It has been a week dominated in the UK travel trade press by news on airports and new runways - but that doesn't mean that cruising is any less newsworthy.

Travel Weekly have led with a big interview with Azamara Club Cruises boss (and speaker at this year's Selling Cruise Conference) Larry Pimentel in which he once again reinstates that it is the current non-cruising guests that are key to the future of the industry - key he says because for Azamara they account for 22% of all guests.  Read the full interview here.

Meanwhile over on TTG Alex White Head of Sales for Princess Cruises reveals big plans for agents in 2014 with a massive WAVE period campaign - and plenty of ship visits.  Read here.

Over in the United States meanwhile talk is of massive expansion at Port Canaveral - set to be an even bigger cruise port in the future: read more here

It is in 2015 that the new ship from P&O Cruises sets sail - and this week P&O released a taster video of what the new ship will look like: watch the video here

That investment in new ships, and in refurbishment programmes is key to exceeding customer expectations, and here is news of some of the refurbishment elements of Fred Olsen's Boudicca: Read here

For cruise destinations although not strictly speaking a trade press piece - we loved this summary of cruising the Amazon from USA Today that you can read here.

Finally it's with great sadness that we have learnt of the death of industry veteran Gwyn Hughes.  Gwyn was a highly respected member of the cruise industry and made an enormous contribution in raising the profile of cruise holidays. He worked tirelessly to promote our sector of the travel industry and we are all saddened to lose such an admired colleague.  You can read more here.  Our thoughts are with his family.



Our next blog will be in January - so in the meantime we wish you a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year!

The recent refurbishment of Crystal Serenity is featured on Seatrade Insider that details its $17 million refurb including a redesign at Navantia Shipyard with chic new Crystal Penthouses and dramatically transformed indoor/outdoor casual dining spaces, including the Trident Grill, Scoops ice cream bar, Tastes Bar, Lido Cafe and Tastes restaurant.  Read here

Plans for further refurbishments have also been announced by Thomson - with new private balconies being added to three ships: Read here

And this follows the news from Oceania Cruises of the refurb of all three of their ships: Read here

On Wednesday Carnival Cruise Line announced a tie-up with Dr Seus - bringing Green Eggs and Ham to their fleet: Read here

Meanwhile Norwegian Cruise Line have released their 2015 deployment - with three ships in Alaska and four in the Med: Read more here

Talking of far-away places, it is great to see continued investment in new ports - this time Abu Dhabi is planning on being a major cruise hub of the region: Read here

Back to the UK and the announcement came on Friday of the new boss for Azamara Club Cruises - Richard Twynam will take his place in the new year: Read here  And a new Director of Marketing and PR has been appointed for Celebrity Cruises too: Read here

And it was great to see CLIA UK & Ireland once again making the headlines with a new initiative unveiled last week to ensure that we meet our core strategic strategy of getting more people to cruise, more often.  Three new working groups will spearhead the campaign: Read here

Over on Travel Weekly in the United States is the story on the expansion of AmaWaterways into South East Asia - yet another sign of the growing investment in both new river cruise ships and in more exotic locations: Read here

Staying with river cruising and with Travel Weekly in the US, they produced an infographic to help US agents understand the opportunity to switch cruisers to river cruise (or indeed adventure cruise): Read here

Back in the UK and the big recruitment news is the appointment of Helen Caron as head of cruise at TUI UK - reporting to former cruise boss Fraser Ellacott: Read here from Travel Weekly.  Travel Weekly also picked up the story of the CLIA event being held in conjunction with Norwegian getaway - the new ship launching January by Norwegian Cruise Lines: Read here

It is a theme picked up by the Baltimore Explorer that also offers advice on right ship - right customer; as we prepare for WAVE season anything that breaks down barriers for first time cruisers has to be a good thing.  Read here.

Ahead of the new year - e-tid picked up the piece by Cruise Critic on how the cruising landscape may look in 2014 - short cruises and far away places will be all the rage according to their article that you can Read here

As the festive season falls upon us - great coverage of the tremendous charity activity by Cunard in the Southampton Echo this week: Read here

Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean goes all musical with Mamma Mia onboard Quantum of the Seas: Read here and in TTG the 'Royal Family is also unveiled: Read here

After a flurry of excitement regarding river cruising last week to coincide with the CLIA River Cruise Convention, the news on rivers just keeps coming, including a piece in Cruise and Ferry about why 2014 is going to be another bumper year with 'dozens of new ships and new itineraries'. Read here.

There is also a great piece from Portugal on the rise and rise of cruising on the Douro which you can read here.  The big markets for river cruising on the Douro - the US, Germany and UK - make up 80% of all river revenues on that stretch of river.

Back in ocean cruising there was a report in Marketing Week about the new P&O Cruises Christmas Campaign which will illustrate the emotional benefits passengers new and old can enjoy on a cruise.  You can read the article here

Meanwhile, pick up a copy of Travel Bulletin to read all about a Bonvoyage.co.uk survey that reveals that a fifth of engaged couples in the UK are now considering a cruise wedding.  Could this be a good market to explore?

The big new ship news this week was provided at a fabulous evening in London regarding Anthem of the Seas which will be based in summer 2015 out of Southampton - a great boost for the UK industry and a show of strength in the further growth opportunities the UK offers.  Read the Travel Weekly coverage here

In refurbishment news, Travel Agent Central reported the big news from Oceania Cruises on the plans to refurbish three ships simultaneously that you can read here.  This will be a $50 million investment and take place in Q2 2014.  Exciting stuff!

All trade press cover the announcement by Avalon of the Godmother for the new river cruise ship Avalon Poetry II - Olympian Katherine Grainger.  You can read the story from TTG here.

What the Cruise Trade Press Say: Nov 21 2013

There has been much coverage in the trade press this week of the CLIA River Cruise Convention that was held in Cologne.  We welcomed six river cruise ships, a river conference ship, trade fair, overnight and dinner - and the trade press covered most of the event.

Travel Weekly led with pieces on the CLIA message within Andy Harmer's speech of targeting Baby Boomers (which you can read here), and the fact that river cruising growth is set to continue, and not just a fad - the topic of Rudi Joham's keynote speech - (which can be read here)

Seatrade Insider also covered the event and focused on the event itself and all of the aspects of it (read here)

Staying on the subject of river cruising, Travel Weekly carried the story of the move into River Cruising by Cruise and Maritime Voyages – is this the first time such a move from ocean cruising to river has happened?  Read the story here.

Moving away from river cruising, there was a very positive piece in Travolution on the future of High Street travel agents and how the future may be bright after all - worth reading here.

TTG carried a great infographic on the growth of cruising via Flagship PR - an incredibly interesting set of information that you can view here.

More next week...

What the Cruise Trade Press Say: Nov 18 2013

Travel Weekly focus on two new cruise positions and people, with Giles Hawke taking over as MD of MSC Cruises (read here) whilst Regent Seven Seas Cruises hire a new marketing manager in the shape of Ben Smith (read here).

Talking of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, they have confirmed to TTG an 'unprecedented' level of travel agent activity including a new Ambassador Scheme (read here).

The big announcement by Cunard (and Liverpool) is the bringing together of some great celebrations to mark its 175th anniversary.  The big event will be on the Mersey in 2015 with the Three Queens in place, and with a unique departure from the port.  Read here.

Both TTG and Travel Weekly discuss the need for Allure of the Seas to undergo some dry dock repairs - read the TTG story here.  Allure will be out of action for a week.

Many of the trade press continue to explore the donations coming from the cruise industry to help victims of the terrible conditions in the Philippines - including this donation from CLIA story.

Meanwhile we loved the campaign revealed at the CLIA River Cruise Convention from Titan to encourage agent votes for them for the Travel Weekly Globes - Cheer Up Timmy!  A great heartwarming story.. well done team.  Read the story here.

Finally - in case you missed it here is our very own announcement of more activity in river cruising coming up in 2014, and some photos and images from the River Cruise event. Read here.

More next week...