Cruise Line NEWS

Alaskan Safari

2008-05-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and that's Alaska season! Not only do most lines offer great Alaskan packages, competition is such that you can still nab some good deals.

Probably the best cruise for an Alaskan newbie (or veteran) is the so-called Inside Passage. This is a bit of a misnomer, since you're not cruising through the heart of Alaskan territory. Alaska has been graced with a protected expanse of coastline. That's the Inside Passage. Traveling is smoother and safer there. Naturally, it's where the early settlers set up shop, too, so there is plenty to see in terms of both wildlife and Alaskan town life.

Juneau, for example, is an amazing city. It's the only U.S. capital city that cannot be accessed by car. (You can drive there, you just can't drive to there.) You must arrive by ship or plane or foot (I suppose dog sled would work, too). Glaciers are there, but so is a rainforest. That's right, the Alaskan rainforest is real and you can access it from Juneau.

Great Alaskan excursions include classics like whale watching, bear watching, dog sledding, glacier exploration, and "flight-seeing" (touring by plane). New on the roster at Norwegian Cruise Lines are private Hummer tours (you get a chauffeur-driven Hummer) and Floatplane tours in Ketchikan.

A couple of cruise lines are offering Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's tours although you don't go to the Bering Sea. You do get to explore a crab boat vessel and meet veteran crab fishermen who share their adventures. If you've ever seen the Discovery channel's Deadliest Catch, you'll know there is a cult-like following for this.

Shark! Card Sharks, That Is!

2008-03-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Carnival is sponsoring a series of poker cruises for fans of Texas Hold 'Em. Called the Carnival PokerPro Challenge, the cruise line is holding a series of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em poker satellite tournaments on several voyages throughout 2008. Winners in the preliminary tournaments will have a chance to compete for the $45,000 cash prize in the Grand Final Playoff, scheduled for the Carnival Fantasy voyage on October 4, 2008.

Winners in the preliminary tournaments have the chance to walk away with $750 along with a seat at the Grand Final Playoff.

To sign up, players must ante up $150 and book passage on one of several cruises going on from now until June 30. These include all of the voyages on the Carnival Spirit, Carnival Conquest, Carnival Valor, Carnival Liberty, Carnival Fascination, Carnival Victory, and Carnival Legend till June 30 along with all voyages on the Carnival Pride (except for June 15, 2008 sailing), all voyages on the Carnival Glory (except the May 10, 2008 sailing) and all voyages on the Carnival Miracle (except the April 23, 2008 sailing).

Rake fees are $15 per entry. Poker players are asked to register for the tournaments on the first night of the cruise at the cashier cage in the casino.

Old World is Hot New Destination

2008-03-08T16:12:00.000-08:00

The Old World of Europe is a hot new destination for a lot of cruise lines. Azamara is boasting exotic European ports that its smaller ships can access such as Zadar (Croatia), Volos (Greece), and Rouen (France).

In case Rouen doesn't ring a bell, it is best known to historians as the site of Joan of Arc's execution. It's actually a charming town with a distinct Medieval flavor.

Norwegian Cruise Lines is going to station The Norwegian Jade year-round in Europe starting March 30, 2008. The Jade will call Europe home till at least November 2008 with some Eastern Mediterranean sailings, all starting from Barcelona, Spain.

Princess is announcing that it's never done more European cruises than the upcoming 2009 calendar. Two ships (Ruby Princess and Tahitian Princess) will call Europe home, adding nine new itineraries and 11 ports of call. Exotic is the word on some of these ports: Sochi and Murmask (Russia), Lulea (Sweden), Klaipeda (Lithuania), Seydisfjordur and Grunarfjordur (Iceland) and Ceuta (a Spanish city that's actually located in Morocco).

Azamaracruises.com

2008-02-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

I love cruise websites and the new cruise line Azamara Cruises has one. It's not so much one of those "book it here" kind of sites, it's aimed at giving you more of a feel of what the cruises will be like.

Of course, you can price and book a cruise on the site.

What I liked was the stateroom views (360 degrees) plus the opportunity to get deck plans of all the ships.

Check it out: http://www.azamaracruises.com.

QE2 and Queen Victoria Meet in Sydney

2008-02-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

Cunard Cruise Lines is creating what it's calling a Royal Rendezvous in Sydney Australia when the QE2 and the Queen Victoria meet in Sydney.

It's happening right now (February 23). Queen Victoria should be in port in Syndey with her more famous sister, the QE2 due in tomorrow (February 24).

There's some history involved. The QE2 made it's first call on the port of Sydney way back in 1978, exactly on February 24. So it's a 30-year reunion for the old gal. And it's a bit of a sad reunion because Cunard says this is the QE2's farewell World Cruise.

Celebrity Solstice Launches 10 Restaurants

2008-02-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

You can really only do this in the cruise industry. Celebrity Cruise Lines just announced that it is opening 10 new restaurants. All on one ship.

What they've done is hire Adam Tihany, a restaurant and hotel designer, to work out a plan for the Celebrity Solstice, one of the line's largest vessels. Tihany designed Le Cirque in New York City, Seagblue in Las Vegas, and the Mandarin Bar in London, among many others. This was the first time Tihany had worked within the "confines" of a sea-going city. He created a two-story dining room, a two-story wine tower, and some smaller venues.

The Grand Epernay is the main dining room which has a two-story glass wine tower as part of the decor. Think Old Hollywood glamor.

The Tuscan Grille is a more intimate space that blends Italian countryside and Napa Valley.

Silk Harvest would be where I would head. It's a contemporary Asian restuarant with Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese cuisines, including sushi, sakes, and that super-hot Thai food some of us adore.

Other eateries are Blu (spa food, reservations only, plus you have to book in a certain class to be eligible to get reservations), Murano (Continental), Bistro on Five (crepes), Care al Bacio and Gelateria (hey, I know that much Italian--this is ice cream!) and AquaSpa Cafe where you eat in the solarium, which, incidentally is where Colonel Mustard killed his victim with a candlestick.

Eating by the pool is still allowed at the Mast Grill & Bar (chicken wings) and the Oceanview Cafe is sort of the chameleon restaurant in that it was designed to reflect the destinations to which the ship is traveling. It's got long hours and outdoor seating.

And, yes, burgers are still served!

Blogging Cruise, part deux

2008-02-13T08:38:00.000-08:00

If you don't know who John Heald is, this may not seem that big of a deal to you.

If you do know John Heald, hang on.

John Heald is the senior cruise director for Carnival who last year started a blog. Starting in May 2007, Heald started writing about his experiences as cruise director, his behind-the-scenes perspectives on the industry, and sometimes hilarious commentaries about life on the high seas and particularly, um, memorable passengers.

What is amazing is that people flocked to his blog. In droves! He has had over 1.4 million hits in his less-than-one-year-old blog. That's amazing. Most people in blogging know how hard it is to get even a thousand hits. Nobody (least of all Heald) expected the phenomenal success.

You can catch his blog at http://www.carnival.com. There's a direct link, but I think it's easier to just go to the main cruise line page and click. You'll see the icon for his blog off to the right.

Anyway, Heald's blog was so much fun that Carnival ran its first-ever bloggers' cruise. That was so successful they have just announced the next one. It's going to be on the Carnival Fantasy with dates of February 7-12, 2009.

The big appeal of this is to blog lovers. Heald will be there in person and there will be a reception where passengers can meet him and have a photo taken with him. Carnival promises some unspecified blog-related "give-aways." Avid readers may be able to walk away with prizes since they're doing blog trivia games.

Now even if you're not a blog reader (yet), you might still want to sign on for this cruise. First of all, it's on Carnival Fantasy. This ship is just getting a massive renovation in the line's Evolution of Fun program. It's expected to unveil with a water park, a redone pool, and completely refurbished staterooms and common rooms. Oh, and a rock wall. But beyond that, Carnival is sketchy with all of the details other than to say that we can expect "innovations."

The cruise is going out of the Big Easy, New Orleans, and what better place to launch a renovated ship than in the renovated city? It's a five-day Gulf of Mexico cruise taking passengers to Progreso and Cozumel.

According to Carnival, they're offering fares on this cruise at $359 a person (you can generally go cheap if you book early) But if you want to sign on to the bloggers cruise (and participate in the Heald-related festivities) book with this fare code: CPBL/FPBL or talk to a Carnival rep in person. Tell them Cruise Line NEWS sent you.

Easy Disembarkation?

2008-02-13T08:34:00.000-08:00

This should be filed in the "somebody should do something about this" file because maybe somebody has. I have not experienced this myself, so I cannot vouch that this works. But Princess Cruise Lines has decided it's unhappy with the old-fashioned bump-and-grind-your-teeth method of disembarkation on cruise ships.

This is the worst part of any cruise, and it makes for an abrupt ending to what is usually otherwise a quite lovely week on the seas.

Instead of straining to hear loudspeaker announcements, slapping on luggage tags and hoping for the best, and then tearing off with no clear plan only to get stalled in stairway gridlock ... here's a new idea.

On the last night of the cruise, Princess sends you a letter with specific instructions on how to disembark. You get a time and place. Show up at that time and you'll be met by a Princess crew member whose job it is to escort you off the ship in a timely way.

No more rushing around and no more garbled loudspeaker announcements.

If you don't mind lugging your own luggage, Princess says you can participate in "Express Disembarkation," which just means these resourceful and hardy souls get to go first.

Fred Astaire Lives!

2008-02-13T08:29:00.001-08:00

This may be an acquired taste but if you love ballroom dancing and those TV shows where celebrities dust off their dancing shoes to compete, Royal Caribbean is bringing "Invitation to Dance" on its Explorer of the Seas ship. It's one of their production shows but instead of letting the cast and crew do all the work, passengers are invited to step up, step out, and even compete.

This is ballroom dancing: think rumba, cha-cha, samba, the waltz, and swing.

At the start of each cruise on Explorer of the Seas, there is an evening of ballroom dancing at which four couples are selected to participate in the "Invitation to Dance" show later that week. The lucky couples who get the nod will work with choreographers, costume designers, and the technical behind-the-scenes people to be part of a world-class show. Cheryl Burke, a two-timer winner of the TV show "Dancing with the Stars," is the hostess.

On show night, the four couples (who probably up to now have been having a great time getting to know each other) become competitors as the audience picks the winning couple.

Explorer of the Seas sails out of Cape Liberty Cruise Port (Bayonne, New Jersey) and offers a five-night Bermuda sailing or a nine-night tour of the Caribbean.

What's the Best Cruise? The One You Win!

2008-02-13T08:23:00.001-08:00

Right now, cruise lovers can compete for not one but two free cruises in specialty contests. You can get more details at http://www.thecruise-shopper.com/News_Mainpage.html.

Princess Cruises is playing off its Love Boat image by offering a contest for the most romantic person. If you think you're the most romantic person (or you want to nominate someone who is), you can send in a video entry of three minutes or less making your case. Princess explains how (visit its website) at http://www.greatestromantic.princess.com/ for specifics. The winner walks away with a free cruise. But you have to hurry. Deadline is March 20, 2008. The best five entries will be determined by April 1 and for two weeks, the general public can pick the best entry.

Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean is busy building what it's calling the two largest cruise ships in the world. Code-named Genesis I and Genesis II, RC is holding a contest to invite members of the public to name those ships. This is a bit of a break with tradition in the cruise world (and tradition is a big thing in the maritime industry). Typically, heads of state or cruise lines or captains of industry are asked to name ships. Letting everyday people have the honor is a new thing, but one RC intends to pay off handsomely. If your entry wins, you'll get a seven-day first-class cruise on the ship you named, plus you'll be invited to the naming ceremony.

Details on that are at http://www.namethatship.com/. Contest deadline is February 29, so the pressure is on.

New Cruise Line Just Sets Sail: Azamara

2007-05-28T09:40:00.001-07:00

There's a new cruise line in the business and its first ship just set sail on May 4. The line is Azamara and it's owned by Celebrity Cruises.

The Azarma Line is what might be considered a niche line. First of all, the ships are smaller. The Azarmar Journey accommodates just 710 guests. Its sister ship, the Azarma Quest, will enter service in October 2007.

Second, the line is going to be "deluxe," which a Celebrity spokesperson said is "between premium and luxury." In other words, upscale, but not the super-posh.

But the real reason Azamara is going to stand out is the destinations. The line plans to visit some very unusual destinations for cruise lines. While the line's official itinerary has not been published to date, Celebrity says that the line will visit more than 200 ports in 70 countries. What's more, most of these ports will be "new to cruise travelers."

Using smaller ships is going to make it possible for these vessels to go a bit more off the beaten path. Itineraries remain a bit vague at the moment, but the line promises to have a lot of Asian destinations as well as the more familiar Caribbean.

Spa services will be emphasized, including a variety on in-room treatments for suite passengers. Each ship has two specialty restaurants on-board and boasts an extensive wine cellar.

Check it out: http://www.azamarcruises.com.

Teen Advisory Board

2007-05-28T09:30:00.001-07:00

Royal Caribbean has always had the reputation of being family friendly. Now they're launching the cruise industry's first Teen Advisory Board. The idea is that RC will now let teens participate in developing cruise activities and vacation experiences that they want.

The program is going to debut with the Libery of the Seas and then roll out across all ships in the fleet.

Some ideas that have already come up: putting musical instruments on board for ice-breaker jam sessions for kids, competitive Wii video gaming, and offering teen-only dining in the Windjammer Cafe.

RC has a 4,000 foot long Dragon's Flight zip-line on its private-destination location in Haiti. This is also going to feature big for teens, because it lets them travel over three-quarters of a mile 200 feet above a lush tropical landscape.

"Teens are more travel savvy than their parents were at their age, and they actively participate in the planning of the family vacation," remarked Alice Norsowrthy, senior VP of Marketing at RC.

The program began out of a consulting group and a research project conducted in 2006 to find out what kids ages 12 to 17 want from a cruise experience. Today, there are ten teens on the board.

RC has dedicated areas for teens only on all of its ships and was the first cruise line to introduce the concept (way back in 1992).

Elvis Has Left the Dock

2007-05-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

The first-ever Elvis Cruise is slated to sail from Jacksonville, Florida on August 30 and do a four-day tour calling on Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas.

Billed as the first authentic and fully licensed Elvis Cruise, the package was put together by Jazz Cruises, LLC, out of St. Louis and Carnival Cruise Lines.

Jerry Schilling is playing host on the voyage. Schilling is a long-time friend of the King and wrote the book, Me and a Guy Named Elvis. The cruise will feature live shows from artists who performed with Elvis, including the TCB Band, the Jordanaires, the Imperials, the Dempseys, Ronnie McDowell, Terry Mike Jeffrey & Band, Ruby Wilson, and others.

Other events including an Elvis tribute contest (open to all guests), question sessions with the musicians, and special party events.

"This cruise provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity for Elvis fans to come together and enjoy the exception music and memories of one of the most celebrated performing artists of all time," said Carnival prez and CEO, Bob Dickinson.

The cruise will take place on Carnival's Celebration which offers wi-fi internet, cellular service, three pools (including the twister water slide), and 24-hour pizza and self-service ice cream.

To book, call Jazz Cruises LLC at 800-704-3034 or visit them at http://www.theelviscruise.com.

By the way, Jazz Cruises also does many other music-themed cruises.

Oldest College Grad to Sail on Crown Princess as Story Teller

2007-05-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a special interest story. Maybe you've heard of Nola Ochs or at least what she's done. At age 95, she's the world's oldest college graduate. She just graduated from the Fort Hays State University in California in April 2007.

Nola Ochs actually started college way back in 1930, but it wasn't until her husband died in 1972 that she started picking up occasional community college credits. Last year, she got serious and moved the 100 miles to Fort Hayes to finish her degree.

Her story made the Guinness Book of World Records plus she's been on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and got lots of other news mentions.

When asked what she wanted to do next, Nola replied, "To be a storyteller on a cruise ship."

Princess Cruise line made the arrangements and will feature Nola Ochs on the June 17 East Caribbean sailing of the Crown Princess. She will be part of Princess' Scholarship@Sea program. In addition to telling stories about her early life growing up on a farm in Kansas (no running water, no electricity), she will also field questions in a Q&A session.

The cruise is an Eastern Caribbean journey, departing from Brooklyn, New York and calling on Bermuda, San Juan, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk.

Partnership for Youth Success and NCL Join Forces

2007-05-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Army runs a program called Partnership for Youth Success (PaYS), which is an arrangement between the military and about 500 American corporations and public sector agencies. The goal is that PaYS helps Army soldiers re-integrate into the civilian workforce when their military service is completed. PaYS was set up so that talented and ambitious young people will not see the military as a detour around a career but that they can complete a tour of duty and still find a good civilian job down the road.

Some companies participating in the PaYS program are well known to American consumers: Pepsi, BellSouth, Sears, and Dell are on the list.

Now, too, is Norwegian Cruise Lines. In fact, it's the first (and at this moment the only) cruise line to be an official partner in the PaYS program.

Soldiers who enlist may express interest in any of the PaYS positions with the understanding that they will interview for those jobs when their service is over. Right now, about 30 enlisted soliders have expressed interest in working for Norwegian Cruise Lines once they finish their terms.

Bravo to NCL for Military Appreciation Program

2007-03-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

Hats off to Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) which just announced that it is giving all members of the U.S. military discounted rates on all NCL and NCL sailings. It's part of a program they're calling Military Appreciation.

The program is open to qualifying active military personnel, retired personnel and veterans. Spouses of active military members are also eligible. There are some restrictions and special conditions and military personnel must have proper military identification to show at the port of embarkation. For more information, call NCL at 866-234-0292.

Duffers United

2007-03-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

Golfers have reason to celebrate as Crystal Cruises announces a golf-themed cruise slated for August 20, 2007. This 11-day cruise around the British Isles (round trip from London) will let guests have the option of playing at the legendary St. Andrews' Jubilee Course in Edinburgh.

This is one of the oldest and most venerable golf courses on earth and considered by golf experts (which ain't us) to be one of the world's most challenging courses.

But just in case that's not enough golf, passengers can also play at Dublin's K Club, The Harbour Point Golf Club in Cork, Ireland, or the Royal Belfast Golf Club. Each of these excursions allows passengers the chance to play 18 holes of world-class golf. Well, potential world-class golf on world-class links.

Golf clinics will be held on board and Billy Casper and Jim Huber have been invited as celebrity speakers.

Alaskan Excursions

2007-03-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

Celebrity Cruises just announced some of its new excursions for cruises going to Alaska. Celebrity will start its Alaskan cruise season this May and is unveiling about 158 excursions. Some of them caught our eye.

Did you ever see the Discovery show The Deadliest Catch? I loved it but it's a strange premise for a show. The viewer follows several crab boats as they work the icy and very dangerous waters of the Bering Sea. Celebrity is calling this excursion "The Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour" but they're using a ship from The Deadliest Catch to take passengers out in the relatively smooth waters off the southeaster portion of Alaska where they can travel in the ships and watch seasoned fishermen at work. This is a catch-and-release tour.
How about bear watching? Celebrity has a float plane tour to one of the few spots on earth where you can observe brown and black bear salmon fishing. Definitely not catch-and-release with these guys.
Lumberjack Show allows guests to see lumberjack competitions and tour an old Indian campsite.
White Pass Railway lets guests travel along the original railroad route traveled by gold diggers (the kind who dug for gold) in a railcar retro-fitted to be 1890s style.

Love Boat 2007

2007-02-23T14:44:00.000-08:00

Princess Cruises has always played up the Love Boat angle. After all, this LA-based company was the one that Love Boat producers turned to for help with the show. (And the Love Boat was a Princess ship.)

Now Princess has opened its own Department of Romance. I guess if you're an LA-based cruise line, you can have departments like that at your company. The idea was to bring together some love experts to help Princess develop and market singles and romantic voyages.

So who's on the committee? Gavin MacLeod, for one, the old Love Boat captain himself. Trish McDermott, a relationship expert (featured on 60 Minutes, The Today Show, CNN and places like that), the venerable Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and Alba Carreras, a cruise "wedding expert." Ms. Carreras literally specializes in helping folks set up memorable events if they want to get married on a cruise ship.

So what is this department doing? Check out the Princess website which now features a virtual romance section. Here you can get information aimed at the romantic traveler. Princess will also be launching a new addition to its enrichment cruise series, "Become a Certified Romantic." It's part of its Scholarship@Sea learning program and is designed to help couples rekindle their passions. Oh, and Princess cruise passengers can order Romance by Room Service, a package that involves, among other things, strwing fresh rose petals on the bed.

Tall Ships

2007-02-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

If cruising conjures up images of enormous vessels full of swimming pools, casinos, and Vegas-style shows along with blue-haired old ladies and their gentlemen friends scoping out the midnight buffet, let me tell you about another type of cruise.

Known as the tall ship cruise, these cruise ships are much smaller than the floating cities you see in so many cruise commercials. They have sails and although they don't totally operate on wind power, you will get a sense of what it was like to actually sail around the islands.

If you thought it might be fun to travel like the guys in Pirates of the Caribbean, there are cruises for you. Wind-powered tall ships with decks that creak still ply the waters around Jamaica and other pirate dens.

A great line for these is Windjammer. They're nicknamed "barefoot cruises" because they tend to be informal, appeal to a younger crowd, and definitely promote a party atmosphere. Like to find out more without going to a cruise site just yet? Check out http://www.thecruise-shopper.com/Tall%20Ships.html.

The ships are smaller but that has the paradoxical effect of helping you get to know your fellow cruise-mates better. You'll see the same people over and over! Food is great on these vessels, but not quite as formal-fancy as some of the major lines.

Southwest Deals

2007-02-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

Southwest Airlines offers cruises and they're just wrapping up a sale. Of course, it's kind of hard to tell where the sale begins and ends. They generally offer lots of "last-minute" specials and other things. One interesting feature is some "new" ships that are offering specials. These are brand new vessels on familiar lines.

Top 10 Ships

2007-02-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

The members of the World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society recently voted on their top 10 cruise ships in terms of entertainment offerings. These are industry insiders, not tourists, who do the voting. Their picks:

Carnival Liberty (Carnival Cruise Line)
Queen Mary 2 (Cunard Line)
Crystal Serentiy (Crystal Cruises)
Summit (Celebrity Cruises)
Crystal Symphony (Crystal Cruises)
Constellation (Celebrity Cruises)
Crystal Harmony (Crystal Cruises)
Rotterdam (Holland American Line)
Infinity (Celebrity Cruises)
Sapphire Princess (Princess Cruises)