Alaskan Safari

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.