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joeecco
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29 minutes ago, Captain_Morgan said:

 

Very good points, but at the end of the day the restart of any brand will be driven by maximizing the generation of £/$/€ which I think is something we can all agree.  Based on that rationale, having Ventura/Britannia/Azura operating even at 50% capacity equates to a larger income generation than the likes of Aurora/Arcadia operating at 50% capacity based on a simple 1 person = £1 ratio (monetary figure used strictly for example and clearly doesn't represent the actual fare being charged 😆).  I agree as well with points made that despite her size Iona is likely to be kept tucked away until a more grand restart can be had for her as she is very much the new flagship of the brand thus my inclusion of Britannia as one of those I think being first to resume service.


I completely agree thats how a restart will most likely go ahead it makes the most sense for the company, my comments were merely made as I have seen a-lot of posts both on here and fb etc recently that even smaller ship devotees seem to consider the newer larger ships being ‘safer’ as they are perceived to be more spacious, I guess it just go’s to show that the ‘bigger is better’ marketing that their PR departments put out works.

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48 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

From a highly reliable source, Azura is in Newcastle for maintenance and ease of crew transfers.

Newcastle international airport is only about 15-20 minutes drive from the cruise terminal so that would make good sense for crew transfers.

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Just now, Captain_Morgan said:

Especially compared to 4-5 hours to/from Torquay/Heathrow which can't be cheap!

Surely they were doing crew transfers when they were in and out of Southampton which is only 20 mins from the airport too. 

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1 hour ago, Host Sharon said:

From a highly reliable source, Azura is in Newcastle for maintenance and ease of crew transfers.

I would imagine that a) mooring at Newcastle is cheaper than Southampton, b) Newcastle has contractors to do the maintenance work and facilities, c) nearby airport. It makes sense to carry out the work now while not sailing, the only issue being if the dockyards are open to do the work, which is seems they may be during this lockdown.

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1 hour ago, Captain_Morgan said:

Very good points, but at the end of the day the restart of any brand will be driven by maximizing the generation of £/$/€ which I think is something we can all agree.  Based on that rationale, having Ventura/Britannia/Azura operating even at 50% capacity equates to a larger income generation than the likes of Aurora/Arcadia operating at 50% capacity based on a simple 1 person = £1 ratio (monetary figure used strictly for example)

I agree with you up to a point, however the very large hike in cruise prices, I would assume will more than compensate for the reduction in passenger numbers. We have a cruise booked on Arcadia due to sail in October and the cruise price has doubled from booking.  Using my simple mathmatical brain, 50% less passengers and a 200% price increase would mean no loss of revenue wouldn't it? I'm expecting to be corrected😉

Avril

 

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52 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Newcastle international airport is only about 15-20 minutes drive from the cruise terminal so that would make good sense for crew transfers.

But does Newcastle have direct flights to Mumbai and Manilla?

Edited by terrierjohn
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Just now, terrierjohn said:

But do Newcastle have direct flights to Mumbai and Manilla?

I would have thought that P&O would charter their own flights - after all, there will be a significant number of people to be transferred.

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I think the extortionate price rises on some cruises is not to make money out of less people booking. I think that they are already well booked from initial release and prices were very low. I think the extortionate price rises are to deter people on booking so that P&O do not have to cancel passengers and pay compensation if the figure of people booked is higher than what the percentage figure the government will give permission for them to sail.

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3 hours ago, joeecco said:

Surely they were doing crew transfers when they were in and out of Southampton which is only 20 mins from the airport too. 

There are direct flights from Newcastle to India where a lot of P&O crew come from.

There are flights to Dubai and onto the Philippines etc.

Edited by grapau27
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5 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

There are direct flights from Newcastle to India etc.

Via AMS, LHR or DXB I assume. I don't think there are any nonstop flights to India from Newcastle.

Edited by wowzz
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8 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Yes with possible change in Dubai for Manilla.

There are daily Emirates A380 flights from Newcastle to Dubai.

So not non stop flights, so more efficient to charter an entire aircraft.

From memory, there would be direct flights to India from Southampton as well, but involving 2 or 3 stops.

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7 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Via AMS, LHR or DXB I assume. I don't think there are any nonstop flights to India from Newcastle.

Yes British Airways have stops at Heathrow or Amsterdam but this is due to BA flights.

Emirates fly non stop to Dubai from Newcastle where you can transfer to India,Sri Lanka, Manilla etc.

 

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Just now, grapau27 said:

Yes British Airways have stops at Heathrow or Amsterdam but this is due to BA flights.

Emirates fly non stop to Dubai from Newcastle where you can transfer to India,Sri Lanka, Manilla etc.

 

Indeed - some people (not you Graham!) make the mistake of thinking that a direct flight is the same as a non-stop flight, which is not the case.

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3 hours ago, kevcharben said:

Due to sail on her on 25th May 2021, wishful thinking maybe.

 

Picture of her arriving in the North East

 

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19014496.watch-p-os-azura-arrives-port-tyne/

So she is a HUGE cruise ship, but not quite as big as the biggest ever built, which just happens to been mentioned as  twice her tonnage.  An interesting use of the term "not quite as big"  🙂

 

I see P&O have told The Northern Echo that she is there for essential maintenance, since Southampton do not have enough berths for all their ships.

Edited by tring
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4 hours ago, davemorton said:

I didnt think Newcastle could take ships that big?  Of am I thinking of Shields? 

It may also vary in different circumstances.  For instance Liverpool can and does take some very big ships for a one day call, but can only do turn around for smaller ships as the facilities not in place (as yet).  I do not know if that is the case in the Newcastle area though.

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The berth is at the North Shields Ferry Terminal at Royal Quays. There is a berth for the DFDS? ferry to Holland and the northern berth for cruise ships. Azura is 290 metres long and the berth is about 330 metres. Royal Quays shopping centre close by and also a Premier Inn, surprisingly without air conditioning. I stayed there summer 2018 and in 2017 at the modern Premier Inn Whitley Bay. I was last in Whitley Bay over 40 years ago and it has not changed that much.

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