Category Archives: Cruises

Genting Cruise Lines has announced the restart of operations for Dream Cruises with Explorer Dream operating two and three-night ‘Taiwan Island-Hopping’ itineraries beginning from 26 July 2020. It will depart from Keelung and calling at Penghu, Matzu and Kinmen islands. The ship has undergone deep cleaning after observing strict quarantine measures for her crew.

CLIA to host webinar for Asian travel trade on 24th June on newly launched free of cost online training course ‘Cruise Champion’

Switzerland, currently being regarded as one of the safest countries to travel to, has announced the opening of tourism businesses with cautious optimism. In light of the same, BLS Navigation, that owns and operates boats on Lake Thun and Lake Brienz in the famous Interlaken region of Switzerland, has announced selective resumption of operations for tourists. Represented and promoted by AccessIndiaReps in the Indian market, BLS Lake Cruises in Interlaken have become a favourite for Indians in the past few years. “All boat journeys here are included in the Swiss Travel System Pass free of cost for individual travellers, and we offer great prices for groups,” says Ashish Saran, Founder & CEO, AccessIndiaReps. Kaspar Stettler, Head of Sales, BLS Navigation, adds, “We are happy to resume our Interlaken Lake Cruise operations with necessary precautions and are operating our boats from various locations popular with tourists and local visitors, including restaurant services on the boats. We are positive that cross-border travel will open up from other parts of Europe and the world, and we resume full services soon. We love Indian tourists and have been seeing good numbers in the past years and are extremely hopeful that the Indian market will recover soon and we will see our Indian friends again.”

Genting Cruise Lines has launched a new B2B app geared toward the company’s travel trade and business partners to provide a wealth of information, all in the palm of their hands. The “GCL India” app available on both Android and Apple devices shall deliver a comprehensive platform for business partners to access a range of helpful tools including itineraries, brochures and presentations, cruise calendars, photos and videos and important news. The goal of the app is to streamline information delivery and to speed up the turnaround time of providing essential materials to their end consumers.

Jalesh Cruises has launched an industry-first API integration with leading travel companies Akbar Travels, Riya Travels, and Jagsons Travel. Through this partnership, the Jalesh Cruises API will integrate with the travel agencies existing systems by providing them with a convenient and seamless experience and update on a real-time basis. This will be done by connecting the data streams and allowing travel partners to access products, services on their portal, by corresponding the data flow across the connected supply chain.

Boutique advisory and analytics firm VIDEC has launched a Global Travel Staffing Barometer, an online resource to monitor the impact of COVID-19 coronavirus on the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. The free-to-use tracker offers industry insights on the state of terminations, furloughs and pay-cuts, across industry categories and countries, collated from various sources and updated on daily basis. Virendra Jain, Cofounder and CEO, VIDEC, says, “The travel industry is crumbling before our eyes with more than half a million lay-offs in less than a month. Amid the global spread of the pandemic, companies of all shapes and sizes – from the billion-dollar valued to start-ups – are trimming costs, disbanding, and letting go off their most precious asset, the workforce. The Global Travel Staffing Barometer quantifies the discharged staff and aims to become the central hub for tracking the loss of human resources, and in time offer the first glimpses for the road to recovery for the travel industry.” According to this tracker, more than 500,000 workers in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries have been furloughed in the last three weeks.

Keeping the health and safety of its guests and crew, Regent Seven Seas Cruises has made some necessary decisions such as extending the temporary suspension of voyages to help contain the spread of the virus as well as offer credit and even a full refund on bookings. Steve Odell, SVP & Managing Director Asia Pacific, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, stated, “All our affected guests will automatically receive a 100 per cent ‘Future Cruise Credit’ and a bonus 25 per cent Future Cruise Credit. These Future Cruise Credits are valid for one year from issue date and applicable towards all voyages through 31st December, 2022. Clients taking the automatic Future Cruise Credits will also receive full Seven Seas Society loyalty night credit for the suspended voyage. For those who prefer a 100 per cent refund must complete the refund request online by 13 April, 2020 and the refund will be processed within 90 days.” The newly suspended voyages are Seven Seas Splendor (16 April, 30 April 2020), Seven Seas Explorer (17 April, 27 April, 4 May 2020), Seven Seas Voyager (16 April 2020), and Seven Seas Navigator (25 April 2020).

The Indian government has decided not to let any cruise ship from any foreign destination dock at any of its port. The measure has been taken keeping in mind the growing threat of COVID-19. Any international cruise ship or any member of its crew or passenger having a travel history of visiting any of the COVID-19 affected countries since 1st February 2020; will not be permitted to enter any Indian port till 31st March 2020. 25 cruise liners were scheduled to arrive in Indian ports till April-end. “Only those international cruise ships which had planned and intimated their call to an Indian Port not later than 1st January 2020 will be allowed to call on such port,” the Ministry of Shipping said. The government said international cruise ships will be allowed only at ports having thermal screening facilities for passengers and crew members. If any passenger/crew member of cruise ships show symptoms of coronavirus, disembarking will not be permitted, it added.

Starting 27th March 2020, Genting Dream Cruise will again start sailing from Singapore. The ship had announced voluntary suspension of Genting Dream’s operations from Singapore from February 23 amidst rising travel concerns after coronavirus outbreak. Genting Dream features all the comforts of authentic Asian hospitality, combined with the finest experiences from around the world.

The Globus family of brands – Globus, Cosmos, Monograms and Avalon Waterways – has launched a completely new online travel specialist programme for 2020. Titled Globus Family of Brands University, the specialist programme offers three different courses for Avalon waterways, Globus & Cosmos and Monograms. To encourage and inspire travel agents, Globus family has announced a gift voucher of Rs. 500/- to all the agents who complete the modules successfully before 29 February 2020. Upon successfully finishing the programme, travel agent partners will receive a host of benefits including a Certificate of Completion and getting showcased on the Globus & Cosmos websites as experts. “We have noticed, on average, about 30 per cent increase in sales from agents who have completed our specialist programmes. If an agent or agency is serious about increasing their revenue, specialising in selling the Globus family of brands increases their knowledge of our vacations manifold and makes them extremely profitable,” said Varesh Chopra, Globus family of brands’ Regional Director, India, South Asia & Middle East.