Nine new ships are slated to go into service including a new Queen Elizabeth from Cunard.   The QE is slated for its first voyage on October 12 and the ship is already sold out.

Other cruise ships slated for their inaugural cruises are:

            Costa Deliziosa – Costa – Feb 28 (2828 passengers)

            MSC Magnifica – MSC  – March 7th (3013 passengers)

            Azura – P&O Cruises – April 12 (3100 passengers)

            Celebrity Eclipse – Celebrity – April 29 (2850 passengers)

            Seabourn Sojourn – Seabourn – June 6 (450 passengers)

            Norwegian Epic – Norwegian  – June 24 (4200 passengers)

            Nieuw Amsterdam – Holland America – July 4 (2104 passengers)

            Queen Elizabeth, Cunard – Oct 12, (2092 passengers)

            Allure of the Seas – Royal Caribbean – Dec 12 (5400 passengers)

The Allure will be the sister ship to the very popular “Oasis of the Seas.” the world’s largest cruise ship at 220,000 tons. By comparison the Queen Mary is around 150,000 tons and the Titanic was a mere 46,000 tons. The Oasis which set sail in November and its new sister ship are capable of carrying over 6,000 passengers and 2,000 crew.   

If you’re planning to cruise this year, be aware that prices will likely be somewhat higher than what you would have paid last year. And it’s largely due to the economy. While not out of the woods yet, there is a growing level of optimism amongst consumers and as a result people are starting to spend again, although not at levels seen prior to the downturn. 

We’re also seeing a move by some cruise lines to include more with your cruise fair. For instance Azamara is starting to include tipping again. Other cruise lines are also re-evaluating how they handle tips. It’s not unusual to see a charge of $12 to $14 per person per day, so this can really add up.   

The cruise industry is always looking to try something new. Theme cruises have been very popular.   Royal Caribbean is hosting a Beatles tribute cruise in March. Not to be outdone Carnival says it’ll host an Elvis theme in November.  Elvis would have been 75 on January 8, 2010.

Anyone who has ever gone to a show know that most of the entertainment aboard the ships is pretty standard fare – oh, not another New York or Hollywood production. Don’t be surprised to see bigger stars performing on more ships this year. Last year the likes of James Taylor and John Mayer performed on some.  

In other cruise news

British Ballerina Darcey Bussell will name the new P&O ship Azura at a ceremony in Southampton England on April 10. 

The U.S. Coast guard has ended its search for a woman who fell to her death from the 12th deck of the Monarch of the Seas on December 31. The woman apparently sent an e-mail to her brother an hour before she went over board complaining of being tortured by her husband. There are reports circulating in India media that the husband beat his wife for not providing enough dowry. Other reports also say that the woman’s husband is a crewmember aboard the ship. 

And a fitness worker aboard a Norwegian cruise ship has been awarded $9.5-million after slipping on the floor of the ships spa in 2006.  The man claims the fall injured his back and left him impotent.

Remember if you have any cruise news you’d like to share, please send it to me at

John.Hinnen@rci.rogers.com

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.

If you’ve signed up on Twitter you’ll know what I mean when I say, that if you click on “Find people” and type in “cruise” you’ll get a list of what’s available right now on Twitter.  

The cruise company with the most followers right now is Princess with close to 4,000 people following them. One of the reasons is that they are constantly providing users with new information. On the day I checked they had four entries including this one which shows you a simulator deck they have in Amsterdam.

            http://www.flickr.com/photos/princesscruises/3765663733/

MSC was next with just over 1,500 followers.  In this tweet they talk about a special “Polka Cruise” they have coming up.

            http://www.msccruisesusa.com/news.asp?news_id=n72920094530&page_id=415

Holland America was next with just under 1,500 followers. Quite often you’ll find cruisers on HAL sending in pictures of their cruises. HAL has also set up their own blog where you get a bit of a behind the scenes look at how ships operate.  

            http://www.hollandamericablog.com/2009/07/27/heart-of-house-soul-of-service-–-an-introduction/

            While these are some examples of cruise lines trying to take advantage of this new social marketing tool, it appears to me that for the most part this is an initiative that few cruise lines are taking seriously. Too bad for them, because they’re missing a great new tool. 

            Cruisers have their own sites as well.  Cruise Critic seems to be one of the more active ones with nearly five thousand followers. I find their site to be the most informative. That’s likely due to the fact they are not a PR site, but more of a news site where people can share their experiences. This is one tweet that was just posted on theirs – it’s a review of the Celebrity Equinox.

            http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=56642

            Some other cruising news to tell you about….”Vacations To Go’s” Alex Fox reports in his newsletter that  Princess’ “Royal Princess” is back in service after experiencing a fire while on a 12-day cruise of the Mediterranean on June 18.  No one was injured, but it must have been scary.

            The QE2 which was supposed to be permanently docked in Dubai may now in fact move to South Africa. They may use it as a floating hotel for next years World Cup soccer. Britain’s “Financial Times” says that South Africa may dock it in Cape Town and make it a luxury hotel there instead. 

            And VTG reports as well that Carnival has launched a program in Miami that lets passengers check themselves in at self-service kiosks.  

            Another new ship enters the water in August when the Celebrity Equinox begins a ten day sailing out of London. By the way, Cruise news daily has a video of the ship arriving in England for some pre cruise celebrations.

            http://cnd-cruiseblogger.blogspot.com/

             If you have any cruise information you’d like to share be sure to send it to me at john.hinnen@rci.rogers.com or you can send to me on Twitter.              

Dec 9, 2008

We may be in an economic downturn, but it certainly looks like cruise ships will be well occupied over the Christmas holiday period. Checking online I could only find a few ships that still have space left.  MSC’s Lirica has some inside and outside rooms available starting at $499 (U.S.) per person. MSC also has a ship that’s making its maiden voyage beginning on the 20^th out of Genoa Italy. The 133,000-ton Fantasia will carry nearly 4,000 passengers. Costa also has a few inside cabins left out of Fort Lauderdale. Princess has some space on a ship out of San Juan, but outside of that, there’s little room left.  

Looking ahead to 2009 there will be another nine new ships in the water. 

            Costa Luminosa – May 5 – Mediterranean

            Costa Pacifica – June 6  – Mediterranean

            Seabourn Odyssey – June 24 – Greek Isles

            MSC Splendida – July 13 – Mediterranean

            Celebrity Equinox – Aug 8 – Mediterranean

            Carnival Dream – Sept 21 – Mediterranean

            Ocean Princes – Dec 2 – Asia

            MSC Magnifica – Dec 7 – Repositioning

            Oasis of the Seas – Dec 12 – Caribbean

The last ship in this list “Oasis of the Seas” will be the largest ship ever built. It’ll wiegh 220,000 tons.  Compare that to the Queen Mary which when it was built was the largest at 150,000 tons. Oasis will carry over 5400 passengers. This ship will be a destination in itself with 18 decks, a zip line, a bar that will levitate and will actually move up three stories. It is going to be a sight to behold.

The other major story for 2009 will probably be the pirate issue. Who would have thought that in this day and age we’d have to deal with them, but here we are. Just a week ago Oceania’s Nautica was pursued by pirates. Only because the ship is fast was it able to evade these pirates off the coast of Somalia. Mind you this is the third time in the last three years that pirates have targeted cruise ships. In 2005, pirates fired AK47s at the Seabourn Spirit about a hundred miles of the coast of Somalia. In April 2008, the French Cruise ship Le Ponant with only crew on board was in fact hijacked. The crew was eventually rescued, but only after a ransom was paid. 

One would think that cruise companies will either stay clear of the coast of Africa, or do so only with military escort. Some ships are equipped with Long Range Acoustic Devises. These devices send out sound waves that can cause major damage to eardrums. 

Bottom line is, you have to wonder if passengers will opt not to travel on ships in these regions. 

Normally one doesn’t on a cruise to meet celebrities, but MSC has baseball themed cruise coming up next month. On Jan 24, the Orchestra will leave Fort Lauderdale with such greats as Rick Burleson, Ken Griffey Sr. and Andrew Dawson on board. It looks pretty cheap as well. Inside right now is going for 299 for the week and you can get a balcony for 599. I’ve never sailed MSC so can’t tell you how good they are, but this shape has a four and a half star rating. 

Have a great holiday and here’s to another wonderful season of cruising in 2009.

Finally, Carnival Cruise lines which operates Carnival, Costa, Holland America, Cunard, Princess and Seabourn cruise lines has decided to drop the $9 per day fuel surcharge. The move takes effect on any cruise that departs on or after December 17th.  

The company says the refund will take the form of a shipboard credit.  So for anyone taking a seven-day cruise, that’ll equal a credit of $63.  

Quite frankly I’m shocked it has taken this long for this surcharge to be dropped.  The price of oil has dropped like a lead balloon in the past month. 

Carnival earlier said that they would delete the charge if the price of oil stayed below $70 a barrel for a period of 25-trading days. Well, the last time oil was above $70 dollars was November 4th when it finished at $70.03.  

Royal Caribbean Lines which also operates Celebrity Cruise lines earlier announced that they would drop the surcharge on any cruise booked after November 10, 2008 on cruises that leave in 2010.  One would think that RCL would quickly follow suit and drop their surcharges immediately.  
 

For photos, click here.

For me this was a very special cruise. See, in 1960 my family immigrated to Canada from Holland. We did so by sailing from Holland to Halifax on the Ryndam II. My wife would say that we’ve done Holland America seven times, but I like to count the trip in 1960 as a cruise as well.

I told the Captain and others with Holland America about the significance of being on this ship, but truth is I’m sure they’ve heard stories like this before and didn’t seem all that interested.  

Overall we’ve now sailed over 60 days on Holland America ships, but that’s nothing compared to one woman on this ship who had completed 20 World cruises with Holland America. She’s sailed over 2,000 days with them – that’s over five years of cruising. As the captain mentioned during the Mariner lunch, she’s sailed more than most crew members.

Overall, my wife and I have now completed over 20 cruises, but this was our first to Alaska. Truth be known, I was never a big fan of going there, but since I could tie it in with a trip to Vancouver, I figured why not?

As it turned out we were going on the last ship sailing to Alaska this summer.

We’d heard that the weather this summer for most sailings had been very poor with lots of rain. I can tell you that we lucked out.  

One reason Alaska did intrigue me a little more this year was the appointment of by John McCain of Sarah Palin, Alaska’s Governor as his running mate. 

Our first stop was Juneau, the state’s capitol. I made it a point of asking people at each stop what they thought of her, anticipating that they’d all think this was great, that one of theirs was running for one of the most powerful positions in the world. Polls apparently say she has an 80 per cent approval rating in the state, but I couldn’t find one supporter at any of the stops. In Juneau where Palin’s governor mansion sits, I could find little support for her. “Apparently Palin believes the capitol should be in Anchorage,” said one woman. “As far as the mansion goes, she’s only been there for three days since she’s been governor. She doesn’t like us.”

Second stop was in Skagway. Skagway is a very small town. It only exists because this is where those searching for gold would go to wind their way up to Dawson City. Here some locals also made comments about Palin saying she spent time there, but never acknowledges it. 

Our third land stop was in Ketchikan, the place where they were supposed to build this “Bridge to nowhere.” We sailed in between the mainland and the airport where the bridge was to be built. The locals here didn’t have much use for her either saying that she didn’t live up to her promise to have the bridge built. So all-in-all, not a lot of support from what I could see.  

I did see one tee-shirt with a slogan that could be interpreted as being supportive, but that was all I saw. The tee-shirt read, “Our mama beats your Obama.” But outside of that, no bumper stickers, no election signs, nothing. 

Getting back to the cruise, it was probably one of the best I’ve ever taken. I have spent considerable time in Vancouver over the last decade, so mountains are not a big deal. But what I saw in Alaska was much more than mountains. The glaciers we saw were awe-inspiring.  

Let me tell you what we did at each stop.

I’d been in touch with Holland America’s Sarah Scoltock. She handles PR for HAL’s Alaska tours.  I asked her which tours she would recommend. She told me that in Juneau I should consider taking a helicopter ride that lands on glaciers. We took a tour called the “Pilots Choice” because the pilot decides where he’s going to land based on weather and views.

The day was overcast and by the time we booked it, we could only get on the late flight. So we left the dock around 4 p.m. A bus took us to the heliport at the airport. After undergoing a quick briefing on the equipment and safety features, we boarded the chopper. The choppers they use supposedly sit seven people, three in the front (including the pilot) and four in the back. They try to arrange you so that the weight on the chopper is equally spread out. Still, it was very cramped in the back. But that aside, what a tour! We flew over a couple of glaciers including the Mendenhall Glacier which is located just outside Juneau. As part of this tour we made two landings on the glaciers. Our pilot Chip was magnificent. You could tell he was pumped. One of the reasons might have been that this was his last flight for the season.  

If you ever get a chance to take this tour, take it. To stand on a glacier with ice cracks all around you, in the middle of nowhere, was one of the most incredible feelings I’ve ever experienced.  It was as if you stepped out of society. It was so peaceful. Chip actually had us all stand there in meditation to grasp the beauty and serenity of the occasion. This was one tour I’ll never forget.  

Our second stop was Skagway. Here Scoltock suggested we take the White Pass Yukon Railway. There are a number of ways you can take this tour. You can take the train to a certain point and come back. Or you can take a two-hour bus ride that takes you into the Yukon and then you return to the ship by this train. We opted for this all-day tour.

I had never been to Canada’s far north and the Yukon is way up there. We took the bus to a very small town called Carcross.  Carcross is just south of Whitehorse. The town has about 400 people living in it. There used to be a hotel there. What made this hotel famous is that it was here that the famous parrot Polly of “Polly wants a cracker” lived.  

We stopped for lunch at an outpost. Here they had a large collection of stuffed animals on display including the world’s largest Polar Bear and Marmot.  

After lunch we toured Carcross. That took about five minutes. But then it was off to Fraser, B.C. where we boarded the White Pass-Yukon train. The train tracks that are still in use today were built in the late 1800s to take thousands of men to the Klondike Gold Rush. The trip back to Skagway was beautiful. Amazing scenery. The trains all have platforms which were wonderful places from which to view and take pictures. 

Back in Skagway we toured the town. Interesting thing about Skagway is that there are no doctors here.If one needs a doctor you have to fly to Juneau which is about an hour and a bit away. They have a school and this year four students will graduate. For the past few years Holland America has made it a point to host the school’s graduation ceremony and prom on a ship. This year’s event was on the Ryndam.

On the next day we spent hours cruising “Glacier Bay National Park.” We sat in front of a glacier known as the John Hopkins glacier. It’s a Tidewater glacier. That is to say it empties into the ocean, where as the Mendenhall Glacier that we saw earlier in Juneau actually flows into a lake. When Glacier Bay was first discovered in 1794, Captain George Vancouver found a bay of ice. By 1879, a naturalist determined that the ice had retreated up the bay by 48 miles and this was before global warming. A hand-out given to us by the U.S. National Parks service says that glaciers and polar ice contain more water than all of the lakes, rivers, ground water and atmosphere combined.  

What was fascinating was to see the thickness of the ice.  When we looked at this glacier, it was about three quarters of a mile wide and probably 600 feet deep. Quite often you’d hear cracks and lo-and-behold more ice would fall in the water. Our ship was surrounded by ice. Moving in and out of this ice flow required us to go very slowly. But what a sight. 

Quite often as we sailed near land we’d see all kinds of sea life from whales to sea lions. It was fascinating to see them so close. 

Our final stop took us to Ketchikan. It’s a very cute little town. One of the attractions we wanted to see was Creek Street. This is where the town was originally erected. This little street has a creek going through it and since it was spawning season we saw thousands upon thousands of salmon trying to make their way past and over a rushing waterfall. The area did have a stench to it as many had already died trying to get up. But I’m told during high tide many do make it up. 

Because this was one of the final cruise ships to go to Alaska in the 2008 season, most stores had sales on their remaining merchandise. It was interesting to note that many of the stores you see in the Caribbean have also opened up locations in Alaska. One store owner told me that he spends six months in Alaska and the other six months at home in St. Maartin.    Others have similar arrangements insofar that they have stores in St. Thomas and other Caribbean islands. 

To give you an idea of the kind of savings we were able to find, I bought a Mont Blanc pen for $237. I’ve seen the same pen in Toronto for $380.   

As far as the ship is concerned, it was put in the water in the mid 90s. Considering as much it’s in amazing shape. Quite frankly if you’d told me it was brand new I would have believed you. The Ryndam is probably one of the smaller ships we’ve sailed at only 54,000 tons. The previous ship we were on, Royal Caribbean’s “Legend of the Seas” is three times larger at 160,000 tons. I didn’t mind the smaller ship. It was easier to get everywhere. 

Food was great (as usual). I find Holland America’s food generally to be very good. We did have dinner at the specialty restaurant one night.  While the food was great I wasn’t overly knocked out by the service.  

The first couple of nights we tried their “anytime” seating dinner. But both nights we had to wait, what I thought was a long time. So we requested to be put on the list for late seating and the ship’s crew was very accommodating.  

The room was an outside room. Ours was on the Promenade deck which meant that people walking by could see in our room. I wasn’t crazy about this lack of privacy and wouldn’t take that kind of room again.  

One of the features of Holland America that I do love is their Explorers Café. This café sponsored by the New York Times is both their library and coffee shop. They have some very relaxing chairs in this area and it’s the perfect place to read or if you want, check the internet. We spent a lot of our time there. 

The shops on board were also clearing out all of their Alaska stuff. So were able to get some tee-shirts and sweaters dirt cheap, like 75 per cent off.  

In the end I must say that my wife was right, I did enjoy this cruise. I think if you’re going on a cruise, it’s one you should make sure you take, but it’s not one I think you need to take more than once. 

Happy Cruising. 

Recently I booked an Alaskan cruise on Holland America.   When I went online to get my boarding pass I was informed that now HAL has a “hold back” payment.   That is, they’re now going to charge you $60 per day, per passenger.  That “hold back” is then applied to your credit card on the first day of your cruise.   So say you’re going on a seven day cruise with your spouse/friend that means they’re going to charge you $420 per person for the trip.   Now I’m assured by HAL reps that this money will be credited back to you if you don’t spend this on the cruise.  Still, they couldn’t tell me why they’ve instituted this practice.   Guess, at the very least they get the interest for seven days.  

There are also some reports out that Princess will offer what is being billed as the ultimate ship tour on its newest ship “Ruby Princess.”  The tour will take you to the bridge, engine room and many other off limit areas.   The reports say that the cruise line will charge 150-dollars per person for this tour.  Normally tours of ships are free, although they generally don’t take you to any secure area.   The “Ruby Princess” will make its inaugural voyage November 8 out of Fort Lauderdale. 

With the tough economic times, we’re starting to see some cruise lines actually adjust their schedules.  Fred Olson Cruise line is revising their 2009 summer schedule because of concerns over fuel costs.  The new schedule will mean that ships won’t be sailing as far

September is often the time when cruise lines take some of their ships to dry-dock for some re-fitting.   Such is the case for Disney’s Magic which is out of service until September 24.   The adult pool is getting a makeover.  Staterooms are getting new flat screen LCD TV’s.  

Holland America is spending $200-million to upgrade their “S” class ships.  That includes the Ryndam, Statendam, Rotterdam, Massdam and Veendam.  Veendam will be the first to go into dry-dock next spring.  The biggest change will be a new pool at the back of the ship to be called “The Retreat”.  As well they’ll be adding more verandah rooms to each ship. 

Despite all of the issues with hurricanes the last few years Carnival has announced that they are going to expand their capacity in New Orleans by 34 per cent.  They’ll do so by moving the smaller Carnival Fantasy out of that dock and replace it with the Carnival Triumph. 

‘Til next time, Happy Cruising.  

Even with oil prices skyrocketing the last few months, cruise lines seem to be holding their own. 

Certainly it would appear that right now for cruise lines the worst seems to be over. Their share prices which hit 52-week lows in mid July have staged significant rebounds since then. 

One of the reasons cruise lines have been able to weather the storm is that they are now almost all charging fuel surcharges to offset their extra expenditures.  

Most cruise lines are going ahead with putting new ships into service. Three new ships are slated to begin service this year with another handful next year. Princess’ newest ship the “Ruby Princess” has just completed its sea trials. It’s scheduled to go into service November 8. Celebrity’s newest ship the “Solstice” left Dry-dock in Holland last week. It will go into service November 23. And MSC’s “Fantasia” will be in the water just a week before Christmas. 

Next year look for two new Costa ships, as well new ships from Celebrity, Carnival and Seabourn.

I got an interesting e-mail from “Cruise Lines International Association” detailing some rather neat excursions that various lines offer.

Among the more unusual:

• Carnival Cruise lines now offer a new eco-friendly shore excursion called the Rainforest Bobsled. The experience is to celebrate the Jamaican bobsled teams from the 80s and 90s.
• Celebrity offers Hermitage Splendour which is an exclusive private tour and ballet, after hours at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
• Crystal offers a really neat tour. Guests can drive through the winding roads of Livorno and Tuscany in a Maserati, Lamborghini or a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, which is one of world’s fastest cars. 

Now with the Olympics over, many people might have a new interest in visiting Beijing. There are a ton of cruises that stop there, some with three or four-day land cruises included. One of the better sites I’ve come across the do a quick check to see what’s available is to go to a site called “Vacationstogo.com,” click on “Find a bargain” and type in Beijing as one of the stops. 

I had the pleasure of being in Beijing a few months back just ahead of the games. The city has become very “westernized.”   Don’t be surprised to see people driving cars such as Porsches etc. Local officials all seem to be driving in Audi A6s. I stayed at the Beijing Hotel which is the closest hotel to Tiananmen Square. One of the great things about travelling is to actually see places that before we’d only seen in pictures and so it was for me with visits to Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall and Summer Palace. It was an amazing trip.