Cruise Ship News

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines is offering a similar cruise on-board the Balmoral – presumably less the icebergs and ensuing horror.

At first, the idea of a Titanic themed cruise sounded a little creepy – with nearly the same Southampton to New York City route, food based on the original menu, and a ceremony at the time the ship began to sank 100 years prior. Though many are seeing it as an opportunity to learn and pay homage to the 1500 people who lost their lives.

Several of the guests booking the cruise are relatives or direct descendants of those who were on-board the Titanic, and may have never been able to come close to their final resting place. Some of those relatives will be giving lectures on board, including the grandson of one of the survivors.

“I’m sure my grandfather, a first class steward on Titanic, would be proud to know his story will be shared with the passengers on the Balmoral.”

The ticket prices for the Titanic cruise are a little over $5000 USD – but for those fascinated by the history of the event – a small price to pay for the experience.

What do you think? Would you like to attend this cruise?

Link: http://www.titanicmemorialcruise.co.uk/

Carnival Cruise Line is drawing both criticism and praise this week as news about its smoking-area-experiment aboard three ships is making headlines. Well, at least cruise travel headlines. The trial-run on the cruise ships is over but the debate between smokers and non-smokers is raging on.

Carnival took three ships – the Destiny, Freedom, and Glory – and imposed stricter smoking regulations by making several lounges smoke-free where previously smoking was allowed. Included among them, the cigar bar, which has been the focus of much of the debate.

On the surface it may seem silly to ban smoking in a placed named for doing just that. Carnival says it’s reviewing the “guest experience” after the change, but how about taking into account employee health as well? After all, most smoking bans in the U.S. are justified under occupational safety and health laws – not customer satisfaction.

Some may say that cruise lines could simply give employees the option of working there – but as we’ve all experienced on board – “no” is hardly a typical response from a crew member, and I’m guessing their allegiance to their boss is even stronger than it is to Mr. Jones from Alabama who he’ll only know for a week.

Another point worth mentioning is that on these three ships (and a few other Carnival vessels in the Conquest class), the only access to the internet café is through the cigar bar. Also, some entertainment options may only be available bars where smoking is allowed.

I’ve been on several cruises where I wanted to catch the jazz combo and have a drink before dinner, but didn’t want to be eating or watching the evening show and smelling like the Marlboro man. I also avoided the piano bars and casinos following dinner for the same reason.

I hope Carnival is taking more than just guest experience and comments into consideration. They should also look at:

1. Employee Health and Safety
2. Revenue from internet café
3. Revenue from the smoke-free bars

Yes, smokers spend a lot of money in bars – but so do the 80% of others that do not smoke.

I don’t care if you smoke, so long as I don’t have to smell it. I’m fine with having a smoking lounge near the back of the ship with private ventilation – but don’t make employees work in there for hours, don’t make it the only gateway to the internet café, and don’t have entertainment that is exclusive for those who smoke or are willing to put up with it.

Alaska has long been a destination we’d love to visit – and with all the news lately, we decided to compile a few last minute deals from the major lines. We are not a travel agency nor affiliated with one – and all links on this post go directly to the cruise line’s website.

Below are four of the best deals that we found (at least as of today). These fares are per-person, based on double occupancy, and do not include taxes or government fees – and it’s possible you may qualify for deeper discounts based on location, age, or other factors.

Princess Cruises: 7-Day Alaska Inside Passage Cruise

Ship: Golden Princess
Departs: Seattle, Washington
Departure Date: July 31, 2010
Ports of call: Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan while sailing in Glacier Bay or Tracy Arm Fjord, depending on your itinerary.
Length: 7 Days

*Note: Take a look at the August 14th sailing – it’s $200 less per person for a balcony, but the same or higher in every other class.

Visit Princess Cruises for more information. (limited time link!)

Holland America Line: 7-Day Alaskan Explorer Cruise

Ship: ms Zaandam
Departs: Seattle, Washington
Departure Date: September 3, 2010
Ports of call: Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Victoria BC while sailing in Glacier Bay
Length: 7 Days

Visit Holland American Line for more information.

Carnival Cruise Line: 7-Day Glacier Bay Cruise

Ship: Spirit
Departs: Seattle, Washington
Departure Date: September 13, 2010
Ports of call: Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Vancouver BC while sailing in Glacier Bay.
Length: 7 Days

Visit Carnival for more information.

Royal Caribbean 7-Day Sawyer Glacier Cruise

Ship: Rhapsody of the Seas
Departs: Seattle, Washington
Departure Date: August 27, 2010
Ports of call: Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria BC while sailing in the Alaska Inside Passage and Tracy Arm Fjord.
Length: 7 Days

Visit Royal Caribbean for more information.

While politicians are debating tax hikes in Washington D.C., the state of Alaska is learning firsthand what increased taxes can do to your local economy and the businesses that operate there. Preliminary results from the Alaska Department of Revenue show a 20% decline in cruise tourism in May from a year ago following tax increases that caused several cruise lines to drop itineraries to “The Last Frontier.”

The cruise industry typically sets itineraries two years in advance, so it took a little time for Alaska to see the decline after the $46 tax for each visiting cruise passenger was put into place a few years ago. Last year, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Princess all announced plans to pull ships from Alaska once they saw their profit margin sinking under the new taxes.

Carnival’s CEO made a statement last year explaining that cruise lines operate primarily as a business, and if business is better somewhere else (e.g. a ship can make more money in Europe than Alaska) the line won’t hesitate to move a ship.

Earlier this year Alaska changed the law and lowered the tax rate (after much lobbying from local tourist associations and the cruise line industry) – but the effects won’t be seen until at least 2012 since ships have already been scheduled and booked for other itineraries around the world.

Unfortunately for businesses dependent on cruise tourism in Alaska, this could be too little too late. It will take years to recover the business cruise ships were bringing to the region and may force some local businesses to close.

Cruise lines have the luxury of taking their business elsewhere relatively easily by pointing their ships in another direction – land-based companies do not.

Poll after poll will tell you jobs and the economy are the number one concern in America – which is why it’s puzzling to me why a state would impose a policy that encourages business to leave the region – and in most cases the entire country. Lower tourism means fewer businesses and higher unemployment.

Alaska figured it out too late for it to benefit anyone in the next two years – I hope Washington D.C. doesn’t make the same mistakes.

VIA: USA Today – Cruise Log

Today we’re learning about the death of a 14-year old cruise ship passenger on St. Thomas, an Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She was allegedly caught between two gangs in the midst of a shootout while on a tourist bus en route to Coki Point Beach – one of the island’s most popular destinations. Many cruisers are worried about upcoming trips to the island, but should they be? Should this incident cause concern?

The teenager was traveling with her family on board the Carnival Victory which has seven day cruises out of San Juan. The tour bus they were traveling on was not a Carnival-sponsored excursion, though Carnival said it was canceling trips to that beach area. Princess cruises has followed suit, but according to CruiseCritic.com, Norwegian Cruise Line (Epic is set to dock tomorrow), and Royal Caribbean have yet to determine any cancelations at this time

The cancelations of trips to certain beaches is a good start for the cruise lines, but in order to make real change, we suggest suspending travel to the island for a period of time until they can get their act together and reduce their crime rate.

For the last few years running, St. Thomas has recorded a violent crime rate between 5 and 7 times that similar-sized cities in the United States. Although St. Thomas is a territory of the United States, it is self-governing and has an independent police force – a group that many locals feel a sense of distrust for.

Tensions between local police and U.S. Federal officials have been strained in the last few years, after an ATF agent shot and killed a resident in 2008 while intervening in a domestic dispute. The local police cried foul, and the United States pulled out all ATF agents about 6 months later. The FBI and DEA still have offices on the island, though some believe they’re hands are tied for political reasons.

If local police are the problem, then it is up to the people to stand up for a change – and while the crime rates may seem like enough motivation to us, nothing has changed on the island for the better.

Cruise lines should suspend all travel to the island for one month – and only return pending an independent assessment of the changes made to help protect citizens and travelers.

St. Thomas is an economy based on tourism – it wouldn’t take long for every business owner (undoubtedly the ones with the most political power, too) on the island to be calling for a change. Until they need a reason to change, they will continue to sit on the sidelines as long as their business isn’t affected – and it hasn’t been.

The tragedy this week is terribly unfortunate, but maybe it will be the wakeup call to the cruise lines that supply the island with its cash crop – tourists – that it is time for more action if any real change is desired.

While doing research for another post, I came across an article called “Are travel writers shills for the cruise lines?” – an article published on tnooz.com just a few days ago. As a blogger covering cruise news I decided to check it out and found a gross mischaracterization from some unlikely places.

The author of the article, Dennis Schaal, does a pretty good job of staying neutral and not taking sides, though does take bulk of his article from a maritime attorney Jim Walker’s blog who specializes in lawsuits against cruise lines.

Walker contends that no blogger covered the recent passing of the Cruise Line Safety Act just before the 4th of July weekend, and that there are far too many “shills for the cruise industry” in the travel blogosphere.

Both Walker and Schaal mention Pauline Frommer (daughter of Arthur Frommer, travel-guide-book-king) in their articles as one of the only exceptions to the rule – her father being the other. Walker went so far to say that it is “refreshing” to see a travel writer with “integrity and ethics,” after Frommer covered the passing of the law.

This understandably set off a wave of comments from both sides – and Pauline Frommer even weighed in on the discussion saying that it is a “valid point” that both made in their articles. In prose dripping with arrogance, she talked about what a “real travel journalist” does and how “novice writers” may not get the full picture.

“As a member of the “old guard” I’d say that an issue like this one shows that there’s still a place for edited pieces, written by paid writers who don’t have to worry about angering the company they’re writing about,” Frommer commented.

Surprising to me was that Frommer, a self-proclaimed “real journalist” wouldn’t have known the difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate – the latter of whom passed the law a week or so ago, though Frommer praised the former (which is almost as hard to type as it is to say) in her article which received much acclaim.

The House of Representatives did indeed pass this law – but it was last October.

I wrote about it. Here.

It may seem like I’m splitting hairs over journalism 101 fact-checking with Ms. Frommer, and I am – but saying “real journalism” only comes from expensive office buildings with a full staff to manage advertising with the very same companies that travel blogging sites do (and thus are biased) is offensive.

Bloggers are legally held to a higher standard – bound by the FTC to disclose gifts, travel, etc along with their coverage – something newspapers, TV Shows, and Guide Books are not bound to do.

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that I’m not afraid to cover stories that cruise lines wish I didn’t (e.g. commentary on Carnival Elation’s murder cabin) – but I also cover things they do right (e.g. their new round-trip sailings from LA to Hawaii).

I hope that Walker, Schaal, and Ms. Frommer all understand that if a story only gets coverage from a select few, it’s probably not all that interesting. There are enough travel sites that competition for readers outweighs ruffling a few feathers in the industry – especially when none of the cruise lines responsible for many press trips and perks are even named in this particular story.

The story wasn’t widespread because travel editors and bloggers didn’t think it made the cut – not because they care more about cruise line relationships than passenger safety as these three would like you to believe.

Taking a Hawaiian cruise just got a little easier thanks to Carnival Cruise Lines. In December of 2011, Carnival will offer a 15-day itinerary to the Hawaiian Islands departing and returning in California.

This is the first time Carnival has offered round-trips to Hawaii, which they hope will provide customers with “a more convenient and cost-effective means for visiting the breathtaking island chain.”

Flying into your cruises departure port can be a tricky balance. Arriving a day ahead of time is preferred, but not always the most convenient or cost-conscious. Arrive too late and you’ll spend even more money trying to catch up with the ship at another port. This airfare/hotel gamble gets even more expensive with an exotic location like Hawaii.

Carnival should expect to see plenty from California and neighboring states take advantage of the new offer – which will leave first from Los Angeles, and San Diego will follow a few months later.

The Hawaiian Islands expected to be on the itinerary are Hilo, Kahului, Honolulu, Lihue, and Kona.

Norwegian Cruise Line describes their newest entertainment lineup as “revolutionary,” a surprisingly true statement. We’re surprised that it’s taken anyone in the industry this long to ask themselves “could our entertainment stack up against acts in New York City and Vegas?” NCL asked that question, and booked headlining act Blue Man Group not just for one or two theme cruises or the inaugural run, but for their headlining entertainment this season aboard their newest ship, Epic.

If anyone has come close to doing something similar, it would be Royal Caribbean. RCL’s Oasis of the Seas has a running production of Hairspray that casted in London, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. While I can appreciate a good musical, if I was cruising with my entire family and the two venues were put to a vote, it would likely come to a 5-1 majority favoring Blue Man Group on Epic.

RCL’s Allure of the Seas debuting later this year, inked a deal with DreamWorks to bring characters like Shrek on board, and even though you can make the case that the movies and characters can have appeal to an older audience, there are lots of folks who may prefer to have breakfast without the possibility of being approached by an 8 foot tall green ogre.

Some cruise lines like Carnival are still running musical revue shows with OK dancers with one or two featured performers. Sure it beats sitting in your room, but acts like this would never stand on their own if they were on land and in a city with hundreds of other options.

Acts like Blue Man Group do come at a higher cost to the cruise lines, though. Carnival would probably contend that for an extra few hundred bucks per passenger, they could book expensive entertainment as well – but providing an affordable experience for families is a higher priority.

As more mega-ships roll out, expect to see more recognizable names and acts on board for more than just a few inaugural sailings. Booking based on the on-board entertainment as it relates to your party, rather than just how big/new/shiny the ship is, will help guarantee everyone a good time.