Carnival sure has been busy with their deployments lately, and today is no exception.  More moves are coming for Carnival ships with some mystery around one in particular.  First, the Carnival Valor will be replacing the Victory in San Juan, increasing the capacity there from around 2,500 to 3,000. The itineraries for the Valor are week-long sailings with stops in St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.

The Carnival Victory, in turn, will be moving to Miami will be sailing 4 and 5 day cruises to either Cozumel and Key West or Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay for the 4 day cruises and Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios for the 5 day itineraries.  Both ships will offer special repositioning itineraries in late Jan- early Feb of 2013.

The most interesting news to me is concerning the Carnival Destiny, which will be operating a 16 day transatlantic cruise on Feb 4th with stops along the Mediterranean and ending in Civitavecchia (port for Rome).  Details haven't been released yet about what the sailing season or itineraries will be for this ship, but there are a few intriguing things to note. First, Feb. 4th is extremely early for a transatlantic with most not taking place until mid to late March.  Does this mean a year-round ship for Europe?  Second, it ends in Civitavecchia which hints to me that it might be a homeport for the ship.  Remember, the Legend will homeport in Barcelona and Venice when it is in the Western Mediterranean.  Its itineraries also tend to be longer. Will the Destiny be operating 7 day Western Mediterranean itineraries? We'll see. And how exciting is it to have two Carnival options in Europe next year?!? You know my answer. Stay tuned for more news!

Yesterday, Disney announced some new itineraries for not only the Disney Wonder as expected, but also the Disney Magic.  For the past few weeks, there has been much speculation about what Disney would do with the Wonder since it cancelled several Mexican Riviera itineraries next December.  Alaska has been profitable for Disney, but we have seen continued sales and discounts for the Mexican Riviera.  

About a week ago, the buzz began that the Disney Wonder would homeport in Miami, and yesterday it was confirmed.  The Wonder will be doing a mix of 4 and 5 day itineraries to the Bahamas and Western Caribbean respectively.  Most include a stop at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, but a few substitute a stop in Grand Cayman (a poor substitution, in my opinion).  The Wonder will still be heading back to Alaska in the summer of 2013 with Panama Canal cruises offered for repositioning.

Perhaps more exciting are the itineraries for the Disney Magic, which will be returning to the Mediterranean with different, yet amazing itineraries. Cruising from Barcelona, most of the Magic's itineraries will be 7 night cruises with stops in Villefranche, LaSpezia, Civitavecchia and Naples, which are really the highlights of their previous Med itineraries.  They are also offering four special 12 night sailings with 2 stopping in Venice, Dubrovnik and Malta and the other 2 stopping in Athens(Piraeus), Kusadasi, Mykonos and Malta.  There are also a couple of 4 day cruises with stops in Villefranche and Palma de Mallorca.  

I must admit to drooling when I read about both of the 12 day itineraries in Europe.  The first one with Venice contains all ports that I have previously visited, but they are all truly amazing ports. It is particularly suited for first time visitors to Europe as it hits all the highlights: Rome, Florence, Naples, Venice, a The second one with Athens, Turkey and Mykonos holds even more appeal since those are ports I have yet to see, but you do lose Naples, which is a great stop.  Still, there are some great choices there, and I imagine that they will sell quite well for Disney since they are new itineraries.  And, of course, if you are booking one of these cruises, you can find port info here on our site, detailing how to do each of these ports on your own. Feel free to email us with any questions [email protected]

Norwegian's New Ad Campaign and Announcements-
  This has been a very full week for Norwegian Cruise Line as they have not only announced that the Norwegian Breakaway's homeport will be New York City, but have also introduced a new television ad campaign for the first time since 2008.  The commercial encourages travelers to "cruise like a Norwegian" (whatever that means) in addition to highlighting other cruise related activities with similar tags such as "eat like a Parisian", "love like a Venetian" and "party like a Brazilian".  It seems that, with this new ad campaign, Norwegian is moving away from the NCL moniker and stressing their Norwegian roots.  I guess the question remains, "how DO Norwegians actually cruise?", because as far as I can tell, Americans cruise for vacation or holiday more than any other nationality on earth.  Other perplexing parts of the campaign include a quiz that you can take to test "how Norwegian are you?"  (Guess my friends up in North Dakota will ace that one...) Common sense aside, the commercial is pretty and is better than it could have been. 
  Back to the more important news, in my opinion: the homeporting of Norwegian's newest ship in New York City.  Norwegian has always had more ships in New York than many other cruise lines, but this most recent announcement cements the importance of that brand to New York's cruise industry.  The Breakaway will be the largest ship to be stationed there, and the Norwegian Gem will still be operating cruises out of New York with the smaller Star to be moved down to New Orleans upon the Breakaway's arrival.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Norwegian CEO Kevin Sheen for the announcement last Thursday and expressed his enthusiasm for the new ship.  City official estimate that the Breakaway will bring in an additional $35 million over a two year period.  
  Our opinions on the news?  We love New York City and are always thrilled to see a large ship sail out of somewhere other than the Miami area because we feel diverse travel opportunities are lacking in the cruise industry.  I, for one, look forward to a couple of days of Broadway and New York dining followed by an amazing cruise on a brand new ship.

Celebrity Offers to Let You Extend Your Cruise
  Anyone who has ever been on a cruise knows the hustle and bustle of the morning of disembarkation and how rushed you feel to get off the ship.  As I am usually rushing to catch a flight, this doesn't really bother me, but for someone who has a later flight or nowhere in particular to go, it can be quite annoying.  Celebrity cruise lines is offering a solution: for $59 passengers in Europe can remain on the ship until 90 minutes prior to the next sailing.  Passengers must vacate staterooms by 9:00 am, which is an hour later than normal, but may hang out in public areas for several more hours, even through lunch.  I see this as a huge benefit for those who have later flights because when traveling in Europe, it is often difficult to decide what to do with your luggage(and your time) in the time between the cruise and the flight.  With this option, you could just relax on the ship for a few more hours and not have that added stress.  Is $59 the right price? I am not sure. Clearly, it needs to be enough that not everyone will take advantage of the offer, but the equivalent of an extra cruise day would be ridiculous.  So, yes. I think $59 is about right. Will I ever take advantage of this?  Perhaps; I have trouble imagining a circumstance where I would rather hang out on a ship than tour Europe.  Regardless, I think it is a novel idea and a good option.


  That's all for today, folks. Tune into our cruise podcast for more cruise news and information, and feel free to comment with your opinions.

 The Internet was buzzing today with speculation about the announcements from Carnival Cruise Line.  And while there are no new ships on the horizon other than the Breeze, which will be debuting in June, and no groundbreaking announcements about new itineraries or home ports, what was announced can definitely be classified as FUN, and that is what Carnival is going for, so let's get into it!

All the announcements centered around upgrades which will come to most of the Fun Ships over the next couple of years, starting with the Carnival Liberty next month and the Breeze, Conquest and Glory following in 2012. So what is new? Find out below!

Eateries

Guy's Burger Joint:
If you have ever wanted to sample celebrity chef fare without paying extra on a cruise ship, here is your chance.  With 5 types of burgers (80/20) and Guy's signature onion rings, this is sure to be a hit. The restaurant will also feature Guy's barbecue sauce and a toppings bar. 

Blue Iguana Cantina:
If you like Carnival's made to order burritos as much as I do, you were excited about this next one. The Blue Iguana Cantina will feature those great burritos as well as tacos, homemade tortilla chips and salsa.  It will be poolside on the Lido deck, and will be a welcome addition, assuming they can get through the line quicker than the previous burrito station in the Lido area. 


Bars

Red Frog Rum Bar
It is not surprising to see that little red frog pop up again on a Carnival ship, considering how popular the Red Frog Pub is currently on the Magic, but this time he is headlining a rum bar, rather than a pub.  The bar will be poolside, and will  feature a variety of rums and rum-based concoctions, but not to worry, Thirsty Frog Red beer is still available. Check out the menu here
Adjacent, and competing will be....

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar (photo at top of article)
As mentioned, this bar will also be poolside, but will feature tequila and frozen tequila drinks as well as Mexican beer. Menu is here

Alchemy Bar
A cute bar idea with a pharmaceutical twist down on the Promenade Deck with prescription order pads and drink offering such as "The Remedy" "Forty is the New Twenty" and "The Antioxidant". Full menu can be found here.

Library Bar
A library with a wine dispenser, but classy. (Where do they come up with some of this stuff?) Apparently, a bartender will be librarian in residence here with an extensive wine collection, as well as books. 

EA Sports Bar
Carnival has always been lacking in good sports bars, so this one is certainly a refreshing addition.  It will, of course, feature live sporting events, but will also have EA game titles available to play.  And, if you are hungry, hot soft pretzels will be offered for $1.25 as well as peanuts. The menu is here

Entertainment

The rest of the announcements centered around new entertainment offerings on the ships which include:
Hasbro: The Game Show: Described as a chance to play all your favorite Hasbro games onstage.  A little vague, but seems to be a pretty large scale production with LED screen and refers to "teaming" up, so maybe you will play as teams. Should be fun!

DJ Irie- The official DJ of the Miami Heat will be training DJ's to rock the Carnival ships. I never noticed that they needed extra training before, but then again, I am not really "in the know" where DJ's and party music are concerned. "Baby Got Back" always gets me moving.

Playlist Productions- Carnival is getting some new shows! The revealing titles are: Motor City, The Brits, Divas and Latin Nights. Really, I am a fan of anything done well, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

George Lopez in the Punchliner Comedy Club- And last, but not least... well, barely not least, George Lopez is teaming up with Carnival to hand select the comedic talent on board.  I have to say, I wasn't impressed with the comedy on Carnival's ships, so maybe this will be a good thing.  And, if I ever do get to see Lopez... well, that would be cool. 
Additionally, they will have a new brunch in the comedy club with hourly performances. 


Whew! There you go. Lots of new stuff coming to only a few ships, not all that soon. Well, I guess it is something...

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.

The port of Valletta, Malta has seen an increase in cruise visitors this year with a fifty percent increase in the month of July, and a nine percent increase for the year so far overall. Transport Malta has spent 500,000 euros in improvements to the cruise terminal to allow for larger ships. The Grand Princess had a maiden call to Valletta in July, and Malta hopes to attract more large ships.
Malta is one of the easiest ports to visit in the Mediterranean, and is adding services such as water taxis and direct water transportation to Gozo in the near future. It is one of the few Mediterranean ports which has a terminal mall, lining the quay. With its historic sites, ease of travel, and the fact that English is the prominant language spoken in Malta, its appeal should continue to rise in the Mediterranean as more Americans cruise in Europe.

July 17, 2011
In January of next year, the Carnival Destiny will be going under the knife, so to speak, and will be in dry dock for over a month with major construction occuring on both the open decks and interior of the ship. On the upper decks, they will be upgrading the waterslides and moving them to the aft of the ship as well as adding a new pool and completely renovating the Lido deck. Inside, two new restaurants, a steakhouse and an Italian restaurant (likely Cucina del Capitano) will be added to an open space in the old Galaxy dining room. All cabins will be freshened up as well as an entire modernization of the spa. The Camp Carnival program will also be upgraded. One is only left to wonder if there is room for the Red Frog Pub on this ship in the midst of all the improvements...

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

If you have never considered a river cruise before, it might be time in the next few years as Viking River Cruises has delivered the first of ten new ships in 3 years. The new ship will be sailing a series of 8 day "Romantic Danube" cruises between Budapest and Nuremburg, Germany and start at $1656 for double occupancy. The Prestige has an open air lounge, all outward facing cabins with floor to ceiling French doors on the balcony rooms and free wi-fi.
Here's hoping that the expansion of the cruise line results in more deals and lower fares so that more of us can experience these amazing cruises in countries not normally known for cruising like Germany and Austria.

Today Norwegian Cruise Lines released images and details for the balcony rooms and mini-suites on the two ordered ships, which they are entitling "Project Breakaway". The ships, set to sail in 2013 and 2014, will be 144,000 tons, which is smaller than their newest ship, the Norwegian Epic.  Other notable differences from the Epic will be the return to "normal" cabin restrooms and the lack of curved walls in the stateroom. New upgrades are a built in 26 inch LED television, extra storage, all energy efficient LED lighting and a muted color palatte. The new ships will feature 1,024 balcony rooms and 238 mini-suits. More details and pictures can be found here at NCL's site. Further information about other stateroom categories will be released next month.