Feb
08

Princess new ship announcement-soon

Phil Reimer--Micky Arison, the Chairman of Carnival Corporation that owns brands such as P&O, Cunard, Princess, Seabourn and of course Carnival, revealed in an interview 

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Feb
08

New from Disney

Phil Reimer-- Disney Cruise Line is letting out information in small bursts regarding the new Disney Dream. The top open deck will feature an area for adults only, including a swim-up bar. Although still a year away from launch, they had already released information on the Water Coaster (AquaDuck)--a ride that takes you around and outside the top of the ship in an enclosed see through tube powered by water.

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Feb
05

Carnival replies on luggage


Phil Reimer--In an earlier blog post, I commented on Carnival's policy of requesting that bags not be locked once turned over to Carnival at dockside.

Here is the official answer from Vance Gulliksen of Carnival.

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Feb
05

ABBA and Airlines


Phil Reimer--Cruise Related News

I remember the days when if you were a fan of ABBA and were into heavy rock and roll you did not admit the ABBA part of your life. How times have changed. ABBA is everywhere with plays, retro, and others covering their songs.

If you’re a fan of ABBA and you’re cruising out of any of the ports serving London this summer, you now have your very own ABBA museum. 

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Feb
04

Carnival wants you to unlock your luggage

Phil Reimer—I will go into this deeper later, but Carnival Cruise Lines is now asking their passengers not to lock their suitcases before handing them over to the porters.

The question is why?

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Feb
03

Olympic ship cancelled for Vancouver


Yesterday we told you there was a possibility, today it's official. Newwest Special Project Partnership has cancelled their agreement with NCL for the use of the Norwegian Star for the Olympics.

Here is where many Canadians come in—also cancelled is the 4-day cruise from L.A. to Vancouver on February 6th and the 4-day cruise from Vancouver to L.A. on March 2nd.

There is a very important point to note here: this is no fault of NCL, they were simply providing the ship.

 

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Feb
02

Olympic ship troubles

Phil Reimer--Jack Broom of the Seattle Times is reporting that the planned floating hotel for the Olympics in Vancouver has run into problems and the company is attempting to keep the idea afloat. 

Newwest of Edmonton is the company involved having chartered the Norwegian Star from NCL.

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Feb
02

Fascination--looking good

Phil Reimer--Carnival Cruise Lines' Fascination is back in service in Jacksonville after getting a $34 million upgrade.

The ship will continue to sail its four and five day cruises year-round. 

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Jan
29

Royal sees price improvement

Phil Reimer--It's not a huge amount of money, but it’s a profit. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines LTD, owners of Royal, Celebrity and Azamara among others, announced a profit of 2c a share for the fourth quarter. Analysts had been expecting a small loss. Royal did admit that part of the profit could be attributed to lower fuel costs in the quarter.

 

That information may or may not be of interest to cruisers. What should be of interest are the comments made by the executive team. In a nutshell, bookings for the first month of the year are better than expected and making the fastest comeback is the higher priced European cruises.

 

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Jan
28

Epic going to Europe

Phil Reimer--Right on the heels of Holland America's announcement that they will have seven ships in Europe next year, Norwegian Cruise Lines has announced that Epic, their latest and largest, will be stationed out of Europe next year. Just another sign of Europe’s growing importance to the cruise lines of the world.

 

The giant 4,200 passenger Epic will sail out of Barcelona on a series of 7-day Western Mediterranean cruises. 

 

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Jan
27

Holland America Europe 2011

Phil Reimer--Holland America is adding some ships, moving others, and when all has settled, seven HAL ships will be based in Europe in 2011.

The latest in the fleet, the Nieuw Amsterdam—coming online this year—and the Eurodam will be based there along with Noordam, Rotterdam, Prinsendam, Maasdam and Ryndam. 

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Jan
26

On the go

Travelling today, back with you tomorrow.

Phil Reimer

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Jan
25

Silver Spirit on her way

Phil Reimer--Silversea's Silver Spirit, the new cruise ship for this luxury line, has been successfully launched in Ft. Lauderdale and it's on its maiden cruise. The Silver Spirit will carry 540 passengers and is the largest in the fleet.

The event to christen the ship was small and as far as entertainment went, it was the ship's own musicians who provided the music. 

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
Jan
23

Prinsendam and Dubai add something new

If you’re sailing on Holland America’s Prinsendam this year you will notice a few things have changed. The Prinsendam carries 800 passengers, give or take a few with the new upgrades. The renovations are all part of HAL’s Signature of Excellence program.

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with 1 comment(s)
Jan
21

Cruise numbers are up

While it is not huge, there has been an increase in cruise passengers of 3.9% in the comparison years of 08-09. If you compared apples to apples, it might have been down. But with so many new ships available on the market each year, the number of passenger increases should continue for some time. This year's growth is anticipated to be 6.4% over 2009.

CLIA, an umbrella 

... continue reading

Posted to Ports and Bows Blog with Reply to this post
More Posts Next page »