This issue: On-board Review of Maasdam. See the Ship Reviews section.
October-November-December,
2009
LATE BREAKING
CRUISE NEWS
Here's all the news you want to know from all the carriers you want to know about
Longer than three football fields and carrying 3646 passengers, Carnival's newest and largest ship, the Carnival Dream, touches at New York for the first time this holiday season. After a number of special cruises, it will operate year-'round, seven-day Caribbean voyages from Port Canaveral. While it has many highlights the 15-deck vessel perhaps shines most in its choice of food locations. Among them: a pasta bar, a 24-hour pizzeria, a burrito bar, a casual breakfast-lunch-dinner eatery with Italian/Tex-Mex/Tandoori/Asian/Mongolian specialties, a New York-style deli, a sushi bar, an indoor-outdoor café, a patisserie, a steak house, two two-level main dining rooms, and spa selections... A new touch in entertainment is in store for the Dream's passengers. A Comedy Club will offer six 35-minute performances nightly in the 425-seat Burgundy Lounge. The final two shows will be R-rated adult presentations... A new nighttime entertainment option — outdoor laser shows — will also debut on the Dream. The 15-minute shows will feature choreographed lasers projecting aerial patterns of blue, red, and green set to synchronized music by popular artists such as Styx and Pink Floyd. Smoke machines will be used to enhance the laser light effects. A jumbo LED screen will display graphics and original music videos of artists featured in the shows... Charleston is being added to Carnival's year-'round cruise schedule, with the deployment of the 2056-passenger Carnival Fantasy next May. It will operate five-, six-, and seven-day voyages to the Bahamas and Key West from Charleston's historic downtown passenger terminal. Carnival expects to handle about 140,000 passengers there annually. Charleston will be its twelfth year-'round departure point.
Celebrity's Captain's Club — a frequent-passenger program — is being redesigned and relaunched. New features include an on-board social and entertainment event; a new on-board lounge; improved laundry and Internet benefits; priority embarkation; clothes pressing; access to a loyalty desk and loyalty host; and more. Benefits will be accorded based on one of three membership categories: Classic, Select, or Elite... A concept called Celebrity Life will be introduced during the next months. It's intended to enhance the dining, intellectual enrichment, and wellness aspects of cruise travel. The three key words will be "Savor," for the food portion; "Discover," for the enrichment program; and "Renew," for the wellness agenda. "Savor" will introduce wine events, mixology tastings, and get-togethers hosted by the ship's executive chef and team. "Discover" will offer opportunities to do and learn in a wide variety of interests, such as foreign language instruction, astronomy, and dance. "Renew" will offer goal-oriented approaches to classes, treatments designed to make passengers feel better and look younger, and a redefined spa experience... Celebrity's new 2850-passenger Equinox will feature a half-acre "country club" with real grass, 10 dining venues, a Corning Glass Museum, and 500 original art works "of a caliber rarely seen outside of museums, art galleries, and private collections," according to the company's president... A redeployment: the 1814-passenger Celebrity Century will be shifted to Europe next summer, replacing previously scheduled four- and five-day cruises from Miami. It will now sail 12-day circuits along the Mediterranean, including stops at Cannes, Monte Carlo, Nice, Sicily, the Amalfi coast, Florence, Venice, Turkey, Greece, and Croatia.
More than 250 destinations will be visited next year by Costa's 15 ships. That represents a capacity increase of 16 percent when its new 2828-passenger Costa Deliziosa enters service next spring. Most of the trips will be in Europe, where 14 of the liners will be stationed at least part of the year. Other itineraries will be to North America, South America, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Canada/New England, and repositioning. The carrier says that it will offer 1100 different excursions next year...Costa held a precedent-setting double christening in Genoa, introducing its 2828-passenger Costa Luminosa and 3000-passenger Costa Pacifica. It calls Luminosa the Ship of Light and Pacifica the Ship of Sound. The Luminosa will have a contemporary design accented by iridescent colors, marbles, woods, mother-of-pearl detailing, and art. There will be 120 Murano glass chandeliers, 1100 decorative tiles, and 20 types of marble and granite. The theater will seat 800 passengers and feature 14,000 lights capable of creating special effects. A mega-screen will be located over the pool. The Pacifica will have a 103-cabin Spa area, a professional music-recording studio allowing passengers to create their own CDs, an atrium highlighted by musical symbols and instruments as décor, a soundtrack created for the ship by Italian composer Mauro Pagani and 43 musicians, and live singers performing in the lounges. Each corridor on the ship will have its own music by masters from Chopin to Beethoven, while each lounge will feature its own international music. 22 musicians aboard the ship will be divided into orchestras, trios, duos, and pianists.
Better bring a few good books or DVDs or a knitting needle with plenty of yarn for this cruise. Cruise West will undertake a 335-day circumnavigation of the world starting in March 2010. It will leave from Singapore aboard the 120-passenger Spirit of Oceanus, returning there in February 2011, after visiting 242 ports in 59 countries. During the journey, the ship will cross 14 seas and oceans, stop at 85 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and travel through three major canals. One of the key on-board features will be a Smithsonian Journeys lecture/discussion series concentrating on the history and culture of places like Singapore, Rome, Alexandria, Istanbul, and Mumbai. Travelers do not have to stay for the whole trip; it will be available in six segments... Next year's Alaska plans call for four ships and four different itineraries. There will be 25 seven-day departures that highlight wilderness cruising as well as 43 four-day and 10 10-day itineraries. Juneau, Anchorage, and Seattle will be the ports of embarkation... The newly-published complete list of 2010 destinations for Cruise West: Alaska, Antarctica, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Galapagos, British Columbia, four European rivers, and the Columbia and Snake Rivers, plus the 335-day circumnavigation of the world.
San Francisco will rejoin the roster of Crystal home ports after a six year absence. The carrier will resume a summer series of 12-day cruises to Alaska in 2011. There will be nine trips between May and August. Also on the list for that year: 163 ports in 67 countries on 58 cruises. Except for a single departure, all cruises aboard the 922-passenger Crystal Symphony will embark and/or depart from a U. S. port... The Symphony will emerge this season from a $25 million makeover, being completed at a drydock in Boston. Penthouses, pool areas, the Prego Italian restaurant, the Lido café, elevators, staterooms, a crew restaurant, lighting, medical center equipment, and the broadcast production studio are all scheduled for new or remodeled facilities and décor... On-board computer education is taking a leap. Crystal's Computer University@Sea will be teaching the new Windows 7 operating system as well as college-credit courses. Also offered: instruction in email, website design, digital video editing, digital camera orientation, web surfing, Excel, Access, Powerpoint, and more.
A new menu of spa treatments and services is being introduced aboard the 2620-passenger Queen Mary 2 by Canyon Ranch, the spa-fitness-salon provider. They include Voya Seaweed Treatments, Detoxifying and Revitalizing Rituals, and Performance Orthotics services. The spa covers some 20,000 square feet of the ship and has a staff of 30, 24 treatment rooms, 50 pieces of equipment, a Thalasso-therapy pool, neck fountains, a deluge waterfall, body massage jet benches, herbal saunas, Finnish saunas, and an aromatic steam room... Itineraries have been announced for Cunard's two 2011 World Cruises. The new 2092-passenger Queen Elizabeth will conduct its initial global circuit, leaving Southampton in January and proceeding westward to New York, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Dubai, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and elsewhere, returning home after 103 days. The Queen Mary 2 will begin its fourth world voyage in New York, stopping in Fort Lauderdale, the Caribbean, South America, South Africa, Sydney, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Dubai, Italy, Morocco, Spain, and the UK, returning to New York after 103 days. Together the two ships will visit 57 ports of call in 34 countries... The three Queens of Cunard's fleet — Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth, and the 2014-passenger Queen Victoria will rendezvous in New York harbor on January 13, 2011... Cunard's 2010 - 2011 itineraries show three Queens under sail. The Queen Mary 2 will make 21 transatlantic crossings next year and additional roundtrip New York voyages; the 2014-passenger Queen Victoria will spend winter 2011 on the U. S. West Coast and in Panama Canal waters, calling at Los Angeles and Hawaii after summer in Europe; and the 2010-new Queen Elizabeth will begin its career next October in Spain and Portugal.
Disney's first new ship in 12 years, the 2500-passenger Disney Dream, is scheduled for a 2011 debut. Its keel was laid in Germany during the summer. The ship is being built through a block construction process, in which pre-fabricated complete hull sections are joined together in block units and are then brought together to form the ship. The Dream will be made up of 80 such blocks. A second ship, the 2500-passenger Disney Fantasy, will follow in 2012, more than doubling Disney's current capacity. The ships will be based at Port Canaveral... Disney will sail in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe in the summer of 2010 and will place its 1760-passenger Disney Wonder in service from Los Angeles in 2011... Next year will see the Disney Magic in Russia, Northern Europe, and the Med. There will be a two-month mid-summer schedule of 12-day European Capital cruises stopping at Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin's port, and St. Petersburg, round trip from London. Before and after those Northern Europe trips will be a series of 10- and 11-day cruises in the Med in April, May, August, and September round trip from Barcelona.
Formers news anchor Sam Donaldson, writer Kitty Kelly, and Grammy Award winner Doc Severinsen have been booked to headline the enrichment program aboard Holland America's 2010 Grand World Voyage world cruise. The 114-day trip will leave Fort Lauderdale in January and conclude in Los Angeles, after exploring South America, Africa, and Asia. The 1380-passenger Amsterdam will conduct the cruise... Hollandamerica.com, the company's web site, has been redesigned. It is planned to be more visually engaging and user-friendly. Additions include new intuitive navigation, expanded page views, an upgraded cruise finder section, maps of itineraries, electronic brochures, an on-line community option, and many virtual tours and videos that feature 360-degree views of public rooms and staterooms... Here's a novel approach to on-board programming. Holland America will start a book club program on sailings of 14 days and longer. Popular novels will be selected for reading and then book discussions will be hosted by resident librarians in the ships' libraries. Chosen books will often relate to ships' destinations... Next summer, Holland America will have eight ships sailing in Alaskan waters, four from Seattle and four from Vancouver.
This issue: On-board Review of Maasdam. See the Ship
Reviews section.
Canada/New England sailings from New York City and Quebec City have been added to MSC's 2010 fall schedule. They'll be conducted aboard the March-debuting 2550-passenger Magnifica. When it makes its first U. S. landfall late in September, it will embark on a 31-day peroid of four cruises.
The 2002-passenger Norwegian Sky is now fresh from a large-scale makeover. It received reupholstering of all 1000 seats in the theater, new marble tiling and wood refinishing in prime suite cabins, bar and nightclub reconfigurations, new food stations in the café, refurbishment of the Italian restaurant, and mural repainting at the pool area. The ship has 10 bars and lounges, a spa, two pools, children's facilities, a sports deck, and scores of entertainment venues and public rooms. It operates three-and four-day cruises from Miami... 14 restaurants. 18 bars. An aqua park with three waterslides. A 200-foot tube slide. A 33' x 64' rock climbing wall. Six bowling lanes. A repelling wall. Eight different outdoor sports activities — basketball, volleyball, soccer, dodgeball, batting cage, bungee trampoline, rope course, climbing cage — on the sports deck. A squash court. Three separate kids' and teens activity areas. Illuminated arching water sprays. 60 two-deck suites and villas with private pool, health club, and lounge. Cabin windows facing corridors. Curved staterooms. Color-spectrum hull art. That's part of what awaits 4200 passengers on each cruise of the Norwegian Epic, which sets sail next May. The ship will sail from Miami on seven-day cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.
A preview of Deilmann's 2010 Europe river schedule shows 189 departures between March and November. Cruise lengths will vary between four and 11 days, with most scheduled for seven days. Among the rivers to be plied next year: Danube, Elbe, Havel, Moldau, Seine, Moselle, and Rhine.
Looking ahead to late 2010 and 2011, Princess has scheduled five new South Pacific and Hawaii sailings. Next September there will be a 30-day San Francisco to Sydney trip via Hawaii and Tahiti, followed by a return cruise to Los Angeles. In 2011, there will be three Hawaii circuits from Los Angeles... Princess will spread its sails in Europe next year, scheduling a record 96 departures on 39 itineraries to 130 ports on six ships. Major areas: The Med, Greek Isles, British Isles, Iceland, Scandinavia, Russia, Black Sea, Holy Land... The carrier's 2010 Alaska season will see 112 sailings aboard seven ships. Departures will be from San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, and Whittier (Anchorage). Trips will range from seven to 14 days in length... There will be a doubling of Princess' capacity in the Caribbean next summer, as it places its 3110-passenger Caribbean Princess and 3100-passenger Emerald Princess into service there. The Caribbean Princess will sail from New York City on ten nine-day itineraries to Bermuda and various islands. The Emerald Princess will travel from Fort Lauderdale on week-long Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises... A new plot twist is being added to Princess' outdoor giant-screen movies — billed as "Movies Under the Stars." A Leonard Maltin Movie Club and Movie Channel, named for the well-known film critic, will give passengers an opportunity to gather after movies and discuss and critique them with other film buffs. A different popular or classic film will be showcased monthly on each Princess ship.
Actress Florence Henderson and Singer Clint Holmes will inaugurate "Dinner and a Show," a new entertainment concept being introduced by Regent on its two 700-passenger ships, the Voyager and the Mariner. Under the new model, the evening's entertainment for participating passengers will consist of a cocktail party and a gourmet meal in one of the ships' alternative dining rooms followed by an "intimate" cabaret-style performance in a nearby lounge. Henderson will appear in January on a Fort Lauderdale to Callao cruise and Holmes in March on a Hong Kong to Cape Town trip.
When the 5400-passenger, 16-deck Oasis of the Seas is launched at holiday season this year, it plans to introduce "the next generation of dining." A combination of al fresco seating, gourmet venues and "My Time Dining" is planned to appeal to all tastes, according to Royal Caribbean. The ship is divided into seven "neighborhoods," each with its own set of eating places. There will also be a three-level main dining room. Among the scores of dining locations: 150 Central Park, an extra- charge dinner house; Giovanni's Table, a trattoria, also extra charge; Park Café, an indoor/outdoor gourmet market; Vintages, a wine bar with light foods; Chops Grille, an extra-charge steakhouse; Seafood Shack, an extra-charge surf-style family restaurant; a donut shop; an ice cream parlor; an extra-charge Johnny Rockets; Mondo Café, a 24-hour coffee house; Café Promenade, a 24-hour extra-charge restaurant; Sorrentos, a New York-style pizzeria; Solarium Bistro, an extra-charge healthy food establishment; Vitality Café, with more healthy foods near the Spa; and more. Entertainment options will center around a 1350-seat main theater, Broadway musicals, headliners, ice shows, an amphitheater-style venue seating 600 for aqua shows, a comedy club, street parties, disco, video, and many bars and additional entertainment locations. The shopping sector will be equally encompassing. Among the retailers: Coach handbags and accessories, Prince & Greene trendy fashion boutique, Regalia jewelry and timepieces, Solera duty-free cosmetics and fragrances, Willow sportswear, Candy Beach sweets. Carousel apparel, Pinwheels for children, Star Pier for teen apparel and electronic games, Breeze for sun products, and more. Royal Caribbean's second 5400-passenger ship, Allure of the Seas, will be placed in Caribbean service when it's completed in December, 2010. Weekly trips from Fort Lauderdale will alternate between the Eastern and Western Caribbean. In a break from normal, each itinerary will include three days at sea.
Seabourn's 2010 - 2011 schedule has been published. With two new ships bringing its total fleet to five, the new schedule shows 44 new or not-recently-visited destinations, year-'round service in Asia for the first time, deeper itineraries in Europe, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Asia, and Africa, and a return to Indonesia. All told, there will be visits to 250 ports in 68 countries on 186 voyages over 15 months.
Silversea has published its 2010 schedule. It shows 190 itineraries and visits to 400 ports in 80 countries on seven continents ... The new 540-passenger all-suite Silver Spirit enters service this season. Its inaugural 2010 voyage will be a 91-day "Spirit of South America" cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles and back to New York, stopping at Rio and Buenos Aires, crossing the Panama Canal, and cruising around South America at Cape Horn. It will visit 45 ports in 20 countries. Its dining offerings are among its big attractions. The Restaurant will be the main dining room, featuring an open seating at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. La Terrazza will be open for buffet-style breakfasts and lunches, with indoor and outdoor seating options. At dinner it will feature a la carte Italian foods. Seishin and Le Champagne are extra-fee Japanese and wine restaurants, respectively. A Stars Supper Club will offer dinner and then transition into a live-music/dancing/entertainment room, with guests expected to stay for the whole evening. A pool grill rounds out the ship's food palette.
July-August-September,
2009
LATE BREAKING
CRUISE NEWS
Here's all the news you want to know from all the carriers you want to know about
Joining the growing list of carriers offering non-traditional dining options is Carnival. It is extending its "Your Choice Dining" plan to all of its 22 ships between now and summer, 2010. There will be traditional early and late seatings as well as a new "your time" open-seating arrangement... Returning to service this fall after a month-long drydock is the 2052-passenger Carnival Ecstasy. Among the multi-million dollar differences: a large water park with a 300-foot long waterslide, an adults-only retreat, a redesigned main pool area, a teen center, and 98 new balconies... Year-'round short cruises from San Diego will be scheduled for the 2052- passenger Carnival Elation. It will conduct four- and five-day cruises half the time and three- and four-day circuits the other half. Destination: Mexico's Baja California... For the first time, Seattle has become a home port for Carnival's Alaska summer season. The 2124-passenger Carnival Spirit has scheduled almost four months of voyages that will stop at Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Victoria Island. An on-board naturalist will educate passengers about the region's history and its animal and marine life... Baltimore joins the select list of 52-week cruise departure cities with the positioning of the 2124-passenger Carnival Pride there this fall for trips to the Eastern Caribbean and Bahamas/Florida... The poker chips will be clacking on each voyage of all 22 Carnival ships from now until October, as the PokerPro Challenge Texas Hold'em poker tournament rolls out. Grand prize is $25,000. Displays will show players' commitments, table stakes, pot amount, and community cards. They'll also identify winners at the end of each hand and add the winnings to the player's table stakes.
http://www.directline-cruises.co.uk/Carnival%20Cruises
South America schedules for winter 2010 - 2011 have been announced by Celebrity. The season will consist of visits to 13 countries and 30 ports. The 1950-passenger Celebrity Infinity will sail six 14-day trips, including dips around Cape Horn. Buenos Aires and Valparaiso will be the embarkation ports... Short getaways to the Caribbean will now be offered year-'round. Beginning next May, the 1814-passenger Celebrity Century will conduct four- and five-day Caribbean itineraries all year long from Miami. Among the places it will visit: Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, the line's private island CocoCay, Roatan, Nassau, Jamaica, and Key West... For the first time in six years, Celebrity will be sailing year-'round in the Caribbean. Beginning next year, its 2850-passenger Celebrity Solstice will alternate week-long trips from Fort Lauderdale to the Eastern and Western Caribbean... The 1950-passenger Celebrity Millennium emerges from a $10 million refreshment this summer. It will sport new carpeting throughout the ship, new upholstery in every cabin, renewed marble and stone floors, newly varnished teak, 32-inch TVs in suites, and more. It will be sailing the Alaska route this summer from Vancouver.
More than 250 destinations will be visited next year by Costa's 15 ships. That represents a capacity increase of 16 percent when its new 2828-passenger Costa Deliziosa enters service next spring. Most of the trips will be in Europe, where 14 of the liners will be stationed at least part of the year. Other itineraries will be to North America, South America, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Canada/New England, and repositioning. The carrier says that it will offer 1100 different excursions next year. Costa, which carried 1.1 million passengers in 2007, observes its 60th anniversary this year... Starting in 2010, Celebrity will offer short cruises year-'round. Its 1814-passenger Celebrity Century will conduct four- and five-day Western Caribbean itineraries from Miami... Costa held a precedent-setting double christening in Genoa this season, introducing its 2828-passenger Costa Luminosa and 3000-passenger Costa Pacifica. It calls Luminosa the Ship of Light and Pacifica the Ship of Sound. The Luminosa will have a contemporary design accented by iridescent colors, marbles, woods, mother-of-pearl detailing, and art. There will be 120 Murano glass chandeliers, 1100 decorative tiles, and 20 types of marble and granite. The theater will seat 800 passengers and feature 14,000 lights capable of creating special effects. A mega-screen will be located over the pool. The Pacifica will have a 103-cabin Spa area, a professional music-recording studio allowing passengers to create their own CDs, an atrium highlighted by musical symbols and instruments as dˇcor, a soundtrack created for the ship by Italian composer Mauro Pagani and 43 musicians, and live singers performing in the lounges. Each corridor on the ship will have its own music by masters from Chopin to Beethoven, while each lounge will feature its own international music. 22 musicians aboard the ship will be divided into orchestras, trios, duos, and pianists.
A new vessel has been assigned to Cruise West's Galapagos service. The 100-passenger Galapagos Explorer will conduct nine-day cruises from the Ecuador mainland 650 miles west to about eight of the Galapagos islands. Naturalist guides will provide continuous commentary. Cruise West's Galapagos exploration cruises depart next March and April... Cruise West is rolling out a more robust enrichment program this summer. It will be guided by a new Board of Advisors, who are authorities on oceanography, nature, science, cultures, and history... Some ships will now offer "alfresco" dining options, and all will have new food and wine choices this season.
Technology takes a front and center position on Crystal's programming this fall, as it introduces on-board Technology Concierges. They'll help passengers understand features of iPods, iPhones, BlackBerries, Kindles, Treos and GPS devices... What's expected to be Crystal's final call to Antarctica is set for the Christmas/New Year holiday. The 19-day trip, aboard the 922-passenger Crystal Symphony, will depart from Buenos Aires and conclude in Valparaiso, after visits to ports in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Beginning in 2011, a proposed ban on the carriage of certain fuel oils will effectively prohibit the sailing of most ships in the Antarctic... The company is unveiling a new web site at crystalcruises.com. It will be layered for quicker and easier access to information needed to plan a Crystal cruise. It will have additional photography, interactive slide shows, descriptive content about destinations and shore excursions, special offers, and an on-line version of its fleetwide brochure.
The Oxford University Press has joined with Cunard to inaugurate a new on-board Science Club, where leading scientists and science writers will conduct lectures, book signings, and interviews. Among the topics: astronomy, evolution, oceanography, genetics, biodiversity. Cunard had the help of 3000 former passengers who answered surveys during the formulation of the program... A popular Queen: the maiden voyage of Cunard's next liner, the 2092-passenger Queen Elizabeth, sold out within 36 minutes after tickets went on sale. It will launch in October, 2010, from London. In addition to the maiden voyage, more than half the accommodations available on the ship's first six voyages were sold within the first two hours... With a nod toward history and a vow that its passengers "who seek a return to tradition will enjoy proper, authentic experiences to reflect the line's 170-year heritage of formality and civility at sea," Cunard has unveiled details of the Queen Elizabeth. Many public rooms will be double-and triple-height. Interiors will be detailed with wood paneling, mosaics, marble, and chandeliers. Art deco design recalling earlier QEs will be used extensively. There will be large collections of artwork and memorabilia reflecting the first QE of 1938-vintage. And a number of public rooms and decks will be named for their counterparts in the earlier ship. The first six cruises will call on 32 ports in 18 countries. Med, Aegean, Gallic, Iberian, and Caribbean regions will be visited... Just published: Cunard's 2010 - 2011 itineraries. The company will once again have three Queens under sail. The 2620-passenger Queen Mary will make 21 transatlantic crossings next year and additional roundtrip New York voyages; the 2014-passenger Queen Victoria will spend winter 2011 on the U. S. West Coast and in Panama Canal waters, calling at Los Angeles and Hawaii after summer in Europe; and the 2010-new 2092-passenger Queen Elizabeth will begin its career next October in Spain and Portugal.
Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. Those will be the names of Disney's next two 2500-passenger ships, due for launch in 2011 and 2012. The bows of the ships will have intricate patterns of art deco-inspired scrollwork, similar to the scrollwork on Disney's existing two ships. They're intended to be reminiscent of the classic ocean liners of the 1930s, with added touches of Disney whimsy, such as a Mickey Mouse medallion in the center of the design... Construction of the two ships is beginning in Germany this season. According to Disney, they're being built with families in mind, with specially designed areas and activities for each member of the family to allow for both quality time together and individual experiences. The two new ships will double Disney's Cruise Line's size... Next year will see the Disney Magic in Russia, Northern Europe, and the Med. There will be a two-month mid-summer schedule of 12-day European Capital cruises stopping at Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin's port, and St. Petersburg, round trip from London. Before and after those Northern Europe trips will be a series of 10- and 11-day cruises in the Med in April, May, August, and September round trip from Barcelona.
Here's a novel approach to on-board programming. Holland America will start a book club program on sailings of 14 days and longer. Popular novels will be selected for reading and then book discussions will be hosted by resident librarians in the ships' libraries. Chosen books will often relate to ships' destinations... Replacing 20 seven-day sailings, Holland America will inaugurate ten new 14-day cruises to Anchorage, Homer, and Kodiak for the first time next summer. The 1380-passenger Amsterdam will sail from Seattle and will also visit the Inside Passage, Sawyer and Hubbard Glaciers, Ketchikan, Skagway, Sitka, Kodiak, Juneau, and Victoria... "Showroom at Sea" makes its debut this summer. A musical repertory company consisting of seasoned Broadway performers, it will be the centerpiece of Holland America's entertainment lineup. Produced by Emmy-winning artists, the concept will feature a different show and themed environment nightly. Cast members have credits with such shows as Les Miserables, Rent, and Mamma Mia. A redesigned main stage will have a seamless transition with the showroom. There will be new seating, new sound systems, new lighting, new video projections, and scenery that can leap off the stage... Next summer, Holland America will have eight ships sailing in Alaskan waters, four from Seattle and four from Vancouver.
This issue: On-board Review of Maasdam. See the Ship
Reviews section.
In a partnership with Travelocity, Hurtigruten ships, onboard experiences, and descriptions of each sailing will be a link away from Travelocity content. The carrier this year will visit fjords
A new passenger-service position of Guest Relations Manager is being added to each MSC ship. The managers, who speak several languages, will serve as a single point of contact to handle passenger service issues... A 220-page coffee-table book about the guest experience aboard MSC has been published. It's called "Cruising in Style," and is available at bookstores, online, and onboard MSC ships... MSC will add Canada/New England to its repertoire next year. Its now-abuilding 2550-passenger Magnifica, which will enter service next March, will conduct fall foliage cruises between New York City and Quebec.
14 restaurants. 18 bars. An aqua park with three waterslides. A 200-foot tube slide. A 33' x 64' rock climbing wall. Six bowling lanes. A repelling wall. Eight different outdoor sports activities — basketball, volleyball, soccer, dodgeball, batting cage, bungee trampoline, rope course, climbing cage — on the sports deck. A squash court. Three separate kids' and teens activity areas. Illuminated arching water sprays. 60 two-deck suites and villas with private pool, health club, and lounge. Cabin windows facing corridors. Curved staterooms. Color-spectrum hull art. That's part of what awaits 4200 passengers on each cruise of the Norwegian Epic, which sets sail next May. The ship will sail from Miami on seven-day cruises to the Eastern and Western Caribbean... Now passengers will be able to connect with other passengers — both acquaintances and strangers — before their cruise begins, thanks to a new NCL Facebook application. Passengers booked on future cruises will be able to network with others on their sailing on a Cruise Countdown Clock application on Facebook. The social media application will show all the people utilizing the site and allow communication with each... After Alaska imposed a $50 head tax on each cruise ship passenger, NCL announced it was pulling its 1936-passenger Norwegian Sun from the Alaska market beginning next summer. It will move it to the Baltic, where it will begin 12-day trips to Copenhagen, Berlin, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm.
A new wrinkle in the shore excursion experience will appear on Peter Deilmann's Europe river cruises this season. A wireless communication system will allow the tour leader to speak clearly and at normal volume to tour-goers who will be wearing headsets. It will be particularly useful in places where talking is discouraged or forbidden and where the din of crowds and poor acoustics make shouting necessary or difficult.
Princess will spread its sails in Europe next year, scheduling a record 96 departures on 39 itineraries to 130 ports on six ships. Major areas: The Med, Greek Isles, British Isles, Iceland, Scandinavia, Russia, Black Sea, Holy Land... The carrier's 2010 Alaska season will see 112 sailings aboard seven ships. Departures will be from San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, and Whittier (Anchorage). Trips will range from seven to 14 days in length... There will be a doubling of Princess' capacity in the Caribbean next summer, as it places its 3110-passenger Caribbean Princess and 3100-passenger Emerald Princess into service there. The Caribbean Princess will sail from New York City on ten nine-day itineraries to Bermuda and various islands. The Emerald Princess will travel from Fort Lauderdale on week-long Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises... A new plot twist is being added to Princess' outdoor giant-screen movies — billed as "Movies Under the Stars." A Leonard Maltin Movie Club and Movie Channel, named for the well-known film critic, will give passengers an opportunity to gather after movies and discuss and critique them with other film buffs. A different popular or classic film will be showcased monthly on each Princess ship.
"Dinner and a Show" is a new entertainment concept being introduced by Regent on its two 700-passenger ships, the Voyager and the Mariner. Under the new model, the evening's entertainment for participating passengers will consist of a cocktail party and a gourmet meal in one of the ships' alternative dining rooms followed by an "intimate" cabaret-style performance in a nearby lounge.
Royal Caribbean's second 5400-passenger ship, Allure of the Seas, will be placed in Caribbean service when it's completed in December, 2010. Weekly trips from Fort Lauderdale will alternate between the Eastern and Western Caribbean. In a break from normal, each itinerary will include three days at sea. The ship will have 16 decks, themed "neighborhoods," a carousel, a zip line, an amphitheater, fountain shows set to lights, a naturally-lit boulevard of boutiques and restaurants, a tropical park as long as a football field, flower gardens, beach pool, and more. For the first three years, the main showroom production will be the Tony award-winning seven-year Broadway musical "Hairspray"... Eight Royal Caribbean ships will ply European waters next year. The four- to 14-day cruises will be positioned in the Med and Northern and Western Europe. The ships will visit 55 ports in 22 countries on 57 itineraries... Close-to-home cruising will come to four Northeast U. S. ports next year. Baltimore, Boston, Norfolk, and New York will receive 84 sailings on 14 itineraries. Among the regions to be visited: Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Canada/New England. Trips will range from five to nine days in duration... Royal Caribbean's 2010 - 2011 Caribbean season will find five ships sailing from four home ports. There will be 243 sailings from San Juan, Port Canaveral, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale. 25 ports of call will be visited on five- to nine-day cruises... Royal Caribbean will be long on short cruises in 2010 - 2011. It has scheduled 331 three- to five-day sailings. They'll encompass 20 itineraries and visit 15 ports... Some changes coming up in the line's dining program. A concept called "My Time Dining" will be on the table. It will allow passengers to eat in the main dining room whenever they wish. They will not have a pre-assigned table and can eat with whomever they wish. Children who have post-dinner programs to attend will be able to leave the meal in 40 minutes. Specialty restaurants and cabin service will also be available... "Webisodes" available at www.oasisoftheseas.com will give future passengers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to bring a cruise ship to life. In this case it's the 5400-passenger, 16-deck Oasis of the Seas, which will be launched in December... Living up to its middle name, Royal Caribbean Cruises has scheduled 101 Caribbean sailings for the 2010 - 2011 winter and spring seasons. Seven ships will offer 31 itineraries between seven and 14 days in length. There will be 28 ports visited. Points of departure will be Bayonne, Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, Galveston, San Juan, and the Panama city of Colon.
Seabourn's 2010 - 2011 schedule has been published. With two new ships bringing its total fleet to five, the new schedule shows 44 new or not-recently-visited destinations, year-'round service in Asia for the first time, deeper itineraries in Europe, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Asia, and Africa, and a return to Indonesia. All told, there will be visits to 250 ports in 68 countries on 186 voyages over 15 months.
The butler did it. Silversea will expand butler service to all accommodations aboard its fleet by December... From jazz and the Beatles to opera, a series of music theme cruises will round out the year on three of Silversea's vessels. See Theme Cruises. The early-January inaugural voyage of Silversea's new 540-passenger all-suite Silver Spirit will be a 91-day "Spirit of South America cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles and back to New York, stopping at Rio and Buenos Aires, crossing the Panama Canal, and cruising around South America at Cape Horn. It will visit 45 ports in 20 countries. Among the entertainment/enrichment programming: Actor-writer-comedian John Cleese and Astronaut and first American woman to walk in space Dr. Kathryn Sullivan... Also appearing this fall: BBC TV and "Golden Girls" producer Terry Hughes, foreign policy fellow Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution, British explorer John Harrison, PBS conservation biologist Bill Toone, and BBC correspondent and anchor Michael Buerk.
April-May-June,
2009
LATE BREAKING
CRUISE NEWS
Here's all the news you want to know from all the carriers you want to know about
Each of Azamara's two ships will sail in Europe next summer. The 694-passenger Journey and Quest will focus on additional time spent in ports of call — often including overnight stays — and a roster of new tours. They'll visit 93 ports during 39 sailings. 13 ports will have overnight stays of one or more days.
Next fall's most anticipated family-and-kids launch is set for a September 21 inaugural. The 3652-passenger Carnival Dream will have supervised programs for three age groups, a 5000 square foot Camp Carnival play area, arts-and-crafts instruction, PlayStation2 video consoles, karaoke, air hockey, physical fitness, music-oriented games, educational sessions about the ship's itineraries, pizza-making, family water play, trivia contests, and more. The ship will also offer babysitting services for young ones. Teens will have dance floor, dj, video jukebox, internet work stations, a soda bar, and a dedicated director to oversee the space. For all, there will be a 303-foot waterslide, water sprays, squirting fountains, splash zones, "dump buckets," 18-hole miniature golf course, basketball and volleyball courts, and more. Family accommodations feature cabins with two-section bathrooms, one of which is tailored to kids... The 2052-passenger Carnival Sensation has completed a multi-million-dollar renovation that has resulted in a large new water park with a 300-foot long waterslide, adults-only retreat, a tropical-themed pool, 98 new balconies, and upgrades to youth facilities.
http://www.directline-cruises.co.uk/Carnival%20Cruises
Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity's new 2850-passenger liner, will be inaugurated late this summer with an eight-day "Soft-Launch" trip through the Norwegian fjords, round-trip from London. Among its features: a real fresh lawn, spa- accessible staterooms, a sky lounge with floor to ceiling windows, and a two-story glass wine tower in the main dining room. The ship is 3½ football fields long. It will spend next winter in the Caribbean, sailing from Fort Lauderdale... Travelers who live in the northeast will have the 2038-passenger Celebrity Summit available for seven-day cruises to Bermuda, Canada, and New England next year. The ship will leave from Cape Liberty in New Jersey each Sunday over a four-month spring-summer season.
Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 will appear in some public areas and cabins aboard the new 2828-passenger Costa Luminosa and 3000-passenger Costa Pacifica this year. The ships will have a PlayStation World area devoted exclusively to PS3. They will also be available on big screens overlooking the lido decks during "PlayStation Nights" and in children's and teens' clubs... Costa calls its new Luminosa the Ship of Light and its new Pacifica the Ship of Sound. The Luminosa will have a contemporary design accented by iridescent colors, marbles, woods, mother-of-pearl detailing, and art. There will be 120 Murano glass chandeliers, 1100 decorative tiles, and 20 types of marble and granite. The theater will seat 800 passengers and feature 14,000 lights capable of creating special effects. A mega-screen will be located over the pool. The Pacifica will have a 103-cabin Spa area, a professional music-recording studio allowing passengers to create their own CDs, an atrium highlighted by musical symbols and instruments as dˇcor, a soundtrack created for the ship by Italian composer Mauro Pagani and 43 musicians, and live singers performing in the lounges. Each corridor on the ship will have its own music by masters from Chopin to Beethoven, while each lounge will feature its own international music. 22 musicians aboard the ship will be divided into orchestras, trios, duos, and pianists.
A chilling new destination opens next year for Cruise West. It will send its 114-passenger Corinthian II on a 19-day Antarctica expedition. The ship will call on the Falkland, South Georgia, and Orkney Islands as well as the Antarctic Peninsula. It will depart from Ushaia, the southernmost city in South America. A staff of eight naturalists will provide insight on the flora, fauna, history, and geology of the region. Penguins, whales, icebergs, and glaciers are expected to be among the highlights.
After an absence of three years, Crystal will return to Alaska and San Francisco this year. It will be on a single itinerary from Yokohama to Los Angeles this season. The 1080-passenger Crystal Serenity will conduct the 22-day trip... On the other side of the world, the Serenity will visit five Mediterranean ports for the first time. They're rarely-visited cities in Montenegro, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Croatia... Among new itineraries set for next year: a British Isles circuit; a Sea of Cortez trip; a New England/Canada series; Mediterranean itineraries; Hawaii and Panama Canal trips; expanded Mediterranean choices; Mexico; and Australia/New Zealand... A series of culinary excursions will spice up Crystal's Med and Northern Europe trips this summer and fall. Cooking lessons of regional specialties, wine tastings in Italy, tapas tasting in Spain, family dinner in Bordeaux, cooking at a Lisbon boutique hotel, oysters in Croatia, paella-making in Andalusia, oysters in Norway, and more are on the menu.
Authors, playwrights, and poets will meet and mingle with passengers aboard the 2620-passenger Queen Mary 2 this summer and fall. They'll be part of the Cunard Insights onboard enrichment program. Among the cast of characters: E. L. Doctorow, Erica Jong, Amy Bloom, John Guare, and Susan Cheever. There will be Q&A discussions, lectures, book signings, and readings... Itineraries for Cunard's two 2010 World Cruises have been announced. They each start in January from New York. The 2014-passenger Queen Victoria will begin its third year of service with a 99-day circuit to London via Fort Lauderdale, San Francisco, Sydney, Hong Kong, and Dubai. It will visit 41 ports and will traverse the Panama and Suez Canals. Among the ports: Acapulco, Melbourne, Shanghai, Phuket, and Sharm El Sheikh. The 2620-passenger Queen Mary 2 will take 101 days to circle the earth and reach New York. It will go east to the Mediterranean, India, the Far East, and Australia and New Zealand, heading to New York via South Africa, South America, and North America. Visiting 35 ports, it will stop in Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Auckland, Sydney, Perth, Durban, and Cape Town.
A number of new features now mark the 2700-passenger Disney Magic, which completed an extensive drydock update. Each of the television sets has been replaced with flat-screen digital models. Room safes have been enlarged to include laptops, and are now openable via a code instead of the room key, because the key was often in possession of one cabin resident when another needed entry. New washers and dryers were installed. Lounge chairs were replaced with teak models. New stainless steel hot tubs were installed. A Quiet Cove and Splash Zone were refurbished. Most carpeting was replaced. Upholstery in the dining rooms and public areas was changed. On-board photos are now viewable more easily through kiosks. The ship now has wireless internet and cabin access for cell phones... Next year will see the Disney Magic in Russia, Northern Europe, and the Med. There will be a two-month mid-summer schedule of 12-day European Capital cruises stopping at Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin's port, and St. Petersburg, round trip from London. Before and after those Northern Europe trips will be a series of 10- and 11-day cruises in the Med in April, May, August, and September round trip from Barcelona.
Holland America has introduced a fleetwide web blog about its 14 existing ships , the future Nieuw Amsterdam, and other topics. The "weblog" comprises 16 blogs, one for each ship. Each has pull-down menus devoted to destinations, dining, entertainment, the staff, etc. Readers may post comments and ask questions... A novel circumnavigation of Australia has been added to Holland America's repertoire. It'll take place on the 1432-passenger Volendam next March. The ship will visit 18 ports in 34 days, including two days of scenic cruising along the Great Barrier Reef... Also next winter: a series of 14-day Australia and New Zealand round trips from Sydney... More than 60 chefs and culinary experts have been lined up to host programs in Holland America's Culinary Arts Centers, which are complete show kitchens. Cooking classes, demonstrations, tastings, youth cooking programs for kids and teens, and question-and-answer sessions are offered... The company's popular cookbook series has just grown. "A Taste of Elegance," written by Master Chef Rudi Somamin, is now finished. It contains the most popular recipes from the ships' dining rooms and specialty restaurants. It spans some 200 pages in ten chapters.
This issue: On-board Review of Oosterdam. See the Ship
Reviews section.
A second ship — the 120-passenger Expedition — has been added to Hurtigruten's Spitzbergen archipelago cruise program. The recently-renovated ship has a panorama lounge, expedition lounge, restaurant, fitness center, and other expedition-ship amenities. All cabins are outside. Passengers reach many expedition destinations via Zodiacs, which are also used to allow close-up views of glaciers and wildlife. Oslo and Longyearbyen are the ports of embarkation... Hurtigruten is staging a 2009 Photo Competition this summer to find the best amateur photo taken from its ships. Entries are expected to cover wildlife, rare arctic flowers, icebergs, isolated fishing villages, penguins and other scenes from what it calls the "world's most beautiful voyage."
114 Wii consoles will highlight a partnership between MSC and Nintendo aboard its newest ship, the 3959-passenger Fantasia. To facilitate interactive play, the ship has consoles in the sport bar, the fitness center, on the sport deck, in the main pool area, and in suites. Consoles are also available for sale. The new ship, now sailing its first summer in the Med, also has 18 bars, four pools, tennis-squash-basketball courts, spa, and a 150-fountain aqua park... MSC will add Canada/New England to its repertoire next year. Its 2550-passenger Magnifica, which will enter service next March, will conduct fall foliage cruises between New York City and Quebec...
Looking ahead to 2010 - 2011, NCL says that it will offer year-'round service in the Med and from New York City. Barcelona will become home port for the 2402-passenger Norwegian Jade. The 2376-passenger Norwegian Jewel and the 2380-passenger Norwegian Gem will be based in New York for trips to the Caribbean. Los Angeles, New Orleans, Vancouver, and Seattle will also have long cruise seasons, in addition to NCL's traditional Florida base... NCL has named its next ship, due to start service next summer, the Norwegian Epic. It will carry 4200 passengers between Miami and the Caribbean on a year-'round schedule, alternating weekly cruises between the Eastern and Western Caribbean. Among its highlights: curving stateroom walls, multiple themed nightlife venues, a four-lane bowling center, an adults-only pool, new bathroom design with separate shower stalls and separate toilets, concealed LED lighting, and back-lit domed ceilings... NCL, after an absence of 11 years, will resume seasonal home-porting at Port Canaveral. Its 1936-passsenger Norwegian Sun will be based there beginning next October. It will sail alternating seven-day Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises every Saturday.
The autumn colors of Canada and the United States will take center stage on two new 14-day fall foliage cruises. The 520-passenger Deutschland will make its way along the Eastern seaboard during October departures. Among the ports: Montreal, Saguenay, Prince Edward Island, Bar Harbor, Halifax, Quebec, Maine, Rhode Island, New York City, and more. The series will be followed by late-fall cruises all the way down the East Coast to the Caribbean.
Following an extensive remodel, the 3080-passenger Caribbean Princess returns to duty this season. Bringing it in line with Princess' other newer ships (Caribbean Princess entered service in 2004), it now sports a piazza-style atrium with a street-cafˇ atmosphere, an International Cafˇ, a wine-seafood-cheese bar, an adults-only Sanctuary space, a more centrally located casino and sports court, a new boutique, new internet cafˇ and library, new shore excursion and Captain's Circle desks, flat-screen television in each cabin, and a new Crown Grill steak and seafood restaurant. Some 1500 workers and contractors were engaged in the remodel... Young passengers on Princess will have a new program offering. They'll be able to participate in up to seven Klutz activities: creating fuzzy art, crafting paper flowers, weaving friendship bracelets, making thumbprint art, and others. Klutz publishes activities books for children.
Regent has re-designed its web site, adding new imagery, ship tours, interactive and animated maps, a multimedia center featuring videos and shore excursion booklets, an enhanced ports and excursions section that sorts by region and country, and additional features. It's at RSSC.com
Suite passengers will soon have more to look forward to on Royal Caribbean. Starting this season, suite passengers in various categories will be offered such features as dedicated security and check- in lines, personal welcomes, special identification cards, water, fruit plate, cheeses, chocolates, a pillow menu, slippers, robes, bathroom amenities, and more... The largest ship regularly based in Los Angeles starts service this season. The 3114-passenger Mariner of the Seas will ply the route from LA to Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan year-'round in seven-day itineraries. The ship will have 16 bars, a rock wall, an ice rink, a full-sized basketball court, an almost thousand-foot-long promenade lined with shops, restaurants, and lounges, an adults-only solarium, two pools, six whirlpools, a 25,000 square foot art exhibit area, a nine-hole miniature golf course, and more... New family and youth programs are being added to Royal Caribbean's ships. For example, kids will be served expeditiously in the main dining room at the first seating with the aim of having them escorted by counselors back to the youth program facility within 45 minutes, while their parents remain dining at their leisure. There will be evening activities for kids, again allowing parents their own time. Also, a new children's menu will focus on healthful cooking and wholesome ingredients, whose items will be presented on playful placemats. Babies, tots, elementary schoolers, and middle schoolers will each have their own programs, including lunch, movies, playtimes, cartoons, games, socializing, and more.
Starting service this summer is Seabourn's first new ship in 20 years, the 450-passenger Seabourn Odyssy. It will sail its first season primarily from Venice, Istanbul, and Athens in the Med before repositioning to Fort Lauderdale late in the year. Then it will start a world cruise in January visiting 24 ports between Fort Lauderdale and Athens on a108-day voyage. The ship will be all-suite, with 90 percent of accommodations having balconies. Each cabin will have separate living and bedroom areas. There will be four restaurants and six bars and lounges. Bathrooms will have twin sinks and separate tubs and showers. There will be a two-deck spa... With the new ship, Seabourn's newly-released 2010-2011 schedule has additional ports and itineraries. For the first time it will operate year-'round in Asia. Indonesia, China, Korea, Japan, Bali and additional islands are on the list. Seabourn will call on 44 new and not-recently-visited ports. There will be a full array of Med and Caribbean itineraries. Finally, there will be a 110-day world cruise from Los Angeles to London via the South Pacific, India, and Arabia.
The inaugural voyage of Silversea's new 540-passenger all-suite Silver Spirit will be a 91-day "Spirit of South America cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles and back to New York, stopping at Rio and Buenos Aires, crossing the Panama Canal, and cruising around South America at Cape Horn. It will visit 45 ports in 20 countries... On a wider scale, Silversea's five ships will stop at 355 ports in 95 countries next year. They will have some 175 different itineraries.
January-February-March,
2009
LATE BREAKING
CRUISE NEWS
Here's all the news you want to know from all the carriers you want to know about
Carnival's first-ever Quebec voyages will set sail this summer from New York. The 2758-passenger Carnival Triumph will conduct three nine-day round-trips in June, July, and August. They'll cruise the Atlantic and St. Lawrence River and will visit Quebec City, Baie-Comeau, and Havre St. Pierre. The ship has 13 decks, 18 bars, a 214-foot cascading water slide and kids' clubs... 48 additional balconied cabins are to be created aboard three Carnival ships this year: the 2642-passenger Destiny, the 2758-passenger Triumph, and the 2974-passenger Liberty. The cabins currently have floor to ceiling windows but no balconies... 98 balconies will be added to the 2052-passenger Carnival Sensation during its mid-winter drydocking. Ocean-view cabins will be retrofitted with new balconies that will extend from the ship. Carnival's jumbo-sized 12 x 22-foot LED screens, which are used to show movies, sports events, news, ship activities, and videos at poolside on five of the company's ships, will be added to five more by mid-2009. The screens are similar to those at stadiums and can operate day and night.
http://www.directline-cruises.co.uk/Carnival%20Cruises
G'bye, Australia and New Zealand — Hello, Baltimore and Charleston: Celebrity is discontinuing its Australia and New Zealand cruises previously scheduled for late this year and 2010 on the 2038-passenger Millennium. The Millennium instead will conduct an Alaska summer season and Southern Caribbean trips from San Juan during next winter. The 1898-passenger Mercury will move to Baltimore and Charleston, where it will sail on 12-day trips to the Eastern Caribbean from November to early 2010 and 10- and 11-day Eastern and Western Caribbean trips from Charleston from February through April, 2010... Celebrity's new 2850-passenger Solstice enters service this season. It'll be heavy on retail, with 18 shops spanning three decks. It will be green, too: it'll have a half-acre Lawn Club with real grass. There will be 10 restaurants. Its initial itineraries will be seven-day cruises from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan, St. Maarten, and St. Kitts in the Eastern Caribbean. In the spring, it moves to Rome for 10- and 11-day Med cruises... "Simply Ballroom," a concept that capitalizes on the popularity of TV dance competitions, is coming to Celebrity. Tango, waltz, Latin rhythms, and musical themes are to become part of evening entertainment offerings on the carrier's fleet. Also appearing: a theatrical circus, new musicals, new productions... London's port of Southampton will become the home port for the 2850-passenger Celebrity Eclipse when it enters service next year. It will conduct Mediterranean and Northern Europe cruises... Celebrity has retooled its web site. It has a "Starring You Network" that links users to various actions on the site and a redesigned home page among other new ideas. The address is www.celebritycruises.com.
Israel returns to Costa's route map this year for the first time in eight years. Its 776-passenger Costa Marina will conduct 11-day sailings in June, July, and August from Savona, Italy. Stops will be in Argostoli, Greece; Heraklion, Crete; Ashdod, Israel; Port Said, Egypt; Nauplila, Greece; and Naples, Italy... Telemedicine will come to the 3000-passenger Costa Concordia this year. A broadband satellite system will enable more advanced health care in its sea-going environment. The ship will be linked with Genoa's Galliera Hospital, allowing for diagnosis and consultation at a distance for first aid, toxicology, cardiology, radiology, dermatology, and ophthalmology cases. Medical data such as images, electrocardiograms, and scans will be shared via videoconferencing to enable specialized care... Costa this season is marking the 50th anniversary of its Caribbean cruises from South Florida. In 1959 it placed the 552- passenger Franca C. — featuring a new concept called air conditioning — in service.
Expanding to the Europe market for the first time, Cruise West will sail 11- and 12-day Danube River cruises between Vienna and Bucharest. It will use the new 148-passenger Amadeus Diamond, which is owned by Luftner Cruises. The first trip will be in July, shortly after the vessel is commissioned. Tours will be offered in Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Croatia... Ho Chih Minh City, the Gulf of Tonkin, Hanoi, and Hue highlight a 12-day Vietnam cruise scheduled for November on the 120-passenger Spirit of Oceanus... A new seven-day itinerary on the Columbia and Snake Rivers will be added this summer. The 96-passenger Spirit of '98 will sail round trip from Portland, highlighting the native culture, cuisine, and history of the region.
Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are among the 37 countries to be visited on Crystal's 15th World Cruise. It will leave Miami in January, 2010, calling at 41 ports in 108 days. The 1080-passenger Crystal Serenity will conduct the voyage... A new on-line tool — Crystal Global Explorer — will help booked passengers choose tours that suit them best. Screen displays will label each tour according to subject/type of activity involved, walking level, activity level from soft to extreme, and age appropriateness. It will describe more than 1500 tours in more than 30 categories... 2010 will see Crystal's two ships visit 174 ports in 70 countries on 62 voyages. Among new itineraries set for next year: a British Isles circuit; a Sea of Cortez trip; a New England/Canada series; Mediterranean itineraries; Hawaii and Panama Canal trips; expanded Mediterranean choices; Mexico; and Australia/New Zealand... A new marketing banner — "Experiences of Discovery" — will encompass Crystal's themed cruises. It plans 17 themes on 25 cruises for 2009, including six new ones. Some subjects: Global events, arts, photography, ancient civilizations, wine and food, mind-body-spirit, jazz, golf, film and theater festival, cabaret at sea, big band, ballroom dance, fashion and style, and tennis.
It'll be easier to stay in touch from the 2620-passenger Queen Mary 2 this year because the ship was recently outfitted with new stateroom wireless technology and mobile phone service at sea. Laptops will be usable from passenger cabins and mobile phone service from the high seas will become available from appropriately outfitted phones.. Itineraries for Cunard's two 2010 World Cruises have been announced. They each start in January from New York. The 2014-passenger Queen Victoria will begin its third year of service with a 99-day circuit to London via Fort Lauderdale, San Francisco, Sydney, Hong Kong, and Dubai. It will visit 41 ports and will traverse the Panama and Suez Canals. Among the ports: Acapulco, Melbourne, Shanghai, Phuket, and Sharm El Sheikh. The 2620-passenger Queen Mary 2 will take 101 days to circle the earth and reach New York. It will go east to the Mediterranean to India, the Far East, and Australia and New Zealand, heading to New York via South Africa, South America, and North America. Visiting 35 ports, it will stop in Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Auckland, Sydney, Perth, Durban, and Cape Town.
In a rare departure, Disney Cruise Line's 2700-passenger Disney Magic will reposition to Europe for an unprecedented five-month season in 2010. For the first time, it will offer 12-day Northern European Capitals cruises in mid-summer from London/Dover. They'll visit Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, and the port for Berlin. An excursion to Moscow will also be available. Before and after the London cruises, the ship will conduct 10- and 11-day trips from Barcelona, visiting Mediterranean ports in Italy, France, Spain, Malta, Corsica, and Tunis.
A quicker way to learn which shore excursions will be offered on their cruises is being rolled out by Holland America. Passengers can view e-brochures listing every tour after entering their booking number and name on their home computers. The information will be available between six months and a year before departure vs. the traditional 30 - 60 days before departure using the hard-copy brochures that arrive with cruise documents... Holland America's founding city, Rotterdam, will be the base for two six-day Scandinavian trips in July. Ports in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark will be visited by the 1316-passenger (see item below) Rotterdam... They'll be known as the Explorations Team: a party planner, a travel guide, a "techspert," a dance director, and — on cruises of 12 days or more — a book club leader. They'll be aboard Holland America cruises to broaden the programming and "edutainment" components of the company's cruises, leading classes, discussions, lectures, events, and demonstrations... $200 million will be spent this year during month-long dry docks for five ships. Forty-six cabins will become lanai staterooms, new spa staterooms will be added, 32 veranda staterooms will be added to the aft portion of each ship, water features will be added to some cabins, bathrooms will be enhanced, cabins will receive new carpeting/desks/drapery/wall sconces, a new color tone of sienna and gold will be adopted in cabins, and more. As a result, the Statendam, Maasdam, Ryndam, and Veendam will have a new capacity of 1350 and the Rotterdam will be able to carry 1404... The 1350-passenger Veendam will join the 793-passenger Prinsendam to offer ten South America sailings in late 2009 and early 2010. The Veendam trips will range from 16 to 20 days and will have overnights in Rio and Buenos Aires on many departures. Rio, Valparaiso, and San Diego will be the principal embarcation ports... Holland America has added a language choice to its www.hollandamerica.com web site. All information will now be available in German, Spanish, and Dutch, as well as English... Holland America will conduct four "Grand Voyages" next year. The 1380-passenger Amsterdam will take 114 days to go from Fort Lauderdale to South America, Antarctica, Africa, Asia, Vancouver, Seattle, and Los Angeles. The 793-passenger Prinsendam will sail two back-to-back voyages, one taking 70 days from Fort Lauderdale to South America and one taking 54 days from Fort Lauderdale round trip to the Med and Black Sea, stopping at principal Med countries. The final trip, on the Amsterdam, will be 69 days from Seattle to Asia, Australia, Honolulu, and San Diego... "Get in the water" will have a new meaning on five Holland America ships soon. The Retreat, an upscale resort-style pool area, is being created during dry-docking activity aboard the Statendam, Maasdam, Ryndam, Veendam, and Rotterdam. The zone will have a shallow pool area with 44 pool-embedded lounge chairs where passengers can dangle fingers and toes in eight-inch deep water and a 16-inch deep section of built-in underwater benches for leg dipping. Waterfalls and spouts, a hot tub, and a pizzeria will also adorn the area.
This issue: On-board Review of Oosterdam. See the Ship
Reviews section.
Professional videographers and photographers will lead workshops and assist passengers in capturing memories on Hurtigruten's Antarctic cruise series this season. The lectures and guidance will be offered on five sailings aboard the 400-passenger Fram, which was completed in 2007. Most trips will be 13 days and will depart from Buenos Aires.
The newest ship at sea — MSC"s 3959-passenger Fantasia — takes to the waves this season. Both the Fantasia and MSC's other newest ship — the 2500-passenger Poesia — will be based in the Mediterranean during the 2008 - 2009 winter season. Most departures will be from Genoa. A 17,000 square foot Balinese spa will be the centerpiece of the 14th deck of the Fantasia. A gym, relaxation zone, thermal zone, and thalasso therapy zone will comprise the spa. Balinese massages, reflexology, lava stones, infrared massage, shiatsu, sauna, vapor, vichy shower, vibromassage, and other approaches will be available. It will have five dining rooms, an aqua park with 150 illuminated fountains, a VIP club, domed pool, and more... . The Poesia has 16 decks, more than four acres of public space, two pools, four hot tubs, a spa, and restaurants and bars throughout the ship's public areas... Get ready to learn a new Italian-flavored cruise ship vocabulary: Meraviglia and Favolosa. MSC cruises ordered the ships for delivery in 2011 and 2012, becoming the 13th and 14th vessels in MSC's fleet. They'll carry 2550 passengers.
Miami will be the home port for the 2002-passenger Norwegian Sky until at least April of next year. It will conduct short three-day and four-day cruises to the Bahamas. The schedules attract many first-time cruisers, according to NCL... More Europe and Alaska cruises will be offered in the summer of 2010. NCL will place three of its newest ships in Europe, homeporting the 2394-passenger Gem in Venice for Greek Isles trips, the 2466-passenger Jade in Barcelona for Western Med circuits, and the 2376-passenger Jewel in London for Baltic Capitals cruises. Alaska will also see three ships in 2010: the 2394-passenger Pearl, for Glacier Bay roundtrips from Seattle, the 1936-passenger Sun, for Vancouver and Whittier seven-day departures to the Inside Passage and Hubbard Glacier, and the 2240-passenger Star, for Sawyer Glacier roundtrips from Seattle. The 2138-passenger Pride of America will remain in Hawaiian waters at least until January 2012, the carrier said.
The Med will be the scene of two new itineraries for 2009. The 513-passenger Deutschland will conduct a seven-day Venice to Rome trip and a 12-day Rome round trip... Also new for this year: a 23-day Deutschland Northern cruise to Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, and Copenhagen — featuring a never-setting sun. In July from Hamburg.
Princess' new 3070-passenger Ruby Princess has entered service. Among its features: an English-style pub lunch room with bangers and mash, fish and chips, ale, Guinness, and more; a special breakfast room reserved for suite passengers located in the ship's premium dining room; an artisan cheese bar; additional ScholarShip@Sea enrichment themes; two new production shows; more audience participation events; additional food choices; more kids' zones and programs; additional wireless capabilities; outdoor movies at night; and more. The ship will spend its initial season conducting western Caribbean trips from Fort Lauderdale, after which it will travel to the Med for a series of summer cruises... "Movies Under the Stars," a popular Princess warm-weather entertainment option since 2004, will be expanded to the whole fleet. 300-square-foot light-emitting diode screens will show movies, concerts, sporting events, and other special programming night and day. Seven additional Princess ships will be outfitted by 2011. Seven ships already have the system... Princess has revamped its Captain's Circle loyalty program rules so passengers can earn benefits faster.
Two world cruises — one 116-day and one 121-day — new northern Europe itineraries, and "Discovery Collection" voyages to Africa, the Middle East, India, and South America highlight Regent's plans for 2009. This year will see Regent's most diverse deployment in its history, visiting more than 300 ports on seven continents. The company now has five medium-sized ships... A multi-million dollar upgrade of entertainment programming has resulted in the addition of professional ballroom dance teams, new productions, larger live orchestras, cabaret revues, permanent casts of singers and dancers, and a roster of headline entertainers.
This issue: On-board Review of Navigator. See the Ship
Reviews section.
Royal Caribbean continues to release details of its seven "neighborhoods" to be incorporated into the 5400-passenger Oasis of the Seas, which begins service late this year. In the 'Entertainment Place" neighborhood, there will be a comedy club, a jazz nightclub, a 1380-seat main theater, an ice skating rink, a casino with 450 slot machines and a Museum of Gaming, a two-deck dance lounge called Dazzles, an On Air Club that carries television monitors featuring news/sports/music/karaoke, a Latin club and Schooner Bar that features sing-along entertainment, an outdoor late-night adults-only dance club, and more. The "Youth Zone" will have some 28,000 square feet of space for kids and teens. There will be themed age-specific play and learning areas, a childcare nursery for infants and toddlers, active and educational areas for teens, soft-drink bars, college-educated counselors, lounges, dance areas, internet stations, and more ... Dubai will become a Royal Caribbean home port for three months early in 2010. That's when the 2100-passenger Brilliance of the Seas will be deployed there for 13 seven-day cruises through the Arabian Gulf... San Diego will host 24 additional Mexican Riviera sailings during the 2009 - 10 winter and spring season. The 2501-passenger Radiance of the Seas will conduct four- to 12-day trips. Radiance will be repositioned to San Diego from a previously-planned South America itinerary that had been scheduled for that period... ABC, CBS, NBC, and print will carry a new Royal Caribbean advertising schedule themed to a "Why Not?" punch line. In the ads, a fictitious "Nation of Why Not" has been formed that secedes from the rest of the world, and when choices are offered to its passenger-citizens, the response is, "Why not?"
Seabourn's first new ship in 20 years is set for a June launch and an initial world cruise in January 2010. The 450-passenger Seabourn Odyssey will visit 24 ports between Fort Lauderdale and Athens on the 108-day voyage. Between its launch and its first world cruise, it will sail primarily from Venice, Istanbul, and Athens in the Med before repositioning to Fort Lauderdale late in the year. The ship will be all-suite, with 90 percent of accommodations having balconies. There will be four restaurants. Bathrooms will have twin sinks and separate tubs and showers.
Replacing a London-to-Barbados repositioning cruise and three Caribbean cruises next fall, the 296-passenger Silver Cloud will instead move to New England and Canada's Atlantic provinces. The 10- and 12-day September and October cruises will leave from Montreal and New York City... Also changing itineraries is the 132-passenger Prince Albert II. It will move from previously planned Polynesian waters to Antarctica for nine cruises during the 2009 spring and summer seasons. The Arctic region comprises parts of Canada, Norway, Greenland, and Iceland... The 298-passenger Silver Wind returns to service this season from a month-long renovation in Genoa. The refreshed dˇcor is centered around natural cherry wood and russet and golden tones. In the public areas, a 60-seat observation lounge, spa, beauty salon, fitness center, and supplementary elevator were added. In the passenger cabins, new flat-screen TVs, sofas, armchairs, desks, vanities, night tables, carpets, drapes, bed coverings, bathroom fixtures, and marble countertops were added.
TUI, a new joint venture of Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. and TUI AG of Germany, will start a $75 million refit of the 1948-passenger Celebrity Galaxy in a German shipyard. More outside cabins with balconies, new restaurants, and a modern spa will be added. Improvements will also be made to the pool deck, casino, fitness center, and bars. The ship was guilt in l996. It will start its new life in May with a series of summer Nordic and Baltic cruises. In the fall it will sail the Med, and in the winter the Caribbean. It will be marketed primarily to a German clientele.
Late News || Newest Brochures || Theme Cruises || News Log || Future Ship Log || Newest Ship Log || Ship Reviews || Links to Agents || Contact || Archive