Carry On: News for business travellers

EXECUTIVE TRAVEL

Cruises offer free upgrades and onboard credit
Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises are offering free balcony cabin upgrades and $US350 onboard credit with new exclusive deals for New Zealand travellers on its “premier ships” in summer 2012-13. The credit is for each balcony stateroom booking on Celebrity Solstice’s maiden season voyages Down Under – 12-night cruises from Auckland to Sydney on January 4, 2013, and March 16, 2013, and for 12-night cruises from Sydney to Auckland departing on January 16, 2013, and March 3, 2013.

• The Auckland to Sydney cruise offers a range of port calls down the East Coast of New Zealand, and then visits Milford, Doubtful and Dusky Sounds, before cruising to Hobart and completing the cruise with an overnight stay in Sydney.

•The Sydney to Auckland cruise includes an overnight stay in Sydney and then calls at Melbourne, the three Fiordland Sounds, before visiting Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington, Tauranga and ending the cruise in Auckland. Examples of stateroom prices range from $3259 for a balcony stateroom to $3399 for an AquaClass stateroom. (Prices are per person, cruise only, in New Zealand dollars, based on twin occupancy, inclusive of all fees, taxes and onboard gratuities.)

A free upgrade from oceanview to balcony stateroom is offered for a 10-night Queensland Delights cruise on Radiance of the Seas that departs on December 20, 2012, and April 9, 2013, as well as on an 11-night Tropical Queensland cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas, departing on December 7, 2012, February 18, 2013 and March 23, 2013. All cruises sail roundtrip from Sydney. Queensland Delight prices range from $2279 for an interior stateroom to $2599 for an Oceanview stateroom; for Tropical Queensland they range from $1429 for an interior stateroom to $1949 for an oceanview stateroom. All offers end on May 31, 2012. Further info at Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises.

Fly with the All Blacks to Argentina
Air New Zealand is taking a chartered all black Boeing 777-300 in September to fly the All Blacks to Buenos Aires as part of the inaugural Investec Rugby Championship. Tickets are now on sale for travel with the players and the touring party of coaches, staff and officials. The trip culminates on game day with an exclusive pre-match function followed by the big game against the Pumas at Estadio Ciudad de La Plata. Two packages are available for the Sept 22-30 tour at $6899 and $5299 with the option of an $1875 upgrade to premium economy. These include accommodation, tours and tickets. Bookings and further information is at www.airnewzealand.co.nz

Queenstown prepares for winter
Air New Zealand is ramping up flights to Queenstown for the winter season. With alliance partner Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand will boost capacity 8% overall on direct transtasman flights, including 13% on Melbourne-Queenstown services, 10% on Sydney-Queenstown and 3% on Brisbane-Queenstown services. “The additional 6314 seats will take the total number of direct flights into and out of Queenstown to 18 return trips per week, or 243 over the season,” deputy chief executive Norm Thompson says. Domestic capacity is also increasing during July to September with a 68% boost on Wellington-Queenstown – an extra 300 seats per week – and 18% on Auckland-Queenstown (an extra 650 seats per week each way). The Rotorua-Queenstown service will climb, with six services via a Boeing 737 each week from November to March.

More charters from Japan
Air New Zealand is also planning a series of charter flights to bring Japanese tourists to Christchurch. The charter services from Japanese regional centres were launched during the past New Zealand summer and found them to be popular, Mr Thompson says. "We expect six of this year's programme will fly directly into Christchurch, which is great news for the South Island, including regions like Queenstown, which will see an increase in Japanese visitors as a result."

Dublin route booms for Emirates
Emirates will introduce a 360-seat Boeing 777-300ER on its daily Dublin route two months earlier than scheduled because of surging demand. Just three weeks after the January 9 launch, Emirates announced a larger aircraft would be fast-tracked from July 1. However, after a further review of passenger load factors and aircraft availability, it was decided to replace the Airbus A330-200s even sooner. The bigger aircraft will boost seat capacity by 52%.

New route of the week
Perth will capture a bigger share of the Chinese with Jetstar’s new air service to Haikou in the southern Chinese island of Hainan, via Singapore. The service, which started this week, will operate four times a week. Hainan has a population of eight million and is noted for its golf courses, beaches and yachting. Historical sites include the Five Officials Temple in Haikou, which is also known as Coconut City. While most of the 30 million tourists come from the mainland each year, overseas visitors are approaching the one million a year mark. An advantage is that visas for foreigners are available on arrival, a privilege that isn’t offered by the mainland. Fares on the new Perth-Haikou route start from $A289 one-way.