10 secret tips the cruise lines don’t tell you

Regardless of which cruise line you choose, they don't tell you this stuff

Here are some important cruise vacation tips you might not find on any other list.  The cruise lines won’t tell you these.  A good travel agent might but it would not be negligent of them to keep these tips to themselves. Only the most trusted of friends will let you in on these tips, if they know about them.

1. Bring your own toilet paper- might as well just get this out of the way right up front.  The cruise lines do a great job of feeding you, pampering you, and taking you to multiple destinations while you only have to unpack once.  Providing plush, soft toilet paper is not one of their selling points.
2. Be careful flossing- or just skip it unless you’re on a really long cruise.  Either that or bring along some Superglue if you have anything other than original teeth in your head.  Crowns, bridgework, fillings, all love to jump out of your mouth at sea.  Yes, the ship’s medical center can help but that brings us to number 3
3. It is going to cost more than you thought- this is nothing to be scared of but to say a cruise is “all-inclusive” is stretching it a bit.  Ok, a lot.  While we have done cruises and not spent any money onboard (ok, one cruise and it was tough) We have also spent more than the cruise fare. Passing up onboard spending can mean losing out on some rich experiences through shore excursions, spa treatments and other things that cost extra.  And buy travel insurance; it should cover that trip to the medical center.
4. Travel insurance reimburses you- nobody mentions this and while it is in the written details of your policy a trip to the medical center is going to cost you up front, then reimbursed later.  Be sure to get receipts, the names of those providing assistance and keep a journal of your experience.
5. Some extras are hard to avoid-  The big one is”gratuities” which are conveniently charged to your onboard account every day so you don’t have to worry about it.  This can be a good thing if that’s what you want to have happen. In fact, on many lines you can pre-pay this amount before boarding.  If you think that a gratuity is a show of appreciation for a job well done, think again.  These things go on your bill automatically which, to me, kind of spoils the fun of it all.
6. Be good, they can kick you off- Cruise lines, more specifically, the Captain (aka “master of the vessel”) have the right to put you off the ship at the next port without a refund or way back home if you misbehave.  That could mean something as innocent as an argument with a fellow gambler in the casino. (That really happened)
7. Kids can buy booze- If they try hard enough, your teenage children can find a way to get it on the ship.  One popular method is paying double price for a bucket of beer, in cash, to an adult looking for slot-machine money.  Another is buying it ashore in Mexico where the legal drinking age is “whoever money” then sneak it back on the ship, also easy to do.  My simple rule when we had teens “Don’t do anything that would require me to talk to security or identify your body”  That aside, a cruise truly does have something for everyone; even angst-filled teens.
8. Be sure your kids go to the meeting on the first night- This is critical, especially with those teens.  The first night decides the social order  and defines who hangs out with who in supplement to any informal hookups they may have made up to that point.  Missing this important social opportunity dooms your kids to being outsiders and robs them of the chance to be cool; akin to losing a limb for adults.
9. Any cruise might be a “booze cruise”- While we’re on the subject,  Carnival Cruise Lines has a bad rap for being the binge-drinkers line of choice.  I’ve seen those same sloppy drunks on just about every ship I have ever sailed on.  One cruise line is not necessarily better than another in this area. I see a lot of this on short, week-end cruises.
10. Tell the Captain “Thank You”- You will hear him referred to as “the Master of the vessel” and that is exactly what he is; the top dog.  If you see him walking about the ship, make eye contact and if the opportunity presents itself, shake his hand and thank him for the marvelous ship you are sailing on.   Yes, he has layer upon layer of officers to deal with the day to day workings of the various departments on board and those are the people you should talk to if there are any problems with your cruise experience, right then while you are on the ship.  I commonly send a hand-written, dated note via the Pursers desk about the second or third day.

I mention all this stuff not to scare you away from a cruise vacation.  Quite the contrary.  Knowing these things and taking steps to be sure they don’t have a negative impact on your vacation is pretty easy.

What secret tips do you have?  Reply here or send me a secret email

Cruising the Ruby Princess- we leave tomorrow

Princess Cruises

As we continue our series on getting ready for a cruise, one of the things we like to do just before getting on the ship is to check current reviews from CruiseCritic.com and other trusted sources.

So much of a cruise experience is subjective but we get a good feel for what is happening on board right now that way.  For example, I might think some dessert is fabulous and tell everyone about it but you hate something in it so that has little value to you.  Still, key elements of reviews can be counted on as good information, especially if you follow a certain person, have read them before and come to trust their judgment.  Also, by reading a number of reviews or comments about a specific sailing of any one given ship, common elements rise to the top and can be counted on as objective.

“I hated the food” or “I loved the food” = not subjective or reliable information, either way unless you “know” the reviewers either personally or from reading other stuff they wrote

“The ship sank” or “There was a flotation problem” = you can probably count on being accurate

Food, as we mentioned before in this series, is a tough one to rate and I probably wouldn’t try except that as we spoke of earlier, Lisa and I are following very specific dietary guidelines given to us by medical professionals.  That is as opposed to “Lisa and I are on diets” which is a whole other thing and has a whole other meaning.  I have been on diets before and this program we have now is much different.  Part of the program is an exercise regimen that evolves over time.  A critical part of planning, for us, then is finding out what kind of equipment they have in the fitness center and what might be on the menu around the ship.

I was reminded of this just yesterday with this letter from a guest on an upcoming group sailing of a different ship I am sailing on next month:

Chris, some of our neighbors recently took this cruise and came back VERY disappointed. One couple has cruised with (cruise line name) 19 times and swears they will never again. They said that the food was horrible. An order of “Surf and Turf” amounted to a small piece of meat and 2 butterfly shrimp. The menu’s were very limited and the new chef on this ship specializes in mostly curry dishes. In addition they said they had cut back entertainment to just 2 nights and it was sub-standard.

We’d appreciate your checking into this for us. We are aware that the cruise industry is hurting, but this is ridiculous. We don’t mind paying for a good cruise but we expect to get what we pay for. This will be my 4th cruise on (cruise line name) and they have always been one of my favorites.”

I thought about that for a while and realized “Damn, (and I never swear) these people are getting all worked up and mad and they have not even gotten on the ship yet.  So I replied:

“Sorry your neighbors had a bad experience and were very disappointed. That sure is a shame. Your note to me is quite frank and I sure do understand your concern. Allow me to show you the same frank courtesy and address this topic right here, right now.

First, do you know if they said anything about it to the Maitre ‘d in the dining room about the food or the cruise director about the entertainment or mention this to anyone on the ship? (Don’t answer this, I’m just asking) It’s always even more of a shame when someone who could have done something about some problem didn’t know and could not do anything about it. I was not on the ship and don’t know personally what they experienced but have always found the ship’s personnel to be quite eager to help any way they could. I ask this because I know that there is no limit on the amount of food we can consume on the cruise ship. In the past I and many others I know have asked for more of an entrée or even several different entrée’s when we could not decide between the selections. This has never been a problem on any cruise line.

As far as the cruise lines “hurting” goes, I don’t think they are. I do know that, like most business’, the cruise lines are concerned with costs and waste and have taken steps to reduce it. As long as those efforts do not negatively affect our cruise experience, I’m all for it. Royal Caribbean now charges for room service in the middle of the night to keep kids from ordering all kinds of stuff that they don’t eat. Maybe you’ve seen the trays of uneaten food in the hallways on ships. That all adds up. The attractive rates we received on this cruise might not be possible if steps were not taken to reduce waste on the cruise ship. Still, an excellent dining experience is what I expect we will find on this ship. Will it be perfect? Probably not. I am confident that the ship’s staff will do whatever they can to make us happy though or I would not be sailing with you.

I’d encourage you to NOT let your friends experience with a sailing taint yours even before you get on the ship.

That’s got disaster written all over it.

I wish I could say I was on the ship last week and the food was great. But even if I was, my opinion of “great food” will be different than yours, or my wife’s, or the guy sitting at the next table. Your friends comment that the portions were insufficient is just odd to me. One thing I feel pretty confident in is that I will not go hungry on a cruise.

I can guarantee you one thing on this upcoming cruise: not everything will be perfect.

I have been on a bunch of cruises and not one has been perfect. The difference is that I choose NOT to let little things ruin my cruise.

For example, I know there will be lines to get on and off the ship so I bring reading material or chat with other guests in line…not about how long the line is and how long we have been waiting, both are very subjective observations. We’ll talk about the exciting vacation awaiting us and what we plan on doing, other cruises we have been on, etc. I used to moan and groan about the lines but took steps to avoid them as much as possible.

You asked me to check into the situation your friends experienced on their sailing or the dining situation in general. I’m a bit puzzled by that as in what would you have me say?

• “I heard the food is bad on this ship, is it going to be good when we get on and can you tell the chef to tone down the curry seasoning?” or

• “I have some clients coming on the ship that expect good food, big portions and not too much curry” or

• “What happened to the entertainment? I hear you cut back to two nights and it is substandard”

Obviously, the cruise line would respond that the food is great, the entertainment top-notch and so on. We’ll see soon enough.

For your convenience, I have attached the menus of the ship to this email. While subject to change, this should give you a good idea of what will be available on the ship.

I encourage you to look over those menus, go to the (cruise line name) website and check on possible shore excursions you might like to take and read either my weblog or column on Examiner.com for more information that you can count on between now and sailing. Studying the ship’s deck plans is also a good idea so you know your way around a bit before getting on the ship.

All that said, how about you let me worry about the food in the dining room and entertainment on board. I was in the restaurant business for decades and have no problem addressing anything that might come our way. On the entertainment, let’s see what they have to offer and plan accordingly once on the ship. I’m not expecting Frank Sinatra in a lounge or a Broadway show in the theater but what they have should be, well, entertaining or we will just have to do something else.

I hope this addresses your concerns so far and hope you’ll let me know what else I can do to help as we go along

Thanks for letting me know about this. I appreciate you taking the time to write”

Too much?  Some emails are easy to answer and a short answer is appropriate, others require a more detailed response.

This sort of thing comes up from time to time and is what I call the “down side” of personal recommendations and trusting sources.  By and large, the recommendations of a trusted friend or source is a fabulous element to add into your planning mix.  Let’s not go overboard though, literally anyway.  Be it message boards, articles in the paper or online or simply chatting with a neighbor, we have to keep these things in perspective.   I don’t place a lot of weight on subjective items like food or the quality of entertainment but if I see a trend, either positive or negative, in one way or another I sure will file that away and maybe pay a little more attention to those areas once on board.  I might be “on guard” to prevent a problem later.

One part of online trusted sources we can count on though is photos.  They are for the most part very neutral and simply report what the camera sees.  So when looking for accurate information on a topic I always start with looking up some images of what I want to know about online.  That was really hard when I started writing about Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas and all there was were artist’s renderings of what the ship is supposed to look like, prior to getting on the ship and taking real photos to show you.  But now, 46 articles and a few thousand guests visiting later, actual photos are starting to show up online.  Below are some photos of what I expect to see on Ruby Princess, these provided by the cruise line but also available with a Google image search.  It looks like there will be plenty of equipment and things to do in the exercise area for example.

But say you never want to go in that area at all, maybe that is not your idea of a good vacation.  The food selections might be something you are interested in and this ship which has been around for a while now should have plenty to look at.  Still as noted before, food is a very subjective thing, what I might like you might not and we’ll just take it as a given that the food will be good and good to see.

We’ll find out about all that when we board the ship tomorrow.  Today we tie up any loose ends, finish final packing and get ready to go.  Finally.  Vacation-eve has arrived and time will start flying by more than ever before.  Lisa is working today so I will get everything I can ready to go before she gets home from work.  The goal today is to be ready to go before we go to sleep tonight.  That means everyone packed, car ready to go and all we have to do in the morning is get in the car and drive to Port Everglades.

Wish me luck.

In the morning I’ll start tweeting (@orlandochris) and posting photos on facebook .  If you want to follow along, follow us on twitter or facebook for whatever we happen to post about.

Oh and those people who wrote yesterday replied back later in the day:

“I certainly won’t let there experience “taint” my views but it did raise concerns. Both couples are very seasoned cruisers and NOT complainers. I noticed that there was only one curry dish on the menus. Yes they did complain and perhaps the message got through. As for the entertainment, I have seen good and bad but I don’t ever recall a cruise with no entertainment for the majority of the cruise. Perhaps the cruise line has addressed that as well….we will find out.

As for the excursions, we have cruised this itinerary so many times that we will probably not take too many excursions. We just want to be with our friends, relax and have a good time.

Thanks for geting back to me”

My reply?

“I look forward to meeting you on the ship; I’m counting on you to let me know if they’re on the ball!”

I love a story with a happy ending.  I’ll be “on guard” for these people’s concerns too!

Let’s Cruise!

Princess Cruises photo

Ok, enough talking about it, we are sailing on the Ruby Princess Thursday December 17 for three days.

Shall you join us?

I think so!

With about a week to go, I thought you might enjoy reading what we do to get ready and how we do it.  Many of you have written for tips on this or that concerning getting ready for your own cruise.  Here is a blow by blow account of our big 3 day adventure on Ruby Princess.

The last few days before the cruise always seem to be a flurry of activity so let me back this up a little bit.

Sailing will be myself and my wife Lisa.  We live in the Orlando area so we will drive to Port Everglades for the cruise.  I think, no I am sure, this is one of the very best parts of living in Florida.  The drive to the port is about 3 hours or so…the “or so” part adding up if we stop on Florida’s Turnpike, something that has become somewhat of a ritual.

Up until our last sailing on Oasis of the Seas, also from Port Everglades, we would stop for coffee and some ridiculously overpriced bakery thing at Starbucks.   Recently, though, we realized that we are not human garbage disposal that just don’t work very well so they retain a greater and greater amount of what they eat.  OK maybe that’s stretching it a bit.  Maybe we did NOT attack the buffets squashing small children in order to satisfy our gaping maws.  We were really doing pretty well. But what we were doing was not really working.  It’s this think I have for cookies you see.  Lisa’s job at the office/tapas-lounge-for-any-occasion-someone-might-be-celebrating hasn’t helped either.

Lisa is in a health program sponsored by the place where she works.  This program is the greatest.  We both have been optimal-weight-challenged for forever.  Personally, I could write a book on the many different “diets” I have been on.  This program is the real thing and has us eating lots of whole grain stuff, lots of protein, not as much of anything, and so on combined with a excercise regime that evolves along with the program.

We’re doing well on that so the Starbucks stop on the way down won’t amount to very much I don’t think.  Still, we’ll stop on the way back for some fresh (like “Hey, look over there: It’s the tree this grew on) Florida citrus fruit though.  But they have changed operators or something there at the rest stop and the new management has an even more aggressive view on pricing.  Their school of thought is called the “take no prisoners” way of doing business which lets them charge $7.99 for a dollar value-meal sized chicken sandwich.  Actually, it might not be a bad idea to just stop and go look around on the way to the ship.  Everything they sell on the ship would seem inexpensive and a super value.

Regardless of how long we take getting to the port, it beats flying here to Florida from Kansas as we did for years with the family, leaving then returning to the frozen tundra and naked wilderness  (or so it seems now) of the winter desolation we called home.  I liked having something to look forward to when we lived there so we always had a cruise booked well in advance.

We booked this Ruby Princess cruise about a year ago which we like to do whenever possible.  Booking far in advance has proved over time to be the best way for us to go.  Booking with Princess too we know if the price goes down that they will honor it if we qualify.  They also have awesome travel insurance which we always get.  What makes it so great is that since we have cruised with them a number of times before we could cancel for any reason and get a 100% refund in the form of a credit on a future cruise.   Like we won’t use it?  I don’t think that would be a problem.  Like I’m going to say, “No, lets skip the (fabulous) cruise and buy some (boring) stock instead.  Not hardly.

Future Cruise Credit is a thing that should be on the top of your list of terms to know inside and out on Princess.

Princess was the pioneer enabling guests to book a future cruise while sailing, giving them a reduced deposit and onboard credit for doing so.  Another no-brainer.  I don’t think we ever did it the way they want us to do though.  The program would love to book us on a specific ship and sailing date some time in the future before we get off the ship.  That helps them avoid sleepless nights by contributing to their quest to fill all the cabins on all the ships all the time.  They have people like Charlie on the NUMBERS television show calculating advanced algorithms and formulas to predict that stuff.

We never know.  Lots of people don’t know. So we’re not like wild and crazy rebels or anything.

Your travel agent knows though.  Your travel agent will know you did it.  Princess tells them everything. It’s part of a secret report the cruise line sends travel agents after you get off the ship.  It chronicles your exploits on the ship, no matter what, usually with video and, if applicable, police reports that travel agents often use to blackmail you.  No, thats Internet Cruise Brokers that do stuff of that flavor.

No, not really but your travel agent does know you did it and will probably send you a brochure or for sure bump you up a notch or two on the VIP list.   You mean business now buddy!  You were on a cruise and couldn’t even wait to get off to book another one!  You. Are. Super-Pumped. About. Cruises!

I was challenged as a young boy with not peeking at the presents under the tree during the holidays.  I suspect many others were too.  This is a really popular program among those who know whats going on.

We will pay $100 each to Princess, they hold it in our Future Cruise Credit account (there’s that term again) and we have several years to make up our minds. That’s usually plenty of time.  It’s not like they’re asking us to decide if having children was a good idea or something.  That might take decades.  Depending on the cabin category we choose we will get a little or a big pile of  onboard credit too.  We can add to that Future Cruise Credit account also by referring others to Princess as our friends.  Even if they are not our friends.  Even if we hate their guts and the feeling is mutual.  If there’s a chance they will sail, we refer them.  We turn in email addresses of friends and if they sail we get $25 added to that Future Cruise Credit account for each of them and they get a $25 discount on their cruise.  Hey, it adds up.  I think Princess will eventually make Future Cruise Credit replace the dollar, yen and peso.  The system works just that good.

Along the way we got a packet of information in the mail from Princess along with a Cruise Answer Book that has information on pretty much everything except how to smuggle booze, drugs or hookers on the ship.  In that packet is shore excursion information if we wanted to send in a form and the cruise contract no one reads until they screw up, forget to wear clothes to the ship and are denied boarding with no refund.  But most everything we need to do with Princess can be accomplished thorough what they call the Cruise Personalizer.  There, we can do the required online registration (almost always without swearing), print our boarding cards (well, paper really), book shore excursions, spa treatments and more.

Don’t look for those packets of information to be coming in the mail for long though.  Princess is just like the rest of the cruise lines: they save paper by not giving us the priceless mementos and dance inducement that Cruise Documents represent.   That makes it OK with the Coast Guard to dump icky stuff in the ocean.

We’ll get into that endangered packet of information and packing next.

San Juan to Carnival Dream: You’re too big!

Photo: Whitney Owen

Guests aboard Port Canaveral’s Carnival Dream were disappointed yesterday when the new Carnival Dream had to skip San Juan.  It seems the ship was too big to dock at the available berths in the port.

The available piers, built years ago, were not meant to handle a ship of the 130,0000 ton Dream’s size.  Upset passengers aboard the ship told us ”Wouldn’t you think the cruise line would have checked this out before their first call at the port?”

The problem seems to be that a gigantic sculpture built several years ago, partially funded by rival line Royal Caribbean, prevented the ship from docking.  The dove-shaped sculpture, located at the entrance to the pier actually blocks the docking of newer, larger ships.

This is bad news for San Juan, actively trying to increase their cruise business, a major source of revenue for the island.

I guess Oasis of the Seas, a much bigger ship/small country, won’t be docking there any time soon either

Oasis of the Seas big on fitness and health too

Heading out to sea on Royal Caribbean’s new Oasis of the Seas does not mean you have to skip the daily workout.  On Oasis, the fitness and health options are many and more than most other cruise ships at thier Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness center. In fact, a case could be made for booking a close-by Central Park balcony stateroom and spending all the money you might lose in the casino on a week’s worth of these services.

Start with one of the over 150 cardio machines, take a Kinesis (full-body, no-impact) or spin class which tracks your heart reate on a monitor or pump the iron.  It’s all up to you and there’s nothing quite like doing your regular regimine while at sea.  Surely a view of the ocean while on your favorite machine is a great change from the everyday.  But try a class on bicycles in which you and 25 or 30 of your closest friends are hooked up to heart monitors with the results displayed on a huge (of course) monitor for all to see.  (Looks like way more competition than I would be up to on a cruise but cool anyway)

The new Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness neighborhood supports your healthy lifestyle, combining the latest in aesthetic skin treatments, traditional spa services and workout programs. Reconnect with your inner strength and renew your body inside and out.

Spa Features:

• Solo and couples massage suites
• In room massages (like in your stateroom)
• Thermal Suite – heated tile loungers, saunas and steam rooms
• Beauty Salon – complete hair, nail and make-up services
• Youth Spa – dedicated space for kids and teens (see below)
• Vitality Café – healthy selections including smoothies, snacks and entrées

Fitness Features:

• 158 state-of-the-art cardio and resistance machines
• Free weight area
• Studio fitness classes, including kickboxing, Pilates, yoga and others
• Spacious spin class area
• KinesisTM – the newest, most innovative form of resistance exercise designed to burn 30% more calories while improving posture and flexibility
• Largest jogging track at sea that is partly covered to protect from the elements

No health spa would be complete without treatments and Oasis has a bunch of them including

• 24 Karat Gold Facial
• Elemis Oxydermy Facial
• Elemis Tri-Enzyne Resurfacing Facial
• Elemis Pro-Collagen Quartz Lift Facial
• Elemis Skin Specific Facial
• La Therapie Microderabrasion Facial
• La Therapie HydraLift Facial
• Elemis SkinLab Facial Mapping Analysis

When we were on board not long ago it took a good 20 minutes just to walk through the 22,000 square foot facility that included areas for Acupuncture, Medi-Spa Cosmetic Treatments, Teeth Whitening and special areas for men and teens too.

In the Teen and Kid Spa for those under 18, treatments include facials, pedicures, manicures, a Father/Son “Chill Out” Massage, personal consultations on style and an “Ice Cream Manicure” that uses an ice cream shaped bath product and other ingredients to “give your hands a sweet treat while you sit back and relax”  (Thank God they did not have these things when my kids were teens on cruises)

One of the really unique spaces in this area is an Elemis product testing area where the complete line of these popular spa products is available for testing and purchase.  Called the Elemis Spa Bar, this fun and interactive tester zone gives guests the freedom to feel, smell and touch the Elemis range of products.

Once off the ship, the good things you have done on the ship do not have to end either.  Spa Therapists are available to recommend a home care regimen to continue your treatment at home via the timetospa at home program at www.timetospa.com or by phone.

Princess Cruises quietly offers more

The recent launch of Carnival Cruise Lines new Carnival Dream and Royal Caribbean’s new generation Oasis of the Seas have dominated the news for quite some time.  Princess Cruises have not been idle.

Delivery of Oasis of the Seas has surely changed the spectrum of ships from which to choose as have ongoing program enhancements on the existing fleet.  Also significant is what many of the other cruise lines have done recently.  Carnival Cruise Lines has completed a roll out of several new features to existing ships.  Holland America has done the same.  Norwegian Cruise Lines continues to get their act together to where I would almost recommend some of their ships now.  Just a couple years ago I never thought I would be able to say that.

All these changes were in the works well before the economic turndown forced an adjustment in pricing and marketing necessary to fill the ships.  There may not ever have been a better time to sail than right now.

If you have not sailed on Princess Cruise Lines lately, take a look. The “Love Boats” offer a richer than ever cruise experience at prices that seem more reasonable all the time.  And what does that add up to class?  That’s right: Value, what we want above all else.

Let’s take a look at some of the new programs Princess has on board many of the ships in their fleet of 17 ships.

• The Piazza- New to Caribbean, Golden and Star Princess, the Piaza is a dramatic, Italian-inspired atrium area offering small bite eateries including the International Cafe and Vines Wine Bar.  Live music and animated street performers entertain passengers in this cafe-style setting throughout the day
• The Sanctuary- in line with a growing trend on major cruise lines to offer more for adults, The Sanctuary is a tranquil adults-only retreat complete with refreshing beverages, light snacks, relaxing music selections on MP3 players and the services of dedicated Serenity Stewards
• Crown Grill- New to Caribbean and Golden Princess, this premium beef and seafood restaurant offers seafood, steaks and chops for an upcharge of $25 per person
• Ocean-view window suites- New also to Caribbean and Golden Princess, several ocean-view window suites have been added, offering even more stateroom options
• Complementary soft-serve ice cream- taking a cue from sister-line Carnival, Princess has added this popular choice
• Movies under the Stars- now offered on 10 ships, this popular attraction features first-run screenings, concerts and sporting events as well as PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii competitions
• Ultimate Ship Tour- a 2 -3 hour back of the house tour including the bridge, funnel and control room is offered to a limited number of guests on each sailing
• The Leonard Maltin Movie Club- The Leonard Maltin Movie Club will showcase a new film chosen by Mr Maltin each month.  Passengers will have the opportunity to join fellow film buffs to enjoy a theater viewing or an open-air poolside Movies Under the Stars viewing experience.   Later on, passengers will gather for a fun-filled discussion to gain greater perspective on the film
• The Leonard Maltin Movie Channel- Passengers can catch up on many popular and classic films with this new feature.  Features on the ships television system, passengers will enjoy a selection of contemporary, classic and animated movies plus “Maltin Moments” movie insights, conversations and stories narrated by Mr Maltin
• Art History @Sea- Five-hundred years of art comes to life with a special hour-long presentation that traces world masterpieces over time from many great masters.
• Navigation @Sea- Learn the history of navigation and increase your maritime terminology with this exciting presentation led by the ship’s navigator
• Expanded Culture Onboard- Several itinerary-specific programs add depth and a new dimension on sailings with topics such as Aloha Hawaiian Cultural Immersion, South American Samba Fiesta, European Old World Culture and more
• Youth and Teen Programs- new programs developed in partnership with the California Science Center explore the world of magic in the Wizards Academy, arts and crafts in Klutz, a program where kids make their own storybooks, creating lanyard bracelets and other activities and Yoga for Kids and Teens
• Boutiques feature authentic itinerary-specific merchandise with new specialties in Authentic Roman Glass jewelry, The Jacqueline Kennedy Jewelry Collection and new Princes gift box chocolates and cookies
• Wi-Fi hot spots have been added and now include passenger staterooms
• Chef’s Table- this alternative dining event is one of the best culinary experiences at sea and it is only offered by Princess Cruises.  A limited number of guests can actually go behind the scenes for a Galley Tour, meet the Executive Chef and have Champagne and hors d’ oeuvres

While none of these programs have been big headline-grabbers, Princess Cruise Line has continued their ongoing efforts to keep the line relevant and exciting.

I’ll be on board Ruby Princess in a few days sailing from Port Everglades on December 17th.  Watch for reports from the ship as we discover what’s new at Princess

Our ship has come in

That’s right, the highly anticipated arrival of Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas at Port Everglades is happening right now

But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so here, check out these videos from today and from our past reports on the building, layout and todays arrival

• Here are in Florida!
• Live from Port Everglades
• Central Park
• Everything from our daily Examiner.com column

Stay tuned too, we’ll have more as get it then be reporting live from Oasis starting next Thursday!

 

 

 

 

Oasis of the Seas in arrives in Florida

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas has arrived at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale

Before her arrival I reported that you  can watch as the ship came in via the Fort Lauderdale Inlet Cam. This is a safe site with a camera pointed in the direction of where Oasis will be coming as she makes her way to pier 18, her new home in Florida.   Bookmark that site and you can wave at your friends as they pass by on their cruise.  If you’re on a cruise yourself you can snicker as you pass by the Inlet Cam which is clearly marked as if to say “Wave goodbye to reality folks!”

I suggested going there about 7AM to get in, sit back with a cup of coffee and watch history unfold before your eyes.  By 6:30 the streaming webcam was overloaded but oh my the great front-seat view we had when it worked

Kicking off the festivities was a “Welcome Flotilla” organized by the Winterfest Boat Parade committee, with watercraft of all sizes meeting up and escorting the ship to its new home at Port Everglades. En route, the ship will pass a 1,500 sq. ft. custom-designed “Welcome to Fort Lauderdale, Oasis of the Seas” sand painting on the shores of the inlet to the port. Cruise enthusiasts had the opportunity to celebrate and watch the ship approach nearby at a public welcome party at the Jetty Pavilion at John U. Lloyd State Park, including complimentary park admission, refreshments and giveaways.  It was one of those “dang it’s cold out here this early in the morning” moments until we saw Oasis.

Upon arrival, the new $75 million, 240,000 square foot Terminal 18 at Port Everglades, the world’s largest single-ship cruise terminal, aptly received the vessel. Built specifically for Royal Caribbean’s new Oasis series, the terminal will serve as the home port for both the Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas (debuting in late 2010), which expect to generate more than 500,000 cruise passengers annually for Port Everglades.

Oasis of the Seas: big enough to see from home

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas is bearing down on Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and arrival is expected around 8am tomorrow.   You can watch as the ship comes in via the Fort Lauderdale Inlet Cam.  This is a safe site with a camera pointed in the direction of where Oasis will be coming as she makes her way to pier 18, her new home in Florida.

I suggest going there now as you will need to register in order to see.  Tomorrow, log on about 7AM to get in, sit back with a cup of coffee and watch history unfold before your eyes.

We are ecstatic to be serving as the year-round home port for the Oasis of the Seas,” said Nicki E. Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. “From conveniences such as the new Terminal 18 and central port location to our rich collection of hotels, restaurants and attractions, Greater Fort Lauderdale looks forward to welcoming these seafaring visitors and invites them to extend their stay.”

Kicking off the festivities will be a “Welcome Flotilla” organized by the Winterfest Boat Parade committee, with watercraft of all sizes meeting up and escorting the ship to its new home at Port Everglades. En route, the ship will pass a 1,500 sq. ft. custom-designed “Welcome to Fort Lauderdale, Oasis of the Seas” sand painting on the shores of the inlet to the port. Cruise enthusiasts will have the opportunity to celebrate and watch the ship approach nearby at a public welcome party at the Jetty Pavilion at John U. Lloyd State Park, including complimentary park admission, refreshments and giveaways.

Upon arrival, the new $75 million, 240,000 square foot Terminal 18 at Port Everglades, the world’s largest single-ship cruise terminal, will receive the vessel. Built specifically for Royal Caribbean’s new Oasis series, the terminal will serve as the home port for both the Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas (debuting in late 2010), which expect to generate more than 500,000 cruise passengers annually for Port Everglades.

Bloggers, writers silent at sea

It might be something we don’t think about much of the time, but keeping our oceans safe and clean goes hand in hand.  From the US Coast Guard, the cruise lines, harbor pilots and environmental groups, many have a hand in protecting our oceans and keeping them safe to travel on, play in or just look at.  Groups like travel writers and bloggers, marine law firms, and others also weigh in.

Sometimes these different groups get at odds with one another, but in the end, it seems as though they all do the right thing; protect the oceans.

The US Coast Guard, known and respected world-wide for their protection of US waters, is much more involved than one might imagine.  As a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services, it is unique in that it has a maritime law enforcement mission with jurisdiction both domestically and in international waters and as a federal regulatory agency.

Operating under the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard can also be transferred to the Department of the Navy at a time of war by the President or Congress.  Besides rescue at sea, the Coast Guards missions include protecting against overfishing and protecting endangered species. On the environmental side they are also fighting against pollution, taking an active role in monitoring and investigating maritime accidents including oil spills, illegal discharges from ships plus cruise crew and passenger deaths   I feel good about what the Coast Guard does and commend them for their service.

The major cruise lines work closely with the US Coast Guard on a daily basis, relying on their assistance in an emergency.   The cruise lines also have fashioned environmental impact programs to help protect the oceans and keep crew and passengers safe at sea.  The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) weighs in on the topic, saying “The safety and security of cruise line passengers is the top priority of CLIA member cruise lines.”

Individual cruise lines all have their own programs to deal with health, environmental issues, safety and security.  Princess Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation who owns several different cruise lines, aims to exceed industry and governmental standards impacting the ocean.

Still, environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth report that “Cruise ships release vast quantities of pollution into our coastal and ocean waters” and supports the Clean Cruise Ship Act. As earlier reported, this group ranked Florida’s Disney Cruise Line low but without a lot of measurable  and comparable facts.   Let’s touch on one topic briefly.

Right now, cruise ships are permitted to discharge waste into navigable waters more than three miles from shore.  The Clean Cruise Ship act would prohibit cruise ships from discharging waste into navigable waters less than 12 nautical miles from U.S. Shore’s and would require that waste discharged beyond 12 nautical miles. The bill would impose liability for any criminal fines or civil penalties on the cruise ship itself.

Often, it is difficult to know who is telling the truth in these matters and sometimes the media is not much help.

When Friends of the Earth released their “Cruise Ship Environmental Report Card” earlier this year, they said “Millions of Americans take cruise vacations every year. However, most don’t realize that cruising is more harmful to the environment and human health than many other forms of travel. With ships that can carry up to 7,000 passengers and crew, these floating cities pollute the air we breathe and the water we use and enjoy.”

Ok, so they’re not exactly in the cruise lines corner on the topic.

The thing is: the cruise lines get it.

All major cruise lines have environmental policies and practices in place to minimize pollution and keep us safe at the same time.  Are they perfect?  Oh no, not at all.  But they are headed in the right direction fast by plugging into dockside electrical outlets instead of powering their ships by running their diesel engines, scoring high on health inspections performed onboard by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and complying with Federal and State pollution standards for cruise ships.

Here in Florida, Disney Cruise Lines takes big steps in that right direction with good transparency on their environmental efforts even offering a website with a closer look at their “Behind the Waves” program.

That program and others like it for cruise lines are not big news.  But say that cruise ships score low on a report issued by a fringe environmental group even without documentation to back it up and that’s big news.

Recently (as in going on right now), on a Princess cruise, a bunch of noted travel writers and bloggers were invited on board to write, blog and communicate via social media (search for #followmeatsea on Twitter) outlets about their experience.  I was disappointed that when the whole thing was hijacked electronically by foes of the cruise industry, aiming to discredit efforts made to improve environmental impact.

I was not disappointed that those environmental people and even a maritime law expert chimed in but that the travel writers and bloggers stood by and let it happen without standing up for the industry that, basically, makes them a living. It reminds me of a contrast I noticed when doing a story on Florida’s harbor pilots not long ago.

This is a group of professionals who find themselves at odds with the cruise lines who claim they make too much money.  That may very well be a debatable topic but these people are part of a system that works, keeps us safe and minimizes the environmental impact of cruise ships.  They know their role in all of it and the Captain on the ship knows what they do and how their roles interact.

I have a great deal of respect for all these people and all these groups, some more than others.  We can only hope that this system of interaction combined with regulation and enforcement continues to develop and improve.

Along the way, maybe I will learn to hang up that towel and help save the ocean too.

Oasis of the Seas = Safe

We are always told how safe cruise ships are.  As passengers we take that for granted.  Here, the Captain of  Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas introduces us to some extra measures on this ship like on no other.  No big surprise there, this ship is all about stuff that is on it and no other…at least for now.  As the latest and greatest the cruise industry has to offer, we expect cutting edge technology, unique and creative new ideas an exciting vacation that is everything we want it to be.

I said it on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom class ships and I’ll say it again for this one, not even having stepped foot on the ship yet:  If you can’t have a good time on this ship, you need to consider other vacation options.

I’m thinking that dropping acid might be a good shot for you.  It’s going to take a psychedelic trip of some sort to beat what Oasis has in store for us.  Be careful on that though ok?  The ship is probably much safer.

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Veterans Day; more than a day the post office and bank are closed

Veterans Day is much more than a day that the bank and post office are closed.  Oddly, that’s what touches most of our lives directly from year to year.

If you happen to have (or had) a friend or family member in the military, then it takes on a different meaning altogether.  I’m not much on poetry but I found this one today that says a lot about what I’ll be considering today

Heroes

By Jared Jenkins

In war, there are lives risked and lives taken

Men and women giving their best to defend what they love

They defend their country

Their honor

Their people

Some call them soldiers

Others call them heroes

Our veterans have risked their lives for us

They have lived through hell and fought with honor

Many have killed

And regret doing so

For every life, there is a soul

For every soul, there is a life

For those who have died, we show great appreciation and remembrance

For those who live, along with them live the horrific memories of battle

Some, memories of defeat

Some, memories of victory

Our veterans were more than soldiers

They were, and still are heroes

Oasis of the Seas update: Holiday sailings available

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, debuting in Port Everglades later this week, still has some staterooms available for this year’s holiday cruise season.

Normally sold out well in advance, the still-recovering US economy has a sliver lining for those in the market for a cruise vacation.  Holidays are special sailings and sailing on Royal Caribbean’s newest and largest ship with more amenities and features for guests would surely be a dream vacation for any avid cruiser.  Check with your travel agent for all the details and see the video below for more information on special things happening aboard Oasis of the Seas.

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Cruising from Florida: Carnival Dream update

The official naming ceremony of Carnival Cruise Lines’ new cruise ship Carnival Dream featuring Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden in the role of ship’s godmother will be broadcast live on the company’s web site, www.carnival.com/dream, beginning at 4 p.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 12.

The Carnival Dream debuted in Europe September 21 and will operate a series of voyages from New York before repositioning to Port Canaveral to begin year-round Caribbean service December 3rd with some new features not on other Carnival ships.

The Chef’s Art Steakhouse, located on Spa Deck 12, will seat 139 and specialize in dry-aged beef. Carnival will charge $30 per person for this alternative restaurant. Reservations are recommended.

The Gathering, a two-level eatery, will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Options within The Gathering include a pasta bar, a burrito bar, a Mongolian wok, a 35-item salad bar and a tandoori oven serving Indian specialties. There is no charge to dine at the Gathering.

Located along the Promenade Deck will be Wasabi, a sushi bar serving complimentary sushi.

The Ocean Plaza, an indoor/outdoor cafe, will have a dance floor and a stage for live entertainment. Ocean Plaza also will offer full WiFi access and 12 stand-alone kiosks where guests can access the FunHub, the Carnival Dream’s onboard social network.

Within Ocean Plaza, the Plaza Cafe will sell specialty coffees, pastries and milkshakes. There also will be full bar service.

According to Carnival, the 130,000-ton Carnival Dream “ushers in an exciting new era in “Fun Ship” cruising”, offering a host of innovations. These also include Carnival WaterWorks, an expansive aqua park featuring the longest water slide at sea; more than 19,000 square feet of space dedicated to children and families; and a 23,750-square-foot Cloud 9 Spa, the largest in the line’s fleet.

Oasis of the Seas- animated virtual tour

If it is true that “a picture is worth a thousand words” then this virtual tour of Oasis of the Seas is worth a million.  Watch as we walk though all the different neighborhoods and areas of the ship as an animator believes it will be.  Soon we will have live video of this same tour but for now, this does give a good idea of the scope and size of Oasis of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas makes Port Canaveral in Florida home soon.  Take a look at what we will see when we board the ship later this month and stay tuned for updates on Oasis, other new ships, and whatever is going on in the cruise vacation world, as it happens.

 

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Oasis Update- The Captain is still alive and more about the Aqua Theater

Royal Caribbean International

With just 4 days until arrival here in Florida at Port Everglades, Captain Wright is looking a bit under the weather (see video below).  Tom asked me if maybe he was feeling the effect of the rough seas.  That was last week and sure could have been the case.  If I had to guess, it looks to me like he’s just really tired.  I could say he looks like he was rode hard and put up wet as we used to say back in Kansas and that would work too.

In any event, looks like a nice nap for the Captain is in order.   Maybe he can grab a lounge chair by the Aqua Theater, our little mini-topic of the day!

The AquaTheater on Oasis of the Seas is an engineering marvel, with parts constantly moving and disappearing before the audience’s very eyes. See the machinery behind-the-scenes that makes the magic of this 6000-square-foot stage come to life.

It is all about a celebration of water where the pool and lounge area by day is transformed into a theatrical venue with seating for 600 (reservations available) featuring hundreds of water nozzles shooting up to 65 feet high. The water show, Oasis Dream, is synchronized to music and lights with acrobatics and high-diving taking place in and around the pool.

Complete with under water cameras to film performers when they have disappeared out of sight and broadcast images on giant LED screens on either side of the stage, the area also features twin diving towers connected by a bridge and a trapeze behind and trampoline between. Sounds more and more like a Cirque water show to me. Soon, we will have live footage of the show to share

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Oasis of the Seas- What about the shows?

Royal Caribbean International

With over 5000 guests on the ship, I have had several people ask me “How will all those people be able to fit in the theater for the show?”  Darn good question.  Little did I know that the Captain would start me on a path to get the answer to that which we have for you here today.

On route to Port Everglades, the cast and crew take advantage of this time at sea to practice and rehearse their roles in the production of the Broadway show, Hairspray which will be in the big Opal Theater aboard Oasis of the Seas.

While entertainment on cruise ships has commonly been of the Vegas-style extravaganza with lots of feathers and kick lines, Royal Caribbean is going all out with this first production, sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Three months in advance of their sailing, guests may pre-reserve at seat at such entertainment options as ice shows, “Splish Splash,” or “Hairspray,” among other choices.

All shows onboard Oasis of the Seas are free to guests. Guests who pre-book shows will use their electronic cruise pass card to enter the theater. Charly McDonald, the line’s manager of guest activities and entertainment technical operations, said clients who pre-book a show will gain entry to the show but not be booked into a specific seat.

What if you are more spontaneous? What if you don’t want to pre-book? You will still be able to arrive at the entertainment venue unannounced and be granted entry if space is available. But if the show is fully booked, an on-site box office will give them a reservation at a show later the same evening or later in the cruise.

View a video about all this at today’s Examiner.com report

Oasis of the Seas: Technology at work…and play

Royal Caribbean International

As Oasis of the Seas continues her way to home here in Florida at Port Everglades, construction workers on board continue to ready the ship, crew members perfect their jobs and the world waits.

At 220,000 tons, the largest cruise ship in the world offers pretty much something for everyone…but don’t all cruise ships offer something for everyone?   So what makes this one so special other than her huge size?

One element is the technology that went into the design and building of the ship.  Obviously it takes a lot of work to make something that big, let alone to divide it up into 7 different neighborhoods.  A good deal of the technology it takes to make it all work we will never see.  What we will see though is many innovative design elements that will deliver what Royal Caribbean International calls the “Wow” factor.

Digital signage is one of those elements.  Through a network of 377 public area screens, 56 of which are interactive, guests can find information easily and navigate the ship, see real-time show availability and timely information on dining, guest services and port information.

The ship’s Royal Caribbean Television network (RCTV) will have Internet capabilities, details on all ship venues, menus, hours of operation, etc as well as traffic flow updates for food venues, informing guests of which venue could best accommodate their party at any given time.  Each stateroom’s personal calendar will show specialty restaurant reservations, shore excursion bookings, show ticket reservations plus boarding and departure time for each port.

Guests can also use their in-stateroom TV to

• Purchase and watch movies and trailers
• Browse the Internet
• Watch select broadcast TV and news
• Order wine and room service for delivery to stateroom
• View activities and events for each day
• View information about all the features on the ship
• Book reservations for onboard shows (ice shows, Opal theater, Aqua Theater and Comedy Club)
• Book shore excursions
• Review SeaPass onboard charge account
• View status of and sign up for pre-paid gratuities and more

SeaPass Cards, each guest’s onboard identification, stateroom key and onboard charge card will be different and incorporate advanced technology also

• Guests Muster Station enlarged on the card.  SeaPass card will be swiped at muster station during safety drill for attendance
• Photo number now printed (to easily locate photos)
• When guest signs Onboard Activity Waivers online, SeaPass card will contain which waivers they signed
• When guests pre-reserve Entertainment Reservations online, SeaPass card will contain which shows they made reservations for

Oasis will also be the first ship to have the new WOW Phone, a handheld WiFi devise that will enable telephone calling between devises and the shipboard telephone system, text messaging between devices and real-time ability to locate a member of your party.  In addition, guests will also be able to view their weekly calendar and the Cruise Compass, the ship’s daily newspaper.

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Royal Caribbean International: The Road to Oasis

As Oasis of the Seas makes her way to Port Everglades, let’s take a look at how this company, Royal Caribbean International, got to where it is today; building the largest cruise ship in the world.

Back in 1970, Song of Norway, Royal Caribbean International’s first ship had a gym in an empty cabin that consisted of a rowing machine and a treadmill. Not many people used the gym, or made any effort to find it. Today, Royal Caribbean’s newest ships feature the largest fitness centers and spas at sea, overlooking the vast expanses of the oceans, ports and global destinations the cruise line visits. Pools that were once inside the ship and on the lowest level have evolved into entire water parks and poolscapes running the length of the uppermost decks and on some Royal Caribbean ships, guests can actually surf! Innovative maritime architecture that can deliver the trademark “WOW” experiences for guests is a prime directive of the Royal Caribbean brand, and the cruise line’s newest ship, Oasis of the Seas, continues an evolution that is nothing short of revolutionary.

“The company culture at Royal Caribbean is about putting unlimited energy into design in order to make our ships as innovative and encompassing possible. Our ships offer a world of possibilities that the guest can cater to his or her, or their families needs,” said Richard Fain, Chairman & CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “We do not set out to build the largest ships in the world; we set out to build the most amazing collection of experiences, amenities and activities at sea.”

In the early 1990’s, Royal Caribbean unveiled one of its signature elements on Sovereign of the Seas, the Viking Crown Lounge, which wrapped around the funnel of the ship and served as the ultimate “observation deck” for cruisers. This design allowed for sweeping views of the sea (and the occasional whale and dolphin sightings) providing an aesthetically pleasing look to the top decks of the Sovereign-class ships.

In 1999, Royal Caribbean unveiled the anxiously awaited 137,276 GRT Voyager of the Seas. Carrying 3,114 guests, she was the largest cruise ship in the world and delivered an experience that was once thought impossible on a ship – the immensely popular and now iconic rock-climbing wall, an indoor ice-skating rink, and in-line skating.

In 2006, the cruise line topped its own benchmarks by building, yet again, the largest and most innovative cruise ship in the world. Freedom of the Seas made her spectacular premiere with never-before-seen features including: the FlowRider surf simulator, H2O interactive water park, cantilevered whirlpools, and a boxing ring, thus living up to Royal Caribbean’s standard of envelope-pushing amenities.

In its latest evolution in cruise ship design, Oasis of the Seas now takes the stage as the ultimate expression of Royal Caribbean’s legacy of imagination and innovation. Once again, the global cruise line has introduced elements never before seen on a cruise ship, including the neighborhood concept – seven themed areas providing guests with the opportunity to seek out relevant experiences based on their personal style, preference or mood. Within these seven neighborhoods – Central Park, Boardwalk, the Royal Promenade, Pool & Sports Zone, Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center, Entertainment Place and Youth Zone – are extraordinary elements such as the first park at sea; a thrilling zip line that races diagonally nine-decks above an open-air atrium; an original handcrafted carousel; 28 multilevel urban-style loft suites boasting floor-to-ceiling windows; an amphitheater-style space that serves as a pool by day and a dazzling ocean front theater with professional aquatic acrobatic and synchronized swimming performances by night; and an array of epicurean innovations that allow for new culinary experiences each day of a guest’s cruise vacation.

“Royal Caribbean continues to evolve, enhance and perfect the cruise vacation experience. Oasis of the Seas is truly an architectural and nautical feat. It offers a new kind of cruise that is personalized with neighborhoods designed around common functions and themes that are sensational yet intimate in nature and provides an immersive ambiance for each guest,” stated Harri Kulovaara, Executive Vice President, Maritime Operations, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “This is truly the next step in cruise evolution.”

Oasis of the Seas is the largest and most revolutionary cruise ship in the world. An architectural marvel at sea, it spans 16 decks, encompasses 225,282 gross registered tons, carries 5,400 guests at double occupancy, and features 2,700 staterooms. Oasis of the Seas is the first ship to tout the cruise line’s new neighborhood concept of seven distinct themed areas, which includes Central Park, Boardwalk, the Royal Promenade, the Pool and Sports Zone, Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center, Entertainment Place and Youth Zone. The ship sails weekly from her home port of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Additional information is available at www.OasisoftheSeas.com. where you can find daily videos of the transatlantic crossing underway right now.

Oasis of the Seas: Dining Options

Royal Caribbean International

With just 8 days until Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas first calls at Florida’s Port Everglades, the crew on board the ship is busy getting ready for the first guests.

Part of that preparation includes testing the various dining options offered on the ship, 24 at last count, ranging from familiar signature restaurants and eateries to neighborhood-specific themed venues.  24 hours a day, there are more choices for dining on this ship than any other now sailing.

So here is a primer on all we can choose from, sorted by the neighborhood areas of the ship

The Boardwalk

• Johnny Rockets- Extending the signature “eat-ertainment” hours, a diner breakfast menu will be introduced. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner; $3.95 breakfast and $4.95 lunch and dinner cover charge.
• Ice Cream Parlor-An 1950s-style ice cream venue serving classic sundaes and 15 different kinds of ice cream mixed with toppings to order on a frozen slab. Open throughout the day Ala carte pricing.
• Donut Shop-A classically styled shop with casual snacks available all day. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Boardwalk Bar-Full scale bar with specialty drinks tailored to the area. Also serves salads, sandwiches, and other quick food.
• Seafood Shack-The indoor/outdoor casual family restaurant will bring the surf style of beach side amusement parks to the Boardwalk, serving a variety of seafood, as well an extensive beverage menu of non-alcoholic cocktails and over-sized desserts. Open for lunch and dinner; $7.95 lunch and $9.95 dinner cover charge.

The Royal Promenade

• Mondo Cafe/Coffee Bar- A new addition to the Royal Promenade will feature coffee, sandwiches and pastries native to countries such as Italy, Spain and Cuba. Steps from Boleros and open around the clock, it is sure to be popular after an evening on the dance floor. Open for breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner and late night treats.
• Sorrento’s Pizza- signature New York style pizzeria features the read-to-go items introduced not long ago on the Freedom class ships and made to order pizza’s just for you.  Open for lunch, dinner and late night (but not 24 hours, that’s Carnival)
• Cafe Promenade- our personal favorite “:quick” place to eat on other ships on the opposite end of the Promenade from Mondo Café (see above), this one continues the Seattle’s Best Coffee as a centerpiece for pastries, sandwiches, fruit shakes and a menu that evolves throughout the day.  Take a glance over there whenever you walk by.

Central Park

• 150 Central Park- with an additional fee of $35 per person, this promises to be the most exclusive dining venue o the ship featuring multi-course meals paired with wines and an extensive wine list.  I bet we will hear “Don’t eat all day if you are going here for dinner” comments right off the bat.
• Giovanni’s Table- Open for lunch ($10) and dinner ($15), the casual Italian eatery (think Olive Garden at sea) serves family style pizza, salads, pastas, and I bet there’s a breadstick around someplace
• Chops Grille-signature steakhouse with a $25 per person cover charge.  Popular on all other ships in the fleet, I bet some of the new offerings on this ship give it a run for the money, literally.
• Vintages- also a signature offering on other ships in the fleet, this one will have an extensive tapas menu (that alone will make it a busy place) as well as a selection of cheeses at this popular wine bar with a la carte pricing.
• Park Café- A casual dining choice providing a high level of variety and flexibility, Park Café will be an indoor/outdoor gourmet market with walk-up counters. From freshly prepared salads and made-to-order sandwiches, to paninis, crepes and hearty soups, guests will order directly from the chefs behind food stations. European pastries, sublime chocolates and decadent fudge will round out the offerings. Open for breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner and late night treats.

Pool and Sports Zone

• Solarium Bistro-Located in the Solarium, the contemporary bistro will offer health-conscious dining for breakfast and lunch in a casual setting. In the evenings, Solarium Bistro will transform into a romantic and intimate dining setting for specialty healthy-fare dinner and dancing under the stars. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner; dinner has a $20 cover charge.
• The Wipe Out Café-The casual self-service buffet will offer a variety of options from pizza, hamburgers, sandwiches and fresh salads to quick snacks and desserts, for young cruisers on-the-go. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center

• The Vitality Café-Located at the entrance of the Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center, the Vitality Café will feature healthy snacks, sandwiches, wraps and fruit, in addition to refreshing juices and smoothies from the Vitality spa menu for the calorie conscious guest. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

More Oasis Dining Options

• Opus Dining room-The three-level main dining room will revive the grandeur of the 1920s and feature French art deco design. Catering to guests’ varying preferences, the newly introduced My Time Dining and My Family Time Dining, as well as the traditional main and late seating options will be offered. My Time Dining provides guests with the option to enjoy the dining room ambiance with Royal Caribbean’s renowned Gold Anchor Service whenever they wish during dining hours. Guests choosing My Time Dining will not have a pre-assigned table, but will be seated in the ships main dining room and will order from the same traditional dinner menu. My Time Dining guests can make daily reservations for specific seating times or choose to walk in. My Family Time Dining accommodates parents and children by offering an expedited 40-minute dining service for young cruisers, ages 3-11. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Windjammer Marketplace-Offering great flexibility for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this next generation of the popular self-service buffet area will feature multiple islands, each serving a variety of different menu options
• Izumi-The new Asian cuisine restaurant will feature a sushi bar and hot rock cooking, as well as other Asian fare in a more formal setting. Open for lunch and dinner;Ala carte pricing.
• Room Service-guests wanting to enjoy a meal in the comfort of their staterooms will be able to choose from the complimentary breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, as well as the recently introduced Dine in Delights menu, which offers name-brand culinary options ranging from the Original Johnny Rockets hamburger to Ghirardelli Chocolate Cookies. Open 24 hours a la carte pricing for Dine In Delights and $3.95 service charge for in-room deliveries between 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.  Sorry kids, no free steaks at 3am.

Oasis of the Seas update: 9 days to Florida

Royal Caribbean International

On her way to Port Everglades to sail year-round 7-day Caribbean sailings, Royal Caribbean Internationals Oasis of the Seas passed one more test barely making it under Denmark’s Great Belt Bridge with just two feet to spare.  (See Video)

Oasis will make her debut on November 20 when the ship will be shown to the world for the first time aboard ABC’s popular morning show Good Morning America.  We will be on board for that sailing and will send you all the latest information.  The official naming ceremony will be 10 days later and the ship will embark on it’s first cruise December 1.

Oasis is just one of the new cruise ship’s we are covering too. Subscribe to me today to get all the latest information on the new Carnival Dream coming soon as well as the two new Disney Cruise Line ships, Dream and Fantasy,  coming in 2011 and 2012.

Carnival’s Funship Sensation more fun now

Carnival Cruise Lines has introduced a new children’s dining program that provides kids with delicious supervised meals with their fellow young cruisers in the ships’ casual poolside restaurants while parents enjoy a night to themselves.

The new children’s dinners – the latest component of the line’s complimentary “Camp Carnival” program – are available fleetwide and take place in the ships’ Lido Deck eateries, the “Seaview Bistros.” Dinners take place from 6-7 p.m. After which children are welcome to partake in regularly scheduled “Camp Carnival” activities until 10 p.m.

The children’s dinners are available nightly on three- and four-day voyages except for the first night of the cruise. On voyages of five days or longer, the dinners are available nightly except for the first and last night of the cruise.

A different menu is featured each night and includes items such as spaghetti with meatballs, chicken quesadillas, hamburgers, hot dogs, roasted chicken drumsticks, pepperoni pizza, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, roasted turkey, and grilled salmon steak. Popular side dishes include French fries, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. A 35-item salad bar is also available. Desserts include assorted ice cream and seasonal fresh fruit.

Other popular dining options for children sailing aboard the “Fun Ships” include 24-hour pizzerias, a grille serving hot dogs and hamburgers and 24-hour ice cream/frozen yogurt stations. Children’s menus are available in all main dining rooms. A special children’s turn-down service offering freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on the first and last night of the cruise, and the “Fountain Fun Card,” which, for a one-time fee, provides unlimited soft drinks throughout the cruise, are also available.

The new children’s dinners complement the wide variety of fun morning-til-night activities included in the line’s popular “Camp Carnival” program, featured on all 19 “Fun Ship,” which are expected to host some 400,000 children this year.

“Camp Carnival” activities are geared toward children ages 2-15, who enjoy such amenities as indoor and outdoor play areas, computer labs, arts and crafts centers, video game rooms, a new EduCruise science/geography program and more.

New Disney Dream fueled by imagination

Disney Cruise Line

When the new Disney Dream debuts in January of 2011, Disney Cruise Line will once again break new ground with creative new features never before seen on any cruise ship.

Doubling the size of the fleet with sister-ship Disney Fantasy in 2012, the cruise line will “be able to take families to even more places they never imagined they could visit – in true Disney style” said Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo.

New features abound in the new mostly Art-Deco and sail alternating 3 and 4 night cruise to the Bahamas and their private island, Castaway Cay from Port Canaveral .

Here are my favorites:

The AquaDuck Theatre sweeps away guests on a high-speed flume ride featuring twists, turns, drops, uphill acceleration and river rapids…all over the deck of the ship. 765 feet in length, four decks tall and sliding 13 feet out over the side of the ship in a clear swing out loop where guests can look 150 feet down to the ocean below at 20 feet per second this is not for the faint of heart. I will never get my wife on this.

A Virtual Porthole for inside cabins features the latest in stateroom innovation. Using High-Definition cameras, guests see real-time video outside of the ship. Why did no one think of this before now? All of the sudden, interior cabins, once considered less desirable, have a whole new life. Those who say “I’ll just book an inside cabin and save the money, I never am in the cabin much anyway” might be hanging out in there now. Think there will be some giant squids to see?

More for adults featuring The District, a nightly entertainment area with five different and unique lounges, Senses Spa an Salon with all the latest treatments and favorite Palo returns with every seat offering fabulous views of the surrounding ocean.

Disney Cruise Line reveals details of new ships

Disney Cruise Line

In a live webcast today, Disney Cruise Line revealed details of the latest ship in the fleet, Disney Dream which will be sailing from Port Canaveral in 2011.

With all the fanfare and hoopla you might expect from Disney, Chairman Bob Igor opened the program with special announcements for Castaway Club Members including the appointment of perky veteran cruise director Rachel Quinn as cruise director of the new Disney Dream.

Sailing in 2011, followed by the Disney Fantasy in 2012, Disney Imagineers have been hard at work creating new, different and exciting features for the new ship which will have what Igor called “the Disney Difference”.

“Marvels” being created on the new ship include

• Disney Skyline bar which will show the skyline of various cities around the world, changing as the night continues
• Virtual portholes in the ships interior cabins will make inside cabins seem like oceanview cabins with a Disney character stopping by from time to time
• The Walt Disney Theater and Buena Vista Theatre will show first-run movies
• The Aquaduck is a high speed thrill ride like a roller coaster on a cruise ship, curving up and down and even out over the side of the ship, dropping down within inches of the ocean below

Oasis of the Seas Update: Southampton, here she comes!

Royal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean International announced today that new fleet star Oasis of the Seas will make a “technical call” in Southhampton on Monday, November 2 before heading to Florida on a TransAtlantic crossing.

Mainly to drop off hundreds of workers not not needed on the TransAtlantic sailing, the stop will be brief but afford local cruise-lovers an opportunity to see the 361 meter long ship in person.

Heralded as one of man’s greatest building marvels, Oasis of the Seas was delivered to Royal Caribbean International yesterday in Turku, Finland by shipbuilder STX Europe, 12 days ahead of schedule.

On Friday, Oasis begins her first Transatlantic crossing, arriving in Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades to be unveiled to the public for the first time on ABC’s popular morning show Good Morning AmericaNovember 20th.

Readers can follow along on a special website, www.OasisOfTheSeas.com, as the ship makes her way to Florida with daily webisodes and Google Map applications pinpointing the location of the ship.  On November 19, join us onboard as we send along live video reports including a kickoff concert performance by recording artist Rihanna, the first Sailaway celebration, profiles of the various areas of the ship and more.

Today’s webisode is all about the over 9,000 piece art collection aboard the ship dubbes “a museum at sea” where we get a sneak peek at some of the sculptures designed especially for the ship

Subscribe right here for all the latest information or follow me on Twitter @OrlandoChris for instant updates.

A ride on Majesty of the Seas

Simply sailing from Miami is part of the fun

Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas offers a value-priced short cruise sailing from Miami. This is a great cruise for those within driving distance or those who might combine one of these sailings with a land vacation in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area.

This is not one of Royal Caribbean’s new ships with all the bells and whistles they’ve become famous for like Oasis of the Seas debuting at Port Everglades next month.   But the ship is well-maintained and the service on a par with any other in the fleet.

Embarkation in Miami is a breeze. By completing registration information online we were able to print a SeaPass which makes things move along very nicely. I like Royal Caribbean’s terminal operations and the ease of which one can get in and out of the Port of Miami, still the busiest cruise port in the world. I was somewhat surprised to find security lax in comparison to other, recent, visits. It has been the norm for several years here to be stopped on arrival and required to show identification. Not this time. In the terminal itself, it looked like even the cruise lines security requirements had been loosened up a bit.

Surely, the cruise lines x-ray stop is not as thorough as the airlines but on this occasion they seemed much more interested in moving the line along than what was in our luggage.

On this cruise, being just a 3 day, we’d not packed much and opted to carry on everything in our individual luggage, one for me and one for my wife. Again I was surprised that I didn’t even have to take my laptop computer out of the bag. I guess it all works out though because I am writing this at the end of the cruise and the ship hasn’t been blow up yet.

OUR CABIN

We’d opted for the least expensive, inside cabin on this cruise. The accommodations were tight at 120 square feet but had everything we needed and offered plenty of storage space. A highlight of this cabin was the shower. Unlike some other seafaring showers, this one packed a punch equal to any land based showers and offered plenty of space. Considering the age of this ship I’d expected the old-fashioned phone booth variety. This one was about double phone booth size. Still not what one might find in a hotel but, again, adequate.

One part of the cabin experience that I found odd was the television programming. I’d heard that Royal Caribbean (RCL) had a new person in charge of this area and that things had really improved. Not on this ship. We have been in the habit of watching at least one movie on each cruise. If you’ve not done this you really should. For years after when the film you saw onboard is mentioned or you see clips of it elsewhere you’ll remember it and say “Oh, we saw that on the cruise! This was the first time were we’d not been able to find a schedule of what was playing in the daily Compass ships newsletter. We did manage to figure it out though and saw our movie.

An area of cabin operations that was quite impressive was our cabin steward, Sydney. This guy did a great job of getting in and out of our cabin when we were gone. He paid attention. Some don’t. He didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. He didn’t blow us away. He just paid attention. We had a small soft-sided cooler we’d brought because we like to have extra ice in the cabin. We didn’t even mention filling it up or keeping it full; he just did it.

He paid attention.

We found service in every area of the ship to be consistently attentive. That’s saying a lot. Often there are some areas better than others. On this ship all areas were efficient and friendly.

What more could you ask for?

In the past I’ve heard others say and even on occasion said myself “they treat you like kings on a cruise” I’d found that pretty truthful and accurate in the past but had kind of shied away from it on recent sailings. The staff on this ship brought that phrase back into the spotlight with brilliant clarity.

ONBOARD ACTIVITIES

What we like to see

What can I say?  I won in the casino and that washes away a whole lot of negatives.  Not that there were many on this sailing but you get the idea.

The cruise director and staff also did a really good job of packing all the activities you might find on a longer cruise into this short one. It did not just seem like there was something going on all the time, there was. Pool games, dance lessons, rock-wall climbing, a full blown kids program in Adventure Ocean, nightly production entertainment, all the elements were there.

This would have been a great “sample cruise” for someone who had not sailed before in the entertainment area. It was also a great cruise for locals from the Miami area. With a high percentage of Hispanic guests onboard, music contained a higher amount of Salsa and Latin-beat selections.

The Cruise Director and staff were paying attention; they gave the guests what they wanted.

TECHNOLOGY

Even computer access was great. On other ships the connection has been slow, this one was good and fast. Wi-Fi access was also a breeze to get signed up for and various packages could be purchased at reasonable prices.

Cell phone use was also available at all times on this ship. A strong signal made communicating with the outside world doable if one wanted to. Again, somebody was paying attention. I did not see many using cell phones but the service was available to those who needed it.

FOOD

Let me start by saying that we tried something different on this cruise. We never ate in the dining room. We had tried this on Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas a few months earlier with great success and I wanted to see if that was a fluke or if there was consistent quality in the buffet operations.

What I found was that this is the one area of this ship that needs work. The taste of the food is always a very subjective element and difficult to define. One person may like the flavor of a particular item while another doesn’t care for it. The trick on a cruise is to offer a wide enough variety so that there is truly something for every one. In most cases I’ve found that there is a lot of variety and finding something you like is not an issue. Here too, the variety, for the most part, was there.

There are, however, certain aspects of foodservice that are not difficult to define at all. Food handling procedures are one of these items. I was in the restaurant business for 20 years and know a thing or two about the workings of a mass feeding operation. One of the simple, basic, and critical rules written in stone is “Cold things Cold and Hot things Hot”. This operation failed miserably in this area at every turn.

Here are a few examples

Part of every buffet is a cold section with deli meats and cheeses. These are placed on a bed of ice to maintain a safe, cold temperature. Several times I saw where the ice was allowed to completely melt and the food left to come up to room temperature. On this ship part of the Windjammer service area is in the open where the ambient temperature was 80 plus degrees, a breeding ground for food-related illness.

On the hot side, the same could be said for just about everything. I wish I had a thermometer with me because I’d bet that most hot products wouldn’t make it past 100 degrees, again in the danger zone. The only products we had on this cruise that were truly hot were cooked to order omelette’s at breakfast and cooked to order pasta for dinner.

TIP: Get to know the Pasta Chef who works in the dining room preparing pasta dishes to your order. Best food on the ship.

I’ve run into this before, this is not unique to this ship. But on other ships we’ve had alternative restaurant choices. On this one, it’s the dining room, buffet or room service, that’s it.

The thought crossed my mind that it would not be entirely inaccurate to say “If you want some good food on this cruise, bring it with you” But I think that might be a bit harsh.

As mentioned, variety and taste are very subjective areas and difficult to rate. Except when it came to desserts on this ship. Somebody must have gotten a real deal on cake mix because cake was the anchor of the dessert menu that caused the menu to sink.

Don’t get me wrong.

I like cake.

But this flavorless, unfrosted, lackluster substitute, which might have been a treat to a prison inmate, was just horrible. That wouldn’t be a problem if it was just one part of the menu but often it was the entire menu with the exception of Chips Ahoy quality cookies.

This area of the ship had “we’re really trying to cut costs” written all over it.

It was at this point that I started looking for other signs of a tight budget manifesting itself into an effect on the quality of operations.

Don’t get me wrong; I think any business needs to be run in an efficient and cost-effective manner. That’s just good business.

But when budget-controlling measures affect the quality of operations to the point where they begin to define the operation then I think somebody needs to be really sure that’s what they want to do.

It’s hard for me to imagine that Royal Caribbean wants to be known for being the cruise line with the lousy desserts. Or the cruise line that can’t afford to buy enough plates so guests wait for them at the buffet line or can’t hold them in their hands because they are too hot because they just came off the dish machine and were run to the buffet line. I doubt they want to be known as the one who let spills sit on the floor, creating a safety hazard.

But maybe they were just not paying attention.

I watched one day at lunch as a uniformed officer/manager roamed the dining room completely oblivious to what was going on around him. He wasn’t paying attention. He never spoke to any of the crew. He never spoke to any of the guests. He just walked around doing nothing about elements of the dining experience screaming at him for attention. These were easy-fix things too. A guest wandering around looking for a glass of water, a spilled drink all over the floor, dirty tables everywhere with other guests looking for one to use to name a few.

To be fair, I think everything they needed was in place, they just weren’t utilizing what they had to work with well.

There seemed to be plenty of chefs, foodservice crew and managers but yet the rolls were obviously baked too far in advance. Maybe they don’t have enough ovens to make it happen. Maybe they have to bake bread earlier in the day so the ovens are available to make more cake later in the day.

If they’re serving up this low quality of food in an attempt to save money they’re really missing the boat. If they took a look at the volume of food that was left uneaten on plates they might get a clue. This was not that guests took more than they could eat. This was that they took one bite and didn’t continue eating. I would bet that this ship makes more pizza than others in the fleet. It was not uncommon to see guests eating pizza at the same table as their buffet plate which had barely been touched.

Who’s fooling who here?

On paper they might find that the flavorless institutional cake is less expensive to produce but what are they really saving if they throw it all away?

If you’ve followed my reviews you might be tempted to say “has this guy EVER been on a bad cruise?”

No, I haven’t.

On the bright side:
• The pizza was awesome and room service had some highlights worth mentioning. What made the pizza consistently good is that they never got too far ahead on it. It was always piping hot and fresh out of the oven. The pizza guy paid attention.
• On room service the Tuna Pita sandwich, Cheesecake and even the Hamburgers were very good. Ok so skip my personal opinion that they tasted good and stick to the facts. The hamburgers, for some reason, came hotter from room service than on the buffet line. Somehow the hot food was hotter and the cold food colder.
• The midnight Caribbean buffet served on deck including ice carving demonstration was worth staying up for. Lobbing off the pigs head was a bit much for the kids who probably didn’t sleep real well that night but still a cool deal

With the exception of foodservice, this ship is great. Royal Caribbean does so many things right that it really slaps you in the face when they drop the ball. I hope there are plans in the works to fix this because it is definitely broken.

Florida Pilots: A friend to those who cruise

If you have been on a cruise and watched carefully as the ship either leaves or comes back to shore, you will have seen what looks like a small speedboat with the word “PILOT” on it.  That pilot is one of a select few individuals with a skill necessary to get your large ship in and out of the port.

A topic of discussion in recent years, as cruise lines look to control expenses more and more, is the wages paid the Harbor Pilots in Florida, viewed as excessive.  A study by the Florida Alliance of Maritime Organizations, released last week, says Florida’s 88 pilots at the state’s 14 combined cruise and cargo ports ear an average salary of $368,000, viewed as excessive by the organization.

As reported in the Jacksonville Business Journal, Florida Harbour Pilots Association spokeswoman Sarah Bascom said the study was an attempt by the cruise industry to cut costs and damage port security by eliminating the requirement of pilots who understand the local waters.

By world-wide accepted definition, Harbour Pilots are a key element to the safety of ships, passengers, crew and the environment.   One of the most challenging parts of any ship’s voyage is making it through the channels and narrow waterways that lead to the port and then the final docking of the ship.  Pilots meet the ship before it enters difficult to maneuver waters, comes aboard the ship and assists the crew in their docking routine.  The pilot sails away with each ship leaving the harbor, returned to shore by the pilot boat after the ship has cleared local waters.

Is $388,000 too much to pay?

Probably not if that pilot assures the safety of ship, crew and the port. Think about that the next time you are sailing away on the next cruise.

Countdown to Oasis Of The Seas- Rihanna to headline

The ship’s Aqua Theater area hosts the largest pool at sea with multi-media capabilities
Royal Caribbean International

Kicking off the launch of Royal Caribbean Internationals Oasis of the Seas sailing from Florida’s Port Everglades will be popular recording artist Rihanna, appearing at the ship’s outdoor AquaTheatre on November 19th, the cruise line announced via Twitter today

Just as Oasis of the Seas will be introduced to the world as the largest cruise ship ever built with 5,400 guests and over 2000 crewmembers, Rihanna will debut her new album and be the first performer to take the stage of the amphitheater.

We will be on board and plan on sending live reports, videos and other updates for the event which also includes a live broadcast of the popular morning show, Good Morning America.

• More on Rihanna, Barbados native and no stranger to the Caribbean
• More on Oasis of the Seas, soon to be a regular in the Caribbean

New Oasis of the Seas will take Florida along for the ride

Central Park will be open to the sky and feature walkways with trees eventually over 40 feet tall
Royal Caribbean International

When the largest cruise ship in the world, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas starts sailing from  Florida’s Port Everglades next month, she’ll take a bit of Florida with her.

South Florida nurseries are busy preparing over 12,000 plants for installation on the ship.  Broken up into “neighborhood” areas, the Central Park-themed open air space, wider than a football field, will be home to a wide variety of plants, trees and shrubs.

In addition to 25-foot green “walls” that span four stories, paved pathways and scenic flower gardens will create what Royal Caribbean refers to as the “Wow” effect, a company slogan for over-the-top projects, ships and just their way of doing business.

A big boost to local growers suffering from economic woes, the hope is that they will also get a boost in business from sister-ship Allure of the Seas, set to be delivered about this time next year.  As reported in the Miami Herald, business at local nurseries had been down about 10% but the order from Royal Caribbean has proven to be a real “shot in the arm” for business.

Carnival Sensation- Extreme Makeover worked wonders

This aerial view of the refurbished Carnival Sensation shows many of the new additions to the ship
Carnival Cruise Lines

With the addition of the new adults-only Serenity Retreat, Carnival Cruise lines has taken Florida-favorite Carnival Sensation to a new level of guest satisfaction.

As part of a recent multi-million dollar facelift and refurbishment called “Evolutions of Fun” , the Carnival Sensation sailing from Port Canaveral offers more than ever before.  In addition to the kid-free oasis Serenity Retreat featuring two hot tubs, shady and sunny areas for adults, kids have not been forgotten.

The new WaterWorks are features a Twister Waterslide and Splash Park.  Inside, Camp Carnival has added separate upgraded spaces for different age groups like Circle “C”: for the 12-14 year-olds, Club O2 for those 15-17 and cruisers 2-11 enjoy their own area as well.  The addition of more than 50 interconnecting staterooms make family sailing easier than ever before too.

Always providing something for everyone in the way of fun, the Sensations Club Vegas Casino has all the popular games. The Fantasia lounge, the ships main showroom, features a revolving turntable stage, orchestra pit and recessed speaker system.  The Sun deck features a 9-hole mini-golf course, the ships disco has a state-of-the-art sound and light system and Spa Carnival offers soothing treatments and massages as well as other treatments at an additional charge.

Never at a loss for opportunities to dine well, start at the new Café on the Way coffee bar inside on the Promenade deck with specialty coffees and sweets.  The Seaview Bar and Grill features hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, salads, roast beef, chicken, fish…to name a few in self-service fashion.  The main dining rooms, Fantasy or Ecstasy, have both early (6pm), late (8:15pm) or the new Your Time dining where you simply walk into the dining room anytime between 5:45 and 9:30 for dinner on your schedule

The Sensation is one of Carnival’s Fantasy class ships which has gone through a total renovation which included the addition of more cabins with balconies.  Previously, the only way to get a balcony on this ship was to book a Suite or Penthouse Suite stateroom.

Within easy driving distance from Orlando, the Carnival Sensation offers a great short-vacation experience with something for everyone

Ports ready for Oasis of the Seas

When Royal Caribbean Internationals new Oasis of the Seas makes Florida home next month, Port Everglades will not be the only port to have made substantial improvements to accommodate the ship.

Each of the seven ports has had to make change and improvements to handle the 5,400 guests and 2,000 crew members that will be on board every time Oasis stops.  Here is a run down of the ports and what they have in store for visitors

• Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas- like other ports, dredging the area leading to and around where these huge ship will dock has been a challenge.  In St Thomas, it was also an environmental issue.  Originally planning on the West Indian Co dock, the ships will call at Crown Bay, the new port built by Carnival Corporation several years ago.
• Philipsburg, St.Maarten- built a new pier and support area for Oasis during a $50 million improvement project to accommodate the bigger ships including a new trolley transportation system for the piers which has also been installed
• Nassau, Bahamas- moved more than 1.9 million cubic yards of earth, sand and debris from Nassau harbor to widen and deepen the channel used by both Oasis and Allure to access the island at a cost of $42 million.
• Labadee, Haiti- Royal Caribbean’s popular 260 -acre private island, actually a peninsula on the mountainous and secluded Northern coast of Haiti, has a new aqua park for children with trampolines and slides.  The big new attraction though is a 4000-foot long zip line ride over Dragon’s Tail Beach.
• Costa Maya, Mexico- made the pier longer with a $2 million improvement project at the last minute when it appeared that new port, Falmouth Jamaica would not be ready on time
• Cozumel, Mexico-after closing due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Dean in 2007, Cozumel as reopened bigger and better than ever with improvements to what was there before and a new beach club
• Port Everglades- As previously reported, a $75 million investment in what will be Oasis and Allure’s  homeport will earn the port $10 for each guest who embarks or debarks, paying the investment back in just 6 years
• Falmouth, Jamaica- this would probably be the one with the most changes since this port is being build specifically for the Oasis class ships.   At $121 million, this new port tops the list on who spent the most and it offers a lot for guests.  Riding 30-foot bamboo rafts down the Martha Brae River should be popular as well as sampling the famous Jamaican “jerk cuisine” at various stops throughout the area

Oasis of the Seas starts out with an Eastern Caribbean itinerary calling in St Thomas, St Maarten and Nassau.  In May of 2010, Oasis begins alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings.  Initially the Western itinerary will include Costa Maya and Cozumel.  Later in 2010 it will drop Costa May and begin sailing to Falmouth, Jamaica.

• Video of Oasis of the Seas

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Cruise lines divert ships to avoid Hurricane Rick

The Carnival Splendor is one of the cruise line’s newest ships
Carnival Cruise Lines

Florida’s Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise lines are scrambling to change the direction of ships sailing off the West coast.

In a Tropical Update issued by Carnival late Monday, they note that “the storm is forecast to make landfall on the southern tip of Baja California on Wednesday”  As a result Carnival Splendor will visit Ensenada on Monday,  Puerta Vallarta on Thursday and Cabo San Lucas on Friday.  The Carnival Spirit, also on the West coast, will operate its scheduled itinerary

Sister-brand Princess’ Sapphire Princess is sailing in the opposite direction of Hurricane Rick and should not be affected

Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas is heading south to Ensenada and the cruise line will determine today if Radiance can continue on to Cabo San Lucas.

I am always impressed with how serious the cruise lines take these situations, doing whatever they need to do to keep guests safe.

Carnival Destiny- suprisingly good

Surely the end result of the embarkation process, what time we get on the ship, is what really counts. We were on board the Carnival Destiny by 12:15 but not without a few bumps in the road.

The first bump happened when I followed the signs to their exact directions for luggage drop-off at the Port of Miami. Never mind that I gave our luggage to porters loading on to the Carnival Liberty, a different ship. Luckily, my wife Lisa noticed that we sure did drive a long way from where we dropped the luggage. Realizing the error, I ran back to where we had dropped off our luggage and caught it just before it was going to be loaded on the wrong ship.

You would think that after a bunch of cruises that this sort of thing would not happen.

CRITICAL TIP: Ask porter “What ship are you loading here?”.

Even though our luggage was clearly marked with our own tags as well as the paper Carnival tags printed on our home computer (worked fine, stop moaning) the porter had tagged it with Liberty tags anyway.

Inside the new terminal things seemed to move along at a good pace on one hand. On the other hand, for some reason the old guests from the last cruise were taking forever to leave the ship. It looked as though we would board late but by 12:15 we were on the ship.

Our timely embarkation would not have been possible though without the services of the VIP lounge.

This was our first cruise with Carnival after hitting Platinum past-guest status. One of the perks (more later on the rest) of that is use of the VIP lounge. This attractive and pleasant separate space enabled us to check in quickly and have a nice place to wait until time to board. When that time came, we were escorted along with the other “VIP’s” on to the ship, for the most part ahead of everyone else

So basically, as soon as we turned ourselves over to Carnival, things moved along very nicely.

Our Stateroom

We have sailed on the Carnival Victory, a similar ship, three times and enjoyed the extended balcony offered by some of the category 9A cabins. When I saw that one of the corner cabins with a 45 foot long balcony was available, I grabbed it

This cabin is just perfect for us. In addition to the over-size balcony, the layout of the cabin is just perfect for two people. Large picture windows as well as the clear glass door leading out to the balcony are a big plus. Our location on deck 8, right below the Lido deck made easy runs up for coffee in the morning, sun during the day and snacks at night. In addition, being at the opposite end of the ship where disembarkation was happening for visits to the ports, there was very little foot traffic there too.

If that was not good enough, our cabin steward was one of those amazing people who you never see but always gets everything done. This guy went beyond our wildest expectations too, anticipating our needs and handling requests we made with a high priority.

Another perk of being Platinum past-guests is complementary wash and fold laundry service. Our cabin steward handled this flawlessly. We are also Platinum members on Princess Cruise Lines which also offer the complementary laundry service but do so with noticeable disdain. I can hear them thinking as I ask about the service “Oh great, another Platinum member. I’ll be fetching laundry all week”

Not so on Carnival where our steward was happy to help and often delivered our laundry back the same day.

This guy was really trying

The Food

It seems to me like there used to be more courses on the menu. Now it seems as thought there are just two courses plus dessert. I think it is the way the menu is laid out.

While you can indeed order a Starter, Salad/Soup/Entree and Dessert, the menu encourages combining the Starter/Salad/Soup as one selection. It was a bit confusing at first but we got used to it.

CRITICAL TIP: Order whatever you want from the menu and let them figure out when to serve it. That’s their job and if two or three of one course’s offerings look good, get them all.

How things work out with your waiter is always kind of a subjective part of a review. One guest may like a lot of attention and chit chat while another wants to be left alone. Two very different approaches to a table but the right one for those with a preference one way or the other.

Oh wait, I guess there is a third style of service other than “Be around all the time, I like to talk” or “Leave me alone, I want to eat” I’ll call that third style “Hello? Does anybody work here?”

We had the third style.

This was a really nice man from (insert name of country where funny-talking people are made) who could not have been a nicer person. Sort of like commenting on the nice people in the Casino, that means that the service was awful. But not awful in a “make me mad” sort of way, awful in a “Oh my I pity this guy” who was struggling constantly with the ships computer system that allows input of the guest order.

We were sitting right next to the waiter station and could see him forgetting then remembering then forgetting again. That was a good place to be sitting though so we could serve ourselves off the trays of food he would bring then abandon as he disappeared into some back room abyss.

I still can’t figure out where he went or what he did.

I thought about mentioning it to the Maitre d’ but he had already made is obligatory “See? Here I am; tip me later” stop by the table. Finding him now would prove too daunting a task. The food itself? Not the highlight of the cruise and barely adequate.

That was a big surprise. I had really expected the food to be better. In other areas, it was. Tea time pastries were wonderful. Grill items on deck were fabulous. Pizza was good, fresh and flavorful.

But the dining room food, except for desserts, was not good. I know this is a subjective area and if it was close to being good I would have counted it a win. But some times things are so far off what you know they should be like that it’s not even a close call.

To say the dining experience was bad would be a bit severe. Consider other important elements like conversation with your table mates. Seriously, if Lisa and I were dining by ourselves at a table for two, these food problems would have slapped us in the face. We would have talked to the Maitre d’ who, believe it or not, cares and does more than stop by the table once during the cruise. He can fix stuff like this. But we really did not think about it at the time. We refuse to let problems like this negatively effect our cruise.

We had a good time with our tablemates and really enjoyed talking to them each night about what everyone did (or didn’t do) during the day.

The star of the show for us was the Chocolate Melting Cake dessert which made all the previous fade away as waves of chocolate satisfaction re-directed our attention elsewhere.

Yes, it is that good.

Buying Stuff

Top selling items in the gift shop

Bon Voyage gifts

Robes and towels

Standing in the gift shop line, waiting to buy some booze, I noticed that there was a nice display of commonly forgotten items available for sale. Toothbrushes, finger nail files, some of this and some of that filled the space right by the cash register. One thing I noticed was a huge display of the medication, Preparation H.

Several thoughts crossed my mind:

“Wouldn’t you think that someone who needed this product would have brought it from home?”

“I mean really; if you have this condition, you know it and it’s hard to believe that you would leave your medication behind (no pun intended)”

“Does this mean that a large number of guests on the ship develop this problem while on board?”

“If so, what does this say about our eating habits on the cruise ship?”

Funny the things that cross your mind while waiting in line.

Waiting was also the name of the game on Bon Voyage Gifts.

On the first night we were supposed to have received:

• Champagne and Chocolates
• Chocolate Delight
• Fruit Basket
• Anniversary cake

We got champagne but no chocolates, no Chocolate delight, the fruit basket but no cake.

CRITICAL TIP: Always bring confirmation of your Bon Voyage gift order.

This happens all the time. They’re pretty good about fixing problems with the orders but in my experience about half the time it comes down to having to prove you bought them.

Several calls to the Information desk resulted in us getting everything except the Chocolates that went with the Champagne

On the other end of the efficiency scale for buying stuff was our purchase of some Carnival towels and a bath robe.

I really like the high-quality beach towels and fabulous robes the cruise line is using now. On sale for $22 on the towels and $49 on the robe I saw a great value. I had purchased the same towels on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 for $50 each and a similar but not as nice plush robe on Princess for over $100.

The towels were just as good as the Cunard ones and the robe was way better than the nice ones on Princess so I filled out the flyer that came with our assorted paperwork of the day. One of the coolest parts of the whole thing was that our cabin steward had those to us within the hour, packaged nicely for the trip home.

Platinum perks

• Snazzy stationery
• Wash and Fold Laundry
• Awesome complementary logo item
• More than expected

As a Carnival guest with more than 10 cruises to my credit, I had the benefit of Platinum past guest membership. We already talked about the VIP lounge earlier but there are more perks and Carnival really does it right.

One of the first elements of the Platinum package that we saw upon entering our cabin was the personalized stationery provided. Platinum in color (clever), it was right there on the desk when we entered. I wondered who I would be writing to on the cruise. Santa?

The wash and fold laundry service is the most talked about benefit, making cruise board regulars around the globe drool in anticipation. Rightfully so, they do a good job, returning by afternoon the same day all the laundry given to the cabin steward by 9am in the morning. The only sort of disappointment was that a dress shirt I turned in, returning washed and folded, could have used the dry cleaning/pressing service offered. Still, the idea of having no laundry to do when we got home was a great one!

Another great idea was what they chose for our compementary Carnival Logo Item. I was expecting a bag of some sort, a picture frame or some other inexpensive gift like on Royal Caribbean. Instead we got two really nice stainless steel thermos’ just right for two cups of coffee. Our location right below the Lido deck made using them for our morning coffee a no-brainer.

The whole past guest program was really executed well, including the unanticipated plate of chocolate delights sent on the night before last with the simple words “Good Night” written on the plate in chocolate.

All things considered, this was a really good cruise. I would surely sail this ship again. I guess that sums it up very well!

Cruise Dress Codes Get More Relaxed

As a result of guest feedback convincingly in favor of a less formal policy, most all cruise lines have relaxed the dress code in recent years. This week’s announcement by Regent Seven Seas Cruises is typical of even high end cruise lines who encourage their guests to adhere to the following guidelines:

Daytime Dress Code (until 6 p.m.)

During the day, resort style clothing (including shorts, warm-up suits, jeans and sneakers) is acceptable
in all public areas. Bare feet are acceptable only on the Pool Deck. Note: Bathing suits, while acceptable at the Pool Bar and Grill, are not considered appropriate in any indoor venue.

Evening Dress Code (after 6 p.m.)

Two types of dress code have been established for evenings in public areas: Elegant Casual and Formal Optional. The number of Formal Optional nights is dependent upon the length of the cruise, as follows:

• Cruises of fifteen nights or less will be Elegant Casual for the duration (that means NO formal night)

• Cruises of sixteen nights or more will have two Formal Optional nights

Elegant Casual: Skirt, or slacks (no jeans) with blouse or sweater, pant suit or dress for ladies; slacks (no jeans) and collared shirt for gentlemen. Sport jackets are optional. Note: Jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps, shorts, sneakers and bathrobes are not considered appropriate in any public area after 6 p.m.

Formal Optional: While guests are welcome to dress each evening as per the Elegant Casual dress code, during Formal Optional evenings, guests may opt for a more formal choice of clothing including gowns and cocktail dresses for ladies; tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suit with tie for gentlemen

While the trend for a more casual vacation experience has been building for quite some time, it was Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) “Freestyle Dining” that started it all. Breaking away from the industry standard of an Early or Late Seating, NCL gave guests options of not only a main dining room experience but alternative restaurants as well, some included in the price, some for an additional charge.

Other cruise lines have engaged the alternative dining trend by offering specialty restaurants for an additional charge. Focused on a more upscale experience like a fine steakhouse or multi-course Italian feast, specialty restaurants were limited to one or two on each ship for the most part. But even on those ships main dining room diners are getting more and more options.

An ever-increasing option is open seating. Pioneered by Princess Cruise Line’s “Anytime Dining” the program works basically the same on all lines that offer it allowing diners to dine when and with whoever they want. Recently, Carnival and Royal Caribbean both added their own versions which, while administered a bit differently between brands offer the same flexibility and casual ambiance guests say they want.

Countdown to Oasis of the Seas- a primer

It all started as “Project Genesis” but is about to become reality as the world of cruise vacations gets ready for   Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas, arriving in Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades in less than a month.

As previously reported, Port Everglades has been working hard to prepare for the arrival of 220,000 ton Oasis of the Seas in November followed by sister-ship Allure of the Seas in 2011.  Now, the cruise line has started to release some of the details about inaugural events taking place starting on November 19th.

New ships are nothing out of the ordinary for Florida though. With more ships sailing from Florida ports than any other area in the world, we have seen all the latest and greatest the cruise industry has to offer.

Until now.

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class ships will offer a totally unique cruising experience, much like their Explorer class did years ago with the addition of the Royal Promenade, a shopping and entertainment area running the length of the ship on the inside.  So what is “new” with Oasis of the Seas? Here is a brief run-down on some of the areas causing the most interest.

• Loft Suites- There are several different categories.  The “Crown” Loft Suites- at 545 square feet, these two-level suites with floor-to-ceiling, double-height windows will include an upper-level bedroom overlooking the living area below with a fabulous view of the ocean and a 114 square foot balcony. “Sky” Loft Suites at 722 square feet features a bath with a shower for two and a 410 square foot balcony. “Royal” Loft suites- feature two deck high stateroom with panoramic views. Master bedroom and bath on second level. Bath has a tub, shower, two sinks and bidet. Stairway to second level. Four twin beds (can convert to Queens). Bath with shower on main level. Private balcony with whirlpool and dining area. Dining area with dry bar. Living room sofa converts to double bed. Closets on each level. (1,524 sq. ft., balcony 843 sq. ft.). Stateroom can accommodate up to 6 guests.
• Central Park- One of the highly touted “neighborhoods” on Oasis with 334 staterooms overlooking a park over 300 feet long and 60 feet wide, Central Park promises quiet areas for reading along with lush tropical foliage, flowers, shrubs and trees.  Taking a cue from the popular Promenade View staterooms on Explorer and Freedom class ships, the 254 non-smoking balcony staterooms open into the ship, overlooking the park.  Retail stores, shops and boutiques will be featured including a portrait studio, art gallery and more. Restaurants and dining options available include signature eatery Chops Grille, a Royal Caribbean favorite with top quality steaks open for dinner, 150 Central Park, an exclusive dinner restaurant with top quality cuisine and an observation window allowing a view of the food preparation. Vintages, another returning favorite and signature wine bar regular cruisers will remember from other ships serving a tapas menu as well as the Central Park Cafe for anytime dining at breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks and midnight treats.
• Royal Promenade- One of the most popular areas on Royal Caribbean’s Voyager and Freedom class ships, the Royal Promenade is included on Oasis of the Seas with some big differences including Crystal Canopies on the roof that let natural sunlight in during the day to illuminate the space. Twice as wide as previous versions, those familiar with the Royal Caribbean will recognize favorites, Sorrento’s Pizzeria, Cafe Promenade, the Schooner Bar, Boleros Latin bar and the Champagne bar as well as Jewelry, gift and souvenir shops plus the Guest Services and Shore Excursion desk.  New is the Rising Tide bar, the first elevating bar at sea which will slowly ascend and descend three decks to allow cruise passengers the ability to enjoy a cocktail as they move through Central Park and various public spaces.  The 18 Promenade View Staterooms will no doubt sell out fast on each sailing. Accessible by stairs from the Royal Promenade, the Entertainment Place hosts signature Casino Royale, an ice skating rink and the ships main theater, the Opal Theater.
• The Boardwalk- this neighborhood is all about families and introduces many of the coolest features on this new ship such as the AquaTheatre a new aft outdoor amphitheater-like area featuring the AquaTheatre pool, a technological wonder that will be the largest fresh-water pool at sea and the first-ever hand-carved Carousel at sea.  Favorite Johnny Rockets will be located here as well as the surfer-themed Seafood Shack along with a coffee and donut shop, candy shop, Ice Cream parlor and more.  Accommodations include 6 AquaTheatre View suites, 221 Boardwalk View balcony staterooms and 8 Boardwalk View staterooms.  High above it all, a thrilling zip wire ride will race diagonally over the boardwalk, 90 feet above the deck.
• When Oasis of the Seas enters regular service in December she will be the larges and most revolutionary ship at sea with 16 decks that will carry 5,400 guests on 7-day Caribbean cruises

Port of Palm Beach- another choice for cruising from Florida

Great Lakes Cruise Company’s Clelia II recently made a call at the Port of Palm Beach on her way back up North for a series of Northeastern Fall Foliage itineraries.  This private yacht-like ship accommodates just 100 guests in 50 Oceanview suites.

The significance of this call at Palm Beach by the Clelia II is that the Port Authority has been promoting the facility as a destination of port of call for small, luxury cruise ships.   “The Clelia II’s visit reflects the Ports determination to expand its business during an economic recession said Port Chairman Edward Oppel.

Currently, the only regularly scheduled ship at the Port of Palm Beach is the Palm Beach Princess, a twice daily casino cruise.

But at just 35 miles South of Port Canaveral and 80 miles North of Miami, the historically cargo-oriented port has ambitions.  A new $26 million multi-level terminal with full passenger terminal facilities is up, running, and capable of handling two vessels carrying 1,200 passengers each.

The first question that comes to mind is “So how many ships are there that hold only 1,200 passengers or less? ”  Surely the mega-ships with thousands more won’t be calling there.  There are a number of seasoned cruisers who do like smaller ships though and that might be just where the Port of Palm Beach finds its niche.

Worlds Largest Cruise Sale

That’s no joke and you owe it to yourself to at least check it out

Sponsored by the Cruise Lines International Association and most major cruise lines, this is a one day event, today only, where travel agencies all over the world are working overtime to get the best values of the year for you.  They call it the “Worlds Largest Cruise Night”  because many travel agencies stay open extra late, invite people in to have cookies and milk then pump them for a booking.   I’ll be watching whatever we recorded on our TiVo last night and wishing them the best.   I like the “Virtual” version of this much better where you can click your way to a great value.

Check with your travel agent today for what they have to offer or click here for my personal favorites (ok so this is a self-serving advertisement- still, these are great deals)

On Twitter?  search for #WLCN (Worlds Largest Cruise Night) #Cruise and #Cruise Values.  That should do it.

CAUTION:  Watch out for the Internet Cruise Brokers. These guys will be rabid today, probably didn’t sleep all night, arm wrestled each other for breakfast and will be eating nails for lunch in preparation to take you on.

Oh and hey, if you see an unbelievable offer that you want me to check out for you, send it along.  I’ll cut through the hype and find out if it is real or not.

Port Everglades adds new gangways for Oasis of the Seas

Port Everglades

In preparation for the arrival of Royal Caribbean International’s new Oasis of the Seas next month, Port Everglades has installed two of the latest in Mobile Elevating Gangways.

Automatically following the ship’s movement if effected by tide, wave or wind fluctuations, they are connected to the ports data network providing remote on line maintenance.

Complying with new South Florida building codes, these new gangways featured tempered glass  and a more open environment, providing better orientation for guests both getting on and off the ship.

The addition of both Oasis of the Seas, starting year-round sailings in December and sister-ship Allure of the Seas in 2011 should make Port Everglades the number one cruise port in the world.  Each of the 5,400 passenger ships is anticipated to add 584,000 passengers annually at the port.

Why Port Everglades and not Port Canaveral or the Port of Miami?  One big reason would be the close proximity of the Fort Lauderdale airport to the cruise port, just a 10 minute cab ride away.

Carnival Cruise Lines keep us safe

Carnival Cruise Lines

Carnival Cruise Lines has announced a new, improved system for conduction the mandatory Safety Briefing on board.  Formerly called the “Lifeboat Drill” passengers were required to go to their staterooms, pick up their lifejackets and proceed to designated areas of the ship to await further instructions either immediately before or after sailing.

With Carnival’s new program, guests will no longer be required to go to their stateroms to collect thier lifejackets but will go directly to their muster stations from whereever they are on the ship.  They will know where their designated muster station is by the letter indicated on their Sign and Sail card, the identification card given to each guest before they get on the ship.

No longer will guests experience unncecessary acctidents or heat exhaustion while waiting at the muster stations on a Summer cruise.

In another safety-related area, Carnival is taking extra measures to guard against the spread of infectious diseases including the H1N1 Influenza Virus.  All guests and embarking crew are given a pre-boarding health questionnaire and medical staff will be available toconduct additonal screening of guests, crew and visitors if necessary.  Anyone who ha an illness of international public health concern will not be permitted to sail

Celebrity Century Goes To Europe

Celebrity Cruise Line’s announced that they will be redeploying the Celebrity Century to the Mediterranean in the Summer of 2010.

The Century, popular with Floridians because of her 4 and 5 night Caribbean sailings, is being sent to Europe because of “even stronger demand” in that market said Celebrity Cruises President Dan Hanrahan adding that “with our new , widely-heralded Celebrity Solstice scheduled to sail in the Caribbean year-round, our guests can enjoy the best seven-night Caribbean cruise experience in the market”

Celebrity Century will continue to sail four and five-night Caribbean cruises from November 2009 until early May 2010.

We reviewed both the Solstice and Century with high marks for both in all areas. We will miss the Century’s shorter itineraries, perfect for those flying in with a week vacation who wanted to add a 2 or 3 day pre or post cruise stay in Florida.

Another great ship for a 4 or 5 night cruise from Florida?

Believe it or not: the Carnival Destiny. We sailed this one not long ago on a five-night and were astounded at how nicely everything went and especially how fabulous the food was.

New Video From Princess Cruises

Princess cruises puts out some pretty remarkable videos about it’s brand.  This one, titled “Experience Princess Cruises” gives a really good idea of what it is like to sail on a Princess Cruise Line ship.

New Pier 18 at Port Everglades

Construction of Cruise Terminal 18 at Port Everglades is right on schedule and will be completed for the November arrival of Royal Caribbean International’s new 5,400-passenger cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas.

As the largest cruise passenger terminal in the world, capable of handling the 5000+ guests that will be embarking on Oasis of the Seas and sister ship Allure of the Seas coming out next year it also has to handle the 5000+ guests disembarking at about the same time.

Royal Caribbean and Port Everglades worked together to add many new features to this terminal making it possible to board the ship within 15 minutes of arriving at the pier.

• Parking availability- 1000 parking space in flat lots (Parking lot 18 and Parking lot 19) within walking distance of the terminal, with overflow to pother port parking garages
• Entrances- The entrance for bus and trucks will be separate from the car and taxi entrance
• VIP Access/Check-in- There will be a completely separate entrance for Suite Guests
• Check-In- To make sure there are no lines, there will be 90 different check-in counters
• Children’s Area- While you take care of everything, let the kids hang out in the new children’s play center located on the second floor seating area
• Embarkation/Debarkation- How do they handle those crowds?  With separate arrival and departure halls
• Finding your way from Shore to Ship?  Lots of electronic signs offering directions and other informationOasis of the Seas arrives at Port Everglades on November 11

Princess Introduces New Alaska Cruisetour Designed Especially for Families

Family Fun Tour Adds Value with Variety of Included Extras and Discounted Fares

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (October 9, 2009) – With its stunning scenery, abundant wildlife, and plethora of active adventure opportunities, Alaska offers the perfect family vacation.  To make it easier for families to plan a trip to the 49^th state, Princess Cruises has added a fun new cruisetour option designed especially with family groups in mind.
The 12-night cruisetour offers the best of Alaska by land and sea and includes a variety of special features not usually included in a cruisetour package.  Families will have the opportunity to travel on a jetboat, pan for gold, take an interactive tour of Denali National Park, and experience what Alaska is like in the winter when it’s many degrees below zero.
The cruisetour (number: FUN) is offered at a 25 percent discount for all berths, so all members of the family are included in the special pricing.
“This is really the ultimate family vacation,” said Charlie Ball, president of Princess Tours. “Alaska is a wonderful travel destination with kids, so we wanted to make it easy and affordable to plan the perfect Alaska experience for everyone in the family.”
The Family Fun cruisetour includes a seven-night Voyage of the Glaciers cruise plus a five-night land tour featuring one night at Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, two nights at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and two nights at Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge.  At sea, families can also take advantage of Princess’ many onboard programs especially for children, including a special Junior Ranger program in Glacier Bay National Park.
In addition, the following special extras are included in the tour:
Daily Breakfast – Everyone in the family can start their morning off with the most important meal of the day.
Direct-to-the-Wilderness Rail Service with Lunch – Princess’ acclaimed Direct-to-the-Wilderness rail service gets families to their wilderness lodge faster, and includes lunch aboard the train.
Three Rivers Jetboat Tour (Mt. McKinley) – An exhilarating alternative to taking a motorcoach to Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, this tour travels from Talkeetna to the lodge by jetboat, with stops along the river to view historic encampments and learn about the native wildlife.
Arctic Blast (Denali) – Family members can experience winter in Alaska – in the summertime.  This special chamber is chilled to wintertime temperatures, so visitors can find out what happens to hot water when it is thrown in the air and whether soap bubbles can survive the cold.
Music of Denali Dinner Theater (Denali) – This rollicking musical comedy tells the legend of the first expedition to the summit of Mt. McKinley, accompanied by a hearty, family-style meal featuring smokehouse ribs and Alaska salmon.
Experience Alaska with Alaska Geographic Tour (Denali) – A more intimate tour of Denali National Park, this special experience includes a variety of interactive experiences, including an enhanced view of the Denali ecosystem and current research taking place.  The narrated bus tour takes guests 15 miles into the park to a beautiful river valley where they embark on a short walk to the historic Savage River Camp, where they can participate in a number of hands-on experiences.
Denali Sourdough Expedition Breakfast (Denali) – While fueling up for the day with a family-style, Alaskan roadhouse-style breakfast, guests experience an unforgettable journey up Denali through breathtaking images in Laurent Dick’s Climb Denali.  Participants have the opportunity to meet this real mountain climber and ask questions about mountain climbing.
Riverboat Cruise and El Dorado Goldmine Tour (Fairbanks) – Families can enjoy traveling on an authentic sternwheeler for a fully-narrated cruise along the Chena River and try their hands at gold panning at the El Dorado Gold Mine, where they will learn about Alaska’s gold mining history.

Fares for the Alaska Family Cruisetour (#FUN) start at $1,743 per person for the first and second berths, and $1,191 per person for the third and fourth berth passengers.

Princess offers a variety of land/sea Alaska experience with itineraries ranging from three to eight nights.  All cruisetour options feature at least two nights in the Denali National Park area, stays in Princess’ own riverside wilderness lodges, and a seven-day Voyage of the Glaciers sailing with Glacier Bay National Park.

Royal Caribbean streamlines cruise check-in

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line

Florida favorite Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines announced today a new Luggage Tag Mailer program for all guests who have Electronic Travel Documents.

Designed to “save time at the pier and expedite on board luggage delivery” said the cruise line in communication with travel agents, the new program addresses what was a big issue in the past with guests prior to boarding.

Previously,  with Royal Caribbean’s electronic document program, guests would receive luggage tags at the pier upon arrival which often proved awkward and time-consuming.

As part of an ongoing program to streamline the embarkation process at Port Everglades in anticipation of new ships Oasis and Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean has looked very carefully at what they are doing and made bold steps to improve the process.

The cruise line has also been working on better procedures for getting off the ship as well.  last year they introduced new procedures fleet wide to further ease the departure process on all ships. The company also added programming for guests who are staying on board for multiple sailings. “We listened to our guests’ feedback regarding the opportunity to transform the departure experience and responded with the launch of a refreshed process fleet wide,” said Lisa Bauer, senior vice president-hotel operations at Royal Caribbean. “Early testing aboard Freedom of the Seas has yielded very positive guest feedback, with the enhanced communications cited as one of the most helpful tools for our guests on departure day. We also continue to see an increase in guests sailing with us for multiple cruises and our focus on special communications and programming for these guests will also greatly enhance their overall cruise experience.”

Disney Cruise Line wants you to host a party…but should you?

Disney Cruise Line

With social marketing all the rage now you would think that forward-thinking Disney should have the very best cutting-edge resources to draw from when setting out on a networking and community pitch.

Well of course they do silly; they just do it differently.

In an email, Disney Cruise Line tells us “you could be one of the 2000 Disney cruise enthusiasts selected to host a party of the year on November 14th- A Disney Cruise Line House Party”  House parties will be taking place all across the country, with hosts and guests relaxing, rejoicing and enjoying a taste of the Disney Cruise Line® experience right in their own home. Guests will also learn about Disney’s brand new destinations, itineraries, and the brand-new ship, the Disney Dream.

What is a House Party? It’s a party held in your home, celebrating something cool you want to share with your friends and family. You set up a free party page to get the buzz going and spread the word, and the folks at House Party provide you with creative party ideas, favors, tips, and more. Then you receive a fantastic party pack from Disney Cruise Line®, with products to make your party spectacular — all you do is invite your guests, share your great cruising experiences with them, and enjoy your party!
Host spots are limited — don’t miss out!

word-of-mouth-advertising.com

The “house party” much like the “cruise nights” hosted by local travel agencies, draw on the concept of a “pied piper” who brings in friends and family in a fun, familiar and relaxed setting to get them excited about travel.  In this case, Disney Cruise Line is skipping the travel agent and going right to the group leader.

As it turns out, Disney Cruise Line is working through a company called House Party that specializes in setting up these events.

At the end of the day, on line resources have been used to create an offline network of friends all talking about Disney Cruise Line.

As mentioned earlier, your local travel agent may also be involved in something like this for just about any cruise line.  In fact, the Cruise Lines International Association sponsored “Worlds Largest Cruise Night” is coming up in November and features live in-store cruise nights as well as Virtual Cruise Nights with information about cruising available at your convenience.  Check with your travel agent for details.

That’s the “but should you?” part in the title of this article.  You will gain so much more in the long-run by using a travel agent to do this.  Travel agents have the contacts and information on ALL cruise lines, not just Disney , and can determine a good fit for your group cruise which may or may not include a Disney sailing.

New Ships Coming To Florida

During a time that history may refer to as the “Great Recession” , cruise lines are debuting new ships giving guests sailing from Florida more choices than ever before.

Coming up in December, Royal Caribbean’s 5400 passenger Oasis of the Seas starts sailing from Port Everglades.  Almost 4 football fields long, the $1.2 billion, 18 deck high ship with a crew of 2,165 and 5400 passengers will be followed by sister ship Allure of the Seas in November 2010.

Carnival Cruise Lines new Carnival Dream, biggest ship in the fleet at 130,000 tons promises some new features NOT found on the last new one, Carnival Splendor, including what they call “Cove balcony” cabins, more secluded and quiet areas for adults and additional dining options to name a few.  Sailing from Port Canaveral the Dream adds another big ship in addition to recently acquired Freedom of the Seas sailing under the Royal Caribbean flag, an upgrade from Mariner of the Seas which was moved to the West Coast.

Celebrity Eclipse, sister ship to Celebrity Solstice and Equinox, sets sail on August 29th with a  four night Southampton Inaugural cruise.  We sailed on the Solstice’s inaugural sailing last year and really liked that one.  More…

The 4,200-passenger, 150,000-ton Norwegian Epic will begin seven-day eastern Caribbean cruises from Miami July 17

Regardless of what you are looking for; a short cruise or long cruise, one with non-stop action or laid-back relaxation, you will find it sailing from a Florida port.

Cruising from Florida? Expect to pay for checked luggage

While cruise lines allow an unlimited amount of luggage, airlines are limiting it and in most cases, charging to carry it.

United airlines just announced a new program calledPremier Baggage.  For $249 per year, the flier and up to eight fellow travelers under the same confirmation number can check up to two standard bags each with no additional fees.   It’s geared toward and tied to frequent flyer accounts but anyone can use it.  You can even give it as a gift to a friend or family member.  (What a great stocking stuffer?) Traveling with a family of four, those bag fees can add up fast.

I remember one cruise when we were living in Kansas and flying to Florida.  On that cruise we had 14 bags between the four of us in our family.  I remember that because I had to call a limo service at 4am the day of our flight to get us and all our luggage to the airport.  It was that or leave one of the kids home and since we already paid for them I figured we should bring them along.  If we did that today, we could have easily paid for this service.

OK now who is feeling smart for living in Florida or someplace else where you can drive to the port?  I may just bring a bunch of extra luggage on our next cruise just to show off curb-side at the pier for those poor saps who had to pay.

Many other airlines are charging for checked luggage as well as prime seat assignments and just about anything else the can think of.

Are the cruise lines next?   Not in the near future but they are starting to show signs that they want to leave this option open, much like they showed signs of zero tolerance for booze smuggling on to the ship.

While, “no limit” was the mantra of all cruise line rules on luggage, we are starting to see ” a reasonable amount” show up in cruise contracts and on the cruise line websites.  A couple years ago we saw “a reasonable amount” of soda, water and a bottle of wine per guest as pretty commonplace.  Now the wording is going much more strict to “Guests are not allowed to bring alcoholic beverages…”

Carnival Cruise Lines Guests “are encouraged to limit their checked luggage to two suitcases per person” now along with other detailed information presented on their website.  No rules yet, but getting there.

I can see the point too.  I don’t know how many times I have been packing up to go home at the end of the cruise and noticed how much of what I brought along that I did not use.  Oh wait, that’s every time; even now that we have made a science out of packing to where one bag covers two of us.

Is $249 for a year of no fees for extra luggage a good deal?  It might very well be.  With the way so many air carriers copy one another this could show up on a number of airlines.  United notes that $249 is an “introductory price” indicating that they may raise the price in the future.

Somehow I am not feeling like they are being overly generous with the introductory deal.

How about you?

Shore Excursions- A primer

Good Morning

Last week we talked about using your cell phone wisely on the cruise to avoid a $5000.00 bill when you get back home which is kind of a buzz kill on the “oh my I am so relaxed from taking a cruise” thing. We also talked about taking advantage of the free stuff on the cruise as there is indeed a lot to do on the ship that is included in your cruise fare. Some say so much you can’t possibly do it all. I don’t know that I would want to even try to; sounds like work to me and that’s sure not what I go on a cruise for.

This week we’re going to talk about some of the shore excursions you can take on your cruise and which ones are the best values. See if this helps and if so, great; you’re on your way to taking care of that concern you may have had. If this does not help, send me an email or call me and we can go over each port to find some good choices for you.

Ok, Let’s get down to it then…

-Grand Cayman-

Stingray City
This is one of the most popular ones in the Caribbean and something everyone should probably do at least once. You can do this one of three ways, each of which take a short boat ride to a sand bar where these things live. Snorkeling is probably one of the most popular ways, SCUBA diving is another and a glass bottomed boat is the third. This is one were you can do it through the ship or through another vendor like www.Shoretrips.com (look online but call them and ask for Liz to book)

Atlantis Submarine ride
You can do this a lot of places. I mention it in Grand Cayman because that’s where we did it and, to me, this is a “once in a lifetime” is plenty ride but surely something everyone should do. If you have a fear of close spaces, not so much for you. But you will see any movie with a submarine in it through different eyes for the rest of your life if you do it.

-St Maarten-

Yacht Racing
Expensive but worth it and the experience of a lifetime. The America’s Cup Racing shore excursion you can book through the ship is an experience you’ll be talking about for a long time. This is not a ride though, they put you to work actually manning the ship doing sailor stuff.

Bae Rouge
A cab ride to the French side of the island and a few hours at a beach called Bae Rouge is a great day and not all that expensive. There are some facilities there but this is not about watersports and local cuisine. This is simply one of the prettiest beaches in the Caribbean and one that is NOT overrun by tourists. This is one of the places the crew members of the ships go

- Ocho Rios, Jamaica-

Dunns River Falls and more
The big attraction here is the 600 foot Dunns River Falls, a slopey, somtimes slimey, walking thing where you can actually walk up the falls which is pretty cool. But Jamaica is so much more and one of my very favorite places to go. One of the best ways to see it is by grabbing a cab for a half day tour of the island. My friend Lincoln Stewart has been doing this for years and whenever I have hooked up friends with him for a tour they have come back telling of it being the highlight of the cruise. Let me know, early, if you want more on this, he fills up fast.

-St Thomas-

Sapphire Beach
Shoppng is a big one here, especially jewelry. Megans Bay is the big tourist draw and that’s a beach thing. If it’s beach you’re looking for I suggest a cab ride to Sapphire Beach, another of the prettiest in the Caribbean. This one has a full array of water sports, a gift shop and more. It’s free to visit but you can rent chairs and umbrellas if you want to.

Obviously this is not a complete guide to shore excursions in the Caribbean. The idea here is to get you thinking about what you might want to do ashore. The best way to find the excursions that are good for you is to first explore the cruise line websites. While you’re looking, take notes on the excursions you find most interesting…and be realistic. If if there is no way Aunt Bertha would do the Extreme Hang Gliding Experience, don’t write that down. On the other hand, if doing the Extreme Hang Gliding Experience is just what the doctor orderd to snap Aunt Bertha out of her funk and back to life, maybe pencil that one in on the side.

Personally, I think you should not be looking for Shore “Excursions” but rather for Shore “Experiences”. I wouldn’t bother getting off the ship if you’re going to do one that requires getting on a big bus with 50 other people. You’ll get lost in the crowd, if you’re in the back of the bus you can’t hear, it will be hot and uncomforable and dilute the experience all to heck.

A good Shore Experience you’ll carry with you for a lifetime and the richer it is the better. You may visit a certain island many times or never again, who knows. Make it count!

Next week: More on Shore Experiences: we have just scratched the surface today!

Florida Cruise Ships Collide

Tampa’s Carnival Legend and Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas sailing from Port Everglades collided in Cozumel last night, leaving both vessels damaged.

The 88,500 ton Legend was pushed up against the 80,700 ton Enchantment by a strong wind while maneuvering away from the dock in Cozumel. Both ships received minor damage and will continue on their itineraries, a five-night Caribbean cruise for the Enchantment and a 7-night for the Legend. Still, passenger on board watched as a tug boat unsuccessfully tried to get between the two ships.

On a personal blog site,” TheOneBob” reports “OK, so we’re sitting in port. A few of us are on the pool deck watching the Carnival Legend pull out of port. As we’re watching it, it’s getting closer and closer. It looked like the wind was pushing the other ship toward us. I looked down and saw a tug boat try to get between the two boats, but it was too late. Then the collision became inevitable. There was some crunching and breaking glass noises and the ship rocked to one side a little. It was such a slow crash that it was barely noticeable. We could see scraped paint on the other ship, Really, nobody was hurt and we’re waiting for the all-clear from the Harbor master to leave port.”

Carnival really does have the Funships

I have always enjoyed Carnival cruises.

Since our last Carnival cruise on the Carnival Fantasy we had sailed the Celebrity Century, Cunard’s Queen Mary2, Norwegian Sun two times,and Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign and Freedom of the Seas. After all those, it was refreshing to come back home to Port Canaveral and the Carnival Glory.

At 110,000 tons, the Glory is one of the big fish in the cruise business. But on this one, which reminded me a lot of the Victory, Destiny and Triumph, Carnival has done a great job of breaking up large, open spaces, into smaller, more intimate areas. Taking a page from past renditions of FunShips but adding their typical unique twist done ship by ship, they have made a great addition to cruises sailing from Port Canaveral.

At the time of this sailing it was a tie between the Disney Magic or Wonder and the Glory for the “big, nice ships” prize ( If there was one). Now with Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas adding a totally different cruise experience to the mix of what is offered from Port Canaveral, it’s a tougher choice.

Glory is the clear winner, though, in many other areas. The main area, “Fun”, has Carnival clearly in the lead. That’s saying a lot when stacked up against the magical Disney brand. But since we had not only been away from Carnival for a while but had sailed on several other lines, the “fun” atmosphere really slapped me in the face. I missed it and did’t even know it.

Suddenly, what was missing on those other lines was very apparent. Here was a ship capable of holding up to 3700 passengers and darn near every single one I saw was over-the-top happy to be there. The atmosphere was relaxed but the air was full of anticipation, excitement and (again) “Fun”.

Upon embarkation, guests were advised that cabin’s would be ready about 1:30PM and to head to the lido deck for lunch. First, we had a great luncheon in the dining room. By the time we got up to the Lido deck it was packed. The familiar multiple food stations were all running full throttle keeping up with the demand quite nicely. I think it was here that I remembered how well Carnival knows “fun”.

On this visit I spent a lot of time touring the different categories of cabins. Still, my favorite and what I think is one of the best values at sea, is a category 9A corner balcony cabin. Very much like the one’s we’d sailed several times on other Carnival ships, the 9A’s on this ship have a unique layout. The big drawing point, though, is the huge wrap-around balcony.

Touring the Category 11 and 12 cabins was a lot of fun too (and about as close as I will ever get to staying in one). If I die and come back as a cruise ship cabin it would be in one of these categories. Not that the inside, outside and other balcony cabins are not nice, they are. After sailing all those other cruise lines mentioned earlier, some with cabins a lot smaller and most with cabins of varying sizes, it was nice to see the consistency that Carnival applies to their cabins. Each is comfortable and well equipped. OK so the Penthouse Suites have a bigger whirlpool bath than the somewhat smaller standard suites, even the inside cabin showers were quite functional and a fair size.

This visit was just a tour and luncheon on the ship, perhaps about the same amount of time one might spend aboard if in a wedding party. I did’t want to leave. I can’t wait to go back. My record is perfect; I’ve never met a cruise ship I did not like and the Glory I loved!

Cruising From Florida 101: Getting Started.2

I feel bad for those who may have had their cruise vacation plans disrupted by trusting InternetCruise Brokers who ignored them after the sale or went out of business as we discussed in Part One of this series.

This is a really good reason, one that savvy travelers know, to concentrate on “Value” rather than simply “Price”. Yes, that advertised price of $199 for a cruise sounds great initially. But in almost all cases the end price nears double that once port charges, taxes and fees that everyone pays are added in, not to mention optional buried fees one might fall into.

The smart way to go is to find a Certified Cruise Travel Agent who offers the best value, not just the best price. Almost always, when all expenses are considered, the Travel Agent has the better value in the long run. And isn’t that what really counts? A professional, Certified Cruise Travel Agent can be your friend in the business that provides a really necessary service, much like you might use an accountant to help with your finances. The business relationship between you and a Travel Agent is one of trust that is built over time. “Your” agent will come to know and take a personal interest in what is best for you. He or she will be constantly on guard of your vacation plans, taking advantage of special offers, using their behind the scenes contacts and up to date knowledge of the industry on your behalf.

The best part? This costs you nothing. Travel Agents are paid a commission by the cruise line. You truly have nothing to lose and everything to gain There are Travel Agents who are simply sales people and Travel Agents who offer a service that will offer you great value in the long run. And the long run is what you need to think of because you’ll probably be cruising quite a bit in your lifetime

Here then are some simple ideas to consider when choosing between an Internet Cruise Broker and a Cruise Travel Agent:

• Concentrate on Value, not Price- look at the whole picture and be honest with yourself about it
• Always insist that your payments go directly to the cruise line- if they won’t do that, go elsewhere
• Carefully read the fine print- look for junk fees like change fees, cancellation fees, booking fees, etc. If you see them, run!
• Always pay with a debit or credit card- they provide some protection if that Internet Cruise Broker goes broke and shuts down
• Be sure they will honor any lower prices you qualify for. Most Cruise Brokers won’t do it but ask the cruise line to lower the price anyway. They lower the price, regaining some or all of the commission they gave up to get you that initial low price.
• Try emailing or calling them to ask a question and note the response time. This can be a real good indicator of how it will go after the sale

Next up?

Why not just eliminate these middlemen and book directly with the cruise line?

That is not a good idea and I’ll tell you why

The answer may surprise you!

“Ok, so what’s NOT included with my cruise?”

This is a question everyone should know the answer to.

If you’re not sure, read on.  If you already know, skip this and go back to Twittering around or whatever it is you were doing before this.

It is true that much of your cruise vacation is included in the fare.  But that’s once you’re on the ship.  We need to back this up a bit and talk about what you paid for your cruise.

If you bought it from us, the price included all the port charges, taxes and government fees.  That’s important if you happen to be surfing around and see a price for a cruise that looks too good to be true.  Most often it is too good to be true, especially if it came from an Internet Cruise Broker. Those guys almost always withhold some fee, tax or other charge to make their big deal look more attractive.

You have got to resist the urge to embrace this and it can be harder than you think.

Some people want that great price so darn bad that they overlook the fine print or even the huge print just to have the bragging rights.  I remember a few years ago standing out in the middle of the street here talking to a neighbor.  He went on and on about the $199 cruise he bought and what a great deal he got.  Well listen, I know this business and there really are very few $199 cruises out there to be had.  I also knew this one he

was talking about was not one of them.  But I politely nodded and let him feel savy and powerful for a moment.

The point is, you need to be realistic and budget accordingly.

Why in the world would a travel agent tell you something like this?, you might ask.  Simple; from the beginning we have always told you the total price of your cruise, exactly what to expect and now it’s time to talk about your Total Vacation Cost.

Frankly, we have been on cruises where we did not spend anything other than the price of the cruise.  It can be done.  Ok that was a lie, I had to have a Diet Coke and those are not included so I charged that but that was all.  Hmm.  Now that I think of it, that was the cruise where they had just installed new gadgets on the slot machines that would allow you to charge money (tokens) on your cabin by using your cabin key/shipboard account card.  I had to try that so I charged $10.  I think it was $12.50 we spend over and above the price of the cruise.  It can be done.  You can spend nothing on the ship

The question is:  “Do I want to or should I?”

That’s where we need to start thinking about what you want to spend on the stuff that is not included in the price of the cruise like

• Spa Treatments
• Shore Excursions
• Gift Shop Purchases
• Tipping
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Internet Access and more

In the coming weeks, we will work through what you need to plan on and I want to get real numbers for each of you to use.  Not to scare you off but if a realistic plan does scare you off, maybe that’s for the best; you can cruise another time.

So now you have some homework.  Over the weekend, go to your group cruise website, or the cruise line website and take a look at your itinerary.  Consider what you would like to do ashore, on the ship, going to the ship or coming home.  Then send me an email with your ship, sailing date and any questions you have come up with.  No questions?  Send tips for others you think might be helpful.  No tips? Send jokes.  Clean jokes.  Everyone loves a joke.

And even though how much you spend on board is no laughing matter, let’s have some fun with it and see if we can make that Dream Cruise Vacation a reality without breaking the bank.

A moment to remember

Good Morning

I don’t think it would be possible to begin this day with anything other than a moment of thought and reflection on the anniversary of what has become “911″ in everyday conversation.  So much more than just a number, we need to take a moment and remember those who died on that horrible day.   Do you remember where you were?  I was working in my office and had CNN on as I do most days.  Somehow I knew from the initial report that this was going to be one of those life-changing moments.  Two VCR tapes later (probably 1000’s of tweets if this were today), coverage on CNN was still going on, covering a developing story that would go beyond the initial death and destruction and highlight an American spirit not seen in quite some time.  I remember my mother, now in her 90’s, saying “This feels just like Pearl Harbor.  I can’t believe I am living through this again” in disbelief.  I hope that was the end of such tragedies.  I’d like to believe that.  And I wanted to take a moment to think about those who died, those who rescued and everyone who was touched by this event in one way or another.

Ok now on with the booze smuggling tips!

Hurricane season kind to cruise ships…so far

The 2009 storm season has been a relatively easy one to date with little effect on the itineraries of ships sailing from Florida ports.  Last week, Carnival Glory sailing from Port Canaveral ran a modified itinerary, calling at Grand Turk as opposed to a scheduled day at sea.  Not a bad trade really.

But what happens if a storm is headed in the way of your cruise?

Well first be glad you didn’t book a Caribbean land vacation. They can move the cruise ships out of harms way.  The islands? Not so much.

The cruise lines make the safety of their guests, crew and vessels their highest priority. Unlike other vacation settings, by virtue of being a completely mobile vacation, cruising allows passengers to continue their vacations by altering itineraries should Mother Nature intervene. The cruise lines are prepared to keep their passengers and ships out of harm’s way. It is quite unlikely that the Captain will seek out a hurricane then command the ship to go full speed ahead right through it while hollering “Yaaaaaahooooo!!!” on the ship’s loudspeaker system.

“Passengers should rest assured that CLIA member lines have the latest technology and information to closely monitor weather conditions and take all actions necessary to make certain its passengers enjoy a safe and enjoyable cruise vacation,” said Terry Dale, Cruise Lines International Association president and CEO.

In the event of severe weather, certain operational protocols are in place for cruise lines, including:

• Today’s cruise ships feature the most technologically advanced weather forecasting systems and equipment available, allowing officers and company officials to forecast weather-related disturbances in advance.
• Today’s cruise ships are completely mobile and able to alter, cancel shorten or extend ship itineraries to keep guests safe in instances of threatening weather.
• In the event that ports of embarkation and debarkation are closed due to severe weather conditions, cruise lines can use a nearby alternative port. In these cases, cruise lines coordinate the logistics of loading food and supplies and getting passengers to and from the original port.

So yes, pay attention to hurricane forecasts and bookmark the Tropical Update page on your cruise line’s website that alerts guests to possible itinerary changes. But don’t be afraid to take advantage of some of the best fares of the year this fall during the tail end of hurricane season.

So far, so good.

The New Celebrity Equinox

From a friend in the UK, this one looks so good…

The Celebrity Equinox left Southampton last Friday on her maiden voyage to the Mediterranean. But in the two weeks before she sailed, Celebrity put on a remarkable show to the UK travel trade. 
 
During this show, the big guns from head office told us that with these new ships there were two things they were trying to be.
One was “stylish not trendy” and the other was “elegant not formal.” These are just a couple of the touchstones that guide the new Celebrity, as they begin to take bookings on the third of these Solstice class ships, Celebrity Eclipse, which will be based in Southampton next summer.

So let’s have a look at this second of the five new Solstice ships to come from the shipyard of Meyer Werft at Papenburg.

Celebrity and the UK
There was no question that Celebrity pulled out all the stops to host the UK trade, offering a series of five 1- and 2-night cruises from Southampton and hosting about 5,000 travel agents and 2,000 clients, as well as a good number of suppliers and media people. Not only that, the hosts were three big guns: Richard Fain, chairman and ceo of parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises, Dan Hanrahan, ceo of Celebrity Cruises, and Robin Shaw, managing director of Celebrity’s UK office. In fact, Fain admitted that the costs for this exercise were “unconscionable,” although there was good reason for it.

So why such a powerful cast? Well, one thing they told us on our two-night cruise was that Celebrity is aiming to take 5% of the UK cruise market next year. To do that they will have to book 75,000 passengers, and combined with sister company Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, which already sails from Southampton, this will present huge competition to P&O and Princess and to some extent to Cunard as well, not to mention the likes of MSC and NCL over at Dover.

Celebrity ships have cruised from UK ports in the past, but this will be the biggest program ever and the first time since Chandris ran the Australis and the Regina Magna on cruises from Southampton that they have had such a serious presence in the UK.
Yes, Celebrity is going back to its Chandris roots, although it doesn’t say as much as the earlier ships handled the £10 a head emigrant trade to Australia before going into cruising when that stopped. A much more upmarket Celebrity will now be looking for UK business.

The Ship Inside
If you liked the previous decoration on Celebrity ships, which have always been somewhat refined, you will find the decoration on Celebrity Equinox a bit more futuristic, like a “Popular Mechanics” vision of the future. There is lots of architectural sculpture and metallic embellishment throughout the public areas and the carpets are swirly rather than comforting.
In some areas, such as the bar outside the Murano extra tariff restaurant the swirly carpets, the swirly painting of the columns and the artwork and unique light fittings can tend to overwhelm than relax one.
Unusual metallic lighting fixtures are offset in many areas of the ship by art, particularly a good part of the Galaxy art collection that was removed when that ship became Mein Schiff with its German-market associate TUI Cruises. Personally, I feel more at home on the Century and Millennium class ships but then Celebrity are probably trying to attract a younger more trendy crowd.
As one of its Hollywood interior designers, Tim Magill of 5+ Design, said, the idea was that she should look more like a dinner jacket than a ball gown, if you follow that logic.

There are three particularly large areas on this 122,000-ton ship that can carry over 3,000 passengers that I like to call Hold numbers 1, 2 and 3. Hold number 1 is the three-deck high show lounge, a very impressive room indeed, which features the usual Celebrity stage elevator that can raise a piano or a set from beneath the stage. Hold number 2 is the atrium, which contains a tree suspended in mid-air and open glass elevators on each side of the hold, onto which faces a library where it must be difficult to remove the books from shelves that are two decks high!

And Hold number 3 is the double-deck dining room that has a balcony on the top level. Unlike the Century and Millennium class that have dining rooms at the stern, the Equinox main restaurant has no stern view. The galleys have been located there instead, a throwback to the old Horizon class. One must suppose that the ride is a little nicer in a rough sea, but it is a shame that the only aft-facing restaurant is now the extra tariff Tuscan Grill (Celebrity call it the Tuscan Grille but a grille is what one finds on the front of a BMW or a Studebaker).

Hard deck surfaces, somewhat like stone or tile flooring, have been used in some parts of the ship. Particularly in some of the more open areas where large balconies overlook the rooms below, this can mean a lot of noise. It seems to be a current trend for bars and restaurants to have many hard surfaces that create echoes but now this has been taken to sea.
Not for the first time, however, as some Carnival ships have the same hard decks in public areas. Presumably these are easier to clean and to maintain but they do affect the noise level and at times one needs to look around to find a quiet place to relax in.

This is particularly true of the Martini Bar and the Coffee Bar. One needs to search out Michael’s Club further aft to find somewhere a quieter. Ironically, the wine tasting lounge called Cellar Masters directly opposite the noisy Martini Bar, does offer a more tranquil setting, as does the Passport Bar down the stairs on the other side of the ship. In this case, the elevator banks operate as a sound barrier.

One last thing, although all the Celebrity executives apparently tried out every style of new chair that is used on board the Equinox, someone forgot the stateroom couches, which are very hard!

The Ship Outside

The exterior hull of these ships is quite mould-breaking and many have found them to be striking, or even handsome. One of the most interesting views, however, is above the boat deck, where seven stories of balconies rise above the sea like some cliff side luxury beach resort. In fact, however, the ship is not that far removed from a 1,400-room resort hotel in that 85% of her cabins now have private balconies.

Below all these balconies is a promenade along the boat deck and at the forward end of this on each side are private deck areas where one can relax in a good old-fashioned steamer chair with cushion and read a book. But there are only forty-two of these steamer chairs on a ship that can carry more than 3,000 passengers.
The vast majority of deck furniture is the sun loungers and other chairs surrounding the three pools up top. Oh, and up forward on top there are some nice loungers as well, somewhat marred however by the sound of bouncing balls coming from the basketball court in the middle.

Unique is her stern, however, which slopes down from the top towards the sea. Celebrity has added what it calls an interceptor, a yacht-like transom that wraps around the ship’s stern, effectively lifting her hull slightly to cut the ship’s drag as she cuts through the water.

Her hull was in fact designed by yacht designer Martin Francis, who succeeded another yacht designer, the late Jon Bannenberg, who had worked with Celebrity since the line’s first ship, the Horizon of 1980. All Celebrity ships have therefore been designed with yachts and mega-yachts in mind.

The Lawn at the top of the ship is interesting but one wonders how practical it really is. And the glass-blowing display is good for one viewing and then you’re done. It has created the advantage, however, of the ship being able to make its own naming bottle, which was smashed against one of her funnels rather than the hull, as is the usual practice.

Speaking of usual practice, and just as an aside, the lifeboat drill on these new ships is held without life jackets. This will be the procedure on the new Oasis class ships of Royal Caribbean as well, where they have gone as far as considering removing life jackets from the cabins and stowing them all at the lifeboat stations.

The Equinox also joins a return to two funnels, something that goes back to ocean liners such as the first Queen Elizabeth and the France, to name just a couple. More recently, all of Disney’s ships have been designed with two funnels as well. But in the case of the Solstice class, both funnels are aft and they are real, each one serving a separate engine room. This arrangement gives the ship 100% redundancy, meaning that in case of trouble in one engine room, the other one remains intact.

But Why Must The Gym Face Forward?

It must come from all of us travelling in aircraft these days, with no forward view and windows facing only sideways, but why is it that so many ship designers under-rate forward-facing lounges in large ships? The Queen Mary 2 is probably the best ship in the world for this, with its Commodore Club, Library and Atlantic Room on three different decks.
The only forward view on Celebrity Equinox, however, is from the Sky Observation Lounge. But one deck down, one really must ask oneself why on earth people on treadmills, especially treadmills that face the side of the ship, should have such a splendid view of the sea when they could easily be located in the bowels of the ship?

Outside the gym, there is an open deck area that faces forward and this would be a particularly good place to be on entering port, but is marred by speakers playing the very loud techo-rap that is played in the gym. This lack of imagination is not exclusive to Celebrity’s designers as Carnival ships have their gyms forward as well and the Sea Princess even has a cafeteria there. Still, it is a real shame to waste such precious space on a fitness area.

Crew Matters

Crew matters in more ways than one, but the most important is in ensuring that people come back as repeat customers. Celebrity takes great pride in its crews and to host two weeks on a new ship, they ensured there was no lack of experience from those on board Equinox. This showed in the consistency of the service that was offered.
To ensure this level of service, about half the crew came from the Solstice and 45% from other Celebrity ships, leaving only a small proportion of the crew as first-timers. No doubt this was helped by the fact the Celebrity had only very recently delivered the Galaxy to Germany.

While interviewing several Equinox crew members to see how Celebrity kept them happy, they were quite happy to talk about their employers. The new Solstice class ships have a crew of 1,253 that is accommodated over three decks of well-designed crew cabins, and on top of the normal crew bar they have their own crew disco and even a crew casino, although this consists of machines and not table-top gambling.
But one of the biggest responses we got was that Celebrity offer six-month contracts with six weeks off whereas one former Holland America employee told us that he had had to sign one-year contracts with them. Things like this make a big difference when it comes to crew being able to see family and get a rest every once in a while.

The Green Ship

Here are some more facts about the new Celebrity Equinox. The first is that the top of the ship features more than 200 solar panels that can produce enough electricity to power 7,000 LED lights. The second is that the acres of windows on board have been specially chosen to reduce heat transfer from outside the ship and thus save on air conditioning. The third is that a special non-toxic silicon coating has been applied to the hull to reduce resistance and save fuel.
The fourth is that water consumption has been reduced through the use of river rocks instead of ice in the buffets, reduced-flow dishwashers in the galleys and shower heads that require less water.

Not only is this a green ship but the competition must be green with envy and will have quite a fight on their hands in the UK market with her sister ship next year. And I haven’t even mentioned Aqua Class or Blu or Silk Harvest yet! Overall, the ship is bright, new and spacious, the crew and service fantastic and the food consistently excellent. Celebrity has not missed a trick since its parting with Michel Roux and still maintains, if not exceeds, the very high standards that it set for itself from the beginning.

I found a better price (you crook!)

I  love it when someone emails me about this.  I got one today from one of our group cruise leaders.

“Chris:  hat answer do I give someone who says, ” I found a better price for the cruise ($535.00) on a couple of sites.”  I have someone getting ready to register, but called me with this question.  I recall you mentioning this before, but I forgot what you said.  Please advise”

The short answer is, “You’re wrong” but that is usually not enough and this will come up from time to time’

Most commonly they have found sites of Internet Cruise Brokers (bad word in the travel business. think “used car salesman”)who misrepresent what they are offering or they are just looking at it wrong.

The next best answer is “Go ahead and go through the booking process where ever it is you found that price but just don’t pay”  They will have to do that to get to what the real price is on those sites.

But the best answer, one you could copy and paste into a reply to an email would be:

“You might want to check again, many of those sites commonly do not include the port charges, taxes and fees or their processing charges, document charges, shipping charges or booking fees (none of which you are paying).  They also won’t include the group benefits of a $100 onboard credit and one-hour open bar cocktail party.  Our price is the lowest available unless you want to pay the full $250 per person deposit right now and use the Early Saver rate which Carnival guarantees to be the lowest.  In turn, that deposit is non-refundable, no changes can be made to the booking after it is paid and it will not be eligible for the complementary cabin category upgrades we will get as a group.”

When they go back and look beyond the attractive teaser rate they find that it is actually much higher about half the time and the other half of the time they find that rate is no longer available.

There is no way someone has a rate of $535 on this cruise.  The Carnival Early Saver rate, again, guaranteed to be the lowest is $686 for an inside cabin.  Your group rate is $726.  Considering the onboard credit alone (take $50 off that $726)  your group price is a better value.  Add in just the cocktail party and convenience of NOT having to pay a Non-Refundable deposit of $250 up front for a cruise they won’t sail on for more than a year plus the upgrades they will get being part of the group and the group is the best value.  It always will be.

If the price actually did go down, you would get the lower price with the group.  The price won’t go down.  This is a summer sailing and the price will go up.  The only reason we got this price is because you planned this so far in advance.  The cruise line rewards our forward thinking with a lower price.  In fact, they are already bugging me about filling up those cabins we have on hold or giving them back.  If we were to start this group today, the price would be $756 per person, an increase of $30 per person already.

The pricing objections you write about happen all the time and you can just have them call or email me if you want to.  The explanation will mean more coming from you because they know you.  For all they know I am just the crooked travel agent trying to pull one over on them.  You, they know and trust.

Now the next thing that will be coming up is people who think they will wait to book and get a “last minute bargain”.  THIS is the one I just hate.  This is almost always tragic and one of the few calls I dread getting.  I get one or two on most groups from someone who waited until the last minute thinking they will be smarter than everyone else in the group and get a better deal.  Most often we are long out of cabins by then and the prevailing rate is much higher than the group rate paid by those who booked in advance.  On the phone I can just feel them going from an euphoric high when the call begins to a very low bad place by the end after they get the bad news.

What’s that old saying?  ”If it seems too good to be true, it probably is”  Yes, that applies here

How To Cruise For Free

Catchy title huh?

Well, it’s more than that, this is a thing you really can do.  We do.  You can too.

How?  The answer is something that is quite timely, given the state of today’s economy and the belt-tightening that so many feel every day.

Many years ago when we started cruising it was Lisa, Sydney, Whitney and I, a typical (if there is such a thing) family of four.  Then it was easy.  We took the skills we had learned from raising our family through some tough times and applied them to our love of the sea.

Let’s go back to that time and see what history taught us.

Our first cruise was on the Carnival Fascination, just before 9/11, when the world was a bit different place to live in.  At the time, we had not vacationed much as a family, opting to pay for the kids activites, needs and cheerleading (good choice: keep ‘em busy = keep ‘em alive) , building our business (or anything that remotely qualified as that), keeping up with the neighbors (stupid waste of money) and all that stuff that goes into making a typical suburban life.

Our vacation before that was a wonderful week at Disney World that cost a fortune we didn’t have. The enduring memory I have of it was raining all the time and the kids fighting all the time at the Happiest Place on Earth.  I think it was right after that when our “business” suddenly included raising and showing Bernese Mountain Dogs.  I remember one of the kids once saying “You like those dogs better than you like us!” and replying “The dogs are a constant source of joy; what’s your problem?”

It was time for something different and a cruise seemed to fit the bill.

Still, I was concerned , thinking it would be all old people, shuffleboard and nobody like us aboard.  So we booked a lovely suite with a balcony, thinking if it turned out to be what I had imagined we would have some place to hide until it was over.

By the end of the first day we all agreed that it was the best vacation ever and the only regret we has was that it was not a longer cruise.  We were instantly addicted.  On the way home all I could think was “How in the world are we ever going to afford this new habit?”  Priorities changed right then and there.  Very quickly we rearranged what was important.  Taking lessons we learned as a young couple in the 80’s when 99 cents a pound pork steaks were “good eating” we fed our new habit.

Here are some of the things we did:

• Holiday, Birthday, Anniversary gifts?  Out the window: that money went towards deposits on cruises
• College fund?  Forget about it; we’d seen too many other kids drink their way through college and not appreciate the expense, let alone the silver platter it was handed to them on
• New cars? We’d had plenty to the point where I remember co-workers asking “Another new car? Oh, did the the last one run out of windshield washer fluid?”
• Movies and a night on the town?  We’ll stay home thank you and enjoy formal night at sea instead.
• Eating out in general?  Way less expensive to cook; a skill I had gained from an earlier life in the restaurant business.
• New clothes and keeping up with the latest fashions?  Ok there were limits to this plan when you have daughters in high school and live in a trendy suburb.  Oh I wish I could have half the fortune we donated to Abercrombie right now…but on the other hand, that stuff was well made, I still have some from that era that will last me forever.  One of my first lessons in what “value” means.
• We stocked up on stuff that was on sale.  Sam’s Club became our store of choice on all things possible.  I still have a hard time believing we justified a 300 pound bag of chicken wings as a business expense on our corporate account but it all worked out.
• I am pretty sure we invented Booze Smuggling on cruise ships, cutting our bar tab from a record of a kings ransom to pretty much zilch.
• Ok that’s enough, you get the idea

To me, the whole idea was to create memories that would last a lifetime and cruising was the perfect fit.  The complete package.  All these ideas and things we did made it possible for one of our cruises every year to be pretty much free.  Had we chosen inside cabins instead of balconies, taxis instead of limousines, the same clothes instead of new ones for each sailing and more, we probably could have made that two out of the three or four a year we did.

Was there a down side to all this?  No: nothing that really matters.  In the whole scheme of things we wound up with a whole lot of great memories as planned, the kids learned interactive skills that they use today and will carry with them the rest of their lives and we did one of the most important things possible: We lived!  You can too.

Dive in head first during this recession and develop the skills that will keep your heads above water.  Once the recession is over, hang on to those skills for dear life and apply them to whatever it is you love to do.  If cruising is that love, here is your blueprint to make that happen.  If it is something else, apply those skills to make that happen.  But don’t get caught up in the details so much that you miss out on life.  It’s just too short!

Holiday Cruising

There is something special about sailing on a holiday that goes beyond just celebrating the event.

I have always said that if there was just one time of the year I could cruise it would be around the December holidays.  The ships are all festively decorated.  All the passengers just seem to be in such a great mood.  Even the dining room menu has something special to offer us.   From the moment we walk on the ship, there is a wonderful air of anticipation that can’t be denied.  After 30-some cruises, sailaway, the moment the ship leaves the dock, is still my favorite part of the experience.  Often bringing a tear of joy or two when I look around on deck and see everyone having such a good time, this is what it is all about.

If you read some of the reviews we have on our website for holiday sailings, that happy theme dominates the tale of those sailings.

A summer holiday sailing is no less festive, making cruises that are at sea on the Fourth of July, America’s Independence Day, one of the most sought-after and expensive times of the year to sail.  There’s a good reason for that and those who are at sea right now or will be for the upcoming holiday are about to find out why.  If you have not sailed on a holiday, gather up your friends and family. Try it once you’ll be hooked.  No cleaning the house for company, no huge trip to the grocery store for all the stuff you need, and no choking through Aunt Roberta’s green bean casserole just to be nice.  It’s a great way to go.

Looking ahead a few days to the upcoming July 4th holiday, I wonder if tryng something new wouldn’t be a good idea here on land too though.  Independence Day is one of if not the most patriotic of all holidays.  I was reminded of that today when talking to a retired friend who served in the US military for many years.  We were lucky enough to sail with Norm and I must say, there’s nothing quite like showing up in the dining room on formal night with someone in full  dress uniform along.  The respect that uniform commands is undeniable.  And rightfully so.  These are people who have put their lives on the line to keep us free, to allow us to live in a country free from so many of the horrible things that happen in the rest of the world.  Whatever their job in the miltary may have been, they did their part.

We should do our part too.

This weekend, between the picnics, fireworks or whatever else you may be doing, find someone in uniform, walk up to them, shake their hand and say “Thank You for protecting us”.  You don’t need to know them, what they do now or did when they served their country.  It does not have to be a member of the military; someone in law enforcement, a firefighter or emergency service worker of some sort works too.  Take a minute, just a minute, to pause, get in the game, and make a difference in your own way.

At a time in our history when economic troubles touch us all in one way or another, when our worlds are changed as high-profile celebrities pass away and we look forward to an uncertain future, embrace those who bring order and stability.

They deserve it and so do y0u.

Thank you Norm.

Killing Time Before Your Cruise

I hate waiting.  It’s not so much that I am impatient, it’s more like “Hey, I’m going on a cruise and I want to go right now!”  Ok well maybe a little impatient.  But there are some great ways to kill the time that that end up making the actual cruise itself a much richer experience.

One great time-killer is a party…and who doesn’t like a party?

If you are part of a group cruise, try setting up occasional parties with those you will be sailing with.  More than learning their drinking and social habits, you can be much better prepared for the cruise once it rolls around.

Much like studying the deck plans before you get on the ship to help avoid bumping into walls the first half-day (always a good idea), studying the ports you will visit is also a good idea.  Often groups will assign a specific port to a person, couple or family and they become the expert on it, reporting back to the group at one of the planning parties.  This can be a lot of fun.  I’ve seen it be as simple as that expert reporting briefly what they know of the port already to elaborate presentations that include visual aids, speakers who may have lived there, theme food nights, etc.

The more you get into it, the better.

If you’re a single person cruising by themselves or a couple, make each month a theme.  Scan the Internet for information, go to the library for books or videos, contact the embassy of the country/island you might visit (those people love to tell you all about it) and get some good information on what to expect.  Social networking venues of all kinds can be incorporated into your plan as well.  You don’t have to get a big group together to make this work for you.

A side benefit of it all is that you might learn who in your group to avoid on the ship!   If Johnny can’t hold his liquor on land, odds are he’s going to be in trouble on the ship as well.  If Suzie is a flirt at the planning party, she’ll probably be big big big trouble at sea..or lots of fun,  however you look at it.

The down side is that if you’re a couple it’s hard to avoid the other person you’re sailing with and if you’re a single trying to avoid yourself you need medical help pronto.

A Day In The Life Of A Cruise

Like an endless buffet, a typical cruise offers a huge array of appetizing choices from sun up to the wee hours of the night. It’s up to you whether you do it all or never leave the comfort of your deck chair.

Your options begin first thing in the morning. Have a three-course breakfast in the main dining room, opt for the a la carte selections at the buffet restaurant or stay in bed and order room service.

By mid-morning the presentation about the next port-of-call is just getting started. Maybe you’d rather check out a novel or a video from the library, join an aerobics class in the gym, practice your golf swing, or stake out a good sunny spot by the pool. For lunch visit the taco bar by the pool, have Chinese food at the buffet, hamburgers and hot-dogs from the grill, or the full lunch in the formal dining room. Afterwards, why not take a nap, or indulge in a cone of frozen yogurt from the ice-cream bar, check out the reflexology workshop in the spa, or have the fruity cocktail-of-the-day. Before dinner there’s time for a quick dip in the hot tub or maybe a trip to the hair salon.

Then, get all  up for drinks and dancing in one of the lounges before being treated to an exquisite five-course meal in the dazzling dining room. (or not and relax someplace else) Then head over to the Vegas-style Broadway show, try your luck in the casino or hustle over to the disco. Before you know it, it’s time for the midnight buffet-at least have a look! Night owls should check out the after-hours comedy act, go dancing, or take a stroll out on deck. And, don’t forget to have a quick slice at the 24-hour pizzeria before calling it a night. Tomorrow’s another full day!

This day is not on any particular cruise line. The activities described here may or may not be available on the cruise of your choice. And, at the same time, there are many other activities, too numerous to mention, that are offered on various days and on various cruise ships.

On a day in port, the options are completely different. However, even on these days, meals are always served on-board. Do some sightseeing and shopping, return to the ship for lunch and relaxation, and then begin all over again-wander, shop, hit the beach, a little tennis, or whatever you enjoy doing. Return to the ship, rest up, and get ready for a night full of activities. Tomorrow’s another full day-again!

Luggage; the right tool for the job

I learned over the years that pretty much any job was made easier when I used the right tool for the job.  If you cook, you know that the right pot or pan is often a key ingredient in the success of a recipe.  If you need to cut a piece of wood, there are a number of saws that can be used.  Dog owners know that all leashes are not alike.

Taking the same view about luggage makes just as much sense.

First, consider the application. You are going on a cruise, not an jungle safari.  I never really understood that until we did a Transatlantic sailing on the Queen Mary 2.  We had always cruised round-trip from American ports before.  On this cruise we began in New York, ended in England and had to fly back home.   No way were we going to be able to bring 3 or 4 suitcases per person.

So we took a lesson from flight attendants we had seen in the airports.   Many of them had luggage that was slender enough to fit through an x-ray machine, but longer than normal to accomodate much more inside. So we searched online to find something like that which would work for us.

At www.ebags.com we found just what we needed in This Victorinox Tourbach™ cargo bag boasting a large u-shaped opening for the main compartment and dual side pockets

But what turned out to be the best benefit was not so much being able to carry everything in one bag, but being able to do the self-disembarkation offered on most cruise lines.   As opposed to waiting around for the normal disembarkation process when leaving the ship (can be hours and a real headache), if you can carry all your luggage off yourself, you walk off the ship pretty much as soon as it is possible to do so.   This is a real time-saver for those with an early flight or those driving to and from the ship.

So now we sail with one of these bags, a carryon and maybe a purse or briefcase.  It’s easy to do and forces us NOT to take everything including the kitchen sink.

Cabin Categories

A question we get a lot has to do with cabin categories and might go like this; “What is the difference between all these categories of cabins? Each cruise line has their own way of classifying cabins.  On Carnival it’s a number and a letter like 4A.  Princess uses two letters like BB or AC.  Royal Caribbean uses a combination of both with designations like E2 or PR.

The easy way to sort this out is to remember that there are really three kinds of cabins; inside cabins with beds, a bathroom, places to store clothes, a tv, a phone and maybe a refrigerator or desk but no view.  You can’t see out of them.  Oceanview cabins are for the most part the same as an inside cabin except that they have a porthole or window to look out of.  Entry level balcony cabins can be the same as the inside and Oceanview except they have a balcony attached that you can walk out on to.

Where the difference in designation like, say, 4A and 4D come is for the most part where the cabin is located on the ship.  The prime real estate is the dead center of the ship because there, the movement of the ship can be felt less and it’s closer to everything.

Odds are if you are reading this that you are booked on one of our cruises or have retunred from one and are still haning around. (That’s good, we like havingyou)  So why talk about cabin categories when we are already booked?

Because it might not be too late to change.

It is really quite common actually.  I have started out in a lower priced category and moved up as we came closer to sailing because our budget has done well.  I have gone the other way too, moving to a less expensive cabin for whatever reason.

The point is that there is a cabin category for everyone and while they are similar in design elements as noted previously, there are some noteworthy nuances exclusive to each category.  Let’s take a look:

INSIDE CABINS

• Great if you like to sleep in- very dark
• Even though dark you can still see outside and what the weather is- on the cabin tv via the bridge cam
• Starting prices can be misleading.  All the cruise lines do this; advertize a really “cheap” deal then we go find out that it is in a cabin with bunk beds and that taxes are not included.
• Tend to be mostly on the lower decks.  This could be good or bad depending on your outlook.  No, the higher class guests are not on the higher decks…well except on Cunard. or so they say.

OCEANVIEW CABINS

• May be “obstructed view” meaning they really don’t have much of a view of the ocean..if you look straight out.  If you look more down you can often see past the lifeboat that is in the way otherwise to the ocean below
• Some may have picture windows, other portholes
• Great choice if claustrophobia is an issue- stay away from inside cabins

BALCONY CABINS

• The cruise lines add more and more of them because they are very popular
• Offer a private outside refuge on a day when the pool area might be very crowded
• Awesome place to watch the ship sail away and leave your real life behind
• Basic balcony cabin could be about the same as the inside or oceanview. except that there is a sliding glass door that opens to a wonderful world.

Tips to make your cruise the best it can be

Pay attention to the amount of time you will have in each port.
It’s important to consider how much time your cruise will spend visiting each island. Have you always dreamed of visiting Jamaica? Well, if your ship is only in Montego Bay from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., you might be disappointed that you don’t have time to see much. If you want to maximize your days in port, ask for the latest dinner seating (if your cruise offers timed sittings). That way, you don’t have to rush back to the ship for dinner.

Don’t assume you need to take the shore excursions the cruise line offers.
The cruise lines really hype up their shore excursions, and for good reason: In addition to selling alcohol onboard, this is one of their main revenue streams. Many of the excursions are overpriced and can be put together on your own. If you’re just looking for a day at the beach, hire a cab and ask the driver to take you to the nicest one in the area. You don’t need the cruise line to plan this for you. You can also hire your own car or moped in many ports. In addition, many of the same-day trips can be booked with independent operators as soon as you get off the ship. Do consider the ship’s shore excursions if they offer opportunities to see multiple sites or if you have limited time in port. Also, if you are someone who will constantly worry about getting back to the ship in time for departure, go with the ship’s group; they will definitely arrive in time

Do some homework before shopping onboard or on land.
Oh, the Caribbean, land of duty-free shopping! You could go broke in one shopping trip! Luxury items such as jewelry, perfume, china and electronics are imported from all over the world and often offered up to 50 percent off what you would pay for them in the United States. But this is not always the case. It pays to consider what you want to buy before leaving home and checking on the prices in the United States. That way you will know if you are really getting a deal. Remember that you can bargain and should, even in established stores.

Ask A Question: ANSWERS ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW

Janice from Kissimmee Florida asks this question about travel insurance:

I’m trying to decide between TravelGuard and CSA. My TA recommended CSA, so I’m leaning toward that, but I noticed that insuremytrip.com includes an asterisk for CSA that says “Coverage on this policy is less than requested or may be limited.” I’m not sure how this applies, because the coverage with CSA actually appears to be greater than with TravelGuard (ie, the dollar amounts for coverage are larger and it includes flight insurance, which TravelGuard does not for the plan I’m considering). Any thoughts? Thanks!

Great questions and common concerns!

Ok first, what are you trying to do? Do you have specific, real reasons for buying travel insurance or are you just playing it safe?

I only ask because your answer has a LOT to do with which direction you go.

Do you have any pre-existing medical conditions or reasons to believe ahead of time that you might have to cancel your cruise? Like maybe a job that could/would get you called away at the last minute or a relative that might have a health issue that would keep you from going. Or maybe you even have airline tickets on a carrier you have real worries about being in the air at the time you need them to be. USAir, for example, was dropped by Travel Guard for a while and not covered by any policy. Later they took them back and are covering them but those can be important considerations.

Another consideration is if you have group health care insurance, will it cover problems on a cruise ship or an island? Ours, for example, covers illness anywhere in the world but at the “out of network” rate (duh) since we wouldn’t be going through our primary care doc in, for example, St Thomas.

If you don’t have any real concerns and are playing it safe, good for you. It surely is the safe and smart way to go. I personally never bought it until Lisa got Cancer and had a real reason for it.

The quotes you get on Insuremytrip.com can sometimes be misleading. This is really NOT an area where the cheapest is the best…but I think you’re finding that out. If you were buying a box of Cheerios that would be fine, they’re all the same. Not so with travel insurance.

I’d say go with what your TA recommends if you trust them. In many states agents must be licensed to sell it and have been trained about the coverage’s they offer. If you have ANY questions at all though be sure you get the answers from your TA or from the insurance company itself. They all have 800 hotline numbers and people standing by 24/7 to answer your questions before during and after they sell you.

Or you could ask your home/auto/life agent who you may know better or have known longer and trust more. They might not handle it but they all know somebody who does. Also, check with your credit card company. Some include travel insurance when you buy your vacation with their card

What’s with the “etc” now?

If you (are one fo the few that) come here frequently you know this is all about cruise vacations.   Originally called “Essential Cruise Information” the purpose of this blog was to have a place to put stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere.  My website, www.LifeIsCruising.com offers a ton of information and for almost ten years now was quite enough.  My weekly newsletter every Friday titled “Get Ready For Your Cruise” has even more.  Combined they make for a good way to learn about cruising, kill time until your cruise and plan for the next one.  But there are some things that just didn’t fit either one.  Have you ever tried to put something in an email and thought “This would be WAY easier to do over the phone”?

That’s kind of the thought behind this blog

…or it was

Now, being on Twitter, (Orlando Chris), Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo, and some others I don’t even remember, things have seriously gotten out of hand.   I find myself feeling guilty for not keeping up with all this stuff.  So I’m adding a new dimension:  what I think about other stuff too.   Your first thought might be very much like mine was “So, who cares?”

Apparently a lot of people do.   Today’s electronic media makes it possible for me to follow people almost down to their individual thoughts.

I think you can look at that two ways:

1. No thanks: Too much information.  I really don’t care what you’re doing on the way to class
2. Cool: This is like socially acceptable eavesdropping (spying) and who doesn’t want to be a spy?

Basically,  I am giving in and putting everything online.

Now before you throw away the TV and expect top notch entertainment, listen:  You’re not going to pressure me into posting stuff here all the time.  I might just not have anything to say!

Like today; nothing    Well, something,  but this is it.

Royal Caribbean Announces Allure of the Seas’ Inaugural Season

Royal Caribbean International has announced the inaugural season of Allure of the Seas, 42 sailings to the Eastern and Western Caribbean on seven-night voyages every Sunday beginning December 12, 2010. Allure of the Seas, and sister-ship Oasis of the Seas, constitute the Oasis class of ships and will be the world’s two largest cruise ships when they debut in November 2010 and 2009, respectively.With the arrival of Allure of the Seas, vacationers will have a choice of a Saturday (Oasis of the Seas) and Sunday departure for an Oasis-class cruise vacation. Bookings for Allure of the Seas’ inaugural season will open on April 2 for Diamond and Diamond Plus level members of the Crown & Anchor Society and April 8 for all Crown & Anchor Society members. General bookings will open on April 13.

“Through the last four decades, Royal Caribbean has earned a history of innovation and redefined cruising with each new class of ships we launched,” said Adam Goldstein, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. “Allure of the Seas and sister-ship Oasis of the Seas represent the ultimate expression of our vision and determination to provide an experience unlike anything found on land and sea. With Allure of the Seas, we will offer family and adventurous vacationers two spectacular ships from which to choose for an unforgettable cruise.”

Allure of the Seas will depart from its homeport of Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale and alternate a seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itinerary. Both itineraries will feature three days at sea. On the Eastern Caribbean itinerary, Allure of the Seas will call at St. Thomas (Charlotte Amalie), St. Maarten (Philipsburg) and Nassau, Bahamas. The ship will call at Falmouth, Jamaica; Cozumel, Mexico; and Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s private beach on the northern coast of Haiti, for the Western Caribbean itinerary.

Revenge at sea

I just had to post this:

By Christopher Elliott

Travel columnist

msnbc.com contributor

Cruising isn’t what it used to be. Just ask Steve Roberts, who recently sailed from Costa Maya, Mexico, to Nassau, Bahamas on the Carnival Glory.

Although his floating vacation was billed as an “all inclusive” experience, Roberts found it was anything but that. Dining in a premium restaurant cost $30. Drinks were extra, too. And at the end of the cruise, Roberts says he was asked to pay a mandatory gratuity.

“But the worst part was being assaulted by about a thousand ship’s photographers, taking our photos every day, so we could pay an outrageous fee for as many prints of the digital photos as we wanted,” he says

So Roberts did what more cruise passengers are doing these days: he said “no.”

That’s just what the cruise industry doesn’t want to hear. Amid a sinking economy, the major cruise lines have been cutting everything from their staffs to itineraries to, of course, ticket prices.

At the same time, cruise lines have quietly imposed new fees in an apparent effort to raise onboard revenues. Perhaps the most aggressive to date has been Royal Caribbean, which recently added a $14.95 surcharge for passengers ordering a filet mignon in its main dining room and a $3.95 “late night service charge” for onboard room service orders placed between midnight and 5 a.m.

Royal Caribbean says the fees are not about money, but convenience. Passengers who want to order a signature steak in the main dining room, as opposed to visiting one of its specialty restaurants, can now do so. And the room service fee, a spokeswoman added, is meant to “encourage responsible food ordering.”

Carnival’s $30 fee for its specialty restaurants, as well as its gratuity, is a choice, according to Tim Gallagher, a Carnival spokesman. “Guest feedback tells us they appreciate these options,” he says, adding that a Carnival cruise remains a “very inclusive” vacation. “There are people who cruise and never spend a dollar in the casino, shops, spa or on shore excursions, photos or bingo.”

Make that lots of people. To say that it’s a buyer’s market for cruises might be an understatement. Passengers know it, and they seem to be enjoying their new power. It’s almost as if the archetypical cruise passenger — you know, the overfed, newlywed and nearly-dead kind — has been replaced with a more whimsical and mischievous character, like Captain Jack Sparrow.

We should have seen this coming. In addition to the epidemic of fees and surcharges, cruise lines have more or less had it their way for years. After the fire sales that followed 9/11, cruise prices rose like the tide, and passengers were slammed with more than just onboard fees. Their vacations were often held hostage to illegal, mandatory fuel surcharges that were imposed even after they had paid for their vacation in full.

“Payback is a funny concept,” cruise expert Paul Motter told me, adding that there’s some evidence that passenger discontent has been bubbling up, including a recent class-action lawsuit against Park West Gallery, which offers onboard art auctions, and a $40 million settlement in last year’s fuel-surcharge scandal.

But are passengers really in a mood for revenge? I asked Terry Dale, the president and chief executive of the Cruise Lines International Association, about current passenger attitudes. He told me cruisers were out for bargains, not blood, and were finding “exceptional value” this year. In fact, cruise lines are offering their valued guests more than ever, including “complimentary amenities, shipboard credits, relaxed and reduced deposit requirements and special fares for booking 2010 cruises,” he says

Maybe he’s right.

Maybe travelers are just buoyed by the lowest cruises prices in a generation, and nothing more. But in a series of interviews with passengers and industry experts, a slightly more complex picture starts to surface — that of profit-starved cruise lines pulling out all the stops to attract new customers and of penny-pinching passengers who know they have them over a barrel at last.

Cruise Shareholder Benefits Instructions

Cruise travelers who own at least 100 shares of stock in Carnival Corporation (CCL) or Royal Caribbean (RCL) can receive up to $250 in onboard credits during their next vacation at sea. Just follow the instructions below to secure your shareholder benefit. 

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity

The onboard credit is offered exclusively to shareholders that directly own a minimum of 100 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. at time of booking. To take advantage of this offer, the following items must be submitted: A photocopy of your shareholder proxy card or a current brokerage statement showing proof of ownership of at least 100 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Your name (the owner of the 100 shares will receive the onboard credit.) Your home address, telephone number and e-mail address Your ship and sailing date Your confirmation number Your Captain’s Club or Crown & Anchor Society Number (if any) Please send the above to: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Investor Benefit P.O. Box 02511 Miami, FL 33102-5511 Alternatively, you may fax all of the required documentation (in a single fax) to 305/539.4645, or mail .jpeg images of all required documentation to shareholderbenefit@rccl.com.

Carnival Corporation

Carnival Cruise Lines,  Princess Cruises,  Holland America,  Costa,  Windstar,  Seabourn,  Cunard Line

The onboard credit is available exclusively to shareholders holding a minimum of 100 shares of Carnival Corporation or Carnival Plc. Employees, travel agents cruising at travel agent rates, tour conductors or anyone cruising on a reduced-rate or complimentary pass are excluded from this offer. This benefit is not transferable, no combinable with any other shipboard offer and cannot be used for casino credits/charges and gratuities charged to your onboard account. Only one onboard credit per shareholder-occupied stateroom. Shareholders must provide the following information with the initial deposit to your travel agent: Name Proof of ownership of Carnival Corporation or Carnival plc shares (i.e. photocopy of shareholder proxy card, shares certificate or a current brokerage or nominee statement). Reservation number Ship and sailing date

It Is All About You…or it should be

One way to look at dinnertime is to make it the centerpiece of the evening, the main event.  This is nothing new as traditional dining at a set time has been around forever. The trick is what you do before and after. 

 

But let’s start with the dinner itself.  Here is an example of how it might go…

After you are seated in the dining room drink orders are taken and your server presents the evening’s menu. Dinner usually consists of six or seven courses from appetizers to desserts. Can’t decide between shrimp cocktail and paté? Have both. Can’t choose between steak and shrimp? Have both. Your server wants happy diners. A pleasant request is almost always accommodated. (You can even have doubles on Lobster Night!)

If you are not a foodie, don’t worry. There are healthy choices on the menu at every meal. If you have food allergies or require a special menu, tell me at least three weeks before the cruise. Otherwise, be adventurous. Try new dishes. If you are not sure what something on the menu is, ask your server. He or she will do everything reasonable to ensure that you enjoy meals onboard. If you do not care for the food or it is not cooked to your request, it is acceptable to politely request a different serving.

If you are not accustomed to dining with multiple courses and a vast array of silver and glassware, just remember the old adage, “outside in.” Use your utensils from the outside in toward your plate as courses come to the table. Personally, I don’t pay any attention to this and probably don’t use the right fork often.  The way I look at it (now that I think of it, as I usually don’t) is if someone at the table is horrified that I used the wrong thing to stick food in my mouth so what?  If I was chewing carelessly and food was falling out of my mouth or I came to dinner without shoes that would be something else.  But what fork I use is an issue?  I don’t think so.  Those people need to get a life.

 

Anyway, servers will remove used silverware or after each course. I’m never sure if that is so I won’t steal it or if they indeed ARE concerned about my poor choice of forks.  They need to back off  on that.  If you want to play the game remember “eat to the left, drink to the right” and you’ll never have problems remembering which bread plate belongs to you.

Although the days of extravagant midnight buffets are over on most cruises, each cruise line usually hosts one magnificent showcase midnight buffet toward the end of a cruise. Even if you can’t eat another bite, bring your camera. It is remarkable gastronomic photographic moment.

 

Framing dinner as the centerpiece of the evening is not for everyone.  A growing number of guests don’t like to dress up or want the structure of a fixed time for dining.  Depending on which cruise line you are sailing, there may be a number of other options.  But with the exception of paying to dine at one of the ship’s specialty restaurants, the best food IS in the dining room in most all cases. 

 

Why would you not want to have the best food?

 

Skipping dinner is a big mistake but one the cruise lines think is a great idea.  They would much rather we all go to the buffet. It takes way less labor to feed you and usually less cost for the food too.  

 

Don’t you do it!  …at least not all the time  You will be missing out on one of the best experience cruising has to offer.

 

Before dinner, stop by one of the lounges for a cocktail, after diner take a stroll on deck before rushing back to the cabin to change out of your nice clothes.   Sailing with teens?  Cut them loose after dinner and let everyone have some fun…whatever that might mean to you.  We had few rules for our children when on a cruise.  Actually just one: ”Don’t do any thing that would require me to talk to security or identify your body”  Those kids are grown up and gone now. Yes, they survived. 

 

Don’t impose “rules” on yourself either.  Just one:  “Get the most out of this because you can’t do it over”.  You may go on lots of cruises but each one will be a different experience.  Some will be better than others.  You might meet people who you will be in contact with for a lifetime because you shared a dinner table with them.  Many of you reading this right now know it is true because that is where I met you.  Others have no idea what I am talking about and that is a real shame.  Unfortunately that “I don’t want to dress for dinner so I am not going” mentality spreads like a virus.  Those people probably don’t do a lot of things that they could do and cheat themselves out of a rich, sometimes life-changing experience. 

Regardless of what you do before or after dinner, do something.  For me, one of the best parts of a cruise is relaxing in a lounge before dinner with Lisa.  It’s something we just don’t do in real life but it is a priority on a cruise, one of the few.  Of all the entertainment options and other things you can do, dinnertime is the most important of them all.  Not even so much for the food, but for the experience.  Do yourself a favor: Enjoy it!

 

You NEED to bring booze along on your cruise

Believe me, when you see scary creatures like this (reminds me of that creepy clown in the movie “It”) you’re going to want a drink.  Here is how you get it on the ship.  The cruise line will let you take on one bottle of Champagne or a bottle of fine wine.  Notice they mention “fine” wine.  That would mean no wine in a box in case you were wondering.

What?  No wine in a box?  The nerve of those people!

Fine indeed, we will just sneak on our own liquor store. Here are some tips to get that done!

But Hey, I have had a few drinks and don’t know one side of the ship from the other.  How do I tell?

What’s a good way to remember which side of the ship is Port and which one is Starboard?

On Princess that’s easy.  Chances are there is  different color carpet to help you remember.  This really helps when you first step off the elevator. Here’s a catchy phrase to help you remember:   

Port wine is RED and should be LEFT alone
Red being the colors on the left side of the ship as well

I personally just remember that left is port because they both have four letters.  Or you could think “Oh well port is opposite of right unless the word were porter and then right and porter would have the same….oh wait, I counted wrong, that won’t work. 

Left=Port works.  See I have another little trick:  If I know where port is, I automatically know where starboard (right) . Like Charlie Epps on the show NUMBERS I just spun up a few algorithm’s, felt socially awkward in a nerdy sort of way for a while and it all worked out.

 

 

If you pay real close attention to other ships at sea you’ll notice a green light on the starboard side and a red light on the port side of the ship.  That lets other ships (and us too) know which direction another ship is headed- important information if you are on an iceberg and see the Titanic in the distance.

Oh yes, booze.  Next time!

Be Safe

Tips To Keep You
Safe At Sea

1. Check out the report card
Whenever you get 1,500 or 2,000 or even 5,000 people together in one place, you are bound to share a lot more than a good time (remember the Norwalk-like virus?). Luckily, ships get report cards – just like you did in elementary school. The best reports come from the Vessel Sanitation Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which routinely inspects ships for cleanliness, repair, food preparation and storage, water quality, hygiene, pest management and many other things. Check out your ship’s report card on the CDC website before you book your passage. It will let you know the results of the last inspection and exactly what grade the ship received. It will take you back to fifth grade, believe me.

2. Keep your guard up
It is natural to let your guard down on vacation, especially on a cruise ship. Life is good, the water is warm, the booze is flowing, the food is scrumptious – the ship seems like Paradise Island. You are living large, and that’s precisely when you’re most apt to get into trouble.
You need to be aware of your surroundings on a ship just as you would in a big city. Don’t walk down darkened hallways; keep your distance when tempers flare; don’t accept drinks from strangers. If your gut tells you something is wrong, it probably is. And don’t keep it a secret, either; notify the Purser’s Office the minute you suspect trouble.

3. Use the ship’s safe
Leave the Rolex watch and the Gucci handbag at home – no one is looking and you’re on vacation, so you don’t need to worry about the time. Keep most of your cash and valuables (especially your jewelry, return tickets and passports) in the ship’s safe.
The lightweight safe in your cabin is fine for storing small everyday items like your address book and tip money, but never put anything in it that you can’t afford to lose. Do you know how many of those cabin safes are left locked when passengers disembark at the end of a cruise? Now guess how many crewmembers know the bypass code for opening them.

4. Watch what you eat
If you are lactose intolerant in the United States, you will be lactose intolerant on a ship. If stateside seafood makes you puff up and itch, so will the onboard seafood. With the myriad options for dining on a cruise ship, you can certainly be adventurous. Just don’t be reckless.
Shipboard water is usually pretty good, but you should always insist on bottled water on shore. And make sure it is a sealed bottle (yes, I have seen “bottled” water refilled from the tap on a ship and on a plane).
Know how your food is prepared, too. Is it heavy on the mayo in the hot Caribbean sun? Is the steak served tartare? And if you are served something you don’t like, for heaven’s sake, send it back. On a port call in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, I was served some “almost-still-clucking” chicken – not what I was expecting at a purportedly five-star restaurant! So be aware, and don’t be afraid to ask that your food be prepared the way you like it.

5. Watch the booze
Booze will always compromise your judgment, perception, and behavior. While everyone likes to have a few umbrella drinks aboard ship, don’t let them get out of hand. Why not? Because booze on a boat is the same as booze on land – only you are moving forward at 20 knots and perhaps pitching back and forth in 20-foot seas.
And trust me, it is never a good idea to see if you can lean out over the railing like Kate Winslet in “Titanic.” Nor should you try to walk what you perceive to be a gangplank. Most of today’s ships are equivalent to 10-story buildings … moving forward … with 12-foot propellers underneath. Can you say “Cuisinart”?

6. Watch the gambling
Crooks cruise too, so cash-in your winnings periodically and take them to the Pursers desk and ask them to apply it to your account; if you win big, ask for an escort. Don’t ever make a scene; it will only draw attention to you and make you a target for crime. For the same reason, be careful about flashing your money outside the casino, too. If you win, congratulations! Just keep the celebration low-key.

7. Watch out for the crew
No, they are not out to get you, but you need to understand that these are folks whose standard of living is most likely lower than yours by a considerable margin. You will likely be perceived as the wealthiest of the wealthy. Most crewmembers are honest and hard working, but don’t give them any opportunity to take advantage of you. Jewelry on the night table – even your loose change or iPod – is but a quick grab for a cabin steward, a maintenance worker, or the kitchen worker who refreshes your fruit plate.
Most ships don’t allow crewmembers to interact with guests outside of their regular duties. The exceptions tend to be the cruise director and the captain’s staff. While you may be tempted by that cute little honey from Serbia named Irena (or that hunk from Hungary), never agree to go to a “crew-only” section of the ship – the invitation may be a set-up to ensure that your cabin is vacant.

8. Land ho!
Be careful on your shore excursions. The cruise lines organize the shore trips because they are moneymakers for them; in return, you get some assurance of quality and security. You can save a buck (or many) by going it alone, of course, but beware. Make sure you negotiate any fares and fees upfront. Most cab drivers are honest when the cards are on the table, but if you do not agree in advance, the sky will be the limit and you may find yourself in a police station for failure to pay the fare.
If you are not happy – speak up early. Once in St. Maarten, a cab driver took my kids and me into an “ambush” of local vendors – all friends of his.

9. Report anything suspicious
While the crew-to-guest ratio looks pretty low in the brochure, much of the crew actually works behind the scenes and is not permitted any guest interaction; moreover, many may not speak your language. Most of the senior crew will be looking out for guest safety, but they cannot be everywhere at once. As Ultimately, your safety is your own responsibility. Keep your eyes and ears open. If something looks odd to you, it probably is. Is there a creepy guy hanging outside the teen club? A man who is asking dozens of single ladies to dance? A couple that is fighting in public left and right? Take a walk to the Purser’s Office and let the staff know. They will appreciate it, and you might just head off tomorrow’s top story.
Now that you are rethinking that cruise you just booked, sit back and take a deep breath. This information should not be a vacation-breaker. It’s just common-sense advice taken from Main Street and put on the Lido Deck. According to the U.S. Maritime Administration, which keeps tracks of passengers sailing on cruise ships, 9.4 million people cruised in 2008, so it can’t be all that bad. In fact, cruising is a fabulous experience, and it’s probably a lot safer than crossing your own street.

Just think safe, and it will be smooth sailing all the way.

You don’t have to gain weight—but maybe you should?

Much is said about the fabulous food you’ll find on your cruise. If you have cruised before you know how true that can be. Surely, most of us do not have an executive chef standing by in our kitchens 24 hours a day to create a little masterpiece for us. But you sure do on your cruise! There are two schools of thought about cruising and food. 

Some people vow to not gain weight and are pretty much successful about it. They use the stairs instead of the elevator, get up early to walk the deck of the ship in the morning, participate in activities, go to the well-equipped exercise area and more. If you’re a walker, there’s nothing quite like doing it on your ship at sea. Indeed, taking the stairs is way more exercise than standing in the elevator and you don’t have to wait for them. If you have a regular exercise routine, there is no reason you can’t stick with it and enjoy the really different experience a cruise offers. There are menu options for just about every concern and they are good too. 

Some people go a different direction, vowing to not be concerned about what they eat. Many may gain weight but lose it quickly when they get home. Many don’t care since they have been waiting for this so long and truly want to get the most out of it. For them, there are plenty of options for enjoying a wide variety of cuisine on the cruise. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are served either on the ships buffet or in the dining room. Most ships have specialty restaurants for an even more upscale dining experience. Oh and what an experience those can be. In the Specialty restaurants and on Formal Nights in the dining room, the culinary staff puts its best foot forward. 

Personally I fall somewhere in the middle of both as I think many do. I often start out doing the stairs instead of the elevator and that works for a while. Soon though that turns into using the stairs going down but not up. Lisa and I walk every morning at home. I do try to do that at sea and it is a really great change of scenery. That usually lasts for a day or two then the allure of being early to the breakfast buffet for my first breakfast overpowers the exercise urge. In the dining room I try to make responsible choices until something comes along that I would not normally have at home. That strategy pretty much dooms the healthy approach. All in all I do usually gain some weight on a cruise and it takes a couple weeks to get back to normal after. Knowing this I always bring along some clothes that might be size or two larger than normal. 

It did not take me long to realize that every cruise is indeed the “cruise of a lifetime”. Each is different and unique. After each one I feel a little different. It took me a while to realize that really getting into the whole experience was the key to getting the most out of a cruise. So enjoy the food as much as you can. It’s one ingredient in the recipe that makes for a great cruise experience and brings you back refreshed and renewed

You Can Turn Around The Economy Right Now

This is very simple.  It’s not about price it’s about value and quality.

You don’t hear about them on the doom and gloom news, but I know a lot of businesses that are thriving right now.  They know and have known for a long time that quality is the name of the game.  I learned this when I was 12 years old at my first job sweeping the floors at a company called Ranchview Floral and Interiors in Leawood Kansas.  They were the premiere florist and interior decorators in town.  When someone wanted the job done right be it a floral arrangement or decorating the interior of a house, this is where they came.  Even then, over 40 years ago, the focus was on quality which in turn led to value and a very successful business that endured many a recession, adverse business conditions and the like.  

They were by far NOT the “cheapest” place to go.  But quality has an enduring value that made for a lot of happy customers.  

This same, simple principle applies to every business.  Take the Travel Business for example.

While so-called “Internet Cruise Brokers” offering deeply discounted fares are going broke almost daily, quality and value oriented operations are thriving.  

Why?

Because “low price” is a very deceptive term that sounds really great up front but if not coupled with  full-service, quality oriented business practices often ends up being quite costly. You see, those Internet Cruise Brokers make very little profit because they sell at such a very low price. After the sale there is very little attention paid to their clients, if any at all, resulting in what often turns into a disasterous relationship.  Down the line a good travel agency follows up on the details that can make or break a vacation, offers expert advice in their field, and almost always ends up producing the better value for its customers.  They do that by focusing on quality.  Yes, their prices must be competitive to begin with, that has always been the case.  But often, if prices go down after the sale, they pass along those savings to their clients, washing out what one might have saved with a price-only focus business.  From beginning to end they provide their customers with the knowledge they need to get the most out of their vacation and have thier best interests in mind.  Internet Cruise Brokers simply don’t have the time for that. It is not what they do.

I bet you can think of a business or two in other industries that has a similar story.  

It is time for business to go back to the quality that made America great.  

At one time Sears had everything with a total satisfaction guaranteed policy, at Ford Quality was job #1 and Coke was “the real thing”.  Focusing on simple but enduring concepts like that, they dominated the marketplace.  

I don’t think to say that todays ecomomy is “bad” is accurate.  I think it is “adjusting” and will fall back to what made it great for decades: A focus on quality.  Find these businesses, work with them and you can turn the ecomomy around right now.

 

MSC Orchestra: The cruise from hell

Photo: MSC Cruises

Having never sailed on an MSC ship I decided to take a two night ride on the MSC Orchestra. I didn’t know a whole lot about MSC besides the basic training we get as Travel Agents. When I thought of MSC I did have several thoughts that came to mind through the experiences of others. Maybe we should call those pre-conceived notions. They were

MSC is the largest container shipping company in the world

I had heard on multiple occasions “There are lots of pushy Italians and other Europeans”

I had also heard that “the food is fabulous, absolutely fabulous” from some and awful from others

Any dealings I had had with MSC over the phone or through email indicated a class in phone skills and email etiquette would be a good idea

So I wanted to find out which of these notions were accurate, which were not and get a good feel for the ship and the cruise line in action. I have been fortunate (or not) enough to sail 43 times with 9 different lines and always been able to get a good feel for a ship or line with one small voyage.

This two-day sailing from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale to Nassau, Bahamas and back should compare well. I had done many 2 or 3 night introduction cruises before and knew the drill.

I would not get the same “feel” as I would doing a 7 day or longer cruise

I had to cover a lot of ground really fast to collect the information and documentation I needed to make a accurate report

With that in mind we chose to arrive at the pier at 1PM, two and a half hours later than we would normally have done. Going early is always the smart way to go. Much like flying in to the departure port a day early as insurance against a delayed flight, arriving at the port so you can be at the front of the line almost always benefits by getting you on board well ahead of the crowd that will come later.

In this case coming early would have been a really good idea. But I had not come at 1PM since our first cruise. As a result we never stand in a very big line because it is behind us.

When we arrived to part at Port Everglades we could have had a really bad time finding a parking space but we got lucky and found a place right away. Approaching the terminal we saw a little line so I was not concerned and thought this was not a bad idea

It was only after we turned the corner and found what would be a line about three football fields long. With no apparent direction the line had formed a sort of serpentine shape, wrapping around Pier 4 then bunching up. No problem though I thought, these cruise lines really move the lines pretty quickly. I estimated the wait time to be about an hour, 45 minutes if we were lucky.

That bright side 45 minute to an hour estimated quickly stretched into an hour, then two hours then three hours then 4 hours until it started moving. But lines are lines and even in the most capable hands like the king of lines, Walt Disney who, from the grave, keeps things moving right along at the parks every day of the year.

I have a pretty good idea of how long it takes to move a bunch of people too from quoting wait times to people in a number of busy restaurants decades ago. Something was really wrong here.

The problem here was not that they had a big line but that we were kept in the dark about what was going on. I have experienced catastrophic delays on other lines and seen everything from a cruise line rep telling us and updating us on what was wrong then reassuring us that they were doing all they could to get us on as soon as possible to cruise line reps setting up a buffet and offering complementary beverages. Either was always accompanied by a good dose of really sincere apology.

This time we had no information so the crowd mentality starts to take over, members agree to hold the place in line for some elderly people that they can go to one of the few benches to sit down and occasional chants run through the group. Next time I am going to add “Start doing the wave and other wacky group games if line is dead for hours” to my to-do list.

It should have been a good sign that this was not going to end well when the vending trucks you might see by the crew entrance, well out of the way of the embarkation activities are coming within service distance of the crowd. We were going to be a while. Ok yeah it would have been nice for someone to tell us what the problem is or provide some food and beverages. Heck, we would have all been up at the buffet with that initial gorge of our gaping maws anyway. But the line started moving after about four hours. When it did it seemed to go rather quickly, at a pace one would expect for a group so large. Once inside the terminal we were placed in a rope line that went back and forth 23 times; about 75 feet each time. (That equals 1725 feet)

This line was not unanticipated.

Why would they intentionally be planning on having so many people in this queue? What an unpleasant first impression.

But it got worse. After that initial queue we were went into another area where there were five queue’s 300 feet long each. (Another 1500 feet) Let’s do the math; that’s a total of over 3000 feet of line. They were planning on it being a long wait.

Lucky for us we had filled out the online advance check-in and it looked like 90% of the other guests had not. We were put in a much shorter “Express” queue which also doubled as the World Club past guest entrance. I don’t think I have ever been so happy to have done that. On other lines it has almost become unnecessary.

In the beginning of the boarding card craze, it was like going through the express line at the grocery store, there was a line but it moved along way quicker than if you were behind three or four people with full carts. Carnival (who started it); Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have gotten so good at it though that they rarely set up a rope queue at all.

Finally when we got to the check in station we were told that it was a computer problem causing the delay. They had been down for several hours.

(Can you say “reboot” and see what happens?”)

At this point things were going about as anticipated except that the check in rep told us we would have to stop by the purser’s desk to present our credit card to guarantee onboard purchase. By chance I noticed that the rep next to this one was swiping cards and gathering authorization signatures just fine. When I brought it to her attention she conferred with one of the ships officers and after a lengthy discussion agreed to do ours. Good, the thought of 2300 people more at the purser’s desk in the next 24 hours could have really been a mess. The crowd pretty much universally agreed that they had robbed us of a good part of this short cruise and that needed to be the end of that.

I wanted to thank that officer for saving me from that and waved to get his attention. That was when I first saw it

The MSC Stare

Most cruises are identified with a theme or have established a 2, 3 or 4 word slogan that fits. Carnival has “The Fun Ships” and I think of wildly happy crew members. Princess has “Escape Completely” and their happy crew members while a lot less wild, make pleasant eye contact and say hello when you pass them in the halls. Celebrity has “Starring You” which while I have never seen an actual celebrity on one of their ships; they are masters at creating a great feel on board. Royal Caribbean for years challenged us to “Get Out There”

All of those and others seemed genuinely happy to see us and honestly wanted us to have a good time. I had grown accustomed to that. This mean, unemotional, detached look this officer gave me was scary. But being optimistic I hoped that this was just a junior officer who should probably be working down in the torpedo room rather in a guest contact area.

So very unfortunately this would not be the last time I saw it. I never once saw an officer laugh or seem at all happy except when talking with other officers in their native language.

This attitude would turn out to be the reason for many unpleasant experiences aboard the ship. I have seen this before in other businesses and it always ends in the business going broke. There are just too many competitors to not have your best job on display all the time. That is where it starts. When the management is lacking in customer service in major ways, many of the negatives I had about this ship, the crew and the cruise line happen and turn off customers.

Here then are specifics on what was experienced while on board the MSC Orchestra. I picked areas to evaluate that either struck me as really different than other lines or simply easy to compare along with a grade.

Embarkation

Grade: F

The F is for the poor job they did communicating with the waiting crowd. Handled properly they could have minimized the fueling effect it had on growing negative attitudes. The thing about those is that once they start and get in most peoples heads, they taint other experience onboard which might not have been as good as they could have been but would have been tolerated.

The passengers would have been upset but with the strong knowledge that the cruise line would stand behind their decisions and actions. They would make it right. The level of commitment to that universal business model simply was not there with the management of this event and the ship. That’s two different departments; shore operations and ship operations. They both failed. Would the ships maintenance department fail as well; the ones that shovel the wood into the burners that make the ship move?

So far no but if we had to drive one of the lifeboats home we had done this route so many times that we could probably do it.

Cabins

Grade: B

These were nice, new cabins with a unique feature. In order to keep the lights on in your cabin you had to put your card into a reader by the front door. When you were out of the cabin the lights went off which they had to do because you had to take your key to get back in.

I think that is a fabulous way for them to save energy and in turn save money that does not inconvenience the guest. Good Job there. That also triggered a light in the hallway that the stewards could see (I guess with their heightened awareness training because I sure never saw it) that indicated if you were or were not in the cabin. No more barging in as someone stand in the hallway drying off after a shower since the bathroom is too small for we fluffy people.

I give them a C as average because they were pretty much the standard cabin you might find on any cruise ship.

Cabin Steward

Grade: B

I would later find out that each steward had 24 cabins to clean twice each day. That would explain never seeing ours. No time for small talk, special requests, complaints or compliments. There was much to complement for too. They did a really good job every time they did their run through the cabin.

Embarkation Buffet

Grade: F

Ok let’s try to keep count. So far we had no contact while waiting, passed by some contract security people with the stern but expected demeanor like the TSA at airports and gotten our first MSC Stare. Not looking really good at Creating A Good First Impression 101. They had to have cheated horribly on the final to pass. Hmm, maybe they dropped out?f

This was going to be the first time we had the opportunity to try the legendary great food. I was excited because I used to have some very dear friends as a young boy who were really Italian and those people really knew great food. I couldn’t wait to try the Fettuccini Alfredo to see if it was as good as the wonderful product they served on Princess. I make a pretty darn good meatball when I put my mind to it so I was really looking forward to that too. We knew there was no way to enter points in our Weight Watchers thing so we were totally off diet to the point that I really wanted to see what their idea of authentic Italian Pizza was.

The food was simply awful.

I wondered if it was that it was ready 4 hours ago and since people were not boarding it just lost its luster. No, there was no luster on these products ever. I had a former career when I was much younger in the restaurant business. One of the things I did was manage a large volume cafeteria in Kansas City. We served 4 or 5000 people a day on two straight line cafeterias. That was their first problem.

I wonder if the people that designed this ship had ever been on a cruise on any other line. If they had they would have discovered the latest common design, the revival of the “scatter” line cafeteria with stations that one can go back and forth too. With a straight line cafeteria everyone has to pass by everything. That’s great if you are selling the ala carte. You can use strategic product positioning to put the high dollar or high profit products within easy reach.

But they were not selling these products; they were included in the price. The obvious name of the game is to get them through as quickly and efficiently as possible

With the scatter style cafeteria, guests can simply walk by the station that does not have anything they want rather than waiting in line (again and not a popular activity with this bunch) They move through quickly and are at the table enjoying your food with the minimum travel time and eating the food as you wished it to be.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The meatballs were lousy and cold, the pizza was burnt and sort of like the “pizza” I made as a kid with Hungry Jack biscuits, pizza sauce and cheese. Mine was better.

What looked like it could be a flavorful dish was bland and cold or warm depending on what it shouldn’t be. You would think Spicy Cantonese Rice would be a real taste sensation. No, very much like

Green Giant Steam In The Microwave-safe Bag quality, only cold.

While seated and eating we saw a lady approach a manager. She was just furious. It seems that over an hour ago, she had given her card to one of the servers to go get her a Diet Coke and they had never returned. After getting the MSC Stare while explaining her problem the manager told her to go the Pursers desk and get a new one. Stupid me, I was thinking they might want to find that server, get the card back and get this lady her Diet Coke. No, she was sent packing without her Diet Coke (well they couldn’t get her one now anyway: she had no card!)

Probably just as well, they serve Pepsi Light anyway. Those were cool though, they had a foil cover over the part where you pull the tab and apply your lips. (I had lowered the bar for all things dazzling

I gave up on trying keeping up the counting thing after this.

Breakfast Buffet

Grade: F

Let’s just finish off the buffet area with this report about breakfast.

By this time it had become painfully obvious that these people had chosen to work with the bare minimum crew on hand to take care of business. They are cheapskates.

It’s a classic pattern.

We don’t have enough guests sailing

We lower the price

We have more guests sailing but uh oh; we are not making as much money on them

We cut back on the labor and put out as much low cost food as possible

The breakfast buffet was one of the best examples of this I had seen and here is why

No omelet station. Thank god, the line would have moved even slower. I had chosen to go up for breakfast really early so there was no line. At 10:00 the line went out of the door of the cafeteria and far out on to the pool deck, on both sides.

Bacon from last week. This was more old, crumbled and nasty than any I had ever seen in public. This had reached the point where it could have been used as an ingredient or seasoning but that’s about it.

They messed up the canned baked beans. Ok this is an odd English thing that seems to be on a lot of cruise ships. I can see the allure of them as they are really cheap. But the master chefs of MSC had watered them down. I guess they thought they would go farther and feed more people.

While they did not have an omelet station they did have “plain omelets” pre-made and ready to be picked up. I fail to see the difference between a plain omelet and scrambled eggs (they had those too). I kept looking for an eclectic array of creative toppings maybe thinking it was a “make your own omelets” idea that was just not well thought out. The closest thing I could find to a topping was the scrambled eggs sitting next to them. Later on about 20 feet down the line were some cold, canned “sautéed” mushrooms.

The coffee station was manned by a crew member who was pouring the coffee for the guests. I sat right next to this area and watched. As the guests arrived the line grew long at the coffee station (OK “line” is officially a bad four letter word at this point) The reason for the hold up is that the crew member had a little shield for each guest explaining that they had “strong” and “weak” coffee and they had to choose one. He went on to give his personal recommendation (oooh! Step back Emeril Bam!) for the strong coffee but watered down. Most agreed to the strong but watered down. This could have been an American thing though with the Americans always choosing strong over weak to this crew member struggling (unbelievably) hard to communicate. The guests were having trouble with his recommendation though and it took a while for them to inevitably pick his recommendation and that really slowed down the line. The other problem was people who understood him to mean that the strong was regular and the weak was decaf. When specifically asked if they had decaf he said “I don’t know, maybe at the other station”

Double shot glasses for water. I forgot to mention that I had heard that they were charging for water in the dining room on the last cruise without the option for complementary tap water. Horrible idea for the American market, glad they did not do it. But these glasses were about as big as two shot glasses. I assumed it was to prevent waste of the complementary frozen concentrate Juicy Juice dispenser liquids. Understandable and acceptable for “high cost?” juice-like substance but where were the glasses for the low cost tap water?

The crew member with the refill cart. There was one for both dining rooms. I watched as she went a certain distance with one cart, stopped when she was empty, went back and filled up on some other ship in a different ocean then came back and traveled the same route. She appeared to be stopped along the way by about half of those she had served on the previous run then continued on down the road. I think the ones at the end of the other dining room have probably become dehydrated and soiled themselves waiting for her to get there. They couldn’t leave or they would get nothing and they didn’t want to miss her

Casino

Grade A++ and F

This one gets two grades. An A++ because I won two big jackpots on the slots, an F because I waited 45 minutes for the one crew member working the whole casino other than dealers at gaming tables to pay out the excessive sum.

There’s something about winning big in the casino that makes other things ok. I had seriously forgotten about the embarkation fiasco and school cafeteria operation.

Safety Drill

Grade A++ and F

This one also gets two grades. The A++ because they cancelled it on the first day, rescheduled it the second day and checked to see if everyone was in attendance by knocking two times on the door and going away.

The F because in reality I should have been concerned about this gang actually finding and hitting an iceberg, sinking the ship. Again though as previously mentioned, I was pretty sure I could get a lifeboat back to Florida from here. I would also not have had a line for getting on my lifeboat, would have the chef there serving delights and free drinks for all.

Driving the Ship

Grade C

This is usually an area not even mentioned as the ships crew that does the actual maneuvering of the ship are so good at it. Just watching them move the ship into or out of port is amazing to me.

Imagine my surprise and fear when we were stopped dead in the water outside of Nassau while the other ships caught up and passed us.

Ships Shops

Grade B

Pretty much the typical assortment of jewelry, cologne, clothes, and logo items (probably not a lot of folks on this one wanting a memento to remember this) and booze/cigarettes. I took off because of the limited selection in the shops and the attitude of the people in the booze shop. They were really mad that people wanted to buy booze.

The more booze they bought the more intense their MSC Stare was. I wanted 8 bottles of booze and you would have thought I had asked them to swim to shore to fetch me some snacks.

Those are a whole lot of negative leading to a recommendation to not sail this line. At least until I get reports that things have improved dramatically.

But there are positives too which I saved for last. I have always been of the mind that there is no such thing as a bad cruise. This one put that notion to test like no other. History will prove this one to be the standard for bad cruises. Still, we had a good time because there are things that even MSC could not screw up. One was the view from our balcony while the ship is moving through the ocean. Another was finding a nice lounge to have a drink before dinner. Sure, we needed one before facing the uncertainty of what might be coming, but they have several nice, quiet, and comfortable lounges. For the most part they run a pretty good operation too with plenty of crew members around. Well except for the casino. That one girl working the whole casino for drinks was just sad to see.

Value was a big underlying problem on this ship. Since they were such cheapskates we paid for most everything beyond the basics. Ice cream was never complementary as it is on all other cruise lines at one time or another (or all day on Carnival). I ordered two tall Bloody Marys this morning in tall glasses. That was $27.50 which I thought was a crazy high price.

I already mentioned the cabin stewards and for the most part the rest of the hotel department with the exception of food servivce was right on top of things.

Would I do this again? Probably not (never say never, Mom always used to say)

Will I recommend this line to anyone? Probably not (again, Mom’s words ring clearly)

As patient and understanding as I am, I’m writing MSC and will demand a 100% refund just if they are interested in standing behind their product. If they want me to ride on one of their ships again they will need to give me a free cruise. I doubt that either of those things will happen. They probably don’t even realize that they created 2300 bad will ambassadors.

NOTE:  Almost a year later, not a word from MSC in response

MSC upgraded us!

We’re going on a short sailing of the new MSC Orchestra next Friday.  Today they called with a complementary upgrade from the least expensive balcony cabin we paid for to the most expensive balcony.  What a surprise!  

I’m looking forward to this because we have never actually sailed on MSC.    I have booked various MSC ships for friends but this will be our first time sailing.  I’m glad we got the upgrade because we were on what they call the “Flauto” deck.  

Sheesh, that sounds like where they put all the people with gas.

Stay tuned for the review!

Myths About Cruise Vacations

If this is your first cruise, you have probably heard a lot of things about cruises. Some are probably true, some are probably not true. For example, if the little pictures that you imagine in your brain when thinking about cruises involve scenes from the movie Titanic, forget it. That is a movie. What you are about to experience is real. The ships really don’t sink all that often. Odds are yours will not. 

But there are lessons to be learned from movies just like there are lessons to be learned from television and comic books. 

If the ship does hit an iceberg, forget your money, you can’t bribe your way on to a good life boat. 

Wear your rubber scuba suit at all times. It gets really cold hanging on to a floating door in the middle of the ocean after the ship goes down. 

Buy seasons one through twelve of Survivor and take good notes before boarding your cruise ship 

If you have a cell phone signal, call for help. This is not the time to be downloading ringtones. 

If a rescue helicopter approaches frantically point to the water and motion for them to come closer..From their point of view it will look like you’re telling them someone just went under. Those people love saving lives and won’t be able to resist coming to you first, Hey, those choppers only hold just so many people!

Here are some myths

You will get bored.

You might get bored on a cruise, but chances are greater you will get exhausted. The range of activities for both the passive and active is wide. I entered (and won!) a trivia contest on presidential history and I entered (but lost) one on old television show theme songs.

My family and I loafed by the pool, danced (well not me) in a nightclub and watched live entertainment. Some cruise ships now have everything from miniature golf courses to wave pools. When we needed downtime we vegged-out in our cabin and screened an in-room movie.

You will have to dress up for dinner.

This is 2007, not 1965. Most of the time you don’t have to be formally dressed for dinner in the main restaurant, although periodic formal nights are scheduled. On a seven-night cruise, there are two.

One can always opt out by going to the buffet or grabbing something quick at the ship’s pizzeria or room service. We ate at the buffet on one formal night, not because we didn’t want to dress up but because we had a late dinner seating and an early docking the next morning.

You’ll get claustrophobic.

You might but its not likely. The cabins are not as big as they look in pictures but they are quite efficiently designed and (I think) pleasant to be in. If being in small spaces is a problem, book an Oceanview cabin with a window or a balcony cabin. 

Most cruise lines’ standard cabins range from 140 to 150 square feet; some are as small as 100 square feet. As for the actual ships, they literally are floating resorts, with up to 17 decks and innumerable public rooms. If you feel uneasy on a ship, it is probably not claustrophobia.

Everyone who takes a cruise qualifies for AARP membership.

On our cruise there was a wide mix of singles, seniors, families and college-age passengers.

Coffman says a general rule is, “The more expensive the liner, the less likely it is to have kids on board.” Carnival, Disney and Royal Caribbean are the best for families, she says, with Carnival and Royal Caribbean also being the best for young adults.

Cruise costs are all-inclusive.

They aren’t. The cruise cost includes main meals and entertainment. Drinks, including non-alcoholic ones, are extra. Shore excursions, which can add up for families, are extra.

Grab a piece of cake from a ship pastry shop and you will probably pay extra. Ship photographers are always ready with camera in hand, and the photos are extra. Most cruise lines have trashed the old empty envelope system for tips and switched to automatic service charges.

That’s $10 per day per person, regardless of age. 

Cruise shows consist of cheesy, grade-B entertainment.

First of all, the quality of live entertainment is subjective. 

On our recent cruise we attended live shows every night We saw two Vegas-style revues, two comedians, an ice skating show and one hypnotist. The talent was as professional and enjoyable as anything we have seen in theaters that don’t float.

Each of the revue cast members could dance and belt out a song. The hypnotist and comedians were laughable, but they were meant to be.

The ships have stabilizers, so you will never feel any motion.

If the water even in the usually docile Caribbean is rough, you will indeed feel motion. For the vast majority of people it is not enough motion to disrupt your cruise, make you sick or anything like that. 

Bonine, the over the counter motions discomfort medicine is my favorite to recommend because no one has ever told me “Chris, that stuff did not work and I was sick as a dog the whole time” That’s good enough for me. Get the generic brand of it though at Wal-Mart for a fraction of the price of the name brand. 

You have to sit with people you don’t know at dinner and you’re stuck with them.

Nope. 

Even if you are on a group cruise you can request a different dining time, smaller table, or specific location. Dining room requests, though, are just that: requests. The cruise line does not guarantee anything in that area. The Maitre d’ on the ship, though, is the king of the dining room and can make any of your requests reality. No matter what, going to the dining room to check your table assignment when you first get on the ship is a must. If you don’t like it, there will be a Maitre d’ there who can change it if you are nice about it.

If you are a jerk they probably won’t change anything and will put a little note by your name with a skull and cross bones for the kitchen staff to see. Ok maybe not but a few bucks in the right palm can be one of the best investments you will make on the cruise. 

Everyone gains a ton of weight on cruises

True in some cases. But it mainly depends on what you choose to eat. I choose to eat everything and always gain weight. Silly people dont gain weight, eat the healthy food choices and jog around me while I lounge about on deck. I feel sorry for them. 

Cruise Ship Safety

 

One question that is foremost in potential cruisers” minds seems to be “Is cruising safe?” Since 9/11 there have been new reports about cruise ships being the target of terrorists and of “massive” outbreaks of the Norwalk virus. If you believe everything you read in the newspaper or see on television, you might never leave your house!

The cruise industry’’s highest priority is to ensure the safety and security of its passengers and crew. During the past two decades, North American cruise lines have maintained the best safety record in the travel industry while transporting more than 90 million people throughout the world. Cruise ships have, for the most part, always adhered to very strict security guidelines and practices. While the cruise lines and governments around the world have tightened and refined security after recent events, cruise ships have always been relatively secure.

Immediately after the terrorist attacks of September 11, cruise lines implemented what they call “Level 3″ security measures, as outlined by the U.S. Coast Guard’’s “Security for Passenger Vessels and Passenger Terminals” regulations. These measures include:

• Screening of all passenger baggage, carry-on luggage, ship stores and cargo; intensified screening of passenger lists and passenger identification; close coordination with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and other federal agencies to ensure that any passengers or crew suspected of being on the INS “Prevent Departure” list are promptly reported to the federal authorities.
• Restricting access to any sensitive vessel areas, such as the bridge and the engine room.
• Implementing onboard security measures to deter unauthorized entry and illegal activity.
• Requiring all commercial vessels to give 96 hours notice before entering U.S. ports. Previously, ships had to give 24 hours notice.
• Maintaining a 100-yard security zone around cruise ships.

Onboard Safety

A cruise ship is a “controlled-access environment” which means that, when a ship is in port, there are only one or two ways passengers and crew can enter the vessel. These entry points are manned by security personnel and ID’’s are checked and, usually, packages and belongings must pass through an X-ray machine while passengers and crew pass through metal detectors.  It is highly unlikely that anyone would be able to board the ship that doesn”t belong there.

Crew and port officials examine every shipment of supplies that are brought onboard and every piece of luggage that goes on the ship is thoroughly inspected by an x-ray machine. While the ship is in port, personnel are posted on deck to keep watch.  Security onboard varies from line to line and ship to ship. Some cruise lines hire former military and naval personnel to implement and oversee their security, whiles others hire private security firms or former law enforcement officers. In the past, most security measures were intended to deal with passenger disturbances, but the focus now is on maintaining a safe and secure environment, eliminating or minimizing the threat of harm to passengers, crew and ship.

Most cruise ships today have an automated system linked to the ID card/room key issued to each passenger upon embarkation. This system enables security personnel to know, at the touch of a button, who is on or off the ship at any given time. There are also surveillance cameras placed throughout the ship enabling security personnel, officers, staff and crew to visually monitor virtually every area of the ship.

All cruise ships carry a team of dedicated fire-fighters, and additionally, all ship’’s personnel are trained in shipboard fires and undergo training and drills regularly. The average response time in an emergency is a matter of minutes, as members of the trained firefighting teams and firefighting equipment lockers are located throughout the ship. In the unlikely event of a dangerous fire, passengers are loaded into lifeboats to await a rescue ship which in most cases arrives within a matter of hours. It is the passenger’’s responsibility to pay attention to the lifeboat drill when boarding and to know their muster station. When passengers follow instructions and remain calm everything works well. Additionally, Coast Guard personnel monitor firefighting and abandon ship drills on all cruise ships.

Individual cruise lines have their own criteria for determining their travel itineraries. However, the ability to ensure the security of the ship, passengers, and crew is a critical factor all cruise lines consider. The cruise lines obtain information from a variety of government and private sources on the countries and ports their clients visit. The decision as to which ports ships will visit is based on a variety of factors, one of which is security. A risk analysis of the port is conducted to ensure that the port authority and regional law enforcement are aware of, and will comply with, requirements for ensuring the security of the ship while it is in port, and passengers while they are ashore as guests in their country.

Common Sense Helps

Statistically, cruise ships are safer than hotels and resorts when it comes to fires and violent crime. However, it is in your best interest not to abandon common sense just because you board a cruise ship for a wonderful vacation. For example, don”t leave valuables lying around in your cabin. Put your wallet and valuables in the cabin’’s safe or the purser’’s safe. Be sure to use all the locks on the door when you are asleep. Protect your cabin key and cabin number. Do not invite strangers into your room. Don”t go into areas marked “No access.” Don”t get drunk and sit on the railing.

Take your common sense with you when you go ashore. Reading up on local customs and dangers before you go is always a good idea. Don”t dress flamboyantly, wear expensive jewelry or flash wads of money around. It is best to wear an under-the-clothing money belt but, if you must take a purse, be sure you can wear it with the strap across your body. Men, if you must carry a wallet, keep it in a front pocket and put a little money in each pocket. Keep cameras and purses in your lap when dining, not hung on the back of the chair or on the floor. Beware of that handsome stranger offering to change your money at a better than market rate. It’’s most likely a scam! Watch out for groups of kids who are often well-organized gangs of pickpockets. One will distract you while another lifts your wallet. Even that gypsy lady with a baby (often only a doll) will distract you while a partner strips you of your belongings. It’’s best to take only one credit card ashore with you.

Before you leave home, make a few copies of your passport, driver’’s license, credit cards and travel documents (such as airline tickets) and leave a set with a trusted friend or family member at home. Be sure to have a copy of the credit card company’’s contact number in case of lost or stolen cards. Pack the copies in a different place than you have the original documents. Leave the copies in a safe place on your ship and take a copy of your passport ID page with you when you go ashore.

Cruise lines exist to provide a safe, relaxing and enjoyable vacation experience for the cruise passenger. Good cruise ship security is almost transparent and quietly effective. With a little common sense and vigilance, anyone should be able to have a safe cruise vacation.

No Belly-flops Into the Jacuzzi-Proper Cruising Etiquette

Even though your cruise ship may be bigger than your hometown, it’s still one place where many people must coexist harmoniously. Be courteous and respectful of others by following these guidelines. 

Dress Properly – Even if you’re allergic to dress codes, do not show up to a formal dinner in jeans and flip-flops. The ship will have a code for each day, so learn it.

Keep Your Children Close – Kids, we all love them, except when they’re someone else’s. If you travel with your little ones please keep them under control, especially around pools and while passing through more adult-centered areas such as the casino. 

Learn the Ship’s Language – Your vessel is a ship and never a boat, and the ship is always a she or her. Left is port, right is starboard. Aft means rear or stern, while the bow is the front of the ship. The bridge is where the Captain and his crew control the ship, and only some ships have open bridge policies. 

Save One Seat, Not All – While it’s okay to save a seat for your companion, it’s poor form to save a row of seats for your entire table. The same goes for deck chairs. 

Follow Jogging Rules – Most ships post hours when running is allowed because passenger cabins are often located under the jogging deck and some people prefer to sleep at 6 a.m. than listen to your footfalls. 

Do some homework before shopping onboard or on land.

 

Oh, the Caribbean, land of duty-free shopping! You could go broke in one shopping trip! Luxury items such as jewelry, perfume, china and electronics are imported from all over the world and often offered up to 50 percent off what you would pay for them in the United States. But this is not always the case. It pays to consider what you want to buy before leaving home and checking on the prices in the United States. That way you will know if you are really getting a deal. Remember that you can bargain and should, even in established stores.

Bring Your Phone But Turn It Off

This is your vacation from reality. For however long your cruise is, everything is done for you. You don’t make beds or clean up but the space you live on the ship is maintained well by others. You don’t have to go far for something good to eat or drink. A casino, activities and entertainment makes for something going on all the time. Cruising makes it so easy to leave all your cares an woes behind. Forget cares and woes, you can leave your entire life behind. I think it’s a healthy thing that helps you gain perspective on where you’ve been, are now and would like to be in the future. There’s something mezmerizing about being completely surrounded by ocean and nothing else for as far as you can see in all directions. It facilitiates a renewing period of relaxation like no other. I have never been on a cruise where I have not gotten off the ship and felt like a changed person. That’s the very addictive part. 

Before your cruise you need to take care of buisness. Clear your schedule completely starting a day before the cruise if you are driving to the port and two days if you fly. Think of any business or personal situation that might require your attention and address it before you start your vacation. Use one of the checklists I send you via email or that you can find on my website. Better yet, make up one of your own and take care of anything that you might be apt to think about during the cruise. You really do want to leave it all behind. 

BRING YOUR CELL PHONE BUT TURN IT OFF

The First Day Of Your Cruise

What exactly can you expect? Once the planning, packing, and anticipation are behind them, veteran cruise passengers sometimes view embarkation day as anticlimactic. However, for first-time cruise travelers, embarking on their first ship can be more than exhilarating. 

First of all, keep in mind that your embarkation day cannot officially begin until the ship is clear of departing guests and their luggage. The debarkation process can be as drawn-out as a divorce… while the previous weeks’ passengers make their way reluctantly down the gangway, the staff and crew are busy readying the ship for the next sailing. By the time the last straggler departs, trucks are already arriving at the dock with provisions and a lot of heavy work is going on behind the scenes. Staterooms and public lounges are thoroughly cleaned and readied and a steady stream of supplies and luggage are brought aboard. There can even be an exchange of crewmembers, with some leaving and others arriving. 

Arrival

Cruise line shoreside staff are milling about to point you in the right direction-they are easily recognizable in official looking uniforms with nametags and, often, a clipboard. Once inside the terminal, you might encounter a check-in line. Actual boarding time is often scheduled for noon but some cruise lines will begin processing early arrivals and then direct them to a “holding” area. During check-in, you will be asked to produce your documents and any forms you were sent to complete ahead of time, plus proof of citizenship, and a credit card (to pay for your on board charges). You are issued a boarding card that often also doubles as your stateroom “key” and shipboard charge card.

At some point, either before you enter the check-in area or before proceeding to the ship, you and your hand luggage will have to pass through a security procedure, somewhat like that at airports.

Everyone is anxious to get on board and begin their vacation, but this isn’t the time to get cranky if you have to wait. Keep in mind, you cannot board until the ship is ready for you. Once boarding begins, you will inevitably have your first experience with the ship’s photographer and be asked to pose for an embarkation picture. It only takes a second, so smile. You are under no obligation to purchase any photos taken of you during the cruise and they are a nice souvenir.

On Board

Congratulations! Your cruise has begun. Procedures vary somewhat once you are greeted by the staff lined up just inside the ship’s hull; however, once again you’ll have to produce a picture ID and your boarding card for the security officer. Depending on cruise line, you will be directed to your cabin or a steward will relieve you of your carry on luggage and accompany you. Stewards on high end cruise lines not only show you the way, but hand you a glass of champagne as a welcome aboard gesture.

Check out your cabin to make sure that everything is in order. You should find life jackets on the bed (ready for the muster drill later) and a copy of the ship’s daily schedule. Take a few moments to look over the schedule-you’ll want to know what time the muster drill takes place (a placard on the back of your cabin door will indicate directions to your emergency station), as well as meal hours and the schedule for various activities and entertainments. 

Rented tuxedoes are either hanging in the closet or will be delivered sometime during the afternoon and Bon Voyage gifts sent by your friends or travel agent usually appear as well. Be patient if you are expecting deliveries, particularly on mega-ships. Cabin stewards participate in the ship’s turn-around and are extremely busy, although yours will no doubt introduce himself at the first available opportunity. It will also be a while before your checked luggage arrives, so your initial order of business is usually the welcome aboard buffet. Bring along the daily schedule to peruse while you eat.

While making your way to the lido buffet, no doubt you’ll notice bar waiters offering trays of colorful and exotic “Bon Voyage” drinks, often in souvenir glasses that you can keep. Beware-they are not complimentary! If you choose one, you’ll be asked to sign for it. Again, like the photos, you’re under no obligation to purchase; however, the glasses are fun souvenirs.

Do your plans for the cruise include booking shore excursions and indulging in spa treatments? The most popular tours sometimes sell out and spas can be very busy during sea days, so your next stop should be the Shore Excursion Desk to book tours and the Spa to make appointments.

Your dining room seating assignment may be another matter for consideration. Some people like to check the main dining room to see where their table is located. If it’s not to your liking, or if you requested a large table and find yourself assigned to a small one, you will want to see the Head Waiter. He will be stationed in a lounge with his charts handy to make changes-the daily schedule will indicate where and when.

For the rest of the afternoon and into the evening you may find other introductory activities such as tours of the spa and fitness center, port and shopping talks, and casino gaming lessons available. Of course, there will be the compulsory muster drill, followed by sailaway festivities on the pool deck. 

By late afternoon or early evening, your luggage should arrive and you can unpack and settle into your cabin to prepare for dinner. A few words of advice… just in case your luggage doesn’t arrive before dinner, as sometimes is the case when you’re dining at the early seating, it’s a good idea to have toiletries and appropriate attire in your carry-on so you can freshen up and change. Dress codes are always casual on the first evening of cruises.

A highlight of embarkation day is that first dinner in the main restaurant where you’ll meet your waitstaff and tablemates. Order whatever you like from the menu of appetizers, salads, soups, and entrees, but save room for dessert! Other than iced tea, coffee, hot tea, and water, beverages in the dining room are not complimentary.

After dinner you’ll find the entire ship alive with action! The casino, shops, and lounges will all be open to greet guests and the Cruise Director usually introduces his staff at a Welcome Aboard show in the main theater (shows are scheduled to coordinate with dining seatings).

Back in your cabin for the night, you’ll find that your steward has straightened things up during your absence, filled the ice bucket, provided fresh linens in the bathroom, turned down the bed, left the next day’s schedule of activities, and placed a chocolate on your pillow. Sweet dreams…

Flying In To Your Departure City

 

This is a topic that is not commonly thought about when initially booking the cruise but one that is surely important, especially if you do not live within driving distance of the port.

Often, we book our cruises so far in advance that many sources of airfare are not available yet. Southwest Airlines, for example, does not offer flight schedules at a year in advance; the time y0u booked your cruise.

So what to do?

If you’re booking more than 4 months in advance, I suggest booking airfare with the cruise line. 

At least for a while. Why?

• You do not have to pay for it far in advance like dealing with airlines or online airfare buying sites like www.CheapTickets.com. 
• You will pay for it at final payment time along with your cruise fareThe price normally includes transfers to and from the ship. Depending on the port, this can represent a great value
• The cruise line is responsible for you. If flights get delayed, they will get you to the ship, at thier expense.
• It’s easy. Airfare through the cruiseline provides a seamless travel experience. Let them worry about it.

I think that’s the safe way to go. 

At the same time, though, work on finding flights that will work for you on your own. This is something you can do for yourself or with our assistance online from various sources. 

But there are a few guidelines you’ll want to follow when doing this. If you’re not comfortable with this process, call us to take care of it for you. 

• Be flexible- when possible, try to get into your port city a day early. This gives you a buffer against flight delays, lost baggage, etc. We flew into the port the day of the cruise one time and I said “never again”. I was so worried that we would miss the boat. Often, flight prices are less the day before, sometimes enough to pay for the hotel room you’ll need. 
• Try several sources. Don’t just go to Travelocity.com, buy your tickets and be done with it. If that’s your attitude about it, have someone else do it. Your homework and research will pay off 
• Check, Check and Double Check. Before you buy that non-refundable ticket know for sure that you have the flights landing at your destination at the time you want them to be. It is not a bad idea to have someone else take a look. Fresh eyes might see that you’re about to fly yourself into Kansas City (MCI) when you want to go to Orlando (MCO). There are very few cruise ships in Kansas. 
• Consider price but consider convenience too. The online sites automatically bring up the least expensive flights first. But if you have to land, change planes and fly some more once or twice, that can be a real job compared to a non-stop flight which will probably cost more. In addition, each landing and takeoff is one more chance to get behind schedule. With a non-stop flight if you get in the air on time in the beginning, odds are you (and your luggage) will get there on time 

Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. This is THE most common mistake people make when doing their own online air reservations. Travel arrangements have to be exact, not close. Again, the difference between arriving in Orlando and Kansas City is one little letter in the wrong place.

Know Your Insurance

 

 

I know it’s boring but you need to read the details of your travel insurance policy, regardless of where you got it.  I just hate it when someone calls me to report a claim but I know their reason is not covered.  It doesn’ happen often but what a shocker to find out you thought you were covered but you are not.

 

Most all travel insurance covers cancellation. The important part to know though is what the “covered reasons” are.  Most often they are not for any reason.  You can’t just change your mind a few days before sailing because you want to buy a big new tv.  It doesn’t work that way.

 

Generally speaking, covered reasons are medical reasons.  Pretty much any reason that you can get a doctor to sign off on works.  That’s if it’s you or a member of your family, even members not sailing. 

 

The other part is medical coverage.   Most provide medical coverage which may be important if your health care policy does not cover services performed outside of your country. Be sure about that before you assume you are covered.  The ships have fully-staffed hospitals on board but they are not free.  An average bill from the infirmary is about $200.  (Also another reason to address possible motion discomfort issues before boarding. The shot the doctor will give you that will cure your motion sickness costs about $100)

 

The best value in most policies is the medical evacuation coverage.  That can cost up to $50,000 to have a chopper land on the deck to take you back to a shoreside hospital.  Then there’s how do I get home from wherever that might be?  The ship sure is not waiting for me. 

 

Also be clear on what “pre-existing medical conditions” are and if you have them.  Unless specific coverge is purchased by a certain time in the booking cycle, they won’t be covered.

 

Some other non medical, not covered reasons for cancellation that I have personally seen come up occasionally include trying to board with non-approved identification, not showing up for any reason other than medical, violation of sailing rules for minors, pregnancy that is too advanced, and dumping your boyfriend. 

 

 

 

7 Ways To Make Your Cruise Vacation Better

Did you know that… a big part of having the perfect cruise vacations is thanks to great planning?

Planning is very boring to most people. Everyone of us wish we had a magical wand to just make our cruise vacations happen. When we start planning we might end up stuck in details, about food, activities and such, that we often forget the most important issues to keep in mind. I will share here seven ways you can make cruise vacation planning easier by just applying them when you are writing down your vacation’s plan.

Set aside some extra money. – You have your budget for the cruise vacations; however things are rarely 100% perfect. You should also have in the budget enough extra money not only for buying souvenirs at ports, but also if any emergency occurs. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Include your documents. – Just imagine this: you’ve already arrived to the port, along with your luggage and your sunglasses ready to have the time of your life, then you reach for your pocket just to find out you are not carrying the required documents.

Yes, things like this do happen, and the best way to avoid them is include them in a checklist. You can call it “Requirements checklist” and list every document you need to board the cruise.

Arriving date should be a day early.-This is even more important if you live far from the port, and planning to get there in car. Even if you’re planning to get there on a plane, weather changes can delay the flight. I once suffered this, and had to buy another plane ticket to board on the first cruise destination after the ship set sail.

If you’re expecting a baby, get a note form the doctor. You may not know this but cruise lines consider pregnancy as a medical condition. They need to make sure everything is going to be fine once you’re inside the cruise.

You won’t be able to board a cruise if you are on an advanced phase, so be sure to check that out.

Read all the fine prints. -Just because those words are very small doesn’t mean they’re not important. These words in fact mostly contain conditions, for not so common situations. Take for example the case above, or the situation of two underage people travelling alone.

Just by reading them you’re sure to save you some headaches.

Pack everything the right way. Packing can be described as an art. But it is also a necessity when travelling, avoid having too much luggage, instead aim for a great packing that lets you fit everything without using much space. Mix clothing if you’re not travelling alone, in case one of the cases is delayed, or something happens, and secure them tightly with duct tape.

And – don’t forget to write your name on them.

Talk with your travel agency. If you have any doubts, no matter what silly they sound to you, just write them down, and talk to your travel agent. Travel agents, and consultants are there to help you make your vacations a dream, and that’s what you’re paying them for.

A professional agent will walk with you along your cruise vacation planning process, to ensure you will be fully satisfied.

If you follow these simple suggestions, you’re a lot closer your dream cruise vacations. Don’t take planning as a less important aspect of your vacation, or who knows, maybe you’ll end having no vacations at all! There’s more plenty of information available online that will help you in. You can do it too!

It’s all about having fun in the end. Who says planning can’t be fun?

Phoning Home

 

  

 

Many cruisers have questions about phoning home while on their cruise vacation  

Phoning home always gives one peace of mind when they are on vacation. It is natural to want to check on your children, or check into the office, just remember that ship to shore phone costs can be very hefty. They can cost up to $15 minute, so I if you must, keep it brief. You can use your cell phone but be aware that in some areas roaming charges will apply. Your cell phone will not work in Europe unless you have universal service.

It is very important that you leave the information on how to contact you at home in case of an emergency. When you receive your cruise documentst there will be contact information included. Make sure you leave the name of the ship, the cruise line you are traveling with, and the itinerary that you plan to follow. Make it very clear that it is for emergencies only.

There is a way to get around this expense and that is to buy a phone card and call home from your ports of call. The connection will be far greater and your savings too. Be aware that this is where the crew members make their calls home so you may want to venture further from the dock to find a not so busy public phone.

All of the modern ships are wired for the internet so you can stay in touch with email. This is a much easier and cheaper way to but your mind at ease. On some ships if you are a frequent cruiser the internet time is free. If you are not, connections can run from fifty cents to a dollar a minute. Just keep in mind that they are not high speed hook ups so they will be slow. Compose offline and then send your message. Some ships will offer you package deals to save a little money. Here again, if you can wait until you get to port, internet cafes ashore are relatively inexpensive.

 

 

 

 

Celebrity Solstice

It could be argued that the new Celebrity Solstice is the prettiest ship at sea. I doubt that you would find many who would not agree. But there are a whole lot of steps along the way that make Solstice unique. Celebrity has done a great job focusing on the total cruise experience and beyond.

It seems that new builds these days all have a flashy signature feature that sets them apart from others. Solstice is no exception. The big one here is the Lawn Club. Located high up on deck 15, Celebrity has grown an expanse of short golf green-like grass about the size of a football field. Ok maybe more like a large backyard but it sure seems like a huge space in person. It’s something you just don’t expect to see on a ship and nothing can quite prepare you for the experience.

Home to picnics, various “yard” games, and even private parties, the Lawn Club comes complete with its own shop, café and bar. If this were a Carnival ship they would call this the “Fun Deck” because it also houses the Fun Factory Kids club, a basketball court, Video Arcade and another unique experience, the Hot Glass show, where professional gaffers craft works of art right before your eyes. But this is nothing you will find on a Carnival ship or any other brand for that matter.

These unique experiences have been really well done in a unique signature way that will prove to set Solstice apart from even her sister ships that will follow. It all comes down to ground level where what they do directly impacts the guest experience. As with so many other successful ideas it is the details that make the difference.

Bartenders that can open a bottle of beer tossed in the air, Pool Butlers actually paying attention to guests and anticipating their needs, as well as very well educated crew members who know their jobs well, make the difference.

Someone was paying attention here when they designed how this was going to go. Often overlooked while an organization struggles to cover the bases, Celebrity not only covers but blows the bases away, creating an experience like no other.

It is as though someone said, “Ok, design a ship, but make it the very best one you can possibly make it. Spare no expense. Leave nothing out. Dream up new features. And make it all very user-friendly”. Take for example, the live tree growing in the middle of the ship. Yes I said live tree. Make that “huge live tree”. It’s not enough to have it; the crew all knows details about how it was planted, lives and will grow six decks high eventually. The crew does not hesitate to approach the casual viewer to let them know all about it too. I think this is one of the most unique parts of the onboard experience. The crew here really goes out of its way to enrich the experience.

It is as though not only the needs but the unexpected desires of guests have been not only anticipated but are constantly brought to their attention.

The staterooms are a great example of this.

A quick glance would leave one with the impression that these are nicely appointed but nothing unique. Further examination though reveals many innovative features. In the bathroom, for example, a low level illuminating light is on constantly to lead the way in the dark. A huge flat-screen television boasting a nice selection of movies, internet access, ordering for room service and more swivels away from the wall enabling it to be positioned just right for viewing anywhere in the cabin. 15% larger than most Celebrity staterooms on other ships, these offer a very nice space you may not want to leave.

But leave you will as you explore areas of the ship that flow seamlessly from one to the other.

Arguably the largest selection of shopping at sea, the “Shops on the Boulevard” flow into the largely non-smoking casino which is an extension of an assortment of lounges, and an area known as the “Entertainment Court”.

Aptly named, the Entertainment Court features a central space where live music emanates into the surrounding areas very nicely, tying them all together. While other cruise lines seem to be cutting back on live entertainment, Celebrity has taken a few steps back in time and brought back a wide variety of talent. Case in point; on deck entertainment.

I was on deck enjoying a leisurely afternoon one day, steps away from food and bar service, an indoor pool should the weather turn bad, and the an assortment of lounge chairs, hammocks, and private areas. As the stage was out of sight, it took me a while to realize that the enjoyable and thoughtful music I was hearing was not prerecorded but a live five piece band. Later, when their set was over, a different band came to play, followed by a solo guitar player and then others. This theme was repeated many times over throughout the voyage. A string quartet filled the atrium area, a jazz trio played in one of the lounges, and a full band played in the showroom, even a piano player in unexpected areas at unconventional times made for a rich experience.

Dining options also added to this deep, enriching theme.

In addition to the stunning single main room, Grand Epernay, dining options are plentiful. The Aquaspa café offering refreshing spa cuisine as well as the always open Bistro on Five with Crepes and Sandwiches in a casual setting. The Mast Grill I enjoyed while on deck was only steps away from the signature Oceanview Café, a scatter-style buffet with an assortment of stations well-suited to most any taste.

Specialty dining with a nominal cover charge was not limited to just one or two offerings. Murano, a sophisticated dining experience featuring European style service and wines from around the world is a headliner. Silk Harvest, featuring the exotic tastes of Asia in a casual, family-style setting is very popular. The Tuscan Grille offers a sophisticated steakhouse with and Italian accent and robust wine list. Finally “Blu” has private dining for AquaClass guests only featuring clean, modern cuisine from the old and new world.

The Aqua class area of the ship offers some of the most well appointed staterooms on board too. But more than just extra features like a superb shower and upgraded amenities, the whole AquaSpa area of the ship is unique unto itself. This area anchors a “Wellness” theme featuring a full service spa enhanced by the solarium and a quiet renewing space called the Persian Garden as well as medi-spa, salon and fitness center.

The whole Wellness concept extends to other areas of the ship as well.

All staterooms and verandahs, for example, are non-smoking. A bold move on the part of Celebrity, this idea came directly from guest requests and comments. There are adequate but largely removed areas for smokers but the Celebrity is really trying hard to make a statement as part of the whole experience. Smoking is restricted to a small area of the casino, slots only. The whole feel of it all reminded me of when restaurants had smoking and non smoking sections before turning all non-smoking. I suspect that Celebrity will be the first line to pull off the entirely non-smoking concept, once tried but failed by Carnival’s Paradise several years ago.

To me, the extent that Celebrity is willing to go with the smoking issue is a great example of the direction they are going with this ship and the experience it elicits. A great diversion from real life is the hallmark of a cruise. Celebrity, through the unique features of this ship, also gives you something to take home with you. Whereas the end of the cruise often meant the end of the experience, Solstice leaves the door open, allowing one to takehome the feel of it all.

If you are one of the lucky ones who has fully embraced all that a cruise has to offer you may have felt renewed and maybe even a bit changed by the end of the voyage. The Solstice experience allows you to not only be changed, but to do something with that change once you return to real life.

What Is There To Do In Port?

 

Have you ever heard of duty free shopping? You can go off on your own and make your own tour. Or take a guided tour. Play golf or tennis. Learn how to windsurf Catch a record sailfish.Take a cable car to the top of a mountain. A cruise is the easiest way to see new destinations and meet new people. You never have to pack and unpack the destinations come to you! 

But I Don’t Want To Take A Tour! 

On a cruise you are on your own, to do whatever you want to do. You can do what you want in port. You will either tender (small boat to shore) or dock. It depends on the port and how many ships are there. But if you tender it will usually be done quickly and efficiently. 

Just walk into town, or stay on the ship. You can have lunch on the ship – you can always come back, even with tender, they run all the time. If it’s an all-day tour, and they will usually include lunch. The half-day tours are timed to get you back for lunch (or leave after lunch). 

In the Caribbean and Alaska you certainly don’t have to take tours – but many people do and are quite happy with them. 

Ship tours are usually well organized and usually well worth the money. We know sometimes you can do it cheaper on your own, but remember that you are also paying for a guide, admissions, etc. Not to mention peace of mind – the ship won’t leave until all the tours are back. If you go on your own you may have to build in extra time to be sure you won’t miss the ship. 

Don’t assume you need to take the shore excursions the cruise line offers.

 

The cruise lines really hype up their shore excursions, and for good reason: In addition to selling alcohol onboard, this is one of their main revenue streams. Many of the excursions are overpriced and can be put together on your own. If you’re just looking for a day at the beach, hire a cab and ask the driver to take you to the nicest one in the area. You don’t need the cruise line to plan this for you. You can also hire your own car or moped in many ports. In addition, many of the same-day trips can be booked with independent operators as soon as you get off the ship. Do consider the ship’s shore excursions if they offer opportunities to see multiple sites or if you have limited time in port. Also, if you are someone who will constantly worry about getting back to the ship in time for departure, go with the ship’s group; they will definitely arrive in time. 

All About Cruising: Cabin Upgrades

Don’t let it confuse you. If you’re happy with your location, keep it. You’re under no obligation to change. True,if you have an entry-level cabin, there really is no place but up but if you’re happy there, forget about it and start packing.
We often book aft balcony category cabins and like that location. An upgrade from there would take us more toward the “desirable” center of the ship. We don’t want to go there so we refuse upgrades.

The upgrade fairy is actually a business model that is not nearly as fascinating or magical.

Upgrades happen for a variety of reasons. The most common is “forced availability” of cabins where they try to get you to “upgrade” to another, less populated category on that sailing, opening up space to give a nice variety to shoppers looking to sail that are just entering the booking arena.

When Connie Cruiser decides she wants to sail on your ship they want to give her a nice selection of categories and cabins. Nobody wants to get a cabin in the only category left. The figure they’re getting the table scraps. The leftovers. The cabins nobody wants. That might very well be the case close to sailing but odds are you won’t find that in most cases far from sailing because the cruise line is constantly modeling their inventory, offering upgrades, tightening the belt on acceptable deposit levels, etc, in order to fill the ship, make everybody happy and fill the ship

The ship has GOT to sail full. 85% full is break even for them. They’ve got to do better than that to make money. Really. In the days of old you might find a lot of “last minute deals” just to fill the ships. I remember saying to dw not long ago, that we should just go ahead and plan our time off from our jobs 6 months or a year in advance, maybe even by our air to, say,a busy cruiseport city like Miami, but wait till the last minute to buy at severly discounted rates.

That’s not happening today.

The cruise lines have gotten really good at filling the ships without discounting. They’ve sold the sizzle and not the steak. There are a few last minute deals but you’ll probably have to be in a Florida shopping mall a couple days before sailing to find any Wow-worthy numbers.

Other factors that come into play include

• When you booked your cruise- the farther in advance the better for upgrades
• What you paid. Still a factor but quickly fading away as pricing gets tighter and tigher with less discounting allowed. But if yhou did pay more you might have a leg up at upgrade time
• Loyalty- Repeat guests DO get consideration in the upgrade process. And rightfully so, they’re supporting the ongoing operations of the cruise line and they deserve it
• From here on any other reasons are incidental and probably not worth listing. The cruise line really does not scrutinize every little upgrade move they make as much as we might want to believe they do

Best advice for getting a cabin upgrade?   Book as far in advance as possible and book a “guarantee” rather than an assigned cabin.

Let’s Look At : Cozumel Mexico

On previous calls in Cozumel we’d spent the day at Playa Sol, gone ”into town” to shop and simply camped out Fat Tuesday’s on the pier for the day.   Some beaches require an admission fee that includes use of beach chairs, umbrellas and some of the activity stuff. For an additional fee we got armbands indicating that we could have all-you-can-drink bar service and there was one more higher level option that included food too.

That was before we found out about Paradise Beach

The only reason I bring that up is that at Paradise Beach we walked right in and sat right down. There’s no admission fee but if there was it should be called a cover charge much like you’d pay to go someplace that has entertainment because aptly named Paradise Beach is nothing less than a visit to, well, Paradise.

If we wanted to use their recreational stuff we could have paid $5 for unlimited use all day. We didn’t. We just wanted to park on the beach and have a relaxing day.

We did and they sure do make it easy.

Within a minute or two of arrival a member of the staff that would be taking care of our needs today greeted us. He brought us drinks and food as needed (the Chips and Guacamole are to die for), ran a convenient tab that we paid at the end of the day, and had answers to any questions we posed. We ended up spending about $30 for the two of us which included a whole lot of Sol beers for me and a tip to our friendly and efficient waiter.

Here’s More….

Get Ready For Your Cruise: What To Wear?

During the day its shorts and a polo shirt or t-shirt for men and for ladies shorts outfits or a bating suit with a cover-up is what you will see all around you.  To fit in with the crowd wear stuff like that.  That is probably not what you might wear to do housework on a hot day at home or work on the car but nice stuff. They call it “resort casual” which basically means to leave behind your “I’m the next American Idol” shirt and those favorite jeans that have been around maybe a little too long.

At the pool a swimming suit works out well with all the water.  A personal note: please bring one that fits.  The old saying “You’re not fooling anybody but yourself” is soooo true about swim suits.  You know all those attractive people you see on TV enjoying the heck out of themselves?  Those are actors.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were plenty of people just like me with, shall we say, “less than perfect” bodies.

If you’re going on a shore excursion shorts should still be good but if you’re going horseback riding on the beach long pants would be the order of the day. If you have a question about what to wear on an excursion, call the shore excursion desk, they’ll be happy to help. ….with suggestions, they won’t help you dress.

Ask A Question: ANSWERS ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW

John from Memphis asks this question about going ashore

How do you keep your on-board expenses under control? We just found out that my two teen-age sons will be able to join us and cost control is now an issue. Can you pack a lunch from the buffet to take off the ship with you? What other suggestions do you have?

Also, my older teen is prone to bend the rules. I’ve got the grey hair to prove it. How well does the cruise line make sure that under-age people are not able to get liquor?”
We have a budget for each cruise from the day we book it. It changes, things are added and taken away, but when we step foot on board we have a good idea of how much each of us can spend and there are no surprises at the end of the cruise.

I’d start right there with your teens. Decide what they can and cant spend money on and define a reasonable budget. It really should not be hard to do because their purchases are limited at that age. We talk about and decide on an allowed amount before the cruise on each possible item. It doesn’t take that long and it’s been our experience that when we talk about each item we can agree on them rather than assuming anything. Possible trouble areas they can spend money on include but area not limited to:

• Spa Treatments – yes, even for boys
• Room service items that carry an extra charge
• Non alcoholic beverages (soft drinks and mocktails)
• Gift shop items (could be scary how much they could charge)

It’s unlikely that they will book their own shore excursions, be allowed into the casino or allowed to buy liquor. Their shipboard charge card will not allow them to charge booze or casino chips even if they managed to get past the age requirements.

And this is a topic that is quite worthy of your consideration.

First, the cruise line will not sell liquor to your underage sons. Feel confident that will not happen.

But if they want to drink, they will find a way…and that’s on ANY cruise, certainly not exclusive to any one line. On a Carnival cruise I was on a young adult, probably 22, was selling buckets of beer to teens for $40 that he would turn around and buy quarters for the slot machine with.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way….and that does not even take into consideration what they could do ashore where regulations and rules are often lax.

My very best advice, having sailed with a 15 and 17 year old personally,(and this is learning from my mistakes) would be to have a heart to heart talk with them about it all. I mean a real talk. Like you were sending them off into the world on their own. Because they will indeed be entering a different world where the rules are different and could foster a situation where your fears become reality.

I don’t think you could watch them all the time even if you wanted to…and you shouldn’t even feel like you should. It is your vacation too.

You ask how well the cruise line does in making sure they don’t get alcohol. I think they do just what they’re supposed to do, they don’t sell it to them. I know you’re not looking for this but it bears mentioning the cruise line is not our babysitter nor should our teens need one.

If you want to hear some horror stories about what can happen on a cruise ship or just about any port one calls at I got a bunch of them but I do not intend to scare you. (you’ve already taken care of that)

I really really think the only way to deal with the potential dangers of this is to motivate them to make safe and appropriate decisions for themselves, not for you.

In a way you might be asking them to make some mature decisions that they might not be ready for…but they can be.

My 15 year old (at the time) did. It really is a matter of choice, their choice.

As far as taking food from the ship ashore goes; I know people who do it and have done it myself.  The cruise lines certainly don’t want you to if for no other reason than that your BLT with mayo can get really nasty really fast on a hot Caribbean beach waiting for lunchtime.    If you do, be sure to follow safe food handling procedures. Bring along ziploc bags and plastic wrap with perhaps a very small disposable cooler to keep sandwiches cold and iced.    Better yet?  Skip McDonalds at home a few times before your cruise, save that money and check some local fare when you go ashore.  There’s nothing quite like a Cheeseburger in Paradise at Jimmy Buffet’s place in Jamaica!

A Cruise With Graham Seymour

Orlando Florida Apr 21, 2005 If you’ve had the pleasure of cruising with legendary cruise director Graham Seymour before you might know that he’s left Princess and is working for Royal Caribbean now.

I’ve had calls and emails wondering what happened to him so I thought I’d let everybody know and see who might be interested in cruising with him in the future.

Right now he’s on Splendour of the Seas through May 15th, June through September he’ll be on Navigator of the Seas then in October and November on Mariner of the Seas.