Porthole Cruise News Briefs – Dec. 19, 2014

Porthole Cruise News Briefs

Cruise News – Dec. 19, 2014

• Now that there are plans to restore diplomatic relations, will Cuba be the next hot cruise destination? UBS Investment analyst Robin Farley, in a note to investors, says Cuba could represent “significant opportunity” for cruise lines (if the current travel ban is relaxed). “Havana is a natural deep-water port and we believe operators could build dockside infrastructure on a much faster timeline than hotel infrastructure,” Farley writes. “Itineraries could be sold with just several months’ advance notice.”…
• Celebrity Cruises’ 2017 Caribbean itineraries will include a New Orleans Mardi Gras–themed cruise. The Signature Event Sailing on Celebrity Equinox, embarking Fort Lauderdale in February 2017, will feature two overnights in the Big Easy, as part of an 11-day cruise that also includes Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, and Cozumel….
• Carnival Corporation will debut its first-ever Super Bowl TV commercial during the big game on February 1. Consumers can give input into the spot that will air (and enter a contest with a grand prize of a cruise a year for life) at worldsleadingcruiselines.com. The choices include a slightly naughty ad, “Cruise Virgin.”…
• Christine Duffy, a familiar face to the cruise world as president and CEO of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), has been named president of Carnival Cruise Lines effective February 1.

— Fran Golden

^{Photo: Carnival Corp, “Cruise Virgin”}

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