Addressing hundreds of Dream Vacations travel advisors sailing on the 5,374-passenger Carnival Celebration on Sunday, Christine Duffy, Carnival Cruise Line’s president, said that "business has been great, as you know. Demand has been so, so strong for travel experiences -- but specifically cruise. So, we've also had a great year." Carnival also will end the year with the delivery of the new 6,632-passenger Carnival Jubilee, she told the audience and moderator David Crooks, senior vice president, product and operations, World Travel Holdings, who conducted the interview..
The advisors were attending the opening general session of "Focus," the 2024 Dream Vacations national conference, continuing throughout this week aboard Carnival Celebration. The ship is operating a Caribbean roundtrip voyage from PortMiami. Stay tuned for extensive coverage of the Dream Vacations "Focus" conference as the week progresses.
Windstar Cruises has shifted its 2023-2024 winter season sailings on the 312-passenger Star Legend from the Middle East to Europe. Opening for sale today, the new voyages include such destinations as Barcelona, Nice, Livorno (for Florence), Marseille and Civitavecchia (for Rome). For 2025, Crystal has introduced five new 40- to 70-night Grand Journeys including roundtrip itineraries from Mumbai, India, and Singapore, among others. Separately, Seabourn unveiled its 2025-2026 expedition itineraries.
The Port of New Orleans's announced its annual "state of the port." That Louisiana port ended fiscal year 2023 by serving 1.2 million ocean and river cruise passengers. It also set a new, monthly passenger volume record in March 2023 -- topping the previous monthly record of February 2020. The port says it's on track to set a new annual passenger record this calendar year.
Other Cruise News
Princess Cruises new 4,300-passenger Sun Princess, slated to launch in 2024, is getting a robust line-up of new production shows. sister Carnival Corporation brand, Holland America Line revealed that renowed Chef Masaharu Morimoto will open a stand-alone Asian-inspired restaurant on the 2,106-passenger Nieuw Amsterdam.
Hurtigruten Norway is partnering with Arctic-Umiaq Line to help develop the latter’s Greenland sailings. Last week, Brightline unveiled a new travel advisor commission program. Advisors can now have access to the lowest available published fares plus 10 percent minimum commission for booking clients on Brightline to/from stations in South Florida and at Orlando International Airport. In South Florida, Brightline also has partnered with Uber and combination Brightline tickets can include a ride for clients from the station terminal to the cruise port.