bishop84

TUI have introduced a innovation within the cruise world. Re-branding a boat whilst paying passengers are on board.

This as made the national press and media

 

Talk about profit coming before everything and I would bet THIS a start of things to come from TUI

Not quite an innovation as I know of at least one other renaming in service back in the 90's. Cunard renamed the Crown Dynasty to Crown Majesty whilst in service! Took the crew and contractors all day during a repositioning cruise to Alaska.

It beggars belief that Thomson would re-brand to TUI and then to Marella in the space of a few short weeks and at all the additional expense. Even more so that they are doing some of it whilst pax on board and missing out published ports of call, and then giving away some 1000 pax x 5 ships x £25 each for putting up with it.

Perhaps this is where Thomson well known record of incompetence comes from?

I think the compensation will only be for the TUI Discovery 2 guests as she will be the only one to be renamed 'in service'. The other 3 ship (Discovery, Celebration and Dream) will be renamed during their maintenance periods at the end of October/early November. Neither the Spirit or Majesty will be renamed, even though the Spirit is returning for a summer season next year.

The Blank Space is probably the engine casing when the exhausts go up to the funnel, obviously not accessible to passengers. Other blank spaces in the middle are usually technical spaces such as Air Conditioning plant rooms etc.

Can anyone tell me if we need to get visas for these cruises or ESTA's. I was wondering if they do the visa on the ship but also not sure about if we need to apply for a ESTA.

You will only need an ESTA if you calling at ports in or travelling via the USA. As this cruise doesn't do that you shouldn't need one, assuming you are taking the Thomson flights.

How can you buy Duty Free in the EU unless you are travelling elsewhere ?

 

Surely that only applies to flights (or cruises) from any EU country direct to any non EU destination ?

 

There is a so called Duty Free shop at Palma cruise terminal - it was significantly cheaper to visit the large Carrefour supermarket and buy alcohol there.

For cruises as long as the ship calls at least 1 non-EU port during the cruise then the ship can offer duty free sales. On the Celebration earlier this year the cruise didn't go outside the EU so the shops weren't selling cartons of cigarettes or bottles of alcohol.

The Duty Free stores ashore are supposed to check if you are travelling outside the EU (but, like ships, rarely do!). I've found that around the Med quite a few Duty Free Shops are more expensive than the same goods at the local supermarket!

I,m pretty sure if you buy from the ships shop (cigs,drink etc),it will count towards the "outside of eec" ie 200 cigs,1 lt spirits,then anything bought inside eec is duty paid giving you that allowance (800 cigs ,10 ltrs spirits etc etc ).Anyway keep receipts from all. In my experience the ship's shop will just sell you anything not knowing the rules or caring about them.

The duty free allowance is the same wherever you travel. Anything bought from a duty free shop, including onboard the ship or within the EU, counts towards that limit.

Technically there is no limit to the amount of dutiable goods you can bring into the UK without paying UK Duty IF duty/tax has been paid in the EU Country of purchase. However HM Revenue & Customs consider the upper limits you mention as sufficient and will give anyone with more than that extra scrutiny and questioning. Usually followed by confiscation unless it can be proved to their satisfaction that the goods are for the allowed purposes.

Agree that the shop staff onboard will normally sell you as much dutiable goods as you want, some but not all may advise you of the limits. However it's the customers responsibility to declare all goods and pay any required duty at the Customs check.

Here are some links to the official UK Duty Free Rules. Hope the info helps you!

From inside the EU: https://www.gov.uk/duty-free-goods/arrivals-from-eu-countries

From Outside the EU: https://www.gov.uk/duty-free-goods/arrivals-from-outside-the-eu

I would guess that if Thomson is going to dropped from the ship names then it could be during the next round of wet/docks? However would TUI go to the expense of this for the chartered ships especially as they may be leaving the fleet in the next few years.

I heard that AIDA had a penalty clause in the building contract with Mitsubishi Heavy that equaled the daily charter rate for the ship for everyday it was delayed. Due to the significant delays during construction the penalty charge has virtually paid for the second ship, AIDAperla, being built at the same yard! Has anyone else heard similar and knows if this is true or not?

Here's a link for the Cozumel cruise ship schedule for 2016 complete where the ships will be docked. Hopefully it will be of help to you.

http://www.cruiseportinsider.com/cozumelschedule2016.html#.VoG2pY_XKhc

But that's not the way HAL's been scheduling her maintenance and upkeep ;) Since joining HAL in January 2006, NODM has been dry-docked in March/April 2009, July 2010, April 2013 and April 2015

IIRC the reason that Noordam had a dry dock in 2010 was that it was originally scheduled for 2011 but was brought forward when Noordam's charter for the Football World Cup in South Africa was cancelled at the last moment.

A very good rescue effort! Very surprised that it has not made the mainstream news in the UK.

I didn't realise that Bristows were also taking over the UK territories based SAR operations. I thought they were only doing the UK based ones. Most of which they now operate under the UK Coastguard names.

The call could be to enable the ship to call at a non-European Union port and thereby qualify the cruise as duty free?

I guess a purely service call, i.e. just to pick up the tour and get the papers stamped wouldn't qualify so they call it a proper call and enable other guests to go ashore for a short period of time.

Also they usually indicate if the call is just a service call but this one is marked TR (Tender Required) which would indicate that guests can go ashore.

The list on the West India Company website has the Westerdam as anchored at the Inner Anchorage on 11/11. This is quite sheltered and, if the weather is good, should be calm.

This is the website: http://www.wico-vi.com/docs/default-source/ship-schedules/november-2015-ship-schedule.pdf?sfvrsn=2

If you look there is a small symbol next to her name which indicates the Inner Anchorage. Thinking positively it is a short tender ride to the town and you avoid the crush at WICO/Havensite with 3 ships and 2 (including the Allure of the Seas(!) at Crown Bay!

The Westerdam tender platform also has an elevator down if stairs are a problem. I hope the weather is good for you!

Thompsons? Louis?

 

Saga would never take for any HAL ships... apart from PRINSENDAM. They looked at the ship... several years ago. The price was too high. On top of that she would have to go back Royal Viking style... and back to single sitting. Too expensive.

True, but there were reports of them visiting an 'S' Class ship to evaluate it.

For other companies I think Thomson are sorted with their tonnage plans with ex-RCCL and Celebrity Cruises ships heading their way. This will have a knock on effect with Celestyal Cruises (formerly Louis) as they will have to absorb or dispose of the tonnage they have on charter to Thomson.

There are a few other opportunities so I guess we wait and see and speculate until HAL announces their plans :rolleyes:

So, with Sage going for new builds who is likely to take the remaining S Class ships when they become available?

From the HA website:

 

Holland America Group operates 39 cruise ships, with more than 36,000 employees worldwide delivering 25 million passenger cruise days annually.

Princess Cruises is the third-largest cruise line in the world, carrying approximately 1.4 million guests each year to top destinations around the globe on 18 premium vessels. A new 3,560 passenger Royal-class ship is on order for delivery in spring, 2017.

Holland America Line operates a fleet of 15 premium vessels carrying approximately 850,000 guests on more than 500 cruises annually to all seven continents. A new 2,650-passenger Pinnacle-class ship is under construction and scheduled for delivery April, 2016. A second Pinnacle-class ship is on order and will deliver November, 2018.

Holland America-Princess Land Operations & Customer Service operates hotels, rail services, motor coach transportation, shore services and tour operations in Alaska and the Yukon for guests from Holland America Line and Princess Cruises on land tours.

Seabourn’s three intimate, all-suite luxury vessels carry 458 guests and sail 94 cruises annually to the world’s most desirable destinations. Two new 600-passenger ships are on order with deliveries scheduled for November, 2016 and spring, 2018.

P&O Cruises Australia has three ships sailing from Sydney and Brisbane, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand, to destinations across the Australasia region.

Looks like I remembered correctly!

Pure speculation, but the HAL/Princess grouping might end up like the Cunard/Princess grouping. Each would maintain their own shipboard identity, but there would be more sharing between them:

- Officers, staff, and entertainers sometimes hopping back and forth between HAL / Princess from contract to contract.

- More shared docking contracts, like the two lines did with Crown Bay in St. Thomas.

- Consolidating / grouping contracts with food and other suppliers in home ports (especially, Vancouver, Seattle, Port Everglades, UK ports).

- Perhaps sharing some crew recruitment and training facilities (such as in Indonesia and the Philippines), I don't know if Princess has similar facilities in other countries.

- Standardization of certain shipboard activities such as muster drills, crew training, repeat customer reward gifts and activities.

- Coordination of cruise itineraries to compliment each other and not compete.

- Consolidation of contracts for on-board vendors such as photographers, shops, spa, etc.

 

This is of course pure speculation, and perhaps a hope that much of the two brands will remain distinct. Certainly the ships of each line would not fit all that well into the other brand without a fair amount of rework. Princess and Cunard have existed for years as a corporate pair, but with different marketing, style, and even ship hull coloration.

I am sure that some of the above has or will come true in the near future. Especially as Carnival Corp & PLC have publicly reported that they intend to use common suppliers to make efficiency savings between the brands but without merging them. IIRC with the exception of North American marketing Cunard is run by Carnival UK and is not partnered with Princess. Hence, unlike Princess, it is not included in the Holland America Group.

Last time I went to Livorno in 2013 the port (Porto Livorno 2000) operated the shuttle bus and IIRC it could not be purchased on board but only from the operators on the pier. I think it was about €5 but not sure if that was single or return. As others pointed out walking out the port is not allowed and others I know have either being able to bluff their way past the port security/police or have been turned back.

Is it my imagination or just chance, but HAL ships seem to dock in the least desirable location in each port.

 

For instance, there were two ships in Key West one day last week - a Disney ship and the Eurodam. The Disney ship was docked downtown, and the Eurodam at a naval station pier that required a shuttle but to get to downtown.

 

In Grand Cayman, where all ships use tenders, the other three ships (non-HAL) used port-supplied tenders while the Eurodam used the ship's lifeboats.

 

In Ocho Rios, the Eurodam used a pier that had been an ore-depositing site, farther out of the town center while the Norwegian Epic used the primary pier next to all the shops.

 

Is this a cost issue - or what?

It is rare for a cruise company to be able to tell a port authority/owner that they want a particular berth unless they have an agreement in place, such as the one HAL has at St. Thomas. There are many factors in the decision including the suitability of the berth for the ship and the number of guests. Also the number of calls can matter for example the call in Ocho Rios was the Eurodam's first call of the year whereas the Epic calls weekly. Similarly at Key West where the Disney Wonder has racked up 6 calls compared to the Eurodams 3. Ports, like any other business like to keep their best customers happy! As for Grand Cayman only 1 of the other 3 ships in port have their own tenders, obviously the 2 without had to hire local boats and the RCCL took the decision to hire instead of running their own. This could have also been an option for HAL, if there some available, but if you have your own why not use them!

Despite the claims that the orders will be split between Fincantieri and Lloyd Werft, I think that at least three of the ships will be built in China (for whatever line under the CCL umbrella), for the Chinese market of Chinese passengers, not North Americans looking to cruise in China.

Chengkp75 a minor point but it is Meyer Werft that was reported as in the running not Lloyd Werft.

In addition to their German yard Meyer Werft purchased the STX Finland yard late last year. That yard has a long history, under various names, of building cruise ships for a most of main players in the industry.

View of the Koningsdam at Maghera showing the Promenade Deck without the lifeboats. Looks like the balconies on Beethoven Deck behind the boats will not get much of a view or sun! Sorry tried to make the photo smaller and post it but couldn't.

TUI is an RCL company (50 percent joint venture) and they are Leasing the ship to Thomson.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=103045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2021308

It is TUI Cruises that is the joint venture between TUI and Royal Caribbean.

Separately the Splendour of the Seas will apparently be a replacement for Thomson's Island Escape the former Viking Serenade of Royal Caribbean. Another ship going to the scrap yard?

I see it has been reported that the Splendour of the Seas has been sold to TUI for their Thomson Cruises brand. I guess that rules out them as potential purchasers of the remaining S class ships which has previously been speculated on here?

Thanks for that very interesting information. When was that? I've never seen anything like that. I have to say, if HAL does this on the East Coast, they should implement it on the West Coast, too, for San Diego disembark. Have never seen or heard anything like that in San Diego, though, where it is notoriously difficult to get the ship cleared. I wonder what the difference is. If they do it in Key West, why would they not do it in San Diego? I especially like the threat of fines, and think that definitely should be part of clearing in San Diego.

I second that about a foreign language announcement. Several times delays have been caused due to the concerned guests not understanding the English language literature and announcements concerning things like immigration inspection.

As for fines I doubt if the ship could actually fine anyone. If a fine was being issued it would probably be from CBP. If the ship itself was being fined could they charge the concerned guests? Obviously if the fine was against the individual guests then they would have to pay.