One of the good things about going on a cruise is that pretty much everything is included. But Norwegian Cruise Line will shake that up when it starts collecting cover charges on its two new F3 ships in 2010.
NCL says the cover is less about making money and more about controlling capacity. After all, you don't want too many warm bodies in the Ice Bar, above, which will be kept at a frosty 17 degrees. At least a drink is included.
To spend even more, you'll wanna hit up Posh Beach Club, where it's yoga classes and spa treatments by day and bottle service and open-air dancing by night. You'll need a "Posh Pass" to ride the private elevator up to the club, and your drinks are extra on top of that.
While these aren't the only schmancy bars planned for the new ships, maybe two will be enough for you. After all, you don't wanna stumble overboard.
We're not big cruisers, and here's one more reason for us not to start: Cruise ships can run aground. The Mona Lisa ship, which is registered in the Bahamas but floats around Europe a lot, has got stuck on the bottom of the sea off the coast of Latvia.
After leaving the northern German port of Kiel, the Mona Lisa was headed for the Latvian capital Riga and got pretty close, but not close enough. Nearly a thousand passengers are now waiting around for a solution, as attempts to tug the cruiser off have so far failed.
With all the modern technology that cruising comes with these days, we're a little surprised that such accidents can still occur. We're also surprised that cruise lines leave the passengers on board to twiddle their thumbs until things start looking better.
Dame Helen Mirren helped christen a boat in Southampton, England yesterday. The Ventura, which carries 3,600 passengers, 11 restaurant and a full theater, is the largest cruise ship in Britain right now, and it took a full team of Royal Marines to, at Mirren's signal, ceremoniously break a giant champagne bottle against its hull.
Mirren returned to England for the event from Reno, where she has been filming "Love Ranch," a movie based on the true story of a married couple who open a legal brothel together. Joe Pesci plays her husband and business partner, but her real-life husband Taylor Hackford is directing.
Ironically, this week is the 96th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, which departed from Southampton on its maiden voyage but would never make it to New York.
While all those low cost carriers zipping across Europe make traveling fast and easy, there's still something to be said for the slow way: cruising around on Europe's rivers.
A number of the most comfortable boats wandering the Danube or the Rhine come from Amadeus Waterways and if you judge the industry by their big expansion plans, more and more of us will be stepping aboard a boat to experience Europe. With this year's launch of the Amacello and the Amadante, the Amalyra and the Amadolce due to set sail in 2009, and another two ships in 2010, travelers dreaming of a river cruise from Amsterdam to Paris or around the Black Sea will have more and more choices.
As far as we can see, the only limit to the Amadeus fleet will come when they can't think of any more names for their ships. Presumably there is a finite supply of romantic sounding names beginning with "Ama." Until then, they'll keep sailing.
Man, are we ever scared of the Russian Far East. We cower in fear when we fly over the Bering Sea on our trans-Pacific flights. Apparently it's not all nuclear waste and oil-soaked deep sea creatures over there, though, because Russia's Right Coast is just on fire for the 2008 summer season!
Strangely, we mourned for a second or two when adventure cruisers Quark Expeditions canceled their 2007 trip to the Russian Far East. Yes, we were morbidly ogling the itinerary. But picking up where Quark left off, Abercrombie & Kent has added a July sailing of its Clipper Odyssey ship from Alaska to the Russian abyss and back (if you're lucky).
And for the cruise-averse, Vladivostok Air will launch non-stop flights from Anchorage, AK, to Petropavlovsk, Russia, also in July. Scheduled passenger service between Alaska and Russia has previously been offered by Alaska Airlines and the mysterious Magadan Air.
You'll have to wait until mid-July to see the outrageous waterfalls/public art installation of artist Olafur Eliasson, but tour operator Circle Line Downtown is already running this season's batch of New York Harbor tours. This month, boats sail on Fridays and weekends, and daily cruises start in April.
We know, we know, it seems soooo touristy. It sorta is. But when we took a Circle Line cruise last year, we were surprised by how cool it was. Besides, tours only last an hour, so you can quickly head to some kind of hipster party to re-up your street cred once you're back on terra firma.
As for those waterfall cruises, Circle Line will offer special 30-minute floats out to see the art, narrated by Eliasson himself. Tickets are $10, and it's the only way to see the falls up close short of chartering your own boat.
Cruises. Crowds of silver-headed vacationers sipping on Manhattans, routine excursions at tourist-thronged ports and bad food right?
Sort of. The cruise industry is working hard to change its image. The New York Times has the low-down on hot (and cold) destinations, a politically-charged cruise to Alaska and how to island-hop without leaving New York City. Post-click, our take on all the cruise news fit to print.
We get it. You've gotta do something to make your ad stand out from all the rest. But these new commercials from the British line P&O Cruises are just scary.
Can we skip the whispers and lightning fast cuts? How bout limiting the number of shaky shots and underwater scenes? And the heavy breathing? Please, make it stop.
We've got another ad post click, if you can stand it.
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by pbb
