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Luxury line
Regent's oldest cruise ship gets a major overhaul
One of the most luxurious cruise ships at sea, the Regent Seven Seas
Navigator, reemerged recently after a massive makeover.
In an unusually long, 50-day dry dock, the 490-passenger, all-suite
vessel received all-new decor designed to evoke the feel of of an
elegant estate home as well as new restaurants and more.
Additions include:
-- Prime 7. A new restaurant, pictured above, that will serve
prime-aged steaks and chops as well as poultry and fresh seafood. The
decor features leather seating and burnished wood walls.
-- La Veranda. An indoor/outdoor casual eatery that replaces
Portofino's, the ship's old buffet restaurant. La Veranda features
redesigned food stations and will be home to elaborate breakfast and
lunch buffets. In the evening diners will select from a menu of
regionally themed specialties.
-- A new Pool Grill on the pool deck featuring hot and cold buffet,
panini sandwich station and coffee and dessert area in addition to a
state-of-the-art barbecue grill. The Pool Bar, at the other end of
the pool deck, also was expanded and enhanced with a new ice cream
station, fully equipped with machines for milkshakes and frappes.
Another
Elvis-themed romp on a Carnival cruise ship
Forget Las Vegas. The place to be next November if you're an Elvis
fan is -- once again -- on a Carnival cruise ship.
That's right, the King of Rock 'n' Roll (or, at least, a number of
people who look remarkably like him) is making another appearance on
the high seas next year as Carnival hosts a fourth "Elvis
Cruise" -- a four-night, all-Elvis-all-the-time extravaganza.
The voyage, announced today by organizer Sixthman LLC, will take
place on the 2,052-passenger Carnival Fascination as it sails out of
Jacksonville, Fla., to the Bahamas. The trip begins Nov. 4, 2010.
As with the three earlier Elvis cruises, which were huge hits, next
year's sailing will be hosted by longtime Elvis friend and confidant
Jerry Schilling, author of Me and a Guy named Elvis.
If you're thinking of strapping on some blue suede shoes, checking
out of that heartbreak hotel and signing up for the trip, expect to
pay $599 per person and up for a cabin.
Call The Cruiseman to book this cruise.
Cruise News
Shorts from the past few weeks:
Traditional Passover Celebration Planned for Crystal Passengers
Dec 30 - Jewish passengers sailing either of Crystal's ships at
Passover in March will be able to celebrate the holiday in a very
traditional way. The arrangements typically draw about 100 participants.
Instant Cruise Terminal
Dec 29 - It appears that the toughest part of putting up a building
in California is getting the legal approval to do it. The legal
wrangling is mostly over, and construction has begun on San Diego's
new Broadway Pier Cruise Terminal. The port says the new
terminal should be ready in time for the first ship scheduled to use
it next December.
They Just Keep Coming
Dec 29 - You can add St. Kitts to the list of islands racking up
record numbers of cruise ship passengers this winter. The five-day
holiday weekend from Christmas Eve through yesterday saw more than
21,000 visitors arrive on cruise ships, and the five days beginning
today will see another 17,000.
Silver Spirit Launches
Dec 23 - The world's supply of luxury vessels increased by one today,
when Silversea's new Silver Spirit set out on its maiden voyage.
The small ship (just 36,000 gross tons), by today's standards,
carries only 540 passengers and therefore has one of the highest
space-to-guest ratios at sea today.
NCL's Resolution for 2011
Dec 23 - Most of us are working on new year's resolutions for 2010,
but NCL is looking ahead already to 2011. They are promising to make
it easier to make reservations for April 2011 sailings and beyond by
reducing the number of cabin categories they have.
Big Day on St. Maarten
Dec 23 - More than 19,000 passengers poured ashore at St. Maarten
today from six ships, including Oasis of the Seas. This is the
first time six cruise ships have been able to berth at the same time
on the island.
Putting It All Together
Dec 22 - Holland America's Rotterdam returned to service last week
after a 28-day stay at the Grand Bahama Shipyard for extensive refit
of all the current Signature of Excellence elements. We've
written about each of them individually as they've been announced,
but they all came together on Rotterdam.
Winter Wonderland?
Dec 22 - The Port of Baltimore is relatively new to the cruise
business, and this is their first winter season having a weekly
cruise ship operation thanks to Carnival Cruise Lines designating the
city as their first northern year round port.
Last weekend the Baltimore area was hit with a record snowfall of 21
inches, and the port was faced with the challenge of keeping the
cruise terminal open for Sunday's turnaround of Carnival Pride. Both
the port and Carnival are proud of the way the workers rose to the
challenge and accomplished the mission.
Solstice 4 Now Has a Name
Dec 21 - Loosely connected to the celestial theme, and drawing on
"images of light and shadow, and sleek profiles," Celebrity
Cruises has decided to name the fourth ship in their Solstice-class
"Celebrity Silhouette."
The Loan Came Through!
Dec 21 - Royal Caribbean said today they received a whopper of a loan
- more than a billion dollars - to finance Allure of the Seas, the
sister to Oasis.
Last Time's Question:
What will be the new name for
the old Carnival Holiday?
The
Answer is :
Grand Holiday
Here
are our two winners:
Alan Wallace
-- LA, CA
Danka Kourteva
-- Nashville, TN
This
weeks Cruiseman Contest Question:
This time we are
going to make this real easy. It's a "multiple choice"
question. The answer comes from our December 7th issue.
If you don't know the correct answer you can guess!
Ready?
When we refer to a
cruise ship's Gross
Registered Tonnage
(ie: The Carnival
Splendour's 110,000 GRT) - we are talking about:
A) The total
internal volume of a vessel expressed in units of 100 cubic feet, but
not counting the life boats, jogging track or swimming pools.
-or-
B) The weight of
the cruise ship, expressed in tons, but not counting the crew's
cabins, the engine room, or the buffets.
Your entry
should just say A or B.
We will select
two winners. Each winner will receive a certificate good for A Free
Two-Night Bahamas Cruise -for two adults. (cruise
sails from Ft. Lauderdale) You just pay the port taxes of
approx. $59pp. CLICK
HERE for details. If you are listed as a
winner, you don't need to call or write. We will mail
your certificate out to you in the mail.
Incomplete
entries will be
tossed out!
You must
follow the instructions below.
HINT:
"Postal Address" is not your email address!!!
THE
INSTRUCTIONS
1.
Don't change the subject line.
2.
Type your answer in the message
area, not
the subject line.
3.
Do not copy and paste from the newsletter.
4.
Include your name
& postal address
(in case you win!).
5. DO
NOT hit your reply button,
or your entry will go to the wrong
address!
6.
One entry per household, please.
OKAY,
To enter The Contest: CLICK
HERE TO ENTER
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