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Another Carnival cruise
ship to get 'extreme makeover'
It's upgrade time for the
Carnival Ecstasy, one of the line's oldest ships.
Carnival says the popular vessel,
which sails to Mexico out of Galveston, Texas, will go into dry dock
in September for a multi-million dollar "extreme makeover"
that includes a new deck top water park.
The face-lift for the 17-year-old
ship also will bring an adults-only pool area, among other upgrades
to the top decks.
The 2,052-passenger Ecstasy is a
workhorse of the Carnival fleet that sails short four- and five-day
voyages to Cozumel and Progreso. It's a favorite of Texans who can
drive to Galveston to pick it up.
Source: USA Today
Royal Caribbean regulars in
uproar over lost perk on cruises
Some of Royal Caribbean's most
loyal customers are crying foul this week after the line cut back on
a beloved perk for frequent cruisers: Access to a private concierge lounge.
Message boards at online cruise
sites have erupted with complaints since Friday -- the day the line
sent an email noting the change to members of its frequent cruiser
program, the Crown & Anchor Society. The email announced that
Diamond level members -- those who have been on at least 10 cruises
with the line -- will no longer be invited to use the private
concierge lounges on most ships starting this summer.
Source: USA Today
Carnival to reduce Alaska fleet
Carnival Corp. Chairman Micky
Arison sent a strong message to officials in Alaska (where both
advance bookings and ticket prices are down significantly): We don't
like your $50 head tax and we're pulling ships.
With competitor Royal Caribbean
reducing capacity in 2010 (they are pulling Serenade of the Seas),
Arison said "I want to make it clear that we intend to do the
same thing in 2010."
“We will very soon announce
a reduction in our capacity in 2010,” Arison said. He added that
additional capacity could be reduced in 2011. Carnival Corp. is the
clear market leader in Alaska with 15 ships (seven each for Holland
America and Princess and one for Carnival Cruise Lines) in the market
this year and an extensive land-based operation for cruisetours that
includes hotels, trains and buses (which Arison said would be
impacted as well). He did not give details on what would be cut.
Holland America & Princess
cut Alaska sailings
Holland America Line is
cutting its deployment in Alaska in 2010 by 10 sailings, or about
14,000 passengers, USA TODAY has learned. But the way the line is
doing it is by moving its 1,380-passenger flagship, Amsterdam, to a
new, 14-day Alaskan Adventurer itinerary that will include first-time
(for HAL) port calls in Anchorage, Homer and Kodiak.
Rather than do 20 seven-day
cruises between Vancouver and Seward, as it's doing this year, the
ship will do 10 of the longer cruises, round-trip from
And by the way, despite Carnival
Corp. Chairman Micky Arison's sharp protests against Alaska's $50
head tax earlier this week, it seems to me the biggest loser here is
not Alaska but Canada's Vancouver (leading to the question, what did
they do wrong?).
Princess officials are now
confirming they will be removing Star Princess from their Alaska
fleet in 2010. Star will be replaced on its Inside Passage route from
Seattle by the Sapphire Princess, which moves over from its Gulf
routing - so those feeling the cut the most will be Anchorage and
Vancouver. A spokeswoman said that amounts to 48,000 fewer passengers
- a 16% decrease for Princess in Alaska, but a 29% decrease in the
line's Gulf itineraries. Princess will not say yet where Star
Princess is going.
Disney Wonder Getting New
Home at Port of Los Angeles
Disney Cruise Line® has
announced plans to reposition the Disney Wonder® Cruise Ship from
its base in Port Canaveral, Fla., to the West Coast in 2011.
A two-year agreement, with a
three-year extension option, was considered by the Port of Los
Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on April 2, 2009.
The addition of a new homeport
for Disney Cruise Line is part of the overall expansion plan for The
Walt Disney Company. Two new ships, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy,
will arrive in Port Canaveral, Fla., in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
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Next Norwegian Cruise Line
ship will have massive water park, repelling wall
They're calling it epic, and now
we know why.
Norwegian Cruise Line is taking a
page from the Royal Caribbean playbook with its next cruise ship, the
Norwegian Epic, by loading it with unusual and at times
groundbreaking decktop amusements such as a massive water park, a
repelling wall and a 33-foot-high 'extreme' rock climbing wall. |
The industry's perennial
underdog, which is announcing the decktop areas today in an online
news conference, long has promised the massive vessel would break new
ground for the line in both size and features. The line already has
announced the 4,200-passenger ship, scheduled to debut in May 2010,
will boast such innovations as curve-walled cabins and an ice bar.
At 150,000 tons, the Epic will be
60% larger than the largest NCL ship now at sea, and the Aqua Park
the line is announcing is a sprawling affair with three major water
slides among other features.
Cruise giant Carnival to
roll out 'flexible dining' fleetwide
It wasn't long ago that Carnival
executives would scoff at the idea of eat-when-you-want dining
programs on ships. Fixed dinner seatings were at the core of the
cruise ship experience, they would argue.
But now even Carnival is rolling
out "flexible dining" across its fleet, belatedly following
in the footsteps of Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess, Holland America
and Royal Caribbean.
Carnival announced late Wednesday
that the Your Choice Dining program that it has been testing on the
Carnival Legend and Carnival Liberty since last year will be expanded
fleetwide by 2010.
Under the program, which the line
says was a big hit during the tests, Carnival passengers have the
choice of either traditional dining at a fixed seating or flexible dining.
How does it work?
Run-in with fishing net
brings early end to $100,000-a-person cruise
Passengers currently on an epic
around-the-world cruise with Regent Seven Seas have a fishing net to
blame for an early end to the voyage.
The award-winning luxury line
today announced that damage to one of the Regent Seven Seas Voyager's
propulsion pods caused when the ship hit the fishing net near
Singapore on March 18 is worse than previously thought and will
require extended repair in dry dock.
The damage to the starboard
propulsion system has forced the 700-passenger vessel to sail at
significantly reduced speed. The ship already has missed several port
calls, but officials were hoping the damage could be fixed this week
during a stop in Dubai.
Maiden voyage of Cunard's
Queen Elizabeth sells out in 29 minutes
Just 29 minutes.
That's all it took for the maiden
voyage of Cunard's much-awaited new ocean liner, the Queen Elizabeth,
to sell out after it went on sale worldwide.
Cunard says the frenzy for the
first voyage of the 2,092-passenger ship, a replacement for the
recently retired Queen Elizabeth 2, set a new record at the line.
Never before in Cunard's 170-year history has a maiden voyage sold
out so fast.
The October 2010 voyage sold out
even more quickly than last year's final voyage of the QE2. That
sailing sold out in 36 minutes when it went on sale in June 2007.
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