Propulsion Problems, Again

Celebrity Cruises has encountered more problems with the propulsion system onboard its Millennium-class ships. This time it’s on the Infinity.

The ship needs to go into dry dock to have the system’s thrust-bearing units replaced. Instead of canceling the ship’s sailings, the line has moved them to the Millennium.

Two Panama Canal cruises on March 28 and April 11 will take place on the Millennium instead of the Infinity. Consequently, the Millennium’s March 28 sailing to the eastern Caribbean has been canceled.

When the Infinity re-enters service, it will sail the Millennium’s itineraries for three voyages to the Caribbean on April 4, 11, and 18. The two ships will return to their normal itineraries April 25.
Guests booked on the cancelled sailing will receive a full refund and a voucher for a free Celebrity cruise to the Caribbean, of seven nights or less, that concludes before November 30, 2005.

Love Letters at Sea

Seabourn Cruise Line is giving its guests “Love Letters.” Not hand-written ones, of course, but the actual play.

Husband-and-wife actors Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry will perform the romantic two-act play Love Letters aboard the Seabourn Legend during an April 18th Mediterranean cruise.

The actors who gained fame as odd-couple attorneys on television's 'L.A. Law,' are participating in Seabourn's Dress Circle onboard enrichment program, which gathers celebrities and experts from a variety of fields to the line's three all-suite vessels.

The seven-day cruise will depart from Lisbon and sail the Iberian Peninsula including calls at Gibraltar and the Spanish ports of Malaga (for Granada), Cartagena, Alicante and Barcelona.

Game Time

Going on a Holland America cruise this month and worried you won’t be able to catch the March Madness basketball games?

Don’t fret!

All of the line’s 12 ships will broadcast the 2004 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, which begin mid-March and wrap up on April 3rd and 5th with the Final Four Championship Games taking place in Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Due to a partnership the line has with ESPN International, Holland America Line will carry games live via satellite to its fleet of ships, and will be broadcast in public areas including lounges, bars and cafes throughout the ship, with a number of special game-watching parties planned.

 Numbers Prove Popularity of Cruises

Every year cruises become more and more popular — and we have the numbers to prove it. 

According to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), last year’s number of cruise vacationers increased by 10.2 percent over those in 2002. 

Are you ready?

In 2003, a record 9.52 million worldwide guests sailed on a cruises.  In 2002, that number was 8.6 million.

But that’s not all.

In addition to the worldwide totals, CLIA’s member lines — representing 97.5 percent of the cruise capacity marketed in North America — also proved significant growth in the number of guests originating in North America.

Nearly 8 million North Americans sailed aboard CLIA member line ships in 2003, a 6.9 percent increase compared with the nearly 7.5 million who cruised in 2002.

“The industry’s impressive 2003 passenger totals demonstrate the broad appeal of cruise vacations and the CLIA member lines’ continuing efforts to improve our guests’ shipboard experience and to respond quickly to their changing vacation desires,” said Mark Conroy, CLIA’s chairman and president and CEO of Radisson Seven Seas Cruises. “Cruising flourished despite significant obstacles that challenged the entire travel community in 2003, including SARS, terrorism fears and an uncertain economy.”

By the end of this year, CLIA member lines will have introduced 12 new ships. In 2003, 15 vessels were introduced, and in 2002, 13 new ships entered the market. That’s 40 new ships in three years!

The 2004 ship introductions represent a record number of berths (26,687 in 2004 versus 21,273 in 2003 and 21, 074 in 2002) because of the number of large ships coming out this year.

“We could anticipate another record year in 2004, with approximately 10.6 million guests,” said Conroy, assuming that industry occupancy remains at current levels.

Put Your Face on a Stamp

Nowadays you don’t have to be Elvis Presley or Audrey Hepburn to have your face on a stamp. Especially if you’re a guest on  Holland America Line’s Rotterdam.

The line recently launched “Personal Postage” aboard the ship’s 10-day Panama Canal cruises. The new product of Post Nederlandse Antillean, the postal administration for the Netherland Antilles, allows cruise passengers to mail postcards and letters with legal stamps imprinted with their faces for delivery anywhere in the world from any Netherland Antilles port. The Rotterdam visits Curaçao on the Panama Canal itineraries. “You don’t have to be famous to have a stamp published in your honor,” said David A. Giersdorf, executive vice president, marketing and sales. “Now Holland America Line guests aboard the Rotterdam can surprise family and friends with letters that have the guests own image printed right on the stamp.”

The set of ten (10) “peel and stick” stamps and are printed on an 8 ½” x 11” presentation sheet designed in full color, and cost $20.95 per sheet. The ten stamps are personalized with the guest’s favorite photo and are printed against a painted background of Dutch Curaçao, the Rotterdam or a map of the Netherlands Antilles.

Pretty cool!

Guests can use a picture taken onboard, or one they brought from home in digital or print format. According to Holland America, the entire production process takes about a minute.

Mail can be deposited onboard at the Reception Desk, in the Photo Gallery mailbox or at any post box or post office in the Netherland Antilles, including Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St. Maarten and St. Eustatius.

Paying the Price

Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 has hardy been sailing two months, and the line has already implemented a charge for the initially included dining experience at the 156-seat Todd English restaurant onboard.

Starting March 6 guests will have to pay a per person charge of $20 for lunch and $30 for dinner at the reservations-only venue.

According to the line’s spokesperson, Julie Davis, “Todd English has been extremely popular and the demand was so high that the charge was implemented to allow all guests the opportunity to experience the restaurant.”

Todd English serves up Mediterranean cuisine.

Name Change

Nordic Empress soon will no longer be the odd one out of Royal Caribbean International’s fleet.

The 10-year-old ship will adopt the same “of the Seas” name that distinguishes the rest of Royal Caribbean’s vessels.

The re-named Empress of the Seas will also emerge from a refurbishment this May with extensive renovations before it arrives at its new homeport of Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, New Jersey, to begin six- and eight-night Bermuda cruises.

According to the line, the 1,602-passenger ship’s facelift will extend to every area of the ship, including the addition of dining and entertainment options as well as an expanded fitness area.

Empress of the Seas will gain the line’s Italian-style alternative Portofino restaurant, an upgraded Windjammer Café and main dining room, and the line’s Latte’tudes coffee bar and ice cream shop serving Seattle’s Best Coffee drinks and Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream. The ship’s ShipShape Fitness Center and Day Spa will be expanded onto two levels.

More entertainment venues will be available onboard, including the line’s Latin-themed bar called Boleros, and the nautical-themed Schooner Bar

Most importantly to many passengers, the staterooms and bathrooms will be upgraded and have new décor and increased storage space.

Adventurer In Libya

Clipper Cruise Line is heading into North African territory next year. The line says it plans to add Libya and other ports in the region to the Clipper Adventurer’s  2005 schedule — an announcement that comes as a result of the U.S. State Department’s decision last week to drop its travel restrictions on Libya.

The ship will drop previously slated calls in Spain, France, and Monte Carlo during the 15-day “Antiquities of North Africa and the Italian Mediterranean” cruise between Lisbon and Civitavecchia, with visits to Tangier, Morocco; Tunis, Tunisia; Tarabulus (Tripoli), Libya; Valetta, Malta; Porto Empedocle and Syracuse, Sicily; and Sorrento, Italy.

The cruise departs in May, but the line hasn’t released an exact departure date yet.

Intrav, Clipper’s parent company, doesn’t plan to stop experimenting with new itineraries for the small-ship cruise line.

“In addition to North Africa, we are also focusing our eyes toward Cuba, where our ships and well-designed excursions can continue to offer guests an intimate discovery in places previously off-limits,” said CEO David Drier.

Not that Americans will easily be able to travel there though!