Travel Business News - North America

AirGuide Business, April 14, 2008

Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival Corp., in a letter that went out Monday, advised travel agents that it was raising by $2 the amount of its per person per day fuel surcharge (which before stood at $5) for six of its brands, citing the icontinued rapid escalation of fuel prices.i In addition, the brandso Carnival Cruise Lines, Cunard Line, Costa Cruises, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourno will implement a fuel supplement charge of $2 per person per day on third, fourth and fifth passengers; before the surcharge was only levied on first and second passengers. Apr 10, 2008

Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival Cruise Lines became the first cruise line to earn a certification for its onboard security programs from Lloyd's Register, a ship classification society based in London. The certification recognizes Carnival for its efforts in developing, implementing and auditing its security operations aboard its 22-ship fleet. The certification, which included an independent audit conducted by Lloyd's Register, also acknowledges that Carnival meets or exceeds all security standards mandated by various international maritime codes and organizations, including the International Ship Port Facility Code, the Maritime Transportation Security Act, and the Standards for Training Certification and Watchkeeping Apr 8, 2008

Carnival Cruises, Royal Caribbean

Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean have reached agreements with the Florida Attorney Generalis office regarding their fuel surcharge disclosures, which resulted in refunding money back to customers. Tim Conder, managing director of leisure equity research with Wachovia Capital Markets, said that after the agreements were reached he was not surprised that Carnival took this action to raise its fuel surcharge and further believes that Royal Caribbean, in all probability, will follow suit. Apr 10, 2008

Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines signed a deal with MLT Vacations to begin operating the airline's private label vacation packaging service effective Jan. 1, 2009. The agreement moves the private label from Certified Vacations, which operated the brand for 11 years, to MLT. Continental is the second airline to move its private label packaging operation from Certified Vacations to another operator in recent weeks. Delta Air Lines moved its Delta Vacations brand to Travel Impressions in mid-March. Minneapolis-based MLT, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northwest Airlines Corp., operates NWA WorldVacations, a package product using scheduled air, and Worry-Free Vacations, a package product based on charters. The two brands serve more than one million travelers a year and operate to 144 domestic and 139 international destinations in more than 20 countries. Continental Airlines Vacations offers packages using Continental scheduled air to more than 200 destinations worldwide. Apr 11, 2008

Continental Airlines

Continental's agreement with Northwest could create potential synergies by shoring up previous alignments between the two airlines. Northwest holds a so-called "golden share" in Continental Airlines going back to 2001, which requires Continental to negotiate with Northwest before completing any merger agreements. Certified Vacations will continue to operate the Continental Vacations brand through Dec. 31. Certified Vacations and Continental Airlines will continue their business relationship by offering Continental service under Certified's in-house brand Future Vacations under a new agreement announced yesterday. That agreement brings the number of Future Vacations' airline partners to 18. For more information on Northwest, visit www.worldagentdirect.com; for Continental Airlines, visit www.continental.com; for Certified Vacations' Future Vacations, visit www.futurevacations.com; for MLT's NWA WorldVacations, visit www.nwaworldvacations.com; and for MLT's Worry-Free Vacations, visit www.worryfreevacations.com. Apr 11, 2008