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February10, 2003 - 7 Seas Cruise News >> |
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Greetings, Cruise Fans, Welcome to another edition of the 7 Seas Cruise News. We're especially happy to welcome so many new subscribers this week. Thanks for joining our cruise-loving family! Let me know what you'd like to see in these pages, and I'll do my best to make sure you see it here! As always, the 7 Seas Cruise News is made possible by Pat Crane, cruise broker to the world! This week he wants me to remind you that spring break space is just about gone now. There are still some cabins to be found, but quads and triples are getting scarce! Alaska is picking up, so if you have any ideas about exploring the fabulous 49th State, call him soon! There are some good prices--not as low as last year's, but still attractive, since so many ships will be up there this summer. Visit the www.7seascruises. com Website and have look around. Remember, Pat can almost always beat the prices you see on the website. So, have a look, then e-mail him at cruiseplanners7seascruises@msn.com or give him a call at the toll-free number 1-866-424-1090! And now, some cruise news... The exquisite Crystal Cruises is offering gourmet kosher cuisine - food that is permissible to eat under Jewish dietary laws - for guests on board its fleet throughout 2003. The luxurious 940-guest ships - Crystal Harmony and Crystal Symphony -- and the 1,080-guest Crystal Serenity, which debuts in July, will feature kosher cuisine for guests on all 70, seven-to 104-day global itineraries next year. As part of Crystal's 2003 food and beverage program, dozens of kosher soups, poultry, meat and fish, including roasted turkey and chicken, rack of lamb, Beef Wellington, rib eye steak, grilled halibut and salmon to name a few of the choices, will be offered. Each is stored frozen. During meal preparation, Crystal uses kosher pots, pans and utensils that have been sterilized in salt water and, in keeping with kosher standards, all plates, silverware and glassware used during the cruise are hand- washed and stored separately. All meals are served in the Crystal Dining Room. New china, silverware and glassware are also made available for guests' use throughout the cruise. Guests may dine at on board buffets and specialty restaurants at their own discretion. Each ship offers red and white kosher wines and a wide selection of desserts. Guests may contact the Maite D' or Headwaiter for any special requests or kosher standards. During several Jewish holidays rabbis are on board supervising the kitchen and blessing the food during preparation. If a Mesghuia is traveling with a guest, at the guests' expense, a $25 per person, per-day charge will be assessed. And if someone reading this would please translate the term "Mesghuia" I would be most grateful! With Crystal looking out for guests with Kosher meals, we look next at Royal Caribbean, who are making themselves more accessible to handicapped guests. The cruise line has announced a fleetwide enhancement to its industry-leading Accessible Seas program that may seem a small thing to the average cruiser, but will make a big difference for some guests with disabilities. To better meet the needs of visually impaired travelers, the company is adding Braille deck numbers to staircase handrails on each of its 16 ships in 2003. Royal Caribbean ships offer an extensive list of amenities from larger features like automatic doors, hydraulic pool lifts and shore- side beach wheel chairs to smaller extra touches such as pull-down closet rods, Braille menus, and, now, stairwell banister deck numbers. This latest addition is just one component of Royal Caribbean's comprehensive accessibility program, which strives to make travel more convenient and hassle-free for the nearly one in five Americans with disabilities. As a result of initiatives such as these, cruising has been cited by the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality (SATH) as the most common way for Americans with disabilities to travel overseas. "I've traveled extensively since becoming paralyzed and have found that cruise travel has distinct advantages," said David Rafter, an active disabled traveler and travel writer. From the moment I embarked, Royal Caribbean's activity-packed ship and helpful staff made me feel like an active participant, rather than a passive bystander. Cruising also gives me peace of mind knowing that I'll have the same room, bed and shower to come back to at the end of each day." Rafter offers travelers with disabilities and their loved ones the following tips to help plan a successful vacation: 1. Seek out companies offering modern accessible features and accommodations (such as wheelchair lifts, gradual inclines, automatic doors and accessible bathrooms ). 2. Choose a vacation that creates opportunities for guests with disabilities to actively participate in the same activities as other guests. 3. Inquire if there is staff dedicated to helping both before and during the vacation, and take full advantage of their services. 4. Look for destinations that offer convenient dining, activity and entertainment options all in one place. What could be easier, then, than a cruise? With some upfront planning, travelers with disabilities can have a terrific vacation with exciting new experiences. Other notable accessibility features onboard Royal Caribbean's Voyager-class and Radiance- class ships include: Staterooms with 32- to 34- inch doors, ramped bathrooms, roll-in showers, grab bars, raised toilet seats, lowered sinks and vanity areas, and a five-foot turning radius in sleeping areas, bathrooms and sitting areas; spacious corridors, pool lifts and ramps in terraced public areas; Braille on menus, stateroom doors, service directories and elevators buttons; Portable kits for the hearing impaired including TTY( Text Telephone)/ TDD (Telecommunication Device for the Deaf), Alertmaster and a strobe alarm; and closed- captioned televisions, amplified telephones in staterooms and public areas, and infrared systems. Good work, Royal Caribbean! Pat and I had a chance to look at one of the handicapped cabins on the Voyager of the Seas. It was lovely! And the facilities were terrific. Royal Caribban, like all cruise lines, however, requires some evidence of a handicap before assigning one of these cabins. Beautiful Charleston got another shot-in-the- arm this week when Norwegian Cruise Line announced it's assigning Norwegian Majesty to home port there during the winter months. Norwegian Majesty will sail a series of 24 seven-day Western Caribbean trips beginning November 8 and winding up with a repositioning voyage to Boston on April 17 (2004). Ports include Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Key West. Charleston has already become a seasonal home port for cruise lines like Carnival, whose Victory will offer a number of five-day Bahamas itineraries, and Celebrity, whose Galaxy will sail a series of 10-day Caribbean routes. That's all the news for this week! Drop us a line and tell us what you want to talk about. Is there a port you're curious about? A cruise line or ship that intrigues you? Let us know. We'll do some research and tell you what we learned! Until next week, picture the moonlight on a tropical sea. Let's just stand here at the rail awhile and enjoy it. Ah! Teri |
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| << January27, 2003 - 7 Seas Cruise News |
February10, 2003 - 7 Seas Cruise News >> |
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