Crown Princess, Halloween Cruise

Dear Readers:

I will be away for the next 10 days relaxing onboard the Crown Princess. I've never been to Roatan, Honduras so I'm looking forward to this trip!

During my absence, I will be keeping an eye out for any cruise news to post upon my return, and I will attempt to post some non-incriminating photos of the ship and ports if I find anything especially interesting that you will enjoy.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

NCL to Build Two New Ships

Amen! NCL has announced that they will be building two new ships similar to the Norwegian Epic but the bathrooms will be "proper cruise ship bathrooms." If you haven't had the pleasure of cruising on the Epic, their bathroom facilities in the staterooms are innovative, but impractical. The plastic encased commode afford no privacy to its users. Any noise you make in there will disrupt everyone else on the ship - it's like blasting a cannon in an echo chamber. You can read the details of the latest rumors which I picked up from Cruisemates.com.

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Just four months after the inaugural cruise of Norwegian Epic, NCL is announcing two brand new ships to sail into service in April, 2012 and April, 2013. The announcement is another affirmation of confidence by the cruise industry that the economic downturn will improve soon. Princess Cruise Line also recently announced two new ships to debut in 2012 and 2013.

The two new NCL ships will be similar in size and concept to Norwegian Epic, even though the Epic design has been criticized in a number of ways including its oddly designed staterooms where each of the bathroom elements (shower, sink and wash basin) are in separate areas with limited privacy. A lot of the "blame" for design problems with Epic has been attributed to the former president of the line, Colin Veitch, but so far he has not commented.

In addition, while Norwegian Epic boasts some of the best entertainment at sea, the entertainment venues are inconveniently small. The main theater is only large enough to seat about 16% of the ship's passenger capacity while most ship theaters can accommodate 35 to 50-percent of the passenger load. The exterior design of Norwegian Epic is boxy and unbalanced with a big, square top-forward superstructure for the Garden Suite complex which also cuts down on the amount of open pool deck area available to the rest of the passengers.

In any case, we do not really know much about the new ships yet, but we hope to hear of improvements over the design problems of Epic as the new ship design develops. It is possible that what we see now will be much different in the end.

The new ships will be slightly smaller than Epic at 143,500-tons (vs. 155,000 for Epic) and 4000 passenger berths (4100 for Epic). The main changes appear to be mostly cosmetic to the exterior lines for a more integrated-looking superstructure. One can see the Garden Suite Complex still takes up the front one-third of the top pool deck, but it appears to have fewer decks than on Epic. The rendering does not have any water slides, but we assume a Water Park will be added. Also missing is the open-air aft nightclub called Spice H2O on Epic.

There has been no confirmation of the interior design except to say they will also feature the same "Freestyle Cruising" concept as Epic, which means a large variety of restaurants (many with a cover charge) and a variety of different nighttime venues.

The Spiegel Tent, Fat Cats Blues Bar and the Ice Bar were exciting innovations on Norwegian Epic. I expect the new ships will maintain the quality of entertainment achieved on Epic, though it is hard to imagine what main show can be as universally appealing as Blue Man Group.

Norwegian Epic had a radically new stateroom design, including a separate area just for single cruisers called the Studio Staterooms. For the new ship, my guess is that they will keep the Studio concept, and either reverts to the standard square design for the balcony cabins or keep the "New wave" design but add open floor space by removing some of the abundant storage. The bathroom design will most like revert to the approach on Norwegian Pearl, where the entire bathroom is completely isolated from the stateroom with the sink area in the middle, the shower fully enclosed on one side and the toilet equally isolated on the other.
In any case, while there are few new ships scheduled to debut in 2012, it is good to know the cruise industry has returned to ordering new ships to prepare for more robust economic times in the future. For 2013, the new NCL ships will rival a brand new design coming from Princess Cruises which are smaller in size but with a similar passenger capacity. The new Disney ships, Disney Dream (2011) and Disney Fantasy (2012), will also be of a similar size and capacity to the Princess ships. That actually means the new "mainstream" NCL ships could be roomier than the designs coming from other lines generally considered to be premium; an interesting development.

Cruise Ship Rockin' & Rollin'

The Pacific Sun swayed a little 'to & 'fro while on a recent voyage! Watch the video and see chairs, tables and people sliding around on the ship! (And watch the lady on the far right of the screen as she stumbles towards the left side of the screen, slams into a pole and gets knocked unconscious.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw_qwwb9k1Q&feature=fvst

Celebrity Century update!

Here is the link to the update of the Celebrity Century cancelled cruise. How nice of Celebrity Cruises to offer a free 10-hour bus ride back to Barcelona.

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2010/10/celebrity-century-cruise-canceled-rudder-damage-ship-/127533/1

Celebrity Century Disembarks All Passengers on Day 2 of Their Cruise!

The Celebrity Century was on Day 2 of it's cruise sailing roundtrip from Barcelona. On Day 2 of their cruise when the ship was in Villefranche, France, it was discovered that there was damage to the ship's rudder. The cruise was halted so that emergency repairs can take place. All passengers were told they will receive a full refund + 25% future cruise credit. Passengers are being provided complimentary internet and phone services.

Watch for more details!

World's Largest Cruise Night

The cruise industry has come together to stimulate sales for 2011 by offering reduced deposits, onboard credit, or upgrades depending on the cruise line, ship and date. To see a list of specials taking place today-only, follow the link below:

http://vacationstogo.com/wlcn.cfm

Bad behavior can get you disembarked earlier than planned!

Just because you paid to go on your cruise doesn't give any passenger the right to misbehave. According to USA Today, one prominent couple was disembarked early from their cruise on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 for "multiple incidences of disrespectful and disruptive behavior."

Enjoy this article!

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2010/10/cunard-line-queen-mary-2-couple-ordered-off-ship/126121/1

Can waiting for a last minute cruise really save money?

The answer to this is YES. But it has to be the right kind of cruise, and usually only certain kinds of people will benefit from it.

A "repositioning cruise" can be your best savings (this is a cruise that starts in one city and ends in another.) Why is it such a money-saver? People prefer to not have to buy airfare, particularly airfare into one city and out of another which is usually more expensive than buying roundtrip airfare. Therefore, the cruise lines often have difficulty filling ships that don't travel roundtrip.

About a month ago, I booked three couples on a cruise on Costa Atlantica October 13 - 24, 2010 for $799 per person for a balcony room. Today, three days before the cruise departs, I booked a new couple on the ship for $499 for a balcony room. This cruise leaves from New York City and ends in Quebec City, QC. The couple who booked today will be taking the bus from their home in Quebec City to New York and board the ship. They will arrive back in Quebec City and friends will pick them up. No airfare required and about $550 per person including taxes for 11 days ($50/day per person for a balcony room is a great bargain.)

If you have frequent flier miles or airline benefits, consider a cruise that starts in one city and ends in another. It can be one of the best values that the cruise industry has to offer.

Strong Canadian Dollar Increases Cruise Sales

In the past few days, I've noticed an increase in the number of Canadians calling in to our agency to either 1) book and pay for a new cruise or 2) pay off a cruise that doesn't need to be paid for several months. As of today, $1 US dollar is about 0.99 Canadian dollars making it almost on par with the US's economy.

If you're a Canadian and would like to take advange of the Canadian dollar's performance, call your reservations agent and pay off the balance of your cruise. Generally you can still cancel if necessary and not lose any money as long as your cruise is 70+ days from departure.

Welcome to Cruise Authority!

Welcome to Cruise Authority where we strive to bring you the most interesting cruise tips, tricks, and news as soon as it becomes available.

Got a cruise question? If you send an e-mail to me and if I feel it will benefit the readers of this blog, I will be happy to share your question and my response. This is an active post and everyone is invited to participate.

Things you can look forward to experiencing include:

Cruise current events
How-To topics
Interviews
Relevant connections to other blogs
Top-5 lists for issues related to cruising
Opinion articles pertaining to cruise issues
Photos from new ships
Polls (I want to know what you think!)
Reviews of ships, cruise articles, books and other cruise-related topics

I look forward to hearing from each and every one of you!

JIM LEARY