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  • News: Norwegian Breakaway leaves Meyer Werft

    Norwegian Breakaway, the most important cruise ship to ever be in-built Germany, departed Meyer Werft in Papenburg, for her approximately 24-hour long conveyance along the Ems River yesterday morning and arrived in Eemshaven early today.

    The river conveyance demonstrated Norwegian Breakaway’s seaworthiness and marked another key milestone sooner than the ship’s highly anticipated delivery.

    Sailing backwards, Norwegian Breakaway left Meyer Werft at approximately 10:00 (local time in Germany), and made a narrow passage in the course of the ship yard’s locks, with just one.6 metres clearance separating the ship from the “bumpers” that were specially installed along the starboard side of the locks.

    This manoeuvre took approximately 1.5 hours at a maximum speed of only 0.2 knots.

    The precise navigation was led by a team of 2 located at the bridge, with one navigation officer answerable for overseeing the bow manoeuvres and the opposite overseeing the movement of the strict. After passing in the course of the locks, Norwegian Breakaway continued along the river, stern first.

    Due to the strong propulsion within the aft portion of the vessel, travelling stern first helps with manoeuvrability that is a key component when navigating the vessel through such narrow passages.

    In preparation for the ship’s conveyance, the Nautical Operations teams from both MEYER WERFT and

    Norwegian trained and practiced the suitable manoeuvres for the past several months, utilising high tech simulators and detailed schematics.

    Norwegian Breakaway presented the main challenging conveyance ever, because the ship required precise manoeuvres with a purpose to navigate through extremely narrow passages, with under two metres clearance on both sides of the vessel.

    Before reaching her final destination in Eemshaven, Netherlands early Thursday morning, heading toward the North Sea, Norwegian Breakaway gone through additional narrow passages including the locks in Papenburg, which enable only one.5 metre clearance on all sides; Weener Bridge in Weener; Jann-Berghaus Bridge in Leer; and Ems-Barrier in Gandersum.

  • NZ screen industry hits new $3 billion high

    The New Zealand screen industry has broken the NZ$3 billion barrier for the primary time due to earnings from an increased collection of feature films made within the country over the past financial year.

    At a time when the movie world is concentrating on New Zealand as Middle-earth with the making of The Hobbit Trilogy, Statistics New Zealand reports that the screen industry has grown 10% to succeed in revenue of $3.29 billion.

    A total of 40 feature films were completed in New Zealand last year and revenue from these rose almost 50% to top $1 billion for the primary time.

    Film New Zealand Chief Executive Gisella Carr says the newest results could never were dreamed of some years ago and to attain such figures within the face of intense international competition was an actual testimony to the standard and resourcefulness of the recent Zealand industry.

    “The screen business is a tender, 21st-century form of industry. Most other countries want an industry like this. New Zealand has it, and we will be very pleased with it,” Carr said.

    Film centre of excellence
    As well as creative flair and ground-breaking technology, it’s far New Zealand’s easily accessible, stunning scenery that make it attractive to international film-makers plus the country’s reputation for being this type of desirable place to live and work.

    New Zealand is recognised as a centre of excellence for the art of film-making, largely resulting from Sir Peter Jackson and the creative teams of ‘Wellywood’ in Wellington.

    New Zealand’s rapidly growing screen industry is supported by greater than 2800 businesses – up from 2739 in 2011 – and production is spread within the country with important hubs in Auckland and the Queenstown / Otago region, in addition to Wellington.

    Survey results
    The latest survey tracks revenue and other indicators in film and tv production and post-production, film distribution and tv broadcasting inside the year to one April 2012.

    It shows income from production and post-production for the 1st time made up slightly greater than 1/2 the whole, at $1.67 billion.

    “This is vital because it is the world that’s creating growth, particularly from feature films,” Carr said.
    She said government investment within the sector was bringing a very good return.

    “The outlay is inconspicuous in comparison to total revenue, but it surely is admittedly vital in bringing screen work to New Zealand. The revenue figures underline the significance of the us as our major partner.”

    Film revenue increased by 47% to $1.04 billion and tv broadcasting revenue grew 4% to $1.30 billion.

    More than 500 one-off or stand-alone television programmes were made in New Zealand.

    International attention
    New Zealand Film Commission chief executive Graeme Mason said it was “fantastic” to look films being made that created revenue and employment.
    International attention was being attracted to the local industry and New Zealand as an area to go to and do business, he said.

    The commission was currently all for greater than 20 local feature films in various stages of pre-production, production, post-production.

    “I also desire to take my hat off to the independent films being made accessible – together these efforts are having a huge effect on a screen sector going from strength to strength,” Mason said.

    Wellywood’s role
    Statistics New Zealand said “the continuing success of Wellywood” played a large role within the sector’s growth.

    Revenue from film in Wellington generated $828 million in 2012, up 67% from $495 million.

    “In 2012, Wellington was home to 60% of all post-production businesses in New Zealand, compared with 31% for Auckland and 10% for the remainder of New Zealand,” Statistics NZ reported.

    “More specifically, Wellington is a pacesetter in digital graphics, animation, and effects.”
    Kiwi-made feature films released last year include Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business, The Hobbit, The Red House and Essentially the most Fun That you could Have Dying.

    Evil Dead
    And the growing Auckland film industry has hit the spotlight with the discharge of Evil Dead – a movie shot entirely within the Auckland region which reached number 1 on the US Box Office in its opening weekend, grossing US$26 million.

    The remake of the 1981 cult horror classic have been dubbed “the most terrifying movie you can actually ever experience” and was filmed on location in Auckland’s Woodhill Forest in addition to the Riverhead and East Tamaki areas.

    Producer Rob Tapert of Pacific Renaissance Pictures has helped to position Auckland at the world stage as a movie location with television series resembling Hercules, Xena, and Spartacus.

    Auckland’s screen industry employs over 6000 people in additional than 1400 local businesses and grosses about $2.2 billion every year.

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  • News: Second Carnival ship hit by technical problems

    Things are going from bad to worse for Carnival, with news another of its ships is returning to port with technical problems.

    Carnival Legend is returning to the port of Tampa after experiencing a technical issue with one in every of its Azipod, affecting the vessel’s sailing speed. 

    The ship’s safety systems and hotel services are all functioning normally, Carnival said in an announcement.

    Another Carnival cruise, the Dream, that’s docked in St Maarten was forced to fly passengers home on
    Thursday after the ship experienced overflowing toilets and gear outages.

    It comes only a month after sister ship, Carnival Triumph, was stranded for 5 days within the Gulf of Mexico.

    The latest stranded vessel, the Legend, made its scheduled call yesterday in Mahogany Bay, Roatan, as well as visiting Cozumel and Costa Maya earlier within the week. 

    Because of the reduction in sailing speed, today’s visit to Grand Cayman was cancelled and the ship will proceed to its homeport of Tampa, where it’s expected to reach on Sunday as scheduled.

    Guests at the current voyage will receive a $100.00 per person credit and a whole refund on pre-purchased shore excursions for Grand Cayman. 

    In addition, guests will receive 50 per cent off a future Carnival cruise.

    Carnival Legend is currently at the last leg of a seven-day Caribbean cruise that departed Tampa on Sunday, March 10th.

  • Rotana opens its first hotel in Bahrain, Majestic Arjaan by Rotana

    Rotana, the leading hotel management company within the Middle East and Africa, has now opened its first property in Bahrain, Majestic Arjaan by Rotana.

    The new property is conveniently located inside the Busaiteen district at the island of Muharraq, just a couple of minutes from town of Manama. With the hole of this hotel, Rotana now operates 11 properties under the ‘Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana’ brand.

    Majestic Arjaan by Rotana is a primary-class property, which was developed with both short and long run guests in mind. The hotel offers 128 suites, that are designed in a trendy style,  including spacious studios, one, two and 3 bedrooms apartments.

    The hotel features the most recent high-tech facilities including fully-equipped meeting rooms with essentially the most up-to-date audio-visual equipment. It also gives guests of venture to wind down and relax at any of the various leisure facilities including an out of doors temperature controlled swimming pool and an absolutely-fledged fitness centre, with steam and sauna rooms.

    Majestic Arjaan by Rotana also boasts three specialised food and beverage venues to fit every guest’s palate and dining needs, such as: Ginger All Day Dining – offering international buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner in addition to á la carte; Ginger Lounge – a lobby café offering a tempting array of mouth-watering delicacies, light snacks and fresh fruit cocktails as well as a pretty good number of freshly-baked pastry takeaways; and Aquarius – an off-the-cuff dining experience by the pool complemented by hearty refreshments which includes light snacks and fresh salads.

    Commenting in this announcement, Omer Kaddouri, Executive Vp & Chief Operating Officer of Rotana, said “This opening of Majestic Arjaan by Rotana represents a vital achievement for Rotana, and a huge milestone in our method to expand further within the Middle East and African region. Here is our first property in Bahrain, a desirable city with a beautiful liberal lifestyle, a rich history and culture, with a powerful demand for luxury hotels that provide world-class hospitality”.

    A key appointment to the valuables includes Raiz Saban, a well-respected veteran of the hospitality industry with greater than 22 years of expertise within the business, as General Manager. He’ll lead a team of seasoned hotel professionals who’re expected to play strategic roles in leading Majestic Arjaan by Rotana’s bid to capture a huge share of economic within the Kingdom of Bahrain.

    “The suites are designed to produce the last word experience in modern serviced living,” says Raiz Saban. “The diverse features on this property offer numerous benefits and advantages for brief or future stays, whether for business, leisure or home relocation. i’m privileged to join the hole team for this magnificent property and my team and that i may be working hand in hand to make certain all areas of the hole are perfected.”

  • Tourist’s trust relies on social media and the net

    Does social media and internet based information sources together with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs and lots of more influence our decision on where we travel to and the way we share our experiences with others

    The evolution of the web and the net are major factors of the changes within the tourism and travel industries and within the ways that tourists purchase and experience travel.

    In an effort to realize tourist social media adoption in technology, a contemporary article published in Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism: ‘Trust and Involvement in Tourism Social Media and Web-Based Travel Information Sources’, that is free to view online until 31st September 2013, investigates how Scandinavian holiday makers staying in Mallorca, Spain use social media and the net to make decisions on what to tour and the way they share their experiences. This text used 100 participants to hold out the surveys, analysed the findings and recorded conclusions on how this system of communication affects our future trust with the increasing acclaim for Smart Phones.

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