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| << March29, 2004 - 7 Seas Cruise News |
April19, 2004 - 7 Seas Cruise News >> |
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Hello, Cruise Fans! Welcome to another edition of the 7 Seas Cruise News. I am just about a day behind with this publication. (Normally I put it together on Sunday evening) We could blame it on the time change, but the truth is we went down to the Florida Keys. So, please excuse the latest of this edition. I hope to have enough news to make up for the delay. First, a big warm welcome to our new subscribers! Hope you enjoy our weekly (well, usually) look at what's going on in the world of cruising. Pat reminds everyone that there are some serious bargains available right now for early-season Alaska cruises. If you'd like a nice May getaway, call Pat at 1-866-424-1090 toll-free or drop him an e-mail at cruiseplanners7seascruises@msn.com You can check itineraries and departures any time you like at our website, www.7seascruises.com, but please don't believe the prices. Almost always, Pat can beat those prices which are merely provided to us by the cruise lines. Please let Pat get a genuine price quote for you. You won't be disappointed! And now, some news??¦ As many of you know, we are a Cruise Planners franchise. Well, just this month, CRUISE PLANNERS got some hefty exposure when the company was listed at No. 23 in Entrepreneur Magazine's "101 Top Businesses You Can Start at Home." Just one other travel firm, CruiseOne, is included in the list, at No. 30. A spokesman for Cruise Planners said its inclusion gives the company credibility." Princess- Scholarship@sea program- Passengers on some Princess cruises can choose from approximately 20 courses per voyage, from four core subject areas- Culinary Arts, Visual/Creative Arts, Computer Technology and Special Topics. Italian cooking, hand-built pottery, digital travel photography, Internet basics, estate planning, web page design and watercolor techniques are just a few of the enrichment courses that are planned. All lectures are free of charge and passengers are welcome to enjoy as many as they wish. Pat can tell you which ships offer the classes. CELEBRITY'S upcoming offerings in the Arctic and Antarctic -- part of the cruise line's continued roll-out of exotic vacation options under its Xpeditions umbrella -- will be 12- and 13-day icebreaker voyages. The High Arctic trips jump off from Ottawa, Canada, on Aug. 11 and Sept. 3, and stops at Resolute, Lancaster Sound, Coburg Island, Ellesmere Island, and Beechy Island, Canada; and Cape York and various points in northern Greenland. On the opposite pole, 12-day trips depart roundtrip from Ushuaia, Argentina, on Oct. 25 and Nov. 5 and spend five full days in the Antarctic Sound and Peninsula. Other calls on the Antarctic trip include Elephant Island, the South Shetland Islands, Livingstone Island and Cape Horn. Celebrity will charter the 112-passenger Kapitan Khlebnikov, a polar-class icebreaker, from Quark Expeditions for the cruises. Prices begin at $9,000 for the High Arctic cruises and $8,500 for the Xpeditions- Antarctic voyages; fares include alcoholic beverages, gratuities and shore excursions. Carnival Corporation announced today that it is proceeding with a significant restructuring of its capacity in the British market. Cunard Line's Queen Victoria, a ship under construction in the Fincantieri Marghera Yard, will be transferred to P& O Cruises and renamed the Arcadia. The new Arcadia is scheduled to enter service in April 2005. Cunard Line also announced that it has ordered an enhanced Queen Victoria, also to be built by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A, which is now scheduled to enter service in January 2007. The new Queen Victoria will accommodate some 1,850 passengers and is expected to have an all-in cost of approximately euro 390 million. The new Queen Victoria will be more consistent with the grand ocean liner style of the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2, and will include more luxury suites and mini-suites, and more classic culinary experiences including Queens and Princess Grills, and an upscale Todd English alternative restaurant. Like the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2, the new Queen Victoria will be marketed to passengers in both the United States and United Kingdom, as well as to passengers in Australia and Asia. The 77, 000-ton, 1,950-lower berth Adonia, currently sailing as part of the four ship P&O Cruises fleet, will be transferred to Princess Cruises in May 2005. This ship will reclaim the name Sea Princess, which she was originally given at the time of her delivery by Fincantieri to Princess Cruises in 1998, prior to her subsequent transfer to P&O Cruises. She will operate cruises from the UK in the summer and 14-day Caribbean cruises in the winter. These itineraries will also be attractive to North American customers. In May 2005, the Royal Princess, which currently sails for Princess Cruises, will be renamed the Artemis and join the P&O Cruises fleet, which will bring the number of vessels in the P&O Cruises fleet to five. It was officially announced on Saturday 20 March that ss Norway is no longer an NCL ship. Star Cruises/NCL have not announced her future. However, we are aware that there have been negotiations between a Dutch businessman, Mr. Jan Reuvers and NCL to purchase the ship and relocate her to Amsterdam where she will be moored as a permanent floating hotel, casino, museum and other commercial interests. Not exactly the end we had hoped for the grand lady, but she'll still be floating and welcoming guests. Perhaps that is the best that we can hope for. Holland America has expanded its 2004 Alaska CruiseTour program to take guests all the way from Vancouver to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean. In the coming season, this distinctive Far Northern destination will be the focus of two new 14-day Arctic Ocean Adventure itineraries. A "toe dip" in the Arctic Ocean and a tour of the North Slope oil fields that feed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline are just a few of the rewards guests enjoy when they travel the Dalton Highway to the "Top of the World." The road from Fairbanks to Coldfoot and over the Brooks Range to Deadhorse is considered by many to offer the state's best wildlife viewing. Travelers recount myriad sightings of caribou, sheep, swans, geese, ducks, eagles, snowshoe hares, Arctic ground squirrels and even grizzly bears--some foraging right alongside the road. Scenic attractions like the Yukon River, Chandalar Shelf, Atigun Pass, the outskirts of Gates of the Arctic National Park, and the flat open permafrost of the North Slope stretching to the Arctic Ocean; and photo stops at popular photo sites like the Arctic Circle Sign at Milepost 115, latitude 66o33'; are additional highlights included on Holland America CruiseTours 19 and 20. The scenic drive past Gates of the Arctic National Park to the Arctic Ocean is a great addition to the wilderness experiences offered by Holland America at other premier National Parks like Denali, Kluane and Glacier Bay. The continuous daylight provided by the Midnight Sun within these northern latitudes offers guests a unique travel experience. Call Pat for prices on these unique itineraries! Maritime circles have put the figure for the repair and completion of NCL-America's PRIDE OF AMERICA at US$225million. The ship remains in drydock at Bremerhaven after sinking in a gale. There are rumors that they won't undertake the effort, but most sources believe NCL will finish the ship as planned. Costa Magica, which will be making her debut next November. Costa Magica, currently nearing completion in Genoa at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente yard, is the sister ship of Costa Fortuna, at present the largest Italian passenger ship, which entered into service on November 14, 2003. The new flagship will be 105,000 gross tonnage, 272 metres in length and 38 metres in breadth, and will be able to accommodate 3,470 passengers. Most of the 1, 358 passenger cabins - 857 (63%) - will be oceanview; of these, some 500 (58%) will have private verandas overlooking the sea, and over 300 will have windows. The new ship will feature 58 suites (three different models), all very spacious and elegant, and each fitted with its own jacuzzi. Costa Magica will be debuting in grand style with 2 special cruises in November, then she will be operating out of Savona on 11-day Eastern Mediterranean. Ports in this region will be taken as a source of inspiration to design the public rooms on the ship. Once again the interiors of Costa Magica will be the work of American architect Joe Farcus, the same designer who devised Costa Atlantica, her sister ship Costa Mediterranea and the most recent addition to the fleet, Costa Fortuna. Costa Magica will be spectacular and surprising. Her spacious lido decks, in particular, will be great attractions: the sunny nicely sheltered central pool deck, shaped like an amphitheatre, and an aft pool, where guests will be able to swim in any weather thanks to the retractable transparent roof. One of the highlights on board Costa Magica will be the wellness area, equipped with an ultramodern gym overlooking the sea, as well as a sauna, Turkish bath and other beauty treatment facilities. Olympia Explorer, anchored off Long Beach, was auctioned on Wednesday March 24 as was her sister, Olympia Voyager, anchored off of Miami, on Friday, March 26. Each of the 25,000-ton, 836-passenger sisters were built at a cost of $175 million. The German mortgage holding bank KFW was reported to have paid $82.7 million for the first vessel and $ 97.2 million for the second. The company's German creditors seized both the ships when the Royal Olympia Cruises failed to make payments on the $250 million loan on the vessels. The Greek Maritime Court of Appeal gave the company six months to work out arrangements with creditors. Who cruises you may ask? Well, you do, of course, but you're not alone. According to the cruise industry, baby boomers are the heart of the cruise market. Thirty-four percent of cruisers are between the ages of 35 and 54. Three in four (76 percent) cruisers are married, and two in five (44 percent) are college graduates. Only one in four (25 percent) cruisers is retired. Families are an important segment of the cruise market. While a spouse is the most likely cruise companion, 16 percent of cruisers bring children under age 18 along on a cruise. Cruisers are frequent travelers. They average 3.8 vacation trips a year and 18.6 nights away from home. Recent cruisers (those who have taken a cruise in the past three years) average 4.5 leisure trips a year and 20.8 nights out of town. Cruisers allocated nearly twice as much to leisure travel as the average vacationer-- an average of $4, 083 for all cruisers and $5,135 for recent cruisers. Most cruise vacationers go back to sea again and again. The average cruiser has taken three (2.8) cruises in his lifetime, and two of them (1.6) occurred within the past three years. Cruisers rely on travel agents. As many as nine out of 10 (89 percent) cruisers used a travel agent to book their last cruise. When cruisers are compared to visitors to such locales as Orlando, Nevada and Branson, additional differences come to light: Recent cruisers are among the most venturesome of leisure travelers. They seek new experiences, search for undiscovered destinations and are quite comfortable in other cultures. The potential for more international travel is especially strong among cruisers, as 61 percent have a current passport, compared to 44 percent of Orlando visitors, 45 percent of Nevada visitors and 35 percent of Branson visitors. Recent cruisers are less likely to take a short trip but more likely (81 percent) to take a long vacation (four or more nights) than Orlando, Nevada or Branson visitors. Costa Magica, which will be making her debut next November. Costa Magica, currently nearing completion in Genoa at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente yard, is the sister ship of Costa Fortuna, at present the largest Italian passenger ship, which entered into service on November 14, 2003. The new flagship will be 105,000 gross tonnage, 272 metres in length and 38 metres in breadth, and will be able to accommodate 3,470 passengers. Most of the 1, 358 passenger cabins - 857 (63%) - will be oceanview; of these, some 500 (58%) will have private verandas overlooking the sea, and over 300 will have windows. The new ship will feature 58 suites (three different models), all very spacious and elegant, and each fitted with its own jacuzzi. Costa Magica will be debuting in grand style with 2 special cruises in November, then she will be operating out of Savona on 11-day Eastern Mediterranean. Ports in this region will be taken as a source of inspiration to design the public rooms on the ship. Once again the interiors of Costa Magica will be the work of American architect Joe Farcus, the same designer who devised Costa Atlantica, her sister ship Costa Mediterranea and the most recent addition to the fleet, Costa Fortuna. Costa Magica will be spectacular and surprising. Her spacious lido decks, in particular, will be great attractions: the sunny nicely sheltered central pool deck, shaped like an amphitheatre, and an aft pool, where guests will be able to swim in any weather thanks to the retractable transparent roof. One of the highlights on board Costa Magica will be the wellness area, equipped with an ultramodern gym overlooking the sea, as well as a sauna, Turkish bath and other beauty treatment facilities. I will withhold judgement, being the fair-minded person I am, on the interior decor. I am not a fan of Joe Farcus, but maybe this time he'll do it elegantly, tastefully and not so "over the top." "Jewel of the Seas," the new 90,090-gt cruise liner for Royal Caribbean International (RCI), will leave Meyer Werft for the North Sea on the night of 2nd April 2004. The passage of the vessel down the River Ems will take place in one go with no stop on the way, supported by operation of the Ems river barrier. Still the passage of the vessel is dependent on the tides. The ship was scheduled to pass Emden harbour at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 3. The team from the pilots association in Emden, experienced in many previous river passages of Meyer Werft ships, will be responsible on board during the journey. The passage team took several training sessions at the computer-based simulator to be best prepared for the river transit and to manage even difficult parts of the passage. Like her sister ships, "Jewel of the Seas" will go down the River Ems to the North Sea astern since this type of operation has proved itself. The pods mounted under the stern are "shovelling" the water under the ship, so to speak, and in addition it is easier to handle the ship with this type of propulsion which is comparable to the front drive of a car. During the passage she will operate her own propulsion system. If a system should fail, three tugs will be available. The new luxury liner will leave Papenburg almost completed and will undertake final seatrials in the North Sea. The ship will be delivered to the owners Royal Caribbean International in the Dutch port of Eemshaven by the end of April 2004. Construction of the new, still unnamed 93,000-gt cruise liner for Norwegian Cruise Lines, to be completed by Meyer Werft by mid 2005, has already begun. (Those of us with ancestors who came from Emden would love to be above the harbor to watch the spectacle of this big, unfinished hulk of a ship backing down the river!) Three Norwegian Majesty Sailings from Boston to Bermuda have been designated Irish Festival Cruises. The September 12, 19 and 26, 2004 sailings of Norwegian Majesty from Boston to Bermuda will offer special Irish Festival themes. The special cruises will offer Irish music, food and entertainment, bringing a true Irish cultural experience onboard. Call Pat for a quote! That's about it for this week! (See? I told you we had lots of news!) Until next week when we'll visit the new Caribbean Princess, have a great week! Smooth sailing, Teri |
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| << March29, 2004 - 7 Seas Cruise News |
April19, 2004 - 7 Seas Cruise News >> |
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