CRUISE SHIPPING Following her debut in November 2014— sailing from Cape Liberty in Bayonne, NJ—the Quantum of the Seas will move to China in May 2015. Beginning late June 2015, the ship will begin sailing three- to eightnight itineraries year-round from Shanghai to Japan and Korea. To compensate for the loss of the Quantum’s capacity in New York, Royal Caribbean will add two new ships. The Freedom Class ship Liberty of the Seas will arrive to Cape
Liberty to sail to Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Canada and New England for the 2015 summer and autumn seasons. In addition, Quantum of the Seas’ sister ship, Anthem of the Seas, which launches in April 2015, will complete her inaugural European season from London (Southampton), U.K., before arriving to Cape Liberty in November 2015 to continue Quantum-class cruising to the Bahamas and Caribbean for the winter 2015-16 season.
Amping up the adventure onboard With its “extreme” adventure entertainment onboard, the Quantum of the Seas should do well serving the Chinese market, whose passenger demographics fall between 25- to 45-year-old cruisers with families. The Quantum-class ships will debut a new set of f irst-at-sea onboard experiences, such as the skydiving experience Ripcord by iFLY; the glass enclosed capsule North Star, which lifts guests more than 300 feet in the air for a spectacular view at sea; and the large indoor sports and entertainment complex SeaPlex, with bumper cars and roller skating.
Growing in Australia, too Meanwhile, Carnival is also picking up its game in Australia. It plans to add two more ships in November 2015 to grow its f leet to f ive under its P& O brand f leet in Australia. Over the last five years, the Australian cruise passenger has seen rapid growth, rising by 130 percent. In 2013, there were an estimated 800,000 cruise passengers. The number is expected to jump to 1 million by 2016. The t wo ships bei ng added to P& O Cruises are currently sailing as ms Ryndam and ms Statendam under Carnival’s Holland America Line brand. Once the ships are refurbished, they will join P&O Cruises’ Pacific Dawn, Pacific Jewel and Pacific Pearl already positioned in Australia. With five ships, P&O Cruises will have greater flexibility to offer short cruises. To replace the capacity of the repositioned ships, Holland America Line will add the new Pinnacle Class ship in February 2016. It will be HAL’s largest ship to date at 99,500 tons and carry 2,660 passengers. “By any measure, Australia is one of the top performing cruise markets in the world, with an eye-popping average annual passenger growth rate of 20% over the past decade,” says Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald.
North America still tops While the rapid growth in Australasia is impressive, North America continues to account for the lion’s share of cruise passengers—more than 55% of the estimated 21.7 million cruise passengers this year, according to CLIA. The 21.7 million passengers ref lects a growth of 400,000 passengers over 2013. Europe has about a 30% share of the global cruise market.
Newbuildings At the keel laying ceremony for its third Oasis Class cruise ship, Royal Caribbean Cruises 38 MARINE LOG June 2014