Travel Agent - September 10, 2007 - (Page 10)

News Vital Signs In a statement, Carnival Corp. Chairman and CEO Micky Arison called the new joint venture “a solid platform for expanding in the fastgrowing European marketplace.” (A recent study by the Cruise Lines International Associated detailed the boom of European cruising and growing embarkation numbers from European ports.) Carnival Launches New Spanish Brand Carnival Corp. (www.carnival.com) is adding another brand to its fleet, this one to serve the growing Spanish market. Last week, Carnival and Orizonia Corporacion, Spain’s largest travel company, announced an agreement to partner on the new brand, which will be called Iberocruceros and consist of three ships, two from Orizonia and one from Carnival. The transaction is expected to close on September 14, with Carnival owning three-fourths of the company. Carnival’s 1,486-passenger Celebration, which launched back in 1987, will join Iberocruceros in late spring 2008 after an extensive renovation. Orizonia’s 1,244passenger Grand Mistral and 834-passenger Grand Voyager round out the fleet. Alfredo Serrano, who currently serves as the general manager of the Iberojet fleet, has been appointed general manager of the new Iberocruceros, which will be headquartered in Madrid. Serrano will report to Iberocruceros’ board chairman Pier Luigi Foschi, who is also chairman and CEO of Carnival Corp.’s Costa Cruises unit. Carnival’s Celebration will join Iberocruceros this fiscal year and not doing so would create “adverse tax consequences for the company.” Carnival will continue to up its presence in the German market, though, through new construction for its Aida and Costa brands, as well as through Cunard, whose Queen Mary 2 will operate a series of trans-Atlantic crossings from Hamburg in 2008. —David Eisen German Brand Deal Fell Through On the same day, Carnival announced a dead deal in Germany with TUI AG, citing regulatory hurdles. Carnival and TUI had agreed to form a joint venture to develop a new cruise brand for the Germanspeaking market last December. Now that deal has been nixed. Carnival said that it would be difficult to close the deal New Products and Relationships for Classic Since joining Classic Vacations new opportunities,” MacDon(www.classicvacations.com) ald says. Classic Vacations as CEO in April, Tim MacDonrecently added vacation ald has been hard at work options in St. Petersburg, fine tuning the services the Russia and Croatia, and is luxury travel wholesaler ofconducting a soft launch fers to agents. Over the course of its new Fiji product this of the next year, agents can month, with a full launch expect to see subtle differslated for December. ences in the way the company As for the aforementioned operates, which MacDonald subtle differences in operabelieves will result in more tion over the next year, Macsatisfied agents and clients. Donald was reluctant to go Tim MacDonald MacDonald is quick to add into specifics. “Only because that internal research already shows a it will take some time to roll out these high satisfaction rate among its agent and initiatives,” he says. “If we have this same agency partners, but that doesn’t mean conversation a year from now, I’ll be able all work is done. “We’re always looking at to tell you exactly what we’ve done and you’ll be able to measure the impact on travel agent customer satisfaction.” Return to Virtuoso In the meantime, MacDonald, who came to Classic from fellow Expedia company Hotwire, is excited to discuss Classic’s return to Virtuoso. Back in June, Virtuoso and Classic Vacations once again entered into a preferred supplier relationship, after a roughly three-year break following Classic Vacations’ acquisition by Expedia in 2002. At the time, the break occurred because Virtuoso did not agree with the wholesaler having a relationship with a direct-to-consumer online parent. MacDonald says the relationship was Continued on page 16 10 TravelAgent September 10, 2007 http://www.carnival.com http://www.classicvacations.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - September 10, 2007

Contents Editor's Letter News You Can Use Agenda: Fam Trips, Calendar of Events, Deal of the Week South America Rising: COVER STORY EUROPE: Undiscovered Croatia PACIFIC/ASIA: Chiang Mai: Hotspot of Northern Thailand LAS VEGAS: Las Vegas’ Inside Man Las Vegas News & Notes Las Vegas: The New Frontier PACIFIC NORTHWEST: A Gem on Oregon’s Central Coast FLORIDA: Hyatt Regency Miami Spruces Up Ensemble Update Agent Outlook: Cruising Today Nantucket Island Resorts Classified Marketplace Home-Based Travel Expo Update Advertisers’ Information People & Places Thailand Planner

Travel Agent - September 10, 2007

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