Showing just how far the cruise industry has come in its recovery, six cruise ships—Celebrity Edge, Celebrity Reflection, Emerald Princess, Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam, Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas and Viking Star—sailed from Port Everglades, FL, on Saturday.
"We have gone from three cruise ships starting up in June and July, to more than 20 ships that will be sailing in November,” says Jonathan Daniels, chief executive and port director, Port Everglades. In fact, the new Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Cruises’ second Edge-class ship, was christened earlier last week at that South Florida port by Reshma Saujani, founder of the non-profit Girls Who Code; the ship is now home porting at Port Everglades and sailing Caribbean voyages.
On the West Coast, Ruby Princess sailed from the Port of San Francisco—becoming Princess Cruises’ sixth ship to return to cruise service. Through 2023, the ship will sail on five- to 15-day voyages from San Francisco to Mexico, Hawaii, the California Coast, Alaska and the Panama Canal.
Travel Agent is currently aboard Holland America Line's new 2,668-passenger Rotterdam this week. See our robust "First Look" story with original photos. It covers the Main Dining room experience, $4.1 million art collection, Veranda Stateroom No. 6090 accommodations and specialty dining at Tamarind.
Viking announced its summer 2022-2023 season of expedition cruising on the new 378-passenger Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris. The lineup includes a new two-week itinerary in the Great Lakes, sailing between Toronto and Duluth, MN, and calling at all five lakes, plus new or additional sailings in the Western Hemisphere.
On the health/safety side last week, Travel Agent looked at Viking Venus and her sisters, detailing an onboard PCR lab, daily PCR tests for guests and two robots with UV ray technology cleaning public spaces nightly.
Cruise Personnel Moves
On the personnel front, Tauck promoted Jeremy Palmer to chief operating officer. He most recently served as senior vice president overseeing the company’s worldwide operations, brand management and Tauck director management departments.
Scenic Group USA also appointed cruise sales veteran Tim Burtch as its new regional sales director–Midwest. Burtch will be responsible for supporting the regional sales and trade marketing efforts of Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours and Emerald Cruises.
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