Thursday April 24

Fresh from Easter - and talk of chocolate this week in the industry - by P&O Cruises of course with further details revealed on their new ship Britannia.  According to Travel Weekly these new features include a beer map of Britain, chocolate making masterclasses, speciality cheese selections and gun tasting! And all of this in addition to its Food Heroes headed by James Martin.  Tasty!  Read here.

Talking of new ships - Regal Princess is now just weeks away from launch, and is back in the ship yard after sea trials to ready herself for service: read here

There is of course more on-going itinerary announcements making the news, with Quantum of the Seas destined to head to China - a reflection of the importance this region will make in the future - read here; whilst Holland America Line will use Ryndam is to increase its sailings from Harwich - another endorsement by a major cruise line of the importance of the UK - read here.

This week we also saw a focus on the great many advances in environmental efforts by the cruise industry, demonstrating the huge investment being made by all cruise lines in this area - read here

Meanwhile over at Crystal Cruises the talk has turned to attracting a younger cruise guest - a great chance for Crystal to showcase recent developments such as bicycle tours and classes in video production - read here

And finally in a story that serves to demonstrate the positive economic impact of the industry on local economies, over in Plymouth talk turns to cruising - read here

CLIA UK & Ireland very much looks forward to seeing delegates at the River Cruise Expo next week - and would like to thank all sponsors of the 2014 Selling Cruise Conference - see here

Until next week...

Thursday April 17

Despite it being a nice short week for Easter this week - there has been plenty of cruise news to keep us all amused... the first of which was our very own news that Kuoni have now joined all stores to CLIA to take advantage of our services and tr\ining! Read here

Talking of CLIA training - always good to see new online opportunities; and great to see travel agents being the beneficiaries.  In this case Regent Seven Seas Cruises are relaunching the training opportunities.  Read here.

And whilst we are talking about new beginnings - Janet  Parton formerly of P&O and Cunard has been recruited by MSC Cruises as Head of Sales. Read here.

Over in the world of technical ship management great announcement by Thomson Cruises this week regarding the efforts it is making to reduce carbon emissions by starting engines later, amends to itinerary and even in longer stays in port.  Read here.

Back in the world of cruising for guests and Crystal Cruises announce that they are offering cycle tours in a number of key destinations including Barcelona, Valencia, Dubrovnik and St Petersburg. Read here.

 There were passionate words from Rick Sasso (MSC Cruises) this week - and as an aside Rick was a speaker at our very first Cruise Convention back in May 2007 - where he talked about the importance of new technology in selling, but that personal relationships and face to face selling events are supreme.  Read here.

We love the tie-in between entertainment brands and cruise lines - so two great stories... the arrival of hit West-end show Cats on to Oasis of the Seas (read here); and the Game of Thrones tie-in with Crystal Cruises as part of their land programme in Belfast (read here).

That's showbiz....!!

Thursday April 10

It may be the week that the cruise industry was all about the people, with Adam Goldstein promoted at Royal Caribbean (read here) and with yet another set of performers announced for the P&O Cruises Strictly Come Dancing sailings (read here).

Meanwhile in the run up to the World Cup - Norwegian Cruise Lines and Costa Cruises announce that the games will be screened on their ships so guests do not miss a thing! Read here for Norwegian and read here for Costa.

Are you Britain's funniest travel business? Well Carnival Cruise Lines have teamed up with TTG to acknowledge winners at their awards ceremony in December - read here

And in the mix of announcements of newly launching rivcer ships and ships destined to launch in 2015, there are also on-going refurbishments being made, including this to Regent Seven Seas Cruises: Read here

Those ship itineraries also keep being announced - with Royal Caribbean committing more tonnage to Australia: read here; whilst over in river cruise Avalon is targeting the French waterways read here.

We will be back next week...

No blog post this week - we will be back to normal next week!