Phil Reimer--Good morning. After a great flight on Air Canada, I settled in at the airport Crowne Plaza in Newark for the night to get ready for the naming ceremony for the Carnival Dream in New York later this afternoon. The Academy Award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harding is the godmother of the ship, and after the celebrations tonight we are scheduled to sail out of New York tomorrow.
Meanwhile, on to other news.
I told you earlier that Princess has gone to a new enhanced e-doc system for their cruise lines that contains everything from port information, tours to personalized baggage tags. Right on the heels of that information comes news that all the Royal Caribbean owned brands will do the same. Azamara Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International will introduce the service for all cruises booked after Dec 13. You do have a choice and in fact, your travel agent will be able to print off the e-docs and send you a hard copy. You can order printed docs from the cruise line. Guess what, that will cost you $35. That’s right, 35 dollars, if the cruise line sends them out. Extremely high wouldn’t you say, considering they were free up until now. By the way, if you're cruising the deluxe brand Azamara—they are still free.
It’s a world of online and that’s where the cruise lines want you to go. When I receive e-docs now, I just print the pages I need and that’s it.
One more to finish up this blog post.
If you happen to be in the Ft. Lauderdale area on Friday, you will get a chance to see the largest ship in the world. Here are the details:
WHEN:
Friday, November 13, 2009; Oasis schedule is as follows:
* 6:30 am – Oasis is visible from shoreline
* 8:00 am – Oasis arrives at mouth of inlet
* 8:30 am – Oasis is positioned inside basin
* 9:00 am – Berthing at Terminal 18
WHERE:
(Vantage Points)
* John U. Lloyd Park, Dania Beach (public welcome event)
All for now.