Hamburg, Germany – The winners of the 2017 Seatrade Cruise Awards, sponsored by Oracle Hospitality, were announced on September 6th during the CLIA Deutschland Annual Dinner, on the occasion of Seatrade Europe 2017.

Held annually for 11 years, the Seatrade Cruise Awards continue to recognise and reward the very best of international cruise achievement and act as a catalyst for driving the continuous improvement of standards across the industry. Two new awards – Seatrade Port Personality of the Year and Marketing Initiative of the Year – joined the personality and industry winners who were announced by Mary Bond, Managing Director for Publishing, Seatrade, who was joined on stage by Ingo Sorensen, AVP, Global Cruise Sales, Oracle Hospitality.

Speaking to the room of cruise industry personalities and guests, Mary Bond said: “Once again, we have had a staggering number of entries – over 100 – from across the globe.  The calibre of entries was also exceptionally high and I am grateful to the independent panel of judges who spent considerable time deciding the worthy winners.”

After announcing the industry awards, Mary Bond moved to the three Personality Awards – Seatrade Outstanding Contribution Award; Seatrade Port Personality of the Year and Seatrade European Personality of the Year 2017, sponsored V Ships Leisure Ltd.

First to be called to the stage was winner of the Seatrade Outstanding Contribution Award – Antonius Heuer, most recently VP, Global Cruise, ORACLE Hospitality Cruise – described by Mary Bond ‘as a man who has been at the forefront of supplying the global cruise market for over 20 years’.  Next to take centre stage was the winner of Seatrade Port Personality of the Year – Angie Redhead, Cruise and Operations Manager of Liverpool Cruise Terminal and Chair of CruiseBritain – who was awarded in a new category ‘to acknowledge a person for the ports sector who made a difference’. 

Last to come to the stage was the winner of the Seatrade European Personality of the Year Award 2017 sponsored by V. Ships Leisure – Karl J. Pojer, CEO, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises – who proved a popular choice.

Mary Bond said: “Our winner tonight has been in the cruise industry just four years but has definitely made his mark after he took the reins of a luxury cruise line whose portfolio included two of the world’s highest ranking ships. Under his leadership the company has placed orders for two state-of-the-art expedition ships due to arrive in 2019. A truly worthy winner!”

The industry winners

• Port of the Year 2017 – BVI Ports Authority, collected by Alfred Henley, Managing Director
• Destination of the Year 2017 – Le Havre Tourism Board, collected by Valerie Conan, Director Cruise Department
• Supplier of the Year 2017 – Coltraco Ultrasonics, collected by Clare Hunter, Head of Marketing & Communications
• Marketing Initiative of the Year, sponsored by Cruise Baltic – Holland America Line and O, The Oprah Magazine Partnership, collected by Roger Frizzell, SVP and CCO, Carnival Corporation
• Environmental Initiative Award – PresentWater AS, collected by Geir Erik Samnoy, Managing Director
• Innovative Shorex of the Year 2017 – Abercrombie & Kent (Akorn) – The Koala Clancy Foundation Tour & Book, collected by David Vass, SVP, Worldwide Cruise Business & Operations