Tag Archives: passengers

New cruise ships to hold a record 6,600 passengers

Posted: June 16, 2022

New Cruise Ship, Press Release, , , ,

The largest cruise line plans to push the limits of cruise ship capacity.

Carnival will introduce the world’s largest cruise ship by passenger count — although not by size - -with four new vessels capable of accommodating 6,600 passengers alongside hundreds of crew members. The large-capacity cruise ships will set sail between 2019 and 2022.

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] As part of the news, Carnival sought to stress that the experience won’t make the new vessels any more crowded than other options in its fleet. “A major part of the innovative design involves making much more efficient use of the ship’s spaces, creating an enhanced onboard experience for guests,” the company said Monday in a news release. [/pullquote]

That means about a 99.9999 percent chance you won’t find bumper cars, skating rinks, or a full-size basketball court, some of the amenities now offered on rival ships with fewer passenger cabins.

The extra space for all the people will come from harvesting some space from the ships’ public areas, keeping the space ratio and cabin sizes the same as on Carnival’s other ships.

Lido Deck

[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “It won’t feel congested, it won’t feel confined,” Carnival Chief Executive Arnold Donald said Monday in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “People will find it to be a great experience.” [/pullquote]

The ships will sail as part of Carnival’s European brands, with the first two planned for German-based AIDA. The other two are also expected to be deployed in Europe, either with AIDA or Costa, the company’s brand in Italy. The AIDA brand targets a younger, more active German traveler who doesn’t want much of the formality of a traditional cruise.

The largest cruise ship by size is Royal Caribbean Cruise’s Harmony of the Seas, which is under construction in France and scheduled for delivery next spring. That ship will carry 5,479 passengers and is about seven feet longer than the two other Oasis-class ships in RCL’s fleet, which can hold 5,400 passengers. When fully packed, the Oasis-class vessels can hold more than 6,300 passengers and nearly 2,400 crew. These megaships boast a multistory waterfall water ride and are designed with the idea that the ship is the destination.

The new Carnival ships will top 180,000 gross tons, a measure of a ship’s internal volume, making them the largest vessels in the company’s fleet-yet far smaller than the 227,700 gross tons of Harmony of the Seas.

In addition to being the largest by passenger count, the new Carnival ships will be the first in the industry to be powered by liquefied natural gas in an effort to reduce their carbon output. The technology, which has become common for municipal??buses and airport shuttles, is designed to eliminate soot emissions and meet strict European greenhouse gas regulations.

Record number of cruise passengers through Fremantle ports

Posted: May 31, 2022

Australia, , , , ,

Holidays on the high seas are increasingly back in fashion, with the number of cruise ship passengers in Fremantle at its highest point for more than 40 years. More than 100,000 passengers have passed through the Fremantle Passenger Terminal during the 2014-15 cruising season.

The last time that many holiday-goers went through the port city on cruise ships was back in 1972-73. The current numbers are a far cry from the number of passengers that jumped on a ship back in the 2006-07 season when only 9498 people passed through the port.

Trade development manager Thor Elliott said with two ships still to visit Fremantle before the end of the financial year, the passenger numbers were expected to rise. “We estimate the final total will be about 117,000 passengers from 43 ship visits,” he said. “With 56 ship visits scheduled for next year, the figures can only improve.”

And it appears Australians as a whole can’t get enough of cruising, with the recent figures released by Cruise Weekly this week showing that more than a million people took to the water last year.

Cruise Lines International Association Australasia chairman Gavin Smith said Australians’ obsession with cruising was only matched by France. “The expansion of our industry in recent years means there’s now a huge range of ships and itineraries on offer across the globe and I think Australians, who are inveterate travellers, are responding by increasingly factoring a cruise into their holiday plans.”

“Five years ago, the industry thought that it might be possible to achieve one million passengers a year by 2020 – to reach that number in 2014 is an amazing result and shows the true passion Australians have for cruise holidays.

CruiseWorld manager Khush Santoke said people were streaming through their Perth doors looking to book a cruise. “People with young families [through] to grandparents are going on cruises,” she told Fairfax Media. “People don’t want to fly overseas much and with a cruise you just unpack and pack just once. “It’s really taken off over the last years – we are seeing cruise numbers go up every year.

Ms Santoke said there was a cruise for just about everyone. “It’s about getting people on the right ship, otherwise they won’t come back,” she said. “Australians still want to travel to Europe, but a lot of people are going to places like China and Japan.”

Tourism WA chief executive Stephanie Buckland said cruise shipping contributed more than $116 million to the state’s economy, with a warm Mediterranean climate in the south and tropical weather to the north supporting year-round business.

Ms Buckland said Tourism WA had worked closely with the Cruise WA Committee. “And this work is starting to come to fruition,” she said. “For example in 2012-13, Fremantle Ports welcomed 17 cruise ships with 49,000 passengers. In 2014-15, Fremantle will attract 43 ships with more than 110,000 passengers and the forecast for 2015-16 is 54 ships and 150,000 passengers.”

Do You Use Lift Etiquette On A Cruise?

Posted: October 13, 2022

Tips and Advice, ,

Fans of the Love Boat will know that it’s only a television show, and that not only on a cruise but also in society, common courtesy has been declining — and the death of chivalry and compassion is more obvious than on cruise ship elevators.

Alarmingly, people are more impatient in today’s fast paced society. We get that stopping on every floor might prevent you from getting to the buffet before it closes.

This sort of behaviour shouldn’t happen on a cruise holiday, where everyone is in a pleasant mood, and enjoying themselves, their is no excuse to irritate innocent cruisers, principally people who use a wheelchair, have mobility issues, or are elderly when other passengers disregard appropriate ship elevator etiquette.

To ensure all cruisers are on the same page, we’ve come up with a list of modest rules to follow when using elevators on your cruise:

Let Passengers To Exit Before Entering

This “golden rule” of cruise ship elevator etiquette should be a given, but you’d be shocked. According to universally customary ethics of common courtesy, people entering an elevator should stand clear of the doors and wait until each person is out before making a move.

It’s Not A Race

What the majority think: Those next to the door have the precedence, except if they’re in the way.

Reality check: Being the first one in the elevator isn’t going to get you to the buffet any earlier. At all times allow those first in line to enter before you, and use exceptional thoughtfulness with passengers in wheelchairs.

Have A Sense Of Direction

It can take a few days before you feel comfortable with a ship’s layout, even for avid cruisers. Always have a sense of direction before you step foot in an elevator. Leaping on the earliest one you see not only can throw you off course, but also delay other passengers.

If It’s Jam-Packed, Wait For The Next One

Gazing from the rear of the line of eager passengers in front of you, you know the odds of getting on this time around are slender. Nevertheless, that thin space seems so enticing. Fight the impulse and respect others’ personal space; they’re by this time too close for comfort as it is.

Hold That Lift

Hold the door open for anyone who’s making an effort to catch the elevator — within reason. If it’s overloaded and/or the passenger incoming is halfway down the hall, then you’re allowed to use the “close” button — not when it’s clear someone is trying to get on. (You never know, that flustered cruiser whom you ignored could end up at your dinner table.)

Make Way For Passengers To Exit

Exiting a crowded elevator shouldn’t be like stampeding cattle. When the door to your floor opens, verbally alert others you’re coming through.

Follow these guiding principles, and you’ll evade curses, dirty looks and “accidental” smacks of a cane, or a wheelchair running into your shin. You’ll also create a much happier place and know that your “virtuous cruiser” badge is still undamaged.

Tender Vs Docking

Everything That A Person with Disability Should Know About Tender Vs. Docking

Posted: October 21, 2022

Onboard Features, Tips and Advice, ,

One of the main reasons why a person with disability may choose to book a cruise for their holiday is for the ease of travel. This could be for several reasons – eliminating commuting through an airport and dealing with long flights, packing and unpacking each time you change destinations and having to communicate with various suppliers to check if they offer accessible facilities or not.

With a cruise, you unpack only once, your accessible accommodation has been booked far in advance with a guarantee that you will not have to worry about whether you can access your room or bathroom, and most importantly, the staff will be aware of your needs.

The only time that you will need to be extra careful when booking a cruise is being aware of the offered itinerary and ports.

Depending on the destination, you will find that some cruise lines have a mixture of ports where they will either dock or tender. Knowing the difference between the two and being able to organise yourself in an advance will make a big difference to your holiday.

If a cruise line is docking at a port, this means that there is a terminal available where you will be able to disembark by the same way that you embarked in your hometown. This allows you to have a bit more flexibility with your time as the crowds move faster, and you can move freely.

Disembarking by tender is handled differently by every cruise line, but it is always at the digression of the Captain. If the Captain decides that weather, sea or tidal conditions are not ideal, the tender disembarkation will be cancelled, and you will unfortunately miss out on that port as your safety is the cruise line’s main concern.

Sometimes in an itinerary, a cruise line either does not have access to the pier or terminal, or due to tide is unable to get close enough to disembark its’ guests. A ship can anchor as far as 1km away from shore, which is why disembarkation is done by “tender”. A tender means that all guests are to disembark by lifeboats which are used to ferry passengers from the ship to the shore.

It is important to note that regardless of the method of disembarkation, preference is always given to guests who have an off-shore excursion as they must meet a guide by a specific time. If you have given the cruise line plenty of notice of your assistance requirements, every cruise line will do their best to give you priority access to disembarking your cruise.

However, when disembarking via tender, you will experience a greater waiting time due to having to wait for the life boats to make their return trip with guests to shore. If you want to guarantee being one of the first to disembark on tender days, we recommend booking in for a shore excursion. The process is very easy – you will be given a coloured ticket and you’ll embark a life boat once your colour has been called out.

The other important thing to note for tender days, is that you are unable to explore at leisure. Your embarking and disembarking times are based around on when the life boats are doing their trips between the shore and the ship. On days where you disembark directly onto a pier, it is very easy to explore at your own pace as you will get the opportunity to embark and disembark throughout the day.

While you are on-board your cruise and are unsure of the process, simply ask one of the many helpful staff members who are there to support you. If you advised the cruise line about your disability and assistance required in advance, everything should run smoothly for you on each port day. You can simply sit back and relax.