Cruising news

Hurricanes 

According to an article I saw on Cruise Critic, September 10 is the height of the Hurricane Season. The season runs until December first. So one might ask, is September then a good time to sail in the Caribbean?

Cruise companies spend half-a-billion dollars or more on their massive cruise ships. The last thing they want to do is to see them get damaged trying to fight a hurricane. So in the event a hurricane is threatening a destination, the cruise lines will do whatever they can to avoid that port. Also as Cruise Critic points out, these ships are quick and can easily outrun a storm.

Nonetheless, partly because of this and the fact that people tend to cruise less in September to November time period, this is also the time you’ll find the best deals.

I recently found a cruise to Bermuda in September for $500 for a balcony. This is a five-day cruise that sails out of the New York area.

As I write this, Hurricane Bill is taking aim at Bermuda. Our hope and prayers are that if it does hit, that no one gets injured and damage be at a minimum. However, it will be interesting to see what the cruise industry does, should it take a major blow.

Panama Canal

This month marks the 95th anniversary of the Panama Canal. The USS Ancon was the first steamship to pass through the canal.

Since then, ships have gotten much larger.  Some of the larger cruise ships can’t get through and others have but millimeters to spare on either side.

And so plans have been announced to widen the canal. This expansion will require 5,000 workers and should be complete in 1914, just in time for the 100th anniversary.

While these changes are being made primarily to accommodate wider cargo ships, it should also be of benefit to the cruise industry.

Cost of the project is in excess of $10-billion.

Fire on the Zenith

The Pullmantur’s Zenith, formerly Celebrity’s Zenith had a fire aboard the ship this week. Thankfully most of the passengers were ashore and no one was injured.

James Taylor

Legendary signer James Taylor recently sailed on the Queen Mary. To see videos of his tour, click here and here.