Captain Ian McNaught on Cunard Yesterday and Today, Larry Pimintel takes Aazamara In A New Direction

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.

Interview with Captain Ian McNuaght and Other Cruise News.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Captain Ian McNaught of Cunard Line. This was indeed an enjoyable experience as I have known Captain McNaught since he was a young officer on Queen Elizabeth 2 in the 1990s. Captain McNaught is perhaps best known for being the last Cunard captain of the QE2 and his vibrant personality has made him a great favorite of regular Cunard passengers.

Our conversation touched upon a number of topics but the primary focus was on Captain McNaught’s latest command Cunard’s Queen Victoria. The ship is the second largest Cunarder ever built and was designed to bring the Cunard transatlantic crossing style to cruising. Cunard has had cruise ships in the past but their style was always different than its transatlantic liners. Some were mass market, some were luxury, and some reflected the Norwegian style of their previous owners.

Captain McNaught sees the Queen Victoria as carrying through the Cunard experience of QE2 and more recently Queen Mary 2. There are differences but then each ship is different. He attributes much of Cunard’s success in carrying over the Cunard style to his crew and their Cunard training. He is also very impressed by the technology on Queen Victoria, which he feels enhances the product.

My conversation with Captain McNaught is posted at: http://beyondships.com/QV-McNaught-1.html

Turning to the week’s other news:

Princess Cruises has announced that in 2011, it will transfer the Royal Princess to sister company P&O Cruises. Royal Princess is one of Princess’ small ships (see our profile and photo tour at http://beyondships.com/Princess-RP-Profile.html ) She will be following in the footsteps of the previous Royal Princess, which became P&O’s Artemis (http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Artemis-Profile.html). Artemis will be leaving the P&O fleet and thus the addition of Royal Princess to P&O will allow that line to maintain its presence in small ship cruising. The ship is to be renamed Adonia.

Meanwhile, life is changing for some of Royal Princess’ sisters. Royal Princess is one of eight nearly identical ships that were built for Renaissance Cruises. Following the demise of Renaissance, three of these ships went to Princess, three to Oceania Cruises and two to Azamara Cruises.

This week Azamara announced that it was changing its name to Azamara Club Cruises. Its new president, Larry Pimintel, explained that the new name was more in keeping with the club-like atmosphere onboard its up-market ships. The line is also changing its approach to become more destination focused with longer stays in port including more overnights. I’ll be writing more about Azamara’s plans in the near future.

I recently heard from two of the officers who have been interviewed on Beyondships. Trevor Lane, who had been Staff Captain on Queen Mary 2, has been promoted to captain and is the master of the Pacific Sun of P&O Cruises Australia. Meanwhile, Captain Francesco La Fauci, who I interviewed on Carnival Triumph, is now in command of Carnival Conquest.