Right On Track

     More and more people take cruise vacations each year, but 2003’s year-end end total could reach nearly 10 million people, according Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

     “With nearly 7.2 million passengers worldwide (including more than 6 million North Americans) traveling on CLIA ships in the first three quarters of the year, the industry is on pace to reach our original estimate of 9.6 million passengers worldwide (8.3 million North Americans) for another record-setting year,” says Bob Sharak, CLIA’s executive director.

     More than 2.6 million people cruised on Cruise Lines International Association  member line ships alone in the third quarter of 2003, including more than 2.1 million North Americans, an almost 9 percent increase worldwide (nearly 5.5 percent North American guests), says the non-profit marketing and training organization which represents 24 major cruise lines.

     Yet only 15 percent of the total United States population has ever taken a cruise.  No wonder why cruise lines continue to introduce more and more ships each year, one bigger than the next.  Next year 12 new ships belonging to CLIA-member lines will debut. 

     “The numbers confirm that cruising continues to be the vacation of choice for millions of people. Growth of the industry in the past five years has been phenomenal. In fact, according to the 2002 CLIA Cruise Market Profile Study by NFO Plog, 56 percent of those who have ever cruised (more than 23 million people) have done so in the past five years,” says Mark Conroy, CLIA chairman and president of Radisson Seven Seas Cruises.  

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Up In Smoke

     When Carnival Cruise Lines introduced the industry’s first entirely smoke-free cruise ship Paradise in 1998, many people wondered about its future success. After all, Carnival’s vessels are known as “Fun Ships,” and smoking, in most cases, is goes hand-in-hand with partying.

     It does pose, however, as the ultimate ship for health-conscious guests, and passengers who can’t stand walking through smoke-filled lounges. In fact, the ship has a no tolerance policy and has reported several occasions  when passengers were kicked off of the ship for even possessing cigarettes.

     But that’s soon all going to change.

     Carnival has announced that it will terminate the non-smoking policy onboard the ship in a joint decision to  reposition it to the West Coast in September 2004.

     “When we analyzed our redeployment strategy, the Paradise, based on its size and attributes, was the obvious choice to offer a fresh new short cruise alternative from California. And with only one ship operating that program, we could not limit it to non-smokers,” said Bob Dickinson, Carnival president and CEO.

     The 70,000-ton Paradise will assume the Ecstasy’s three- and four-day Baja cruises from Long Beach, California, because the Ecstasy is moving to Galveston to replace the Celebration  on year-round four- and five-day Mexico cruises in October 2004. The Celebration will be deployed to Jacksonville.

     Paradise’s three-day cruises depart Long Beach on Fridays and call at Ensenada, while four-day cruises depart Mondays and call at both Ensenada and Catalina Island.      

     Smokers and non-smokers are welcomed aboard, with no risk of getting thrown off of the ship for having a pack of butts.  Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

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News For Princess

     Princess Cruises is sprucing things up a bit, with a couple of new enhancements on land and onboard. 

     For one, the line is putting $26 million into its two Denali National Park area wilderness lodges in Alaska — Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge — where guests stay when they choose from one of the line’s 42 cruisetour package vacations.

     The line is boasting that the lodge upgrades will increase the opportunity for passengers to visit Denali by 75 percent, as well as offer guests more public spaces.

     Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge soon will have a new 16,000-square-foot built main lodge building with vaulted ceilings, exposed timbers and 30-foot-high glass windows, as well as a two-story, double-sided fireplace and lots of open space and intimate seating areas.

     The line also will add a new “River Run” deli and espresso bar serving up coffee, ice cream and baked goodies.

     Walking paths will be added to the outside grounds as well as more than 500 trees and 50 large flower boxes to spruce it up.

     Five new shops, 80 new guest rooms and additional seating in the lodge’s fine dining venue will all be added as well.

     Princess’ other facility — the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge — will receive a new dining option, and 96 more guest rooms, bringing the total of rooms to 334.

     The casual, new “Expedition Pizza” restaurant will have indoor and outdoor seating, with views of Mt. McKinley.

     Princess also is adding several new dining choices aboard its ships, debuting its largest number of dining options ever with a twist — themed main dining rooms on Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess.

     Both ships, which debut next spring, will have five main dining rooms —– one traditional seating dining room and four smaller restaurants for guests that opt to participate in the line’s “Anytime Dining” option. The four venues  will each have a specific theme and menu: Vivaldi will serve Italian cuisine; Sterling will be a steakhouse; Santa Fe will have Southwestern fare; and Pacific Moon will be Asian-style.

     Guests dining in the themed restaurants can choose from the select menu or order one of line’s other dishes. Those in the traditional dining room will have a many options as well, including items from the themed restaurants specialty menus.

     “With Diamond and Sapphire Princess we’re taking dining options to a brand new level,” said Dean Brown, Princess’ executive vice president of customer service and sales. “We’re committed to offering our passengers a new array of choices in an unconventional fashion, so we’ve divided two of our regular dining rooms in half, creating four restaurants that seat just 230 passengers and one traditional room that holds about 500 passengers.”

     Each themed venue will have a series of dishes including a  specialty bread and dessert. The Vivaldi dining room will serve farfalle alla scoglio, ossobuco or cannoli for dessert. In Sterling , menu items include prime rib, New York steak and all-American apple pie. The Pacific Moon will have sushi, five-spice mandarin duckling, and bamboo steamer baskets with dim sum, pot stickers and spring rolls. Table side prepared guacamole, fajitas, fried catfish with roasted corn relish and Kahlua rice pudding can be ordered off of the menu in Santa Fe.

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First Time For Vistula

     They say there’s a first time for everything. In this case, it’s the first time a cruise line will inaugurate weekly passenger cruise service on the Vistula River in Poland. 

     In March 2004, Peter Deilmann Cruises will begin offering seven-night cruises along the river aboard the 79-guest Frederic Chopin.

     The river barge will sail between Warsaw, the country’s capital, and Gdansk on the Baltic Coast through October 30. The itinerary will sail through the regions of Pomerania and northern Marzovia, with visits to Tezew, Malbork, Chelmno, Torun,  Kaliningrad, and Amalienbau.

     So what’s to see on this less-traveled route?

     According to the line, many interesting towns, monuments, Romanesque and Gothic architecture, medieval fortifications and residences. Scenery also includes country lakes, nature reserves, castles and palaces.

     The cruises are priced from $1,655 per person.

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RSSC Converts Spas

     Guests sailing on Radisson Seven Seas Cruises’ ships will no longer be able to visit the Judith Jackson spas onboard.  The line has announced, that beginning this month, all of the spas in the fleet will convert to Carita of Paris, which has been operating on the Paul Gauguin for the past six years.

     The 53-year-old land-based spa has already debuted on Seven Seas Mariner and Seven Seas Navigator and will be aboard Seven Seas Voyager December 20. The Radisson Diamond will changeover from its Steiner-owned spa in March 2004.

     The Carita’s “House of Beauty” spa —  founded by sisters Rosy and Maria Carita — is famous for its unique approach to spa and beauty services tailored uniquely to the needs of each individual.

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Get Clear

The next time you book a sailing on one of Carnival Cruise Lines’ ships, you might be able to pay for it over a six month period with zero interest, and have the payments directly deducted from your paycheck.  All you have to do is get a Clear MasterCard. 

Clear is a benefits enhancement that lets you deduct purchases directly from your paycheck using the Clear MasterCard at no interest. The card can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted, including travel agencies.

For example, a seven-day cruise priced at $499 per person would be repaid through automatic payroll deductions of $38 each from your next thirteen bi-weekly paychecks. Similar values are available on the line’s short cruises too.

Clear is available to employees at progressive companies nationwide, including Fortune 500 and non-profit organizations. To apply for Clear contact E-Duction at 1-877-663-3828 or E-Duction.com.

On a different note, Carnival also has introduced a new points-based program enabling travel agents to create customized price and amenities packages for group sailings of eight or more cabins aboard the line’s ships. The new program provides travel agents with a specified number of “Fun Points” per voyage, which can be redeemed for amenities like champagne and chocolates, stateroom upgrades, private cocktail receptions, and travel agent bonus commissions.

For example, travel agents who book a group on the Carnival Conquest’s seven-day Caribbean cruise of November 7, 2004, from New Orleans receive six Fun Points, according to the line. Agents can also forgo their points in exchange for a reduced cruise rate for clients (you).

The number of points vary by voyage length and sailing season.

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Not Quite Bankrupt

     Two out of eight of Royal Olympic Cruise Lines, Inc.’s shipowning companies — Olympic World Cruises, Inc., the owner of the Olympia Voyager, and Royal World Cruises, Inc. the owner of the Olympia Explorer — have filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States bankruptcy code, according to a statement from the Piraeus-based company.

     The statement revealed that the company has been in discussion with the lenders to these subsidiaries regarding a potential restructuring of $250.0 million in loans incurred to finance the acquisition of the two sister vessels. Discussions have not to date produced an agreement and the lenders have delivered a notice of acceleration of the loans. These loans are secured by mortgages on the two vessels and have been guaranteed by parent company Royal Olympic Cruise Lines. Neither Royal Olympic Cruise Lines, nor any other subsidiary has filed for Chapter 11 protection and are conducting business in the ordinary course, which basically means that the two ships are still sailing the seven seas. The company intends to continue discussions with the lenders.

     “Like others in the leisure and transportation industries, we have experienced very difficult operating conditions due to the effects on tourism of the September 11 events, the conflict in the Middle East, the SARS crisis, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the international economic situation and other events,” said CEO Yiannos Pantazis. “We will continue discussions with our subsidiaries’ lenders and remain committed to maintaining all operations and our standards during this period.”

     Pantazis also said that “filing for reorganization under Chapter 11 may provide sufficient time for the discussions with the lenders to come to a positive conclusion, without disrupting the Company’s operations, in a year when the Company's revenues are expected to be at increased levels due in part to the Olympic Games being held in Athens.”

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