Compagnie Du Ponant announced that the godmother of its new 264-passenger, 466-foot luxury small ship, Le Soléal would be Kiki Tauck Mahar, wife of Tauck CEO Dan Mahar and the daughter of Tauck Chairman Arthur Tauck. The vessel is to be christened in July in Italy. Tauck partnered with Compagnie Du Ponant on small ship cruises since 1993, and the Connecticut-based company is Compagnie Du Ponant’s single largest customer. For 2013, Tauck reports it will offer six itineraries on four different Compagnie Du Ponant vessels, including the new Le Soléal, its sister-ships Le Boréal and L’Austral, and the 60-passenger sailing vessel, Le Ponant.
Le Soléal will be featured next year on Tauck’s Iceland cruise, and on a brand new itinerary to be announced in the coming weeks. Each is all-inclusive, with shore excursions, all gratuities, airport transfers, onboard alcoholic beverages, most meals and more included in Tauck’s cruise prices.
Port Canaveral continued its record growth in 2012, rising in cruise traffic volume and revenue outpacing records set in 2011. During the past two years, multi-day cruise passengers increased by 38 percent to 3,761,056 from 2,722,751 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. During the same period, port of call ship visits increased from 86 to 123. According to the 2011 Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA) Economy Impact Study, Port Canaveral is the fastest-growing cruise port in Florida with a new record for multi-day passengers – 3,761,056 million— that is 21 percent over the FY11 record of 3,100,199 million.
Total revenues in FY12 were more than $68 million, up 17 percent over the previous record in FY11. Revenue associated with multi-day passengers is up 47 percent percent to $50,590,907 from $34,473,349 in FY10. Revenues are reinvested back into Port infrastructure. Canaveral Port Authority stopped collecting ad valorem taxes in 1986.
Friends of the Earth released the 2012 edition of its Cruise Ship Report Card, documenting the environmental footprint of the cruise industry and its many ships - 15 cruise lines and the 148 ships operated by the lines were graded. The report card, last released in 2010, reports a continued lack of effort on behalf of many cruise lines to pursue ways to reduce their air and water pollution impact on the places passengers take cruises to see and the communities that host cruise ships.
Disney Cruise Line’s grade of “A-” puts it in the “most improved” category again - this time leading the competition at the top of the report card. Disney’s efforts to reduce its air emissions brought it up from a “C-” in 2010. Disney joins five other lines that managed to improve their environmental impact grades in the past two years.