Happy New Year!
Beyondships begins the new year by taking a look back and a look forward.
When I spoke with Captain Ian McNaught of Cunard’s Queen Victoria, our conversation covered his career with Cunard going back to the 1980s. He is well known in ocean liner circles for his work as the last Cunard captain of the legendary Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2). However, before QE2, he commanded several other Cunard ships. These included the mass market Cunard cruise ships of the 1980s and 1990s as well as the ultra luxury Sea Goddess yachts.
In addition to talking about those ships, we also discussed how the acquisition of Cunard by Carnival Corporation saved Cunard.
Finally, we discussed the difference between Cunard and P&O Cruises, and how that affects the cruise experience on the two lines. In this connection, it is important to keep in mind that Captain McNaught also commands P&O ships from time to time.
My conversation with Captain McNaught is at http://www.beyondships.com/QV-McNaught-2.html
Larry Pimintel also was once associated with Cunard but these days he is the President of Azamara Club Cruises. In fact, Pimintel has only been the head of Azamara for less than a year but he is shaking things up and moving the company in a new direction.
Azamara is one of the Royal Caribbean family of companies. However, unlike the company’s sister cruise lines, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises where the ships keep getting bigger, Azamara’s ships are small intimate ships. The line has been around for less than three years but in that time, it has become known as Royal’s luxury brand.
While the Azamara ships are popular, they are not producing the required return on capital. Accordingly, Pimintel is taking the bold step of raising prices in these harsh economic times. He is also changing the focus of the product, making the cruise experience more destination intensive and including more services within the fare price.
My article about the new Azamara appears at http://www.beyondships.com/Cruise-articles-azamara.html
Turning to the news,
On January 5, Cunard’s new Queen Elizabeth will be floated out. The floating out is an important event in a ship’s life. It is the equivalent of the moment when a ship would slide down the ways into the water for the first time. Nowadays, passenger ships are not built on ways but rather in dry docks. When the ship reaches a point where she can float, the drydock is flooded and its gates opened so that the ship can be completed at a fitting out dock. It is a much easier and safer way to build ships but not as dramatic. In any case, Queen Elizabeth will reach this milestone this week.
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