Monday morning, Carnival Corporation announced major leadership changes at Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Seabourn. Gus Antorcha, currently president of Holland America Line, will shift to become president of Princess Cruises. In turn, Beth Bodensteiner has been promoted to lead Holland America Line as president and Mark Tamis has returned to the company as president of Seabourn.
Business is booming at the world's second busiest cruise port. In his annual "State of the Port" address for fiscal year 2024, Captain John Murray, CEO of Port Canaveral, reported $191 million in port revenues (including $156 million in cruise revenues) and a record 7.6 million cruise passengers, a 12 percent increase over the previous year. In fiscal year 2025, Port Canaveral will welcome 16 homeported ships, a projected 8.4 million passengers, 1,030 ship calls and two new cruise home porting partners—Princess Cruises and Celebrity Cruises.
Reporting a record 29 percent increase in cruise passengers this year, Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) is investing $100 million in Flynn Cruiseport Boston. According to Seatrade Cruise News, that includes a $60 million investment for shore power at two berths.
In its latest financial results, Viking reported that third quarter 2024 revenue rose 11.4 percent, compared with the same quarter in 2023. Third quarter net income was $375.1 million, up from a $1.24 billion loss in the third quarter 2023. Showing the strength of consumer demand, as of November 3, 2024, for its core products Viking had sold 95 percent of its capacity passenger cruise days for the 2024 season and 70 percent for the 2025 season.
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) cancelled more than three dozen cruises on Norwegian Dawn, Norwegian Jewel and Norwegian Star, originally slated for November 2025 through April 2026, according to Cruise Industry News. Travel Agent has asked for a statement on the line's redeployment plans. In addition, the line subsequently cancelled voyages on Norwegian Jade from Miami, FL, as that ship will instead homeport at San Diego, CA, during the winter 2025-26 season.
Culinary Moves, More Cruise News
On the culinary front, Holland America Line is offering new cooking shows that spotlight regional cuisine. Oceania Cruises is celebrating 15 years of the Culinary Center with new classes. In addition, Atlas Ocean Voyages, which typically offers many epicurean expeditions in its Mediterranean lineup, has announced its schedule of new 2026 summer voyages.
Carnival Cruise Line will salute America's 250th birthday on 10 sailings in 2026. Separately, NCL announced that Eric Stonestreet, the two-time Emmy-award-winning actor who performed on the hit TV show "Modern Family," will serve as godfather for the new Norwegian Aqua. He'll bless the ship at the official christening ceremony in Miami on April 13, 2025. And for travelers planning to cruise to the southern end of the Earth, HX is launching a new university program to educate passengers heading to Antarctica.
The 2024 Dream Vacations and CruiseOne conference, themed “Elevate," kicked off a week ago on Celebrity Ascent. Travel Agent covered the keynote address from Debbie Fiorino, the two brands’ COO, about how advisors can "elevate" their business. In major marketing and technology news, Dream Vacations and CruiseOne also unveiled new tools and an enhanced web site. Look for more from the conference this week.
And finally, the limit on the number of cruise ship guests permitted to visit Bar Harbor, ME, will remain at no more than 1,000 passengers daily. A recount of recent election results confirmed that the measure to raise the cap to allow more cruise visitors had narrowly failed—by just 65 votes.
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