Since our podcast this week features our favorite cruise ship innovations, I carried the theme forward with our cruise news blog this week. Several lines released news this week of something special that they would be adding to their ships to enhance cruiser's experiences. So, let's get to it!

Norwegian's Pre-Cruise Concierge
   As a new benefit to cruisers choosing to book accomodations in The Haven, a pre-cruise concierge "desk" will be available to assist in booking and arranging a variety of services and amenities.  The Haven consists of suites with butler service, priority boarding and tendering and higher quality soft goods in the rooms such as bedding and robes.  Passengers also have exclusive access to a private pool, two hot tubs, gym, sundeck, restaurant and bar.  The Haven is available on Norwegian's Jewel class ships as well as the Epic.  Now, in addition to all these amenities, passengers can pre-book shore excursions, dining and choose pillow type through their own dedicated service.
  Now, call me crazy, but booking shore excursions and dining is not that difficult, and I bring my own pillow. I suppose (aka know for a fact) that The Haven and its new concierge desk is not targeting me though.  I guess rich people like the idea of having a dedicated phone line to book stuff? Don't their travel agents do that for them anyway? (I'm not rich, and my TA does that stuff for me) So is this for rich people's travel agents? I guess it just sounds good, or is likely a way to get people interested in The Haven.  I'm interested, now only if I could afford it...

iPads in Every Stateroom for the Royal Caribbean Vision Class
   Royal Caribbean is one of the leading cruise lines in innovation on cruise ships with their ice skating rinks, surf simulators and record-breaking ships.  Now, some of their smaller ships will be getting a different kind of innovation: iPads in the staterooms.  Starting with the Splendour of the Seas in February and continuing as the ships are renovated through 2013, the Vision class will have the tablet in staterooms available for Internet browsing (for a price), booking reservations and shore excursions, managing shipboard accounts, watching movies and checking out the daily Cruise Compass. 
   While I love iPads as much as the next guy, this seems like an extremely high expenditure without much payoff.  Does Royal Caribbean expect these tablets to increase on board spending in any way? Many of their past innovations were certainly large and impressive enough to perhaps convince someone to book that particular ship, but I can't imagine anyone booking just because their room will have an iPad.  I, for one, would prefer more outward improvements on these older ships, and looking at what they have done with the Splendour, it looks like my wishes have been granted. To get a peek at all the refurbishments, check out the video on royalcaribbeanblog.com


Disney Fantasy to Feature the Muppets
   In addition to all the fun stuff we have to look forward to on the Disney Fantasy like the Aladdin stage show and new interactive water play area, the stars of a current hit movie will be hosting a new game on the ship: no, not Edward and Bella, The Muppets!  While it is somewhat difficult to tell from the description, it sounds like it will be a scavenger hunt type game with The Muppets leading via video. According to Disney Parks blog, the goal of the game is to find props and items for the Muppets so that they can take the stage in a big performance. Guests will utilize a unique game card and explore enchanted art and more to find the props. 
   I absolutely love scavenger hunts and such on cruise ships, so this sounds like great fun to me, but am I alone in wishing we could also see that Muppets performance in a night time stage show as well? Still, props to Disney for utilizing the Muppets on the cruise ships. Now, can we have some meet and greets and photo ops?

That's all for today. We hope you have a great week and that you get a chance to tune in to our cruise podcast where we discuss the most recent cruise news in depth.    

   This week a tropical storm in the Gulf caused more cruise itinerary changes, Norwegian released some candidates for names of their new ships, and Royal Caribbean announced some details about their itineraries in Asia. Let's see if we can make this interesting...

Tropical Storm Lee Delays Ships/Disrupts Itineraries- More hurricane season drama occurred this week as TS Lee dumped a ton of rain and wind on southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.  The ports of New Orleans and Mobile we affected with Carnival and Norwegian having to delay the return of ships and the departure of others.  Both cruise lines reimbursed passengers a percentage for any missed cruise days, Norwegian in the form of an on board credit, but presumably passengers were forced to cover their own extra hotel expenses and change fees for air tickets.  
   Earlier this week, a good friend questioned why we have been promoting travel insurance as a no-brainer when we are so focused on saving money, and often, insurance doesn't make fiscal sense if one can afford to self insure.  It got me thinking, and to be honest, I have never insured a vacation that was not a cruise.  Maybe I am haphazard, but I figure if a flight is delayed and we get there a little late, I am not eating too huge a cost.  With the cost of changing plane tickets, I often feel like if I buy a plane ticket, I am going goshdarnit!  But cruises are a bit of a different breed to me.  If something weird happens and you miss the boat, well, you miss the boat (maybe that is where that saying came from).  I would much rather be out a couple hundred dollars for insurance than a couple thousand for the whole cruise.  This hurricane season has really highlighted that for me, and has made me much more likely to bite the bullet and put up my couple hundred.  But, I guess if you can afford to self insure and fly to the next destination, should that be needed, more power to you. (And maybe some insurance guy is sitting in his office right now, laughing at my naivete.)


Royal Caribbean Sends Another Ship to China-  This week, Royal Caribbean released more details about the 3,138 passenger Voyager of the Seas itineraries in Asia.  The 2,076 passenger Legend of the Seas has been operating cruises out of Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong since 2009, and the larger namesake of the Voyager class will join her in May of 2012.  Longer cruises to the South Pacific, and Australia will also be offered.  
   If you have been paying attention to the news at Royal Caribbean lately, there is an obvious movement away from the North American market with a greater emphasis on Europe than ever before, and now this growth in Asia.  From financing cruise ports in Europe like Ravenna and in Greece, to their chairman announcing that North Americans won't be their leading demographic anymore it is clear that this is a trend they expect to continue.  With less than half of their ships already stationed in North America year round, one is left to wonder how far Royal Caribbean will eventually go in deploying their fleet to the rest of the world.  While I am certainly excited about the options that Royal Caribbean is offering all around the world, I hope they do not change their product, making it less appealing to North American cruisers : changing on board currency, language, entertainment etc. 


Norwegian Announces New Ship Name Finalists-  A few months ago, Norwegian requested that cruisers submit name suggestions for the two newest ships in their fleet, and the preliminary results are in.  Perhaps most unimaginative is the Norwegian Breakaway (since the shipbuilding project has been called Project Breakaway).  I have personally hated the name "Project Breakaway" since I heard it as it conjures up images of unstable things.  For some reason, I also think of those zip off pants/shorts things.  Another doozie is the Norwegian Getaway.  Really?  Bonnie and Clyde get ready because your getaway vehicle is now a slow moving cruise ship.  Similar is the Norwegian Escape, which is slightly better because I just think of the SUV.  And that leaves my two favorites, keeping in mind that I am picking the best of a so-so lot: Norwegian Journey and Norwegian Bliss.   Not too bad, in my opinion, and certainly the two I hope they will land on.  Sure, Bliss is a chocolate candy, but how bad is that, really? And Journey is slightly boring and reminds me of the 80's band, but again, decent reference.  And, as critical as I am, I really can't think of anything better.  

Thanks for reading, as always, and I would love your comments.  Do you like some of the names or have better ideas?  Are you upset about losing the majority of Royal Caribbean's fleet to the rest of the world?  Do you think I am being an idiot about travel insurance?  Sound off below, and have a great weekend! 
Resources: www.cruiseradio.net , www.royalcaribbeanblog.com

Good morning cruise fans! Yes, the inspiration has hit once again, and the news is forthcoming. Well, my thoughts on the news are forthcoming. Let's get started, shall we?


Hurricanes- Everyone is talking about the hurricane these days, and while I certainly do not blame them, I have little to no interest in discussing the weather. (Although I did ace meteorology in college ;) ) If you have a cruise coming up in the near future, you can putz around on the internet trying to find out what is happening OR (suggested) you can call your travel agent! What, Obama? Travel agents are irrelevent? Well, who booked all those trips to Spain for your family? But, I digress.... Call your travel agent or the cruise line directly. You may be thinking "why would anyone cruise during hurricane season anyway? Aren't your plans very likely to be disrupted?" And you would be wrong. (Well, about it not being a good time to cruise) Chris Owen wrote a great article about the pluses of cruising during hurricane season. Find it on his website here: Chris Cruises Although this is still a great time to cruise, it might not be the best time to book private excursions ahead of time, which might require a deposit, and you might not be able to show up. Hurricane season might be a better time to cruise, purely for relaxation on the beach, or to (dare I say it?) book shore excursions.


Stranded in San Juan- On first reading of this article, I thought that the cruise line had left a port day early and I was aghast. I mean, how in the world could you know if a ship's Captain had suddenly decided to leave 3 hours early? Royal Caribbean bat signal? But, no. San Juan was an embarkation port and left a few hours early, around 5, instead of hanging out until 8:30. Yes, it is still a big deal and people did get stranded in San Juan, but who in the world hasn't checked in by 5:00 pm? I mean, the mandatory boat drill is almost always around 4:00. If you are anything like most avid cruise passengers, you are knocking over your fellow cruisers when the terminal opens in the morning to be the first in line for the buffet. An interesting aspect to this story was that the cruise line did contact people who had booked airline travel through them as well, just not "independent" passengers. Just another great reason to have travel insurance. Find this story and every single story pertaining to Royal Caribbean on royalcaribbeanblog.com. Seriously, this guy is thorough. 


The Carnival Breeze Life - Really? As much as I love the Carnival Magic, and am excited about the Carnival Breeze, this new advertising campaign makes me roll my eyes. I understand that they are attempting to convey that a cruise can help you relax more in your day to day life, but I think Princess is doing a much better job with the same theme. (This one is my favorite, but all of them make me sigh Coffee Moment) See Carnival, that is how it is done. Having folks claim that they are going to "live their life at the buffet" or "wear flip flops all the time" or "only ride waterslides and play minigolf" is silly. And the whole Mr. Breeze thing? Okay, I'll admit that so far, those commercials are cuter than The Carnival Breeze Life. I might can get onboard with him. But, most of all, Carnival should be showing the world how great these new ships are, and what a departure they are from what most people think of as "Carnival". The staterooms are gorgeous, the Red Frog Pub really IS a great, relaxing hangout, and the features like a whole fleet of hot tubs, great waterslides, ropes course etc. would really appeal to a large segment of the population. If you haven't checked out the new campaign, SeaTrade Insider has links here.


Royal Caribbean and Universal Packages- After several years of Disney building much of their cruise success on combining their cruise vacations with park days in a package, another cruise line has finally wisened up to what a good idea this is. Royal Caribbean will have packages with Universal for their shorter cruises out of Tampa. I think this is really smart, and can introduce a whole demographic to cruising AND, I think it will be successful for Royal Caribbean especially because their rates are so much lower than Disney's. Imagine you are planning a trip down to Orlando and learn that you can add on a relaxing cruise out of Tampa for a few extra days for only a few hundred dollars a piece. As it is, Universal is somewhat difficult to push as a destination park within itself, but combined with a cruise, well, you have a really complete vacation. Honestly, to me, this makes more sense than Disney because Disney really IS a complete destination to itself. You can easily spend a week there, and if you only have 3 or 4 days, you would miss a lot. Universal, not so much. Gene Sloan has more on that story here.

Well, that is it for today. As always, we love to hear your feedback.

July 11, 2011
Over the next 3 years, Royal Caribbean will spend a reported $300 million to bring some of the newest innovations from the Oasis class ships to some of the older ships in its fleet. The changes will come to most of the Vision, Voyager and Radiance class ships, with the Radiance of the Seas having already received the upgrades in its recent drydock. Each ship will undergo a lengthy drydock period and, when completed, will have the following upgrades, plus possibly more:
The Chops Grille Steakhouse, Izumi Restaurant, Park Cafe, Boardwalk Doghouse, Rita's Cantina, as well as new cabin designs, the Royal Babies and Tots Nursery, WiFi, LED screen on pool deck.
For more information, stay tuned to the royalcaribbeanblog.com