news
BRIEFS
Cruise execs hail added capacity
BRIEFS
Carnival to boost
gratuities for crew
Marriott inks deal
for Bahrain project
Carnival Cruise Lines is boosting
the recommended gratuity from
$10 to $11.50 per person per day
for cruises departing on or after
Dec. 1. The amounts are automatically added to shipboard accounts
for onboard purchases, but guests
can raise or lower them, before
checkout.
PHO TO BY JOSEPH CANCELLARE
Marriott International reached an
agreement for the first JW Marriott
luxury hotel in the island nation of
Bahrain in 2016.
The JW Marriott Manama, Bahrain Hotel will have 274 rooms
and 102 residences as well as five
restaurants and more than 17,000
square feet of meetings space.
The 50-story hotel will be part of a
$2.5 billion development.
The Carnival Fantasy in Charleston Harbor.
The President’s Panel at Cruise World 2011, from left: Kevin Sheehan of Norwegian Cruise Line, Rick Sasso of MSC Cruises USA, Richard
Meadows of Seabourn, Adam Goldstein of Royal Caribbean International and Travel Weekly Editor in Chief Arnie Weissmann.
Sonesta Hotels
to be acquired
Carnival said the increase, its
first since 2001, puts it on a par
with most other cruise lines.
By Donna Tunney
JetBlue adds link
to Indian carrier
JetBlue added India’s Jet Airways
to its list of interline partners for
international travel. The deal sim-plifies interline ticketing and baggage transfers, enabling JetBlue
passengers to connect with Jet
Airways at New York Kennedy for
nonstop service to Brussels or onward travel to points in India.
Sonesta Hotels agreed to be acquired by Hospitality Properties
Trust, a real estate investment
trust that owns 288 properties in
North America. The deal includes
ownership of the 400-room Royal
Sonesta in Cambridge, Mass., and
the lease on a 483-room hotel in
New Orleans. Sonesta expects to
retain its management contracts
and, possibly, to manage other
HPT properties. The deal is expected to close by next March.
Altour to acquire
London agency
Altour is acquiring Walsh International Travel, a primarily corporate
agency in London, for an undisclosed sum. The deal is effective
Dec. 1. Altour, which already has
a London office, said Walsh will
continue to operate as a “separate
business division within the Altour
Group.”
Marriott plans 7th
NYC Courtyard
FORT LAUDERDALE — Added capacity in the
form of newbuilds that entered service in recent years has enhanced, rather than challenged,
growth during tough economic times, cruise
line executives told agents attending Travel
Weekly’s Cruise World 2011 and Home Based
Agent Show.
Commenting as part of the President’s Panel
keynote event here last week, Norwegian Cruise
Sheehan was alluding
to the 4,000-passenger
Norwegian Epic, which his
line launched in June 2010.
The President’s Panel was the premier event
in the first full day of the co-located conferences,
which drew upward of 1,500 agents, executives
and supplier representatives to the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center. The shows opened Nov.
2 and continued through Nov. 4, with cruise ship
inspections being held throughout the weekend.
Royal Caribbean International President and
CEO Adam Goldstein noted that his line had
launched two megaships, the Allure of the Seas
and the Oasis of the Seas, each carrying more
than 5,000 passengers, during the recession years.
Kimpton property
sets opening date
Kimpton Hotels set a Dec. 1 grand
opening for the 186-room Surfcomber Miami in South Beach, an
art deco classic previously brand-
Kimpton has renovated the Surfcomber.
ed by Doubletree. Kimpton took
over management of the hotel and
began a renovation in April.
Marriott disclosed plans for another New York hotel, a 168-room
Courtyard that will occupy floors
3 to 17 of a 17-story building at
Sixth Avenue and 35th Street, the
former Atlantic Bank of New York
building. Retail space will occupy
the ground floor. Construction will
begin this fall, and developers will
preserve the 1928 facade. The hotel is expected to open next year.
Seattle to be site of CruiseWorld West
US Airways returns
res jobs to U.S.
Travel Weekly is launching a new cruise-focused
show specifically tailored for agents in Western
states, to be held in Seattle June 18 to 20.
Cruise World West will feature ship inspec-
tions before and after the conference, which will
be co-located with a Home Based Agent Show
and Conference that’s also focused on the con-
cerns of home agents in Western states.
US Airways repatriated 400 jobs to
U.S. call centers, fulfilling a commitment to employees to handle
all U.S.-originating general reservations calls in the U.S. by Nov. 1. The
carrier has call centers in Phoenix;
Reno, Nev.; and Winston-Salem,
N.C., plus a center in England that
handles international callers.
