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Greetings, Cruise Fans, Am I early for next week? Or just late from last week? Whichever it is, welcome to the June 13 edition of the 7 Seas Cruise News. It's daughter number one's 35th birthday! Hard to imagine, considering that I'm only about 40 myself. (loud laughter from Pat at this). Tonight, Pat has asked me to answer some very basic questions about cruising. If you're not a cruise regular, some of this information may come in handy. If you're a regular cruiser, you can skip this and jump ahead to the cruise news section! And whether you're planning your first cruise or your 41st, give Pat a call. He has genuinely great prices and he will bend over backwards to take care of you. That's a promise. You can reach him most any time at 1-866-424-1090 toll-free. You can drop him an email at cruiseplanners7seascruises@msn.com or just drop into the website at www.7seascruises.com to browse around. What's a good itinerary for a first-time cruise? Pat says that a 4- or 5-night cruise is a good choice for a first-timer. Some people say a weekend cruise is good, but Pat doesn't think so. First of all, the weekend cruiser is a different animal. There's more partying on a weekend cruise and the crowds tend to be younger-and more rowdy. A slightly longer cruise is the perfect way to " test the waters"- see how you like the experience. If you're like 99% of first-timer cruisers, you' ll be back for more! What's a good ship or cruise line for a first timer? All of the popular cruise lines have a lot in common-good food, good entertainment, comfortable cabins. NCL, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Costa, Princess-any of these lines would provide an excellent introduction to the world of cruising. What do you recommend for families with children? Pat likes Carnival or Royal Caribbean best, with a slight edge for Carnival. Both lines have excellent children's programs! Do I need a passport? For Caribbean cruising, you don't need one yet, but you will. By December 31, you must have a passport to leave the country on a ship. You need one now for Europe or South America. Are meals included? What about drinks? How about entertainment? This is where a cruise vacation becomes the biggest bargain out there! Food- excellent food and plenty of it-is included in your cruise fare. Dine in the dining room, casual grill, on deck or in your stateroom. Eat well and often! Drinks are another matter. Unless you sail on a very upscale line, alcohol is not included. Neither are soft drinks. Coffee, juices, milk, iced tea are available in the dining room and usually at all hours in the casual grill. Most cruise lines offer a soft drink card for an additional charge. Entertainment is another value! Wonderful shows are offered every evening, along with live music in lounges around the ship. Enjoy them all! They are included! Do I tip? Yes. You will be pampered by your dining room steward, bus boy or girl, and your room steward. You will adore them and wish to take them home. Alas, they all have families- and they all depend on your generous gratuities to supplement their very meager salaries. Tip generously if you can. Guidelines tell you about $3.50 per person per day for your dining room steward and a like amount for your cabin steward. About $2.50 per person per day for your bus boy or assistant waiter. We think that's about right. Princess, NCL, Carnival all allow you to pre-pay your gratuities. That makes things easy, but it's sure nice to give your envelope to your waiter the last night onboard. It allows you to say in all sincerity, "You are fabulous! Thank you for taking such good care of us." And I bet you'll agree! What's the difference between cabins? Inside cabins have no windows. Some people say, " so what?" and remind you that you will be busy in port or running about the ship, so it doesn't matter. You'll have to decide for yourself. An ocean-view or outside cabin has a large picture window that does not open. I like these just fine. The ever-changing view is fun and the daylight is important for some of us. A balcony cabin is similar to the ocean-view, but it has its own private balcony, giving you fresh air and a great place to sit outside. There's something very nice about a pot of coffee delivered to your room early in the morning and sitting outside, sipping a fresh cup as you steam into port. If you have questions, please ask. Pat has answers! And now, here's a little cruise news... CRUISE NEWS! A word to the wise: beginning December 31, 2006, a passport will be required for all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. Beginning December 31, 2007, the passport requirement will be extended to include all land border crossings to or from the above- mentioned destinations. Don't delay applying for your passport. By the end of the year, the wait- time will be enormous! NCL announced plans to sell the 34,000-ton Norwegian Crown to Fred Olsen Cruises. The sale will take place in August, but the ship will remain on charter until November 2007 to complete its scheduled deployment. The Norwegian Crown, which has also sailed for Royal Cruise Line and Orient Lines, will be the seventh vessel to join Fred Olsen's fleet. Currently, the Norwegian Crown is operating 7-day sailings to Bermuda from New York and Philadelphia. In April 2007, the Norwegian Wind will be transferred from NCL to its parent company, Star Cruises, which is based in Hong Kong. The ship is expected to be renamed the SuperStar Aquarius. The Norwegian Sun will replace the Norwegian Wind on 10- and 11-night sailings in Hawaii. The departure of both ships will make room for NCL's new arrivals: the Norwegian Pearl in December 2006, and the Norwegian Gem at the end of 2007. Oceania Cruises' Insignia, formerly the R2 of Renaissance Cruises, made her debut after a multimillion-dollar refurbishment and facelift. New carpeting and upholstery were installed throughout. New communication equipment onboard will accommodate faster Internet speeds and the use of cell phones at sea. The ship has eight private cabanas with ocean views, a Balinese Daybed for two, white privacy drapes and a rollback Roman shade roof. These can be reserved daily or for an entire cruise. Guests will have the services of an attendant to provide beverages, snacks and chilled towels during the day. Meal service and spa treatments can also be arranged. The Insignia will operate 10-, 12- and 14-day cruises in Europe and the Greek Isles before repositioning to South America next winter. Sightings of koala bears, kangaroos and kiwi birds await vacationers sailing with Celebrity Cruises next year. Celebrity's Mercury will present six 14-night open-jaw sailings between Auckland, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia from December 2007 through March 2008. Among Celebrity' s destinations down under are Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound, and Milford Sound, New Zealand, along with Melbourne, Newcastle, and Sydney, Australia, and Hobart, Tasmania. Celebrity also has created a new series of cruisetour packages in the region, complementing the cruise with options including a two-night stay in Sydney, an escorted three-night experience in Sydney and Cairns, or a five-night adventure featuring the best of Sydney, Ayers Rock and Cairns, including visits to the famed Great Barrier Reef. For details, call Pat! For the fourth year in a row, Celebrity Cruises will tempt travelers' taste buds with "Savor the Caribbean." In winter 2007, guests will sail on an Eastern Caribbean cruise from Ft. Lauderdale on the magnificent Millennium with the chance to experience a culinary extravaganza. Guests will enjoy onboard cooking demonstrations by nationally acclaimed guest chefs; Bacardi rum tasting and lectures; wine and food pairing seminars and exclusive tours to unique island restaurants to enjoy specially prepared meals and encounters with award winning local chefs. Ports of call include Casa de Campo, San Juan, St. Thomas and Nassau. 2007 sail dates are: January 7th & 14th, February 11th & 25th, and March 11th & 18th. Celebrity's most extensive ship refurbishment is now making history! Celebrity's Century has emerged from a 4-week dry dock period better, bolder, and more luxurious than ever! There are 314 new verandas, a revitalized AquaSpa, enhanced meeting space, and brand new stateroom accommodations including premium mattresses, flat screen TVs and contemporary bathrooms. Two of Celebrity's signature elements - award winning cuisine and trendy martini bars, bring astonishing innovation. First, a brand new specialty restaurant Murano, named for the island of Murano near Venice, known for their fine art of glass-blowing. The highlights of this restaurant include the magnificent chandeliers handcrafted of Murano glass and the historic design creating the feeling of an Italian piazza. And in the tradition of the Millennium-class specialty restaurants, Murano will offer Michel Roux cuisine prepared and presented tableside, as well as a dine-in wine cellar. For those chic and fashionable boomers, the new Martini Bar will boast the first "ice bar" concept at sea. Not only will Celebrity's Martini Bar offer over more than 30 versions of the popular libation. But it will also feature a liquid wall that freezes to form a sparkling crystalline appearance and a bar counter that freezes into ice-cold stone, while a solid block of ice will creatively display bottles of liquor behind the bar. Talk about cool! For the fifth consecutive year, Celebrity once again swept Cond? Nast Traveler's annual readers' survey ranking "The Best Cruise Ships in the World." In the large-ship category, Constellation, Millennium, Summit and Infinity ranked first through fourth, respectively. While Celebrity has held the majority of the top rankings in the annual survey since its inception, this is the first time the line has held every spot from one through four. Galaxy (ranked seventh) and Mercury (ranked ninth) rounded out the top 10. The informed subscribers of Cond? Nast Traveler evaluated ships on five criteria: itineraries, crew/service, cabins/design, food/dining, and activities/excursions. That's it for this edition. Please feel free to forward this newsletter along to your friends and relatives and anyone else who is interested in cruising. This is how we advertise our services to you, so the more, the merrier! Anyone who'd like to subscribe can drop Pat an email at cruiseplanners7seascruises@msn.com. Until next week, smooth sailing! Teri |
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