruise News in September.
It already has plans under way for a fourth and fifth newbuild on a different platform and beyond that is looking into maybe getting into the expedition space and other yacht types, to get our fleet up to eight to 10 yachts within the next several years.
Working with Marriott International, the company has 'multiple opportunities to match the right brand to the right product,’ Murrren said.
He expects the company to become a public enterprise over the next three to four years with The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection likely to seek a listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Seatrade Cruise News editorial team thanks all our readers for their support this year and looks forward to keeping you abreast of the news as it happens throughout 2024
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