Investments

by Heda Bayron

Bank Of America Investment Asia's largest cruise line is expanding into air travel, while Hong Kong has vowed to list its controversial real estate investment trust.

Contemporary ship operators include Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean International, Costa Cruises, Star Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line. Who will enjoy them Families, fun lovers, sporty types, anyone who likes the idea of being on a big city afl oat and able to do as much or as little as they like will love these ships. SPA SENSE "Cruise ship spas are simply sensational nowadays, style steam rooms and volcanic hot lava stone massages, " says Moira Lumsden, cruise consultant at Thomas Cook's Dundee branch

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Book online on luxury cruises worldwide on all major cruise lines and cruise ships. Save up to 70% on cruises

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Banking Investment Dec 27, 2004 (AXcess News) Hong Kong - Asia's largest cruise line is expanding into air travel, while Hong Kong has vowed to list its controversial real estate investment trust.

Other lines have taken slightly different approaches than Carnival and RCCL. Norwegian Cruise Line (www.ncl.com ), the smallest of the big three, has implemented a $ person, day charge, If you booked your vacation before the surcharge took effect on December 1, you're off the hook. Oceania Cruises (www.oceaniacruises.com ) also set their surcharge at $7 per person, per day, applicable to all new reservations and existing reservations that were not paid in full as of the December 1 implementation date.

Investment Solution Strategic The biggest cruise line in Asia has become the largest investor in one of the region's emerging budget carriers.Star Cruises bought a 20 percent stake in Singapore's Valuair. About 130,000 tourists visit Singapore each year to go on Star Cruise holidays. Nilesh Pritam, a spokesman for Valuair, says nearly a third of these passengers come from markets the airline serves, such as Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand."With this relationship, we're going boost the numbers significantly because it's going be so much easier for passengers to now take a plane to Singapore and then take a cruise elsewhere around the region," said Mr. Pritam.

If you have airfare through the cruise line, a representative from the cruise line will meet you by the baggage claim. They will escort you to the transfer shuttle that goes from the airport to the port and back again after the cruise. Most cruise lines offer these services for an additional cost to passengers providing their own airfare. When can I board the ship

Investment Banking Services After an embarrassing last minute decision to halt the $3 billion listing of part of its public housing assets, Hong Kong's government says it will work to get the deal back on track.The city's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, vowed to push ahead with listing the Link Real Estate Investment Trust on the Hong Kong exchange. "But I want people to know that we are learning from this experience and we will do our best as quickly as possible to get it listed again," he said.Advertisement

Bank Investment The listing was scrapped last week because of a lawsuit questioning its legality.

Alternative Investment The construction unit of South Korea's largest steel maker, Posco, says it has won a contract to build two gas-fired power plants in Iran worth $600 million. The plants will supply up to 600 megawatts of electricity starting in 2008.

Online Investment Services New Zealand posted its worst-ever quarterly trade deficit in the three months ending in September. Its imports exceed exports by $2.2 billion. The country's main exports are agricultural products such as dairy and meats, while it imports oil, machinery and cars.Source: Voice of America

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