Crystal Debussy debuts
Crystal Debussy is the newest ship to join Crystal River Cruises fleet, with the big unveil held in Amsterdam late May.
The ceremony took place during the ship’s 10-day ‘Splendours of the Rhine’ voyage with Crystal’s president and CEO, Tom Wolber, Crystal River Cruises’ vice president and managing director, Walter Littlejohn, and Crystal Debussy‘s godmother, Broadway star Rachel York, attending the celebrations.
Throughout 2018 and 2019, the ship will sail routes of seven and 10 days between Amsterdam and Basel along the Rhine and Moselle rivers, visiting Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.
ACA speakers announced
The Australian Cruise Association (ACA) annual conference, themed “Forging Stronger Relationships”, will be held on 12-14 September in Broome.
Sture Myrmell, president of Carnival Australia and chairman of CLIA will kickstart the event with a talk on the global and national state of the industry. Susan Bonner, managing director Australia and New Zealand for Royal Caribbean International, will share the challenges of operating big ships in Australia. Captain Mike Drake from Carnival Australia will discuss the challenges of infrastructure and where Australia can make changes to increase port calls.
MSC Seaview debut
The new MSC Seaview was christened last month in the Italian port of Genoa, becoming the 15th vessel in the MSC Cruises fleet.
In a ceremony attended by European TV and music stars, industry VIPs, key travel partners and international media, the ship was launched by MSC’s longstanding godmother, screen icon Sophia Loren.
The 5,429-pax MSC Seaview is the second of two sister ships in the Seaside generation — the first being MSC Seaside which entered service in December.
MSC Seaview will cruise out of six ports in the Western Mediterranean — Genoa, Marseille, Barcelona, Naples, Messina and Valetta. It will also sail to South America in November for a series of Brazilian departures before returning to the Mediterranean in April.
