Princess Dives into China

[TorontoTL]

From Seatrader Insider

 

Shanghai will be the homeport for Sapphire Princess during a four-month season in 2014 that is expected to carry 70,000 passengers, Princess Cruises said Wednesday. The sailings will be supported by new Carnival Corp. & plc offices opened in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

 

Princess is emphasizing that the round-trip cruises, which begin next May, will offer a premium option to the rapidly growing Chinese vacation market.

 

'Though we have carried thousands of Chinese travelers on our ships over many years, we think the time is right for a premium cruise experience that offers a new type of vacation experience for the Chinese consumer, sailing from China,' said Princess president and ceo Alan Buckelew.

 

The 2014 China season will feature four different itineraries ranging from three to seven days. Princess said its research showed this is the ideal number of vacation days for the Chinese market.

 

The seven-day Sapphire Princess itinerary will take passengers to Korea's Seoul, the beach resort of Busan and the Island of Jeju, before returning to Shanghai. The five-day cruise will call at Jeju and Inchon. The four-day itinerary will visit Busan and Jeju, while the three-day cruise stops at Jeju.

 

In addition to the international cruise experience offered by Princess around the world, passengers on the new China-based cruises will be treated to special cultural, culinary and entertainment programs including world leader dinners, sommelier wine excursions, daily English high tea, a 24-hour buffet, Tai Chi and Zumba at sea, a 'Princess Night' bedtime experience, and what the line said will be an 'unparalleled shopping experience.'

 

Designed to appeal to multigenerational groups, 'Touch of Class' personal enrichment courses will also be offered for adults and children.

 

The 116,000gt Sapphire Princess carries 2,670 passengers double occupancy.

 

The new China cruises will open for sale on Nov. 1.

[caribill]

RCCL has staffed their China designated ship with many Chinese waitstaff, cabin attendents and purser's desk personnel. These people also are quite fluent in English. RCCL also has brought some CD staff on board are from China.

 

I wonder if Princess will be doing the same.

[TorontoTL]

Princess will probably have to do the same, there aren't enough non Chinese people fluent in the various Chinese dialects who work for Princess already who would be able to staff this ship.

[cjknox]

It will be interesting to see how Princess fares in the Chinese market, if they do well I think we'll be seeing more lines follow suit in the very near future.

[sunsetbeachgal]

There was a large group of travelers from China on our recent trip on the Royal. It is a growing market and will be interesting...now we know where the Sapphire is going!!

[TorontoTL]

I will miss the Sapphire, she is a lovely ship.

[laughing husky]

We are getting a large number of Chinese tourists in Alaska these days since the US has lowered the visa requirements for them. I believe that they see there is a growing middle class that can be hooked into traveling....and the cruise ships are only one aspect of this.