Latest news with #cruiseindustry
Travel Weekly
2 days ago
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Are residential cruises an opportunity for travel advisors?
A small but intriguing part of the cruise business may be set to grow after another residential cruise company has appeared, promising consumers they can buy a cabin and live year-round at sea. Founders of residential lines said they are optimistic about the success of this sector. They point to cruise lines sailing longer world cruises as a trend in their favor. Improvements in high-speed WiFi and consumers' flexibility in working from home are trends supporting this niche product. But some travel advisors said they are hesitant to sell space on residential cruise lines, noting a lack of trade inclusion in the lines' sales strategies and high-profile but troubled product launches. Several residential cruise lines have carved out a space in the industry. Perhaps the best known is The World, a luxury condominium ship that has been in operation for more than 20 years. The newest brand in the market is Crescent Seas, which was founded by former Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings chairman and real estate developer Russell Galbut. He plans for the line to begin sailing in December 2026 on the Seven Seas Navigator, which will be chartered from Regent Seven Seas Cruises and renamed the Crescent Seas Navigator. Crescent plans to expand the fleet a year later by chartering the Oceania Insignia from Oceania Cruises. Both ships will undergo $50 million refurbishments, and three more vessels could be announced over the next five years, Galbut said. Sales for residences on the Navigator, priced from $750,000 to $8 million opened in April. Condos on the Insignia are priced from $650,000 to $10 million, with sales opening this summer. Another line, Villa Vie, uses a former Fred. Olsen ship and offers the opportunity to buy or rent a cabin or buy a seasonal ownership membership. Other brands are in the works, including Storylines, which is building its own ships. Some launches have been messy and failed. In 2023, Life at Sea Cruises canceled its voyage two weeks before embarkation, saying the purchase of a cruise ship fell through shortly before its sail date, according to media reports. Owned cabins were even part of a model for a planned Crystal Cruises ship, but that version of the line ceased operations before the vessel could be built. Carlos Edery, CEO and co-founder of Luxury Cruise Connections based in Miami Beach, said he has noticed a growing interest from affluent clients in living at sea year-round. Nonetheless, he remains wary. "The recent struggles and delays seen with ventures ... have made us cautious about recommending such investments until we see consistent, successful operational execution," he said. In the case of Crescent Seas, travel advisors are built into the sales structure. They can earn a commission when selling a residence or when booking their clients on shorter-term voyages when residents taking a break from the ship opt to make their cabins available to rent. "There's a lot of logic why a travel agent would want to be involved with us," Galbut said, although he declined to share what the commission rate was. Real estate agents, yacht brokers and private bankers could also sell commissionable space on these ships, he said. Alex Sharpe, CEO of Signature Travel Network, said there is a lot to like about the Crescent Seas project, but he stopped short of saying he envisions selling it. "There are certainly earning opportunities, but at the same time, it is not what a typical travel advisor does, so it would likely be more specialized and, for us, will require more research and deliberation," he said. Dennis Nienkerk, a luxury advisor at Dallas-based Strong Travel Services who worked in commercial real estate for more than 25 years, said he knows people who owned condos on the World, and he would welcome the opportunity to sell units on the Navigator. Villa Vie founder and chairman Mikael Petterson said he was looking to better incorporate advisors in his product to sell world cruise segments on the ship. The Villa Vie Odyssey is 74% booked, which leaves room to sell segments to traditional cruisers, he said. Petterson, who was managing director of Life at Sea Cruises, isn't surprised that another residential cruise line has entered the market. If anything, he's surprised there are not more. "World cruises are getting longer and longer," he said. "The option of living onboard with high-speed WiFi, the flexibility of people working from home -- all these factors come together and make residential cruising that much more feasible." That doesn't mean it is easy. Petterson launched the Odyssey from Belfast, Ireland, in September following a four-month delay due to inspection issues associated with the ship, which sat in dry dock before returning to service. Now Petterson is looking for a second ship, and he said he hopes it will come with a smoother launch. Earlier this year, he said he was "knee-deep" in negotiations for a ship currently in operation that contains no more than 600 cabins.
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Ways The Travel Industry Is Addressing Our Climate Crisis
Tourism is not just a victim of climate crisis, it is also one of the heaviest contributors to the problem. We have covered the effects of flying and actions to improve the climate crisis in a previous post. Now we'll give examples of what the tourism industry is doing in other areas of tourism to help visitors maximize the positive and minimize the negative impacts of their trips. Creating More Efficient Cruising Cruise ships use fuel to stay running 24/7, have a significant carbon footprint, and dump wastewater into the oceans. They burn fossil fuels to power their engines and generate electricity, which releases greenhouse gases and other air pollutants into the atmosphere. These emissions can contribute to climate change and have negative health impacts on people living near ports. Philipsburg, St. Maarten: A.C. Wathey Pier easily becomes a busy and crowded pier when numerous ... More cruise ships are in port for the day. Also, noise pollution can have an impact on marine life, and problems are caused by large amounts of tourists arriving for short stays in ecologically fragile ports and exotic destinations. The cruise industry is trying to make things better and more sustainable. More cruise ships are harboring outside of crowded ports, and staying a longer time. Significant initiatives are ongoing to improve the impact of cruising, and reduce its carbon footprint, from increased efficiencies in design and greener fuels to better scrubbing and filtration. There is even a zero-waste cruise ship being developed in Japan. Cruise lines are doing work on sustainability, environmentalism, and impact on the wider world. There are no official sustainability ratings for cruise vacations, and while there are numerous reports, statistics, and claims, none are 100% reliable or 100% unbiased. Reading these reports alongs with your own research can give you a decent idea of which cruise ships are doing the most to reduce their impact. Greening Hotels Lodgings contribute about one percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. New hotels are becoming more aware of the ways they can improve their greenness. A hotel that is a model would be plastic bottle-free, anti-fossil fuel, and powered entirely by renewable energy. Door frames, light fixtures, and even tile would be reuseable. Guest rooms would be decorated with locally made furnishings and upholstered in sustainably sourced fabrics. When the Hotel Marcel opened in New Haven, Connecticut in May 2022, it checked all those green boxes as part of a mission to be the U.S'.s first net-zero carbon-emissions hotel. But it missed one huge consideration: embodied carbon in the hotel's construction. New hotels will have to take that into account as well. Event space in the award-winning "Green" hotel Marcel. Adapting To and Protecting Nature Travel businesses and destinations are slowly changing how they operate, to lead travelers to experience places and activities differently. Lack of snow? Canada's Whistler ski resort has responded to this by offering more snow-free activities – so much so that it now makes more money in summer. Downhill mountain biking in Garbanzo zone in Whistler bike park. Solar panels are being installed in West Africa's Cape Verde. The Seychelles islands off East Africa have added conservation guidelines to the national constitution – the first time a country has done so. Adaptations such as seawalls, pumps and changes in construction materials are being considered. Tour companies are becoming more aware. Ziptrek Ecotours is the first adventure outfitter in Queenstown, New Zealand, to offer consumer-facing labeling to show customers what their emissions would be, when selecting among competing zipline tours. (But then again, nobody gets to New Zealand without taking a long-haul flight.) will soon show carbon emission listings on flight and hotel results, allowing travelers to filter lower carbon emission results from a range. Iberostar Group released its own ambitious decarbonization roadmap which is partly marketing (it wants 60 percent of guests to choose the brand for its sustainability actions by 2025) and partly action (a 2030 net zero goal and nature-based carbon compensation projects at its 97 resorts across four continents). The Netherlands is considering an eco-efficiency index of its visitors. This means dividing the amount of revenues a tourist brings in by the amount of carbon dioxide emissions the tourist triggered traveling there. That index would indicate which long-haul market the government should direct marketing dollars toward to help reduce emission impacts. Offering Free Public Transport Luxembourg was the first country to offer free public transport for all in 2020, followed by Malta, and scores of other destinations now offer discounted or free public transport. Free public transportation is popular in many cities. In Miami, trolleys and the downtown Peoplemover monorail are free. In 2022, Germany has the Deutschlandticket scheme, offering passengers unlimited travel on buses, trams and regional trains for about fifty dollars a month. Developing Sleeper Trains In 2025, Europe's sleeper train network has been enjoying a renaissance. The continent's expanding offering of nocturnal routes aims to compete with short-haul flights on speed, cost, comfort and climate impact. The European Union has plans to double high-speed rail traffic by 2030 and link all major cities in the bloc. The overnight train amsterdam innsbruck, operated by Night Jet, a brand name given by the Austrian ... More Federal Railways Nightjet operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. Also, employers are signing up for movements such as Climate Perks, which gives employees more holiday if they travel by train. Approving Staycations, Remote Working, Workations About 60 countries have embraced the idea of working from anywhere through 'digital nomad' visas. These allow people to work remotely from dozens of countries, enabling them to embrace slower travel and really get to know a destination. (My family did this last year in Spello Italy. This year we're renting a house near the Erie Canal in western New York.) Huge numbers of workers now work from home throughout the world. As of May 2023, 39 per cent of United Kingdom workers said they regularly work from home, with many taking 'workations' (working while away on holiday). Combating Over-Tourism Tour companies are going out of their way to introduce new, less crowded destinations. The majority of trips booked through Byway are in areas that aren't hotspots. Companies like Original Travel now sell trips to lesser-visited areas in France, Spain, Italy and Greece. 'We've made it our mission to tackle the scourge of overtourism, where too many tourists descend on too few destinations, in the process risking what made these precious places so special in the first place,' says co-founder Tom Barber. But Much More Needs to Be Done The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism was introduced by the U.N.'s World Tourism Organization at the 2021 conference. The declaration, originally signed by more than 300 travel companies, nonprofit organizations and government agencies, now has almost thousand signatories. It was supposed to 'secure strong actions and commitment from the tourism sector' and 'accelerate climate action.' Participating travel organizations would disclose greenhouse gas emissions; take steps to decarbonize; restore and protect natural ecosystems; and collaborate to ensure best practices. The two core commitments: Within 12 months of signing the accord, entities would create and submit a public 'climate action plan' that outlined specific actions they would take to reduce emissions. And second, signatories would halve their emissions before 2030, in order to get on track to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The signatories are large and small — hotels, local governments, travel agencies and others — and range from big names like Expedia Group and Radisson Hotels to location-specific groups, like the Great Himalaya Trail and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. But the vast majority of tourism players haven't signed on, including major aviation companies. And most cruise lines have steered clear of the declaration. Most organizations that did sign on have not yet published climate action plans. In other words, nearly three-fourths of the entities haven't delivered what they promised. And there's no enforcement. Key issues remain unresolved. Signatories pledged to halve emissions, but efforts are hard to quantify. While individually some of the signatories have begun to shrink their own carbon footprints, there is no broad evidence as yet that the travel industry's emissions have diminished. Global emissions, meanwhile, are still on the rise. 2030 is five years away, so any requirement in reporting emission-level reductions has not yet hit the deadline. A report from Intrepid Travel, entitled, 'A Sustainable Future for Travel: From Crisis to Transformation,' encourages the industry to act now to ensure its future. It's a blueprint of what can and should be done by the tourism industry to deal with climate change. It provides hope for what could be, nudging the travel industry toward a more environmentally friendly future. I recently spoke about travel and climate change at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Check out the discussion on my YouTube channel Places I Remember: Travel Talk with Lea Lane. Also, for all travel topics, check out my award-winning travel podcast, Places I Remember with Lea Lane. T
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Carnival Cruise Line answers controversial tipping question
Carnival Cruise Line answers controversial tipping question originally appeared on Come Cruise With Me. Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald is once again combating the cruise rumor mill. In a recent Facebook video for his more than 600,000 followers, the beloved brand ambassador explained that over the last few weeks he's received hundreds of questions and complaints related to a social media post from an alleged crew member who worked for another cruise the crew member shared online led to an outcry among cruisers about cruise lines' tip distribution policies. Heald did not want to reveal which cruise line the crew member worked for, but he detailed what the crew member posted. According to Heald, the crew member stated that 'the cruise line that he or she works for will take a large percentage of the gratuities that are automatically left for the crew members to use to pay other crew members, or for whatever the cruise line decides to do with it.' Heald pointed out that he didn't know if that statement was true and he didn't want to judge, comment on, or speculate about it. He did, however, want to clarify how Carnival Cruise Line's automatic gratuities are distributed after many disgruntled passengers wrote to him angrily assuming that Carnival follows a similar tip distribution procedure.'The gratuity that you give our crew stays with them,' Heald emphasized. To provide transparency, Heald went on to explain just how Carnival Cruise Line divvies up the automatic gratuities that most passengers choose to prepay for their cruise. 'The majority of your gratuity of the suggested daily amount is shared equally between the lady or gentleman who cleans your cabin and the lady or gentleman who serves you in the dining room,' Heald explained. He also noted that stateroom attendants and dining room servers may share those tips with their assistants. Additionally, a smaller portion of passengers' prepaid gratuities goes to crew who serve, clean, and work behind the scenes on the Lido brand ambassador also explained that if passengers choose "Your Time" dining, which means they aren't served by the same dining room service team each night of their cruise like they are with traditional dining, their prepaid gratuities are shared between all Your Time dining servers. 'If you give a waiter in Your Time dining cash, it is kept completely by that waiter; otherwise it is pooled, as they say,' Heald noted. 'It's the same with the bartenders,' he added. 'If you write a gratuity on the receipt, or if, for example, you've got the Cheers program, that gratuity is shared equally between all the bartenders on the ship. If you hand a bartender a cash gratuity it is kept completely 100% by he or she that has served you.''If you give a crew member a gratuity in cash — if you give them the same amount as the suggested amount in cash or any extra in cash — then that is kept 100% by that crew member,' Heald explained. 'Again, he or she may give a portion of that to their direct assistant or the assistants in the dining room.' Heald assured passengers that Carnival Cruise Line does not require its crew members to turn in cash gratuities they are given; 100% of those cash gratuities are kept by the crew. More Carnival cruise news:The brand ambassador also made a point to thank Carnival cruisers for how well they take care of Carnival crew members with their tips, and reminded them of one very important thing. 'Please don't believe everything you read on the internet — it is so important — and before you come racing across to accuse us of something, just ask me civilly and I will give you the honest and a civil answer back,' Heald promised. (The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.) , or email Amy Post at or call or text her at 386-383-2472. This story was originally reported by Come Cruise With Me on May 26, 2025, where it first appeared.
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Japan's cruise tourism charges full steam ahead, shaking off pandemic blues
When the Diamond Princess was quarantined off Yokohama in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Japan's cruise industry ground to a halt, its future clouded by fear and uncertainty. Advertisement Today, that industry is roaring back. Demand for maritime journeys with swimming pools among a host of luxury amenities and entertainment has surged due to pent-up wanderlust and a wave of new investments. Japanese ports are seeing record domestic passenger numbers, signalling not just a revival in leisure travel, but a broader boost to local economies that rely on tourism. Japan , an archipelago of over 14,000 islands and one of the largest economies in the world, has a relatively small cruise industry and modest vessels compared to the US, home of giants like Carnival Cruise Line. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, however, the Japanese cruise market grew significantly in 2024, increasing by 14.2 per cent year on year to 224,100 passengers. Advertisement The number of international visitors entering Japan by cruise ship quadrupled to 1.4 million, nearly 60 per cent of the record set in 2017.
Travel Weekly
5 days ago
- Business
- Travel Weekly
CLIA sues Alaska cruise port Skagway over new tour tax
A new taxation structure for tours in Skagway has prompted CLIA to sue the Alaska borough. Skagway now taxes the full price that cruise lines charge their passengers for shore excursions (including the cruise line's commission), when before it taxed the excursion's base price only. Skagway's assembly passed the tax ordinance in December, and CLIA sued on behalf of cruise lines on May 8. In the lawsuit, CLIA argues that the new tax is "duplicative." "The cruise industry has been a long-time partner and vital contributor to Skagway, creating hundreds of jobs and supporting countless small businesses," a CLIA spokesperson said. "Through close collaboration, taxes and fees, we have cultivated a mutually beneficial relationship that betters both the community and the industry. However, we oppose provisions of Ordinance No. 24-12 that violate the U.S. Constitution and Alaska state law by imposing new and duplicative taxes on shore excursions sold by cruise lines." On its website, Skagway says a million cruise passengers visit Skagway every year. CLIA has threatened similar litigation over a new state law in Hawaii that introduces an 11% tax on cruise ships when they dock. In both instances, the cruise industry has argued that the legislation violates the U.S. Constitution's Tonnage Clause, which says states can't tax ship tonnage without congressional approval. Travel Weekly has asked the borough of Skagway for comment.
