This Week in Cruises, August 8, 2011

 

Carnival Corporation & PLC has begun work on three new ships to be completed by 2016. // (c) 2011 Carnival Cruise Lines.

In just one of many trends leaning towards future expansion that can be seen this week, Carnival Corporation & PLC began construction on three new ships: one 132,000 ton vessel for the Costa Cruises brand and two 125,000 ton ships for the AIDA Cruises brand. Additionally, Carnival's signature beer, ThirstyFrog Red, has seen an expanded distribution over Carnival's fleet thanks to its popularity aboard the Carnival Magic. An expected 18 of Carnival's ships will serve this beer within the next few weeks.

To better capitalize on the rising demand for services in the cruise industry, Cruise Lines International is also replacing its "World's Largest Cruise Night" event with the National Cruise Vacation Week program. This extension from one night to an entire week is designed to give agents the maximum amount of advantages when it comes to promoting and selling cruises, as lines are implementing new and updated itineraries on a regular basis.

Seabourn has had to go so far as to opening a brand new call center in Sydney, Australia. The rising demand for Seabourn cruises in Audstralia have outgrown their other international call centers, making it necessary for expansion.

Just as Celebrity Cruises set the Celebrity Silhouette on its maiden voyage last month, so does Oceania Cruises debut its newest ship this month, the Riviera, as another example of the rise in cruise traffic. Oceania delayed the maiden voyage of the Riviera by ten days to allow its crew to better acquaint themselves with the ship, however.