Beyondships Cruising Blog

Coral Princess Review - Cruising the Panama Canal

2015-04-05T11:05:00.000-04:00

A Panama Canal cruise is not an ordinary cruise. While the sea days and the other ports of call are important, the focus is on the day that you spend in this unique and historic engineering marvel. Everything else is secondary.

Coral Princess specializes in Panama Canal cruises. It is what she was designed to do. In fact the ship was named in the Panama Canal by the President of Panama. And since the Panama Canal has been on her itinerary since she entered service in 2002, it has visiting the Canal down to a science.

The ship's dimensions are Panamax, which means that she is the maximum size that can get through the locks of the original canal. Indeed, the locak walls are just inches away from the sides of the ship.

The voyage is built around the visit to the Canal. There are lectures about the Canal, documentaries on the cabin televsions about the Canal, Panama Canal souvenirs in the onboard shops and numerous shore excursions for the day in Panama.

While the highlight of this cruise is the Canal, the itinerary is designed to present a variety of experiences. In Aruba and Ocho Rios, you have well-developed ports presenting the familiar Caribbean cruise experience. In Cartagena and Puerto Limon, you have less established cruise ports and the experience is one of discovery for most North American passengers

Onboard there is much to do. Entertainment includes production shows, comedians, live music and enrichment lectures. There are also the usual cruise ship activities such as trivia contests, karoke and bingo. For just relaxing, the ship has two full pool areas and two small pools. There is also a spa and a fitness center although small by comparison to those found on the mega-ships enterting service today.

Coral Princess entered service in 2002. The ship's décor reflects those times with some public areas such as the atrium done in a Las Vegas style while the remainder of the public areas are done in a more conservative contemporary style. The ship seems well-maintained and clean.

This is not to say that Coral Princess is a time capsule from the last decade. Princess has refurbished the ship over the years and has added new features. One example is the delightful International Cafe, which occupies territory that was once part of the casino.

In our view, the food on the Princess ships consistently deserves high marks. On this cruise, Princess' Master Chef Alfredo Marzi was filling in for the ship's executive chef. Inasmuch as Chef Marzi is responsible for many of the dining concepts and menus abroad the Princess ships, his presence held great promise and Coral Princess did not disappoint. The food in each of the dining outlets that we tried was very good.

One feature that we particularly liked was the Alfredo's Pizzeria. This concept premiered on Grand Princess as a new dining venue when that ship went in for a major refit a few years ago. It has since been developed further and is featured on Princess' latest ships, Royal Princess and Regal Princess. It is not your typical pizzeria. Rather, it offers individual size gourmet pizzas made fresh when you order it. The taste is great and they are fresh. On Coral Princess, Sabatini's specialty restaurant becomes Alfredo's at lunch time so you also have the beauty of this Tuscan-inspired room. And it is all complimentary.

We were once again impressed by the Chef's Table experience - - a fine dining feast. Princess originated the Chef's Table concept and each one we have attended has been spectacular. This one was presided over by Chef Marzi and so it was even more special than usual. It began with a visit to the galley during dinner time. This was, however, more than a glimpse behind the scenes. Chef Marzi presented us with a seemingly endless procession of appetizers while Maitre d' Neville Saldanha poured glasses of French champagne. We then adjourned to the Bordeaux dining room where a lavishly decorated table had been prepared for the group participating in this event. We were presented with more courses, most of which were prepared tableside by Chef Marzi. A sommelier poured the wine to accompany each course while presenting some background information. It made for a memorable evening.

Coral Princess is a spacious ship. She is an enlarged version of Princess' Sun-class ships but carries just about the same number of people. Thus, there is more room per passenger.

Speaking of passengers, most people on this cruise were middle-aged in their 50s and 60s. This is not surprising as cruises of more than seven days duration tend to attract a more mature crowd. Also, school was in session in North America and so there were few children on the cruise. The great majority of the passengers were from the United States and Canada.

On past Panama Canal cruises, we have found that many of the passengers were seasoned travelers who wanted to see something out of the ordinary. However, on this cruise, we met quite a few first time cruisers. When asked why they had selected this cruise to begin their cruising careers, they indicated that they too were seeking to do something out of the ordinary.

Turning to Coral Princess' nautical qualities, Coral Princess is long and sleek and capable of traveling relatively fast (24 knots). However, we did not get to see any displays of this speed as the itinerary is designed so that the ship only needed to keep up a leisurely pace.

Immediately prior to this cruise we had been on Princess' newest ship Regal Princess, which is much larger than Coral Princess. The weather on the two cruises was about the same. However, the movement of the sea was more noticeable on the smaller ship.

This week on Beyondships, we have a new section devoted to Coral Princess, which begins at http://beyondships.com/Princess-CP-Profile.html It includes a photo tour of and commentary about Coral Princess. http://beyondships.com/Princess-CP-Tour-1.html There is also an interview with Coral Princess' Hotel General Manager Timothy Ellis http://www.beyondships2.com/coral-princess-hotel-manager.html as well as a collection of menus http://www.beyondships2.com/coral-princess-menus.html and a collection of daily programs and other information distributed onboard the ship. http://www.beyondships2.com/coral-princess-daily-programs.html

Norwegian Breakaway Review

2015-02-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

CR 188

This is a review of a cruise on Norwegian Breakaway to the Caribbean in February 2015. The bottom line is that this was a very good cruise experience.

Breakaway is a very innovative ship. She was one of the first ships built to the new model of cruising in which guests not only have a number of quality choices about dining but also about entertainment. Thus, she is not only bigger in size than most other cruise ships, she is different in kind.

Built by Germany's Meyer Werft, Breakaway is a good quality ship. I was pleased to see that in the year since I was last on her, she has been well-maintained. No visible rust, worn carpets or furniture past its sell-by date.

In all, I have now been on Breakaway five times. Each has been a good experience.

The Itinerary - - This was a 12 day cruise from New York into the Caribbean. The ports of call were to include San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Kitts. Thus, it was a good mix of the more popular Caribbean ports.

There is always the risk of encountering a storm sailing out of New York in the winter. I have done it many times but have only been in a few significant storms along the route from New York to the Caribbean. Indeed, only a week before this cruise, I sailed nearly the same route on Quantum of the Seas and the weather was fine throughout.

This time, we were not so lucky. Breakaway encountered a major storm off Cape Hatteras and the ship had to slow down to provide a more comfortable ride for her passengers. Still, the ship pitched and slammed. (Slamming is where the ship rises up and gets hit with another wave usually on the bottom causing a loud noise and vibration).

The movement of the ship did cause some guests to take to their cabins. However, most people continued out and about, which is always a testimonial to a ship's seakeeping ability.

I believe Queen Mary 2 has the best seakeeping qualities based upon her ability to remain stable in similar (and worse storms) as the one Breakaway encountered. While Breakaway does not rise to the same level, my general conclusion is that Breakaway handled the storm pretty well.

Because of the storm, Breakaway had to cancel her call in San Juan. Even running near full speed she could not get to San Juan in time to make a meaningful port call.

Here, I will pause to criticize Norwegian. At one time, the line prided itself in having some of the fastest cruise ships in service. Thus, when a Jewel-class ship such as Norwegian Gem encountered a storm while going up or down the east coast, it was able to slow up for the storm and then use her speed to keep to her schedule. Then there was a management change and those in a decisionmaking position could not see the point in fast cruise ships. They just seemed like an expensive luxury considering the seemingly ever increasing price of fuel. As a result, the Breakaway class ships do not have the speed of the Jewel class ships. On this voyage, we saw a consequence of that decision. With the recent significant decline in fuel prices, that decision seems even more misguided.

Once in the Caribbean, the weather was fine and the ship moved easily between ports.

Food - - I found that the food on Breakaway had improved significantly over last year. The new menus in the main dining rooms offered an interesting array of dishes. In addition, the chefs executed their task well.

On previous Breakaway cruises, I had never found a satisfying place to have lunch. The meals offered in the main dining rooms (Taste and Savor) at lunchtime are too much and personally, I do not like buffets which lets out the Garden Cafe. But now there is The Uptown Bar and Grill. It had a radical change of concept last fall. It now combines the attractive qualities of the Guy's Burger Joints on the Carnival ships with the Tuti salads of the Royal Caribbean ships. In other words, it is now made to order burgers and made to order salads. These were quite good and are only available in the afternoon. Come early if you want to get a seat as this is a very popular venue just through word of mouth.

Of the specialty restaurants, we visited La Cucina, Le Bistro, Cagney's and the Moderno. All were good but dining outdoors at Moderno on a warm Caribbean night was a great experience. The sea, the stars, the good-natured waiters bringing various tasty cuts of beef, pork, lamb and fish to the table all made for a tremendous atmosphere. In addition, I met a particularly congenial group of people on this cruise and so the after dinner conversation often lasted for hours. Despite this, the staff never attempted to hurry us or even hint that we should leave. A manifestation of the attitude of putting the customers first, which was common among the crew on Breakaway..

Service - - Breakaway was humming like a well-oiled machine. The staff knew what they were supposed to be doing and executed it well.

I also liked the fact that a pair of officers circulated through the Manhattan Room (one of the main dining rooms) each night asking guests whether they had any complaints and whether there was anything that the ship could do better. To me, this showed a real interest in the guests' opinions and in providing good service.

Entertainment - - The main shows on Breakaway have not changed since the ship entered service. Since I have seen Rock of Ages twice before, I decided not to go again. I was not impressed with Burn the Floor. The dancers performed well but the show lacked a theme to bind the various scenes together into a cohesive whole. One of the people that I went with said that she thought it had too much violence against women.

Also in the theater was a tribute to Frankie Valey and the Four Seasons called “Oh What A Night.”. This was very well done and the songs are natural crowd pleasers.

In addition to the shows in the theater, Breakaway has other entertainment in more club like settings. Of these, I particularly liked the Second City Comedy Troupe who did various scripted and improvised shows. They also did an improvisation workshop that I enjoyed participating in.

Breakaway's resident blues guitarist Slam Allen was not on this voyage. In his place was Charley Love and the Silky Smooth Band. They were good but I think Mr. Allen has more star quality.

Enrichment - - Norwegian does not place much emphasis on enrichment. On this voyage, there were no port lecturers or speakers talking about the ports or the history of the region.

Hypnotist Brenda Kaye gave several talks/shows and these drew large crowds to the theater thus showing that Norwegian's guests do appreciate speakers.

This week on Beyondships we have several new items about Breakaway. There is a photo feature showing Breakaway in the various ports she visited in the Caribbean. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-breakaway-in-the-caribbean.html There is an interview with Hotel Director Prem Kainikkara and Cruise Director Julie Valeriote in which they talk about the cruise experience that they try to present on Breakaway. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-breakaway-with-passion.html There is an article about Breakaway's single-occupancy cabins and her Solo Travelers program. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-breakaway-sailing-solo.html We also have a review of the Uptown Bar and Grill. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-breakaway-uptown-grill.html In addition, our menus page has been updated with current menus from the main dining rooms and the specialty restaurants on Breakaway. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-breakaway-menus.html .

Quantum of the Seas cruise review

2015-02-01T09:05:00.000-05:00

CR 187

Quantum of the Seas is one of the most innovative but at the same time, most controversial ships, to debut in the last few years. In many respects, Quantum is significantly different than what Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines have done in the past. I find this quite exciting.

Naturally, people who like what was done in the past will need to get used to these changes. This process has not been helped by various technological glitches that plagued the ship early on.

However, during this cruise, people who were at first skeptical of this ship seemed to be captured by the beauty of her interior and to become comfortable with her different way of presenting a cruise experience.

Should every cruise ship be like Quantum? No, but I am glad that there is a ship like Quantum. Indeed, I believe even Royal Caribbean would agree with this. As I wrote in this blog before Quantum entered service, there were at least three versions of the Royal Caribbean cruise experience within the Royal Caribbean fleet. Now, there is a fourth version.

By way of background, this cruise was not the first time that I was on Quantum. In November, Royal Caribbean invited members of the press to see its new ship. She was impressive at the press event. However, I wanted to see how she was in action with real people aboard. Since new ships almost always have teething problems, I decided to wait until January to cruise on her.

This particular was a 12-day winter cruise to the Caribbean out of Bayonne, New Jersey, which is part of the Port of New York.

The Quantum class ships were originally conceived as all weather cruise ships. Most modern cruise ships were designed with warm weather cruising in mind. They have lots of open deck space and they are at their best sailing the calm waters of the Caribbean or the Mediterranean.

A problem arises if you want to base a ship in a northern port such as Bayonne or Southampton, England during the winter time. The open deck areas cannot be used until the ship reaches the warm seas. In addition, the ship may be uncomfortable if it gets into a winter storm en route to the Sun.

Most of what would have been open deck on Quantum is covered. This includes the adults only Solarium area, one of the main pools, and the Seaplex, a section that roughly corresponds to the sports area on other ships. Consequently, those areas can be used throughout the cruise even in the cold weather of the north.

Quantum has also been designed so as to have improved seakeeping abilities. She cuts through the waves rather than bounces over them. As a result, I found her ride smooth and comfortable.

The interior of Quantum is also impressive. I have consistently found the ships built by Meyer Weft (e.g., Celebrity Solstice, Norwegian Breakaway, Brilliance of the Seas) to have excellent quality and attention to detail. Quantum is no exception.

When I first saw Quantum, my impression was that her interior looked more like a Celebrity cruise ship than a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Her style is up-market and elegant. However, in operation, Quantum clearly has the upbeat feel of a Royal Caribbean ship thus proving that a cruise line's style comes more from its people than the hardware.

I had no problems with the service on Quantum. In general, the crew were competent and friendly. Indeed, there were a few incidents where crew members who I had never met before went beyond what I expected. I found this particularly impressive because they had no relationship to maintain with me and no expectation of a financial reward.

Quntum takes a much different approach to dining than other cruise ships. It has no main dining room and thus has no traditional fixed dining system or even the now familiar flex dining system. Rather, under Dynamic Dining, guests instead have the option of dining in four (five if you are staying in a suite) complimentary restaurants and a battery of extra-tariff specialty restaurants.

I liked the variety offered by this system. It enabled me to have more dining experiences than on other ships. The food quality in each venue was up to the Royal Caribbean standard with the food in Coastal Kitchen (suite guests only) a knotch above the other complimentary venues.

The Dynamic Dining system is quite controversial. Quite a few guests said they missed not having the same waiter each night who comes to know your likes and dislikes. One of the benefits of the traditional cruise ship fixed seating system is that you do develop a relationship with your server over the course of the cruise. However, in the clourse of my travels, I have noticed that fewer and fewer people are selecting the traditional system. Indeed, at the late seating on many ships lately, there have been numerous empty tables. I would not be surprised if most lines eliminate or significantly modify the traditional system over the next decade.

In any event, I am not sure that this is a fair criticism of Dynamic Dining. I had breakfast in the American Icon Grill during the first few days of the cruise. Without making any special request, the same waiter served me each time and he remembered what I like for breakfast. Along the same lines,

I had several meals in Coastal Kitchen and there the servers remembered me and my preferences from visit to visit. My conclusion is that the level of personalized service depends more on the skills of the server than on the dining system.

Another complaint often heard is that the restaurants do not vary their menus during the course of the cruise. Thus, if you go to one restaurant several times during a voyage, you will probably end up having the same meal more than once. The solution here is to try all the different venues. If you do, you will encounter as much variety as you would in a traditional main dining room over the course of a cruise.

Perhaps the biggest source of controversy with Dyamic Dining is the reservation system. In order to prevent everyone on the ship showing up at the same time at the same restaurant, guests are encouraged to make reservations ahead of time. You do not have to make a reservation but guests with reservations are given priority access.

Before coming aboard Quantum, I was concerned that having to make reservations would restrict my freedom to adjust the cruise to suit the circumstances. I do not know prior to a cruise what kind of dining experience I would like on a given day during a cruise. Similarly, I do not know much beforehand what time I would like to eat on a given day. It depends upon such things as the people I meet during the cruise, what happened during the day, what else there is to do on a given evening. One of the great virtues of the flexible dining systems available on most ships these days is that it allows you to be spontaneous.

But after experiencing Dynamic Dining, my pre-cruise concerns seem unjustified. I was able to adjust where and when I had dinner without much difficulty.

Another problem is that the reservation system does not seem to be a very good regulator of passenger flow. I generally like to eat late, roughly at the time that would correspond to the late seating under a traditional system. It was when I always dined on QE2 where I got my start cruising and it has just remained with me. As a result, I did not experience any lines and was always seated at the times specified in my reservations. However, I did hear that at the more popular dining times, even people with reservations sometimes had to wait to be seated.

This is not altogether surprising. When you make a reservation at a restaurant, the restaurant does not normally hold a table empty until you arrive. Instead, the restaurant accepts the reservation based on the assumption that a table will become free at the time of the reservation. If the people dining in the restaurant take longer to dine than the restaurant expected, people arriving at the restaurant will have to wait even if they have a reservation. When you are dealing with the number of people that travel on a large cruise ship, this problem is magnified.

Time should alleviate this problem. A restaurant learns from experience how much time it should allocate between reservations. In addition, it can find ways to speed up service so that the turnover is quicker and more efficient. Indeed, I heard from people who have done several cruises on Quantum that this problem has diminished even in the relatively short time that the ship has been in service.

Leaving aside Dynamic Dining, there are some other culinary features on Quantum that deserve special mention. First, since Quantum does not have a main dining room, it does not offer the Tuti Salad bar, which is an outstanding option offered at lunch in the main dining rooms on most other Royal Caribbean ships. You tell the chefs which of the wide array of ingredients you want and they build a salad for you. While not offering as an extensive array of ingredients as at the Tuti Salad bars, Cafe@270 on Quantum offers very good made to order salads. In addition, it has a nice selection of sandwiches, paninis and wraps as well as pastries.

But if you are looking for a lunchtime dessert, Quantum has great fresh baked cookies. These are available at the bakery counter in the Windjammer buffet restaurant. They can also be found in the Concierge Club.

Somewhat overshadowed by the introduction of Dynamic Dining is the fact that the entertainment offerings on Quantum are cutting edge.

In the main theater, there are no traditional production shows. Rather, Quantum has a full-length production of the Broadway musical Mama Mia. Although long - - two and a half hours - - this is nicely performed. The Abba music is universally appealing and overcomes the rather thin plot.

The other centerpiece show in the main theater is Sonic Odyssey. This is a multi-media spectacular utilizing such things as a stringed instrument that uses the entire theater as its sounding board. There are also singers, dancers, aerialists and a wall of drums.

The theater is also used for more conventional shows. That cruise ship standard, the Love and Marriage Game, is done here. Visiting comedians and singers also gave performances. Of these the most memorable was Marcus Terell & The Serenades. I have enjoyed them before on other ships.

On certain sea days, there were 3-D movies in the theater. The films were major Hollywoood releases from the last few years. Quantum's theater is a very good venue for seeing such films and makes for a pleasurable experience.

Quantum's second major entertainment venue is 270. This is a technologically enhanced lounge at the stern of the ship with comfortable living room style seating.

On sea days, the large LED panels perform “Robot Shows” in which they move about as videos produced especially for Quantum are played. These are quite clever and worth a look - - they only last about 10 minutes.

270 is also used for “virtual concerts”. These shows were also produced for Quantum and involve projections on the screens that cover the windows in 270 with various artists performing in concert. Although more technologically sophisticated, I found these to be like watching a video of a live concert on the large LED screens that ships often have in their pool areas.

The centerpiece production in 270 is called “Starwater.” It involves the ship's singers and dancers, aerialists and of course, 270's technology. The first time I watched this production was from the back, standing behind the seating area. My reaction was that this show was not much different than some of the production shows on Celebrity Cruises' Solstice class ships and thus nothing new.

However, I went back again and saw Starwater from the seating area near the front. This was a totally different experience. The performers appeared all around me, coming from above, below and performing just inches away. I was in the midst of the show. It was much more exciting and enjoyable.

The plot of Starwater is not easy to discern. In fact, I did not think it had a plot. However, one of the performers told me that it is about the relationship between men and women. In the first part, the performers are at a urban fashion show. It is analogy to a cold world where the people do not interact. Then a muse appears, sings and flies around, which brings men and women together. The final part of the show based on tango dancing and music halls is a celebration of this new relationship. OK, don't worry about the plot.

Quantum also has a number of day-time entertainment features. The North Star is a giant crane with a capsule at the end, which takes guests high over the ship. There was a line of passengers waiting to take this ride seemingly all day, every day. It is a fun ride and the views are great. I do not like heights yet I was comfortable throughout this ride - - it was no more uncomforatble than riding in a glass elevator.

The other two action features debuting on Quantum were the sky diving simulator and the bumper cars in the Seaplex. I'm not big on amusement parks so I pased on these. Other people seemed to enjoy them, however.

In May, Quantum will be leaving North America and sailing half way around the world to make China her new home. To make the ship more attuned to Asian tastes and preferences, much will be changed on Quantum. This naturally raises the question why all the fuss and controversy over a ship that will only exist in her present form for a few months.

The answer is two-fold. First, Quantum is the first ship in a class of ships. Anthem of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas will follow. Thus, the concepts developed for Quantum will live on in her sister ships.

Perhaps more importantly, there is the question of how Qunatum's innovations will impact other cruise lines. What will be borrowed and what will be discarded in the ships that will be compteing with the Quantum class? Not everything about Quantum is perfect but has raised the ante and by so doing changed the course of the cruise industry.

Change At Norwegian and Regal Princess Part Two

2015-01-11T08:49:00.000-05:00

In my experience, it does not usually make much difference who is the CEO of a large corporation. Most of the time, the corporation just proceeds along much as it did in the past despite changes in the CEO. Perhaps there is some change in the corporate slogans or some acquisitions or spin offs but no meaningful changes.

This general rule, however, has not been true in the cruise industry. The three major lines have all had leaders who not only made a visible mark but who became synonymous with their companies. This has certainly been true at Norwegian Cruise Line.

Since coming to Norwegian Cruise Line seven years ago, Kevin Sheehan has turned things around. Prior to his arrival, the line had some quite creative ideas but you only had to go on its ships to see that there were execution problems and poor morale. When Sheehan arrived, he gave the line new direction and released the talent of its executives and employees.

Just about a year ago, I was on a press cruise on Norwegian Getaway. Mr. Sheehan made a short presentation to the assembled journalists. The charts and Powerpoint slides that he presented told a good story of growth and profitability. But what was interesting was the charismatic style of leadership. Sheehan was not the stereotypical MBA executive but rather delighted in playing the street-wise New Yorker, energetic, fun to listen to and likable.

He told us to talk to the crew about how they felt about the company, confident that we would find them solidly behind him. At that time, Getaway had just come into service and the cruise lines usually use their best people to bring a ship into service. Naturally, they were going to support the boss. But the next week, I was sailing on Norwegian Sky, one of the line's older ships. How did its crew feel about Norwegian? I found that not only did those people enthusiastically support Norwegian but that they loved the CEO. To hear them talk, you'd think that Sheehan was a popular athlete or television personality.

As a result, it was disappointing to learn that Mr. Sheehan has now left Norwegian. When a person has done so much to change a company (or any organization for that matter), you have to wonder how it will fare without him. Hopefully, the corporate culture he created will endure but without his dynamic leadership, the future is clouded in mystery.

Mr. Sheehan's successor is Frank Del Rio from Prestige Holdings, the luxury cruise company (Oceania and Regent Seven Seas) that was recently acquired by Norwegian. We wish Mr. Del Rio success in his new job.

This week on Beyondships, we have part two of our profile of Princess Cruises' latest ship, Regal Princess. This includes interviews with the captain, http://www.beyondships2.com/regal-princess-captain.html the hotel general manager http://www.beyondships2.com/regal-princess-hotel-general-manager.html and the cruise director http://www.beyondships2.com/regal-princess-cruise-director.html. We also have a review of the Crown Grill specialty restaurant. http://www.beyondships2.com/regal-princess-crown-grill.html Finally, we present a collection of menus from the main dining rooms and specialty restaurants on Regal Princess. http://www.beyondships2.com/regal-princess-menus.html

Cruise review Regal Princess

2015-01-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

Cruise 184

When I was in high school, I had a teacher who would give higher grades on book reviews if you savaged the book. He equated negative comments with critical thinking.

Alas, I am about to disppoint my old school master because I do not have anything negative to say about my recent cruise on Regal Princess. Quite to the contrary, it was an extremely well done cruise.

The cruise was a seven day voyage out of Fort Lauderdale to Princess Cays, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Thus, it included Princess Cruises' private island and two of the most popular Caribbean cruise ports. I've been to these ports many times now so the itinerary did not have the virtue of novelty. But, at the same time, these places are familiar to me and so I know how to structure my days there so as to have a good time.

Therefore, the focus of this cruise was on the ship. Regal Princess is the second ship to be built in her class. Royal Princess was the first. A third one is on order for Princess. P&O Cruises' forthcoming Britannia is being built to the same design.

Regal Princess is a large ship and I find her quite spacious. She has a better passenger space ratio than the mainstays of the Princess fleet, the Grand and Super Grand class ships. Thus, I did not find her at all crowded.

On Royal Princess, one problem with the people flow has been long waits for elevators particularly at the midship elevator bank. This is primarily due to the fact that the stairs by these elevators do not run all the way up through the ship and so more people have to use the elevators. While Regal also lacks a midship passenger staircase, adjustments have been made to the elevators programming and I did not experience much in the way of delays.

Another adjustment that has been made is in the theater. On Royal, each row of seats extends all the way to the wall so that people have to go up or down via the central aisles. On Regal, space has been allowed between the seats and the walls so that guests can go up or down that way as well. This seems to have created a better passenger flow.

The larger size of this class of ship allowed Princess to add several new venues. Of these, Princess Live is the most memorable. It is a television studio which serves as the venue for lectures, game shows, and various other activities. Such activities are common on cruise ships but having them in a studio with cameras and monitors lends them a sense of excitement. Also, the sight lines in this intimate room are quite good.

The size also allowed Princess to expand the size of some venues. This is nowhere more apparent than in the Piazza, the ship's central atrium. It has now become a grand room. In addition, whereas some entertainment was presented in the Piazza on earlier Princess ships, this larger Piazza lets the concept blossom so that this truly can be called an entertainment venue.

As far as décor, it would be difficult to tell the Piazza on Regal Princess from the one of Royal Princess. It is Princess' philosophy to make ships of the same class nearly identical in décor so that passengers returning to the line will have a sense of familiarity regardless of which ship they book. Whatever the merits of that philosophy, the décor of the Piazza on Royal is so spectacular, it demanded that it be used again on Regal Princess.

Of course, the hardware only contributes so much to making a great cruise. In my experience, Princess consistently provides good service. Of course, you can always run into someone who is a jerk or who is having a bad day but as a general finding the people serving on the Princess ships seem genuinely interested in ensuring that the passengers have a good time. In addition, the cruise lines usually assign their top people to bring out a ship. By the time of my cruise, the ship had also been in service long enough to have gotten any kinks out. Consequently, the service was very good with no negative incidents.

How was the food? It is of course my personal taste but I always like the food on Princess and Regal Princess did not let the side down. A favorite venue for me is Alfredo's Pizzeria. This is a restaurant specializing in gourmet individual pizzas. They are made and cooked as ordered. At the beginning of a cruise, people walk by but do not enter. They either assume that there will be an additional charge because it looks like a specialty restaurant or that they can get pizza up by the pool. There is no additional charge and while you can get pizza by the pool, you can't get this pizza by the pool. As word gets around the ship about what Alfredo's is really about, it gets busier and busier. By the end of the cruise, it is tough to get a table at lunctime. So let's keep this between ourselves.

Entertainment was very good. High points were the shows by the Beatles tribute group Beatlemaniacs and the Sixties deck party in which the production cast performed along with the fountains on the pool deck. I also enjoyed the enrichment program. This included two authors, Sarah Jio and Claire Bidwell Smith, who spoke about their work and writing. Princess executive Chis Joly packed Princess Live with a talk on how cruise ships are built. On a cruise that involved three sea days, a good enrichment program is essential.

This week on Beyondships we present part one of our profile of Regal Princess. http://beyondships.com/Princess-RE-Profile.html This includes a photo tour of the interior of the ship. http://beyondships.com/Princess-RE-Tour-1.html as well as a daily programs page with Princess Patters and other inormational leaflets distributed aboard Regal Princess. http://www.beyondships2.com/regal-princess-daily-programs.html

Cruising in 2015

2014-12-28T20:11:00.000-05:00

At this time of year, it is customary to look ahead to the New Year. Therefore, I thought I would take a look ahead to see what may be in store for cruising in 2015. My conclusion is that 2015 promises to be an exciting time for several reasons.

First, 2015 will see an array of important new cruise ships go into service. Each of the top three cruise families will have at least one significant new ship.

In the Carnival family, P&O Cruises will receive its largest ship ever, the 140,000 gross ton Britannia. This ship will be a sister to Princess Cruises' innovative Royal Princess and Regal Princess. As such, Britannia will present British cruisers with dining and entertainment options never before offered on a P&O Cruises ship.

Britannia will be facing some tough competition as Royal Caribbean's new Anthem of the Seas will be based in Southampton for part of the year. This is the 167,000 gross ton sister ship to Quantum of the Seas. Anthem too will be offering Royal's new Dynamic Dining concept and will feature the advanced 270 entertainment center as well as an upmarket sophisticated interior like on Quantum. Oh yes, there will also be the bumper cars, the sky diving simulator, and the North Star observation capsule. However, do not let such items cause you to think that Anthem is not a serious ship.

Not to be left out, Norwegian Cruise Line will be bringing out Norwegian Escape later in the year. At 163,000 gross tons, Escape will be a bigger and improved version of Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway. The Breakaway class embodies a new model of cruising where the passenger has multiple quality options with regard to both dining and entertainment. It will be interesting to see how Norwegian enhances this concept on the ships of the Breakaway-Plus class.

The German cruise market will be greeting AIDAprima. At 120,000 tons, she will be a quantum leap larger than previous AIDA ships. Meanwhile, rival TUI Cruises will be receiving the second ship to be built especially for TUI, the rather unimaginatively named Mein Schiff 4 (98,000 tons).

In the luxury segment of the industry, Viking Cruises will begin ocean cruising with the 48,000 ton Viking Star. The common wisdom in the industry has been that river cruising and ocean cruising are two different businesses and so none of the major ocean cruise lines has ventured into river cruising. Viking, the most successful of the river cruise lines, will test the common wisdom and demonstrate whether a river cruise line can break into the ocean cruise market.

The drop in the price of oil in the last part of 2014 bodes well for the cruise industry. Fuel is the chief cost of operation for the cruise lines. In addition, with consumers paying less at the pump and to heat their homes, they will have more money to spend on discretionary items like cruise vacations. The only cloud on the horizon would be a collapse of the economy of one of the oil exporting states, which could have an adverse impact on the world economy.

Another unexpected gift this fall was President Obama's overture on normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba. The cruise lines are always looking for new destinations for their expanding fleets and Cuba, 90 miles from Florida, is an ideal location. However, before the cruise ships can start calling there, the lines will have to explore such things as whether the port facilities are adequate to handle modern cruise ships, the ability of the Cuban infrastructure to handle shore excursions and whether it would be safe for passengers to go ashore in Cuba. It may take awhile to get all of the ducks in order and so even if the diplomatic questions are resolved quickly, it may be beyond 2015 before the cruise ships come to Cuba in large numbers.

But with all of this happening, it is an exciting time in the cruise world.

On Beyondships this week, we have a new profile of cruise destination Ocho Rios, Jamaica. http://www.beyondships3.com/ocho-rios-cruise-destination.html This includes a review/photo feature on Ocho Rio's top attraction - - Dunn's River Falls http://www.beyondships3.com/ocho-rios-attractions-dunns-river-falls.html and a review of Prospect Plantation.http://www.beyondships3.com/caribbean-great-houses-4.html We also have a new photo and video feature in which Caribbean Princess disappears and magically reappears. http://www.beyondships2.com/caribbean-princess-rain-sun-shadow.html

Economics and small ship cruising

2014-12-21T10:00:00.000-05:00

Last month it was announced that Princess Cruises was selling Ocean Princess to Oceania Cruises. Ocean Princess is a small ship by today's standards, coming in at just over 32,000 gross tons.

Originally, this ship was the R4 of Renaissance Cruises. She was one of eight nearly identical ships. When Renaissance went out of business, the eight ships were scattered and ended up in the fleets of Azamara, Oceania, Princess and P&O Cruises. Interestingly, although the eight ships have different they are still nearly identical.

Azamara and Oceania sell cruises on their ships as luxury crusing. Princess and P&O Cruises characterize their ships as offering the same main stream cruise experience as the rest of the ships in their fleet.

The sale of Ocean Princess is not surprising. It is difficult for a main stream cruise line to offer a small ship experience. The cost per passenger of running a small ship is greater than the cost per passenger of running a large ship because of the economies of scale. It thus follows that if you are charging the same or similar fares as you do for a large ship, you are not going to make as much money. (Bear in mind that the cruise lines are businesses with fiduciary responsibilities to their investors).

A luxury cruise line is able to charge more per ticket. Thus, the additional cost of providing a small ship experience is not as significant an issue.

People often ask me why isn't anyone building small cruise ships anymore? In fact, there are small cruise ships being built. To illustrate, Regent Seven Seas has one on order now and Viking Cruises is building a series of ocean going small cruise ships. Seabourn and other luxury brands have also added new small ships to their fleets in recent years.

The question then becomes why aren't the major cruise lines building any small cruise ships? The answer lies in the same econimcs discussed above. Looked at on a per passenger basis, small ships cost more to build and more to operate because they lack economies of scale. Thus, if you can only charge the same price for a cruise on a small ship as you can for a cruise on a large ship, it does not make sense to invest in building a small ship.

This week on Beyondships, we return to Princess Cays, Princess Cruises' private resort in the Bahamas. Our section on Princess Cays has been re-done http://beyondships.com/Princess-PrincessCays.html and a new video of Princess Cays has been added. http://www.beyondships3.com/princess-cays-6.html

Observations on Norwegian Cruise Line

2014-12-14T09:10:00.000-05:00

Continuing our look at the various cruise lines, this week I thought I would talk about Norwegian Cruise Line.

Not all that long ago, Norwegian was in a bad way. The top management had some clever ideas but somehow the line was unable to turn these concepts into reality. As a result, Norwegian developed a reputation for poor service. My observation at that time was that the line had some interesting ships but the people operating the ships were unhappy and so service and execution suffered.

Then Kevin Sheehan became CEO and everything started to turn around. Energetic and charismatic, Sheehan was able to revive employee morale and unleash the pent up talents of management and employees. Whereas no one seemed to care before, now everyone is enthusiastic.

Norwegian is at the forefront of the new model of cruising. Long known for its Freestyle diing concept, the new Norwegian ships - - Epic, Breakaway and Getaway - - not only give passengers good quality options with regard to dining but also with regard to entertainment. Thus, guests have a great amount of freedom to decide how they will spend their time onboard.

There is also a wide variety of accommodations on the Norwegian ships - - again, especially on the newer ships. Cabins range from budget-concious interior cabins to the luxury of the suites located in the exclusive Haven area. The newer ships also led the way in providing cabins for solo travelers at a reasonable rate.

Passengers on Norwegian tend to be middle class. Most are interested in relaxing in the sun, using the sports facilities and in the evening being entertained in the bars, casinos and other entertainment venues. Lectures and cultural activities are not a high priority.

Norwegian is a family-fiendly line with a strong youth program and a large amount of space dedicated to children. Of course, the number of children onboard decreases when school is open.

The line bases its ships on a long term basis in certain home ports. For example, Breakaway and Gem are based all year in New York while Norwegain Dawn spends each summer in Boston. As a result, the ships tend to develop a local following who return to their local ship again and again.

Most of the ships in the Norwegian fleet were built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany. This shipayrd is known for its attention to detail and the high quality of the ships that it builds. The Norwegian ships are no exception.

Norwegian is the thrid largest cruise company. Recently, Norwegian purchased Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises. This move makes a lot of business sense as it will allow Norwegain to become a multi-diemnsional cruise conglomerate like its competitors Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. My only concern, however, is whether the new lines will distract Mr. Sheehan from continuing the great work he has done in turning Norwegian around.

This week Beyondships has new photo and video features of Norwegian Gem http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-gem-coming-and-going.html and Norwegain Dawn. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-dawn-photo-feature.html

Observations on Princess Cruises

2014-12-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

Because I cruise so often, people often ask me which is the best cruise line. I always answer that it depends upon your lifestyle and tastes. Each of the major cruise lines sets out to present a different cruise experience. At the extremes, some seek to present a lively party atmosphere while others seek to present a refined cultural experience. If you want a party experience, you are not going to be happy on a culturally-orientated ship no matter how well the cruise line presents its concerts and lectures.

With that caveat, I thought I would do a series of postings offering some general observations about the various cruise lines. Hopefully, this will give you some indication of whether a particular cruise line is for you.

Recently, I have been cruising on a number of the Princess Cruises ships. Therefore, I thought I would start this series with Princess Cruises.

In the U.K. a few years ago, Princess ran an advertising campaign that characterized the line as “American luxury.” I think that was a good description. To me, the Princess cruise experience is one of relaxed sophistication. It is upmarket but not stuffy.

Based on my observations rather than on any scientific study, people who travel on Princess tend to be educated and what used to be called upper middle class. Their tastes are correspondingly sophisiticated but they also like to relax in the sun by the pools or in the adults-only Sanctuary area. Hairy legs competitions and throw the cruise director in the pool are not for this crowd.

While Americans and Canadians dominate, there is usually a good mix of nationalities with the U.K. well-represented.

The passengers range in age from young families to retired people. Of course, the mix of ages depends upon the time of year (less children when school is in session) and the itinerary (some routes attract a more mature crowd). As is true throughout the industry, the average age goes up along with the length of the voyage.

I often meet experienced cruisers on Princess ships. The line has a very strong loyalty program and a devoted following. But, I find that experienced cruisers who travel on Princess also seem to like Celebrity Cruises.

Inside, the public spaces of the Princess ships are eye-catching but at the same time they avoid being glitzy or garish. The interiors of the two latest Princess ships, Royal Princess and Regal Princess, are spectacular. Over several ships, Princess' interior designer Teresa Anderson developed an elegant signature style for Princess. Beacuse the line's new ships are so much bigger than the other ships in the Princess fleet, the designers were able to combine space with the traditional Princess style making for a grand result.

I have always found the food on the Princess ships to be to my taste. This is particularly true of the line's Italian offerings. Early on, Princess merged with the Italian cruise line Sitmar and that Italian heritage is still reflected in the culinary operations on the Princess ships. The Alfredo's Pizzerias serve the best gourmet pizza at sea - - and it is complimentary.

An important part of Beyondships is our interviews with the people who operate the various cruise ships. I have been impressed with the captains, hotel managers, maitre d's and cruise directors who I have interviewed at Princess. The people that I have met have been intelligent and able to see the big picture. I believe that this benefits the passengers through increased innovation and efficiency.

They also seem able to motivate the crews to provide good service. Princess calls itself the consumate host and my experience has been that the crew understand that they should act like the passengers are guests, not just customers. Of course, in any business you have some people who just don't get it but overall the morale and therefore the service level is quite high on Princess.

Overall, Princess is a very strong cruise line.

This week on Beyondships, we have an update on Royal Princess. We have a new photo http://www.beyondships2.com/royal-princess-photo-feature.html and video feature showing the ship in various ports. http://www.beyondships2.com/royal-princess-video.html There is an interview with Hotel General Manager Martin Bristow. http://www.beyondships2.com/royal-princess-hotel-manager-ii.html We also review the Crab Shack dining event http://www.beyondships2.com/royal-princess-crab-shack.html and the Gelatto ice cream parlor. http://www.beyondships2.com/royal-princess-gelato.html

More and more cruise ships; Seven Seas Navigator and Voyager

2014-11-30T10:35:00.000-05:00

Recently, Carnival Corporation issued a press release pointing out that by 2016, it will have increased the capacity of its fleet by 10 percent. Considering that there are over 100 ships sailing for the various Carnival brands, this will be a considerable achievement. Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean is building a sister to Quantum of the Seas and a third Oasis class ship. Not to be left out, Norwegian Cruise Line is building a series of ships that will be a bigger version of its revolutionary Breakaway class.

Back in the last decade, many in the cruise industry thought that the boom in cruise ship construction would eventually end and the various lines would use the ships that they had built to serve the market for 20 to 40 years. However, during the boom, the public became addicted to new ships. I have heard passengers describe five year old ships as old. Passengers want new ships. Also, as new cruising concepts are conceived, there is a need to create new platforms to implement them. Thus, the industry is forced to build more ships.

The question then becomes what are you going to do with all these ships? They are built to last 40 years or longer and so this is not a case of the new ships replacing ships that are no longer fit for service.

Traditionally in the cruise industry, when a cruise ship started to become long in the tooth and no longer capable of attracting passengers in the primary cruise market (i.e. North America), it was moved to the secondary market (i.e., Europe or Australia). When it became to old to be viable in the secondary market, it became a gambling ship in Asia.

The traditional hierarchy of markets, however, no longer exists. As the popularity of cruises has developed in Europe, Australia and Asia, those parts of the globe have become primary markets. Consequently, you see more and more first tier cruise ships deployed to those markets. The deployment of the new Quantum of the Seas to China is but one example.

Thus, the industry has to count on the continued growth of cruising to absorb all of the ships. In addition, to attract guests, the ships are going places and doing things that were never envisioned when cruising was confined to the Caribbean. And speaking of the Caribbean, the change in the quality and quantity of the attractions and things to do in the popular cruise ports over the last decade has been amazing. A Caribbean cruise is not like it used to be.

Furthermore, the cruise line's existing ships have to be continually upgraded to remain viable. For example, after Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas entered service, Royal Caribbean undertook a fleet-wide revitalization program to bring some of the popular features of those revolutionary ships to the rest of its fleet. Along the same lines, Carnival so extensively re-did Carnival Destiny to create a platform for Fun Ship 2.0 that they re-named the ship (Carnival Sunshine).

All of this new building seems to be great for consumers. You have new ships and revitalized ships with new offerings. Ships are going to new places. There is more to do in traditional cruise ports as the desire to attract cruise dollars feeds development. Also, unless the laws of economics have been suspended, increased capacity (supply) should place downward pressure on prices.

On Beyondships this week we look at two ships of luxury cruise line Regent Seven Seas Cruises. We have a new mini-profile of Seven Seas Voyager http://www.beyondships2.com/seven-seas-voyager-mini-profile.html. And we have expanded our coverage of Seven Seas Navigator with a new photo feature http://www.beyondships2.com/seven-seas-navigator-photos.html and videos showing the ship in The Bahamas http://www.beyondships2.com/seven-seas-navigator-video.html and in Canada. http://www.beyondships2.com/seven-seas-navigator-video-2.html

Quantum of the Seas and the Revolution in Cruising

2014-11-23T10:44:00.000-05:00

Quantum of the Seas is part of a revolution in cruising. For more than a decade, the watchword in the cruise industry has been “choice.” All of the lines have wanted to give guests more options with regard to what to do while aboard their ships. But, for the most part, the new options brought forward just embroidered the traditional model of cruising. Then, about five years ago, ships started to enter service that offered a new model of cruising with real choice. Quantum carries that model to a new level.

Under the traditional model of cruising, an evening on a cruise ship revolved around the two seatings in the dining room and the two shows in the ship's theater. There was not much choice. Each guest was assigned to one of the seatings for dinner and, as a practical matter, that dictated which of the two shows in the theater you attended. The evening was pretty well mapped out. Yes, you could sit in one of the bars and listen to the piano player instead of going to the show but the majority of the passengers went to the show in the theater after dinner.

Norwegian Cruise Line broke with the traditional model when it introduced Freestyle dining. Guests were no longer assigned a dining time or a table in the main dining room but could dine when and where they liked. Most of the other cruise lines followed suit with their own versions of flexible dining. Still, because the main entertainment offering onboard was the two shows in the ship's theater, your dining time had to be scheduled around the show times. Thus, the choices as to when and what to do were still somewhat limited.

Then, in late 2009, Royal Caribbean introduced Oasis of the Seas and a few months later Norwegian Cruise Line introduced Norwegian Epic. These two ships broke completely with the traditional model of cruising. They offered not only choice in dining but also choice in entertainment. The shows in the theater were no longer the only high quality entertainment option. Thus, under this new model of cruising, guests had real freedom to plan their evenings aboard ship.

Royal Caribbean subsequently refined its version of the new model with Allure of the Seas while Norwegian refined its version with Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway.

With Quantum, Royal has taken the new model even further. It has eliminated the main dining room altogether. In its place are five complimentary restaurants each with a different theme and menu. This is in addition to seven specialty restaurants where there is a cover charge. Thus, it is no longer a choice between dining in a general restaurant (i.e. a main dining room) or going to a specialty restaurant. In effect, the choice is now between an array of specialized restaurants some of which have a cover charge and some of which are complimentary. As a result, Quantum presents guests with a better set of choices.

Of course, there are practical limitations on this freedom of choice. If a couple of thousand people decide they want Asian food at 7 o'clock and descend upon a venue that has capacity for a few hundred, someone is not going to get what they wanted. To guard against such possibilities the lines that have implemented the new model of cruising encourage guests to make dining reservations just like they would on land. Some guests feel that this is an imposition on their freedom of choice but most appear to accept it.

It is disappointing that Quantum will only be based in the Port of New York – New Jersey for one brief season. Originally, Quantum was going to be Royal Caribbean's New York ship, replacing Explorer of the Seas in that role. But then Royal decided to commit the ship to developing the Chinese market and so Quantum will be leaving in the Spring 2015.

The reason this is disappointing is that another new model cruise ship is based in New York - - Norwegian Breakaway. Thus, Quantum and Breakaway would have been competing on a long term basis. It could only have been good for cruisers to have these two innovative cruise lines go head-to-head with their first tier ships. But then Quantum's sister, Anthem of the Seas, is scheduled to take up residence in this port in the Fall 2015 so perhaps the grand contest will take place afterall.

This week in Beyondships, we have a new profile section on Quantum of the Seas. http://beyondships.com/RCI-Quantum-Profile.html This includes a nine page photo tour and commentary, which takes you through the public rooms and open decks. http://beyondships.com/RCI-Quantum-Tour-1.html

Quantum of the Seas First Impressions

2014-11-16T10:34:00.000-05:00

This week I had the opportunity to go aboard Royal Caribbean's new ship Quantum of the Seas. My reaction was that this is a bold and complex ship.

Quantum is bold because she is such a departure from previous Royal Caribbean ships. Royal is a very popular cruise line and the safe course for a business that is on a winning streak is to just keep doing what it has been doing in the past. But Royal has never been one for playing it safe. Just consider the giant investment it made in the Oasis class ships which were a significant departure from what Royal had done with the popular Freedom and Voyage class ships.

With Quantum, Royal has gone even further, jettisoning such popular signature features as the Viking Crown Lounge, the Royal Promenade, the ice skating rink and even the main dining room. Other popular features including the rock climbing wall and Johnny Rockets are different than on earlier ships. In place of the old are new features and new concepts, which Royal is betting will interest customers even more.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how there are at least three versions of the Royal Caribbean cruise experience, which roughly correspond to the various classes of ships in the Royal fleet. Because Quantum is so different than her predecessors, there is now a fourth version of the Royal Caribbean cruise experience. This comes in an industry, where in the name of branding, most of the cruise lines are attempting to make their fleets as homogenous as possible. As someone who believes that ships should be different from one another, I find Royal's approach much to my liking.

Quantum is complex because she has a multi-facted personality. Features such as bumper cars and the sky diving simulator may give the impression that this is a frivolous ship, just a floating amusement park. The giant red bear on the port side of the ship also appears to convey this impression as it looks like an even bigger version of the big red dinosaur in the children's playground on Norwegian Dawn.

However, when you go inside the ship, you find that the public areas are sleek and sophisticated. They have the atmosphere of Celebrity Cruises' Solstice class ships (see, e.g., Celebrity Eclipse). Decidedly up-market with stores such as Cartier and Bvlgari and elegant dining rooms to host Royal's new Dynamic Dining concept, there is nothing frivolous here.

Even the giant bear turns out not to be part of a playground but rather a work of art by British sculptor Lawrence Argent. The concept is that by making a polar bear 30 feet high and coloring it magenta, an intimidating creature is transformed into something whimsical. Apparently overlooked is the fact that a giant red bear has a rather intimidating symbolism to those who remember the not-so-good old days of the Soviet Union. In any event, the bear grows on you after awhile.

Thus, Quantum's personality has an element of whimsy and playfulness but primarily it is an intelligent and serious ship. She can casual and she can be elegant. For example, her complimentary dining venues and her specialty restaurants offer a range of food extending from hot dogs to healthy choices to grand fine dining. The entertainment offerings are similarly broad. Throughout the ship is the quality and attention to detail that I have come to expect in ships built by Meyer Werft.

Overall, I was quite impressed by Quantum. Whether this view will be shared by long-time Royal Caribbean fans remains to be seen as the ship is so different than what has gone before. I tend to think they will like it. However, those fans in Royal's home market will only have a short opportunity to see for themselves since when Spring comes the ship is off to blaze a new trail in China.

This week Beyondships begins its coverage of Quantum with four items: a video showing the ship sailing from the Port of New York-New Jersey http://www.beyondships2.com/quantum-of-the-seas-video.html ; a review of the North Star experience on Quantum http://www.beyondships2.com/quantum-of-the-seas-north-star.html ; a Quantum of the Seas menus page with menus from some of the dining venues on Quantum http://www.beyondships2.com/quantum-of-the-seas-menus.html ; and a Quantum of the Seas deck plans page http://www.beyondships2.com/quantum-of-the-seas-deck-plans.html. More about Quantum next week.

The naming of Regal Princess and Costa Diadema

2014-11-09T11:52:00.000-05:00

It has been a good week for the cruise industry.

On Wednesday, Princess Cruises officially named its new ship Regal Princess. The ship has been in service in Europe for a couple of months now but Princess held off on the official naming ceremony until she came to the United States to begin her season in the Caribbean. The line wanted to use the event to kick off the celebration of its 50^th anniversary in business.

For this event, Princess assembled the cast of the original Love Boat television series to act as the god parents of Regal Princess. That show is credited with kindling the general public's appetite for cruising. Princess Cruises had the foresight to let the television producers use its ships and its name in the series. (In the show, the ship was always called the Pacific Princess but both the original Pacific Princess and the original Island Princess were used in the filming). Thus, Princess has the right to bask in the glory and popularity of the series.

The ship itself is the sister to RoyalPrincess, which entered service last year. She is a big ship at 141,000 gross tons and along with her sister, the biggest cruise ships in the Carnival Corporation fleet. (Cunard's Queen Mary 2 is bigger but she is an ocean liner, not a cruise ship). More of an evolution than a revolution, the Royal Princess class ships give the line more space to present the cruise experience that it has developed so well on its smaller ships.

On Friday, Costa Cruises officially named its new ship, the Costa Diadema in Genoa, Italy. The line's headquarters are in Genoa and it celebrated with fire works and a light show.

For some time now, Costa and Carnival Cruise Lines have been using the same designs and the same shipyards for their ships. This ship is based on the same design as Carnival's popular Dream-class ships and like the Carnival ships, Diadema was built in Italy by Fincantierri. At 132,000 gross tons she is just a touch bigger than her Carnival sisters.

Interestingly, the interior of Diadema was designed by Joe Farcus who for many years designed the fantasy-land interiors of the Carnival ships. Carnival switched to a German firm for the more contemporary designs of Carnival Breeze and Carnival Sunshine. Thus, you now have a situation where the interiors of ships that are primarily intended for the European market are designed by an American and ships that primarily serve the American market are designed by Europeans. It has truly become an international industry.

I was glad to learn that Costa had this celebration for Costa Diadema. Costa is a venerable name in the cruise industry. Its reputation, of course, was injured by the Costa Concordia tragedy even though, from all that I have read, the accident appears to have been due to human error. Hopefully, the celebration this week also marks a new beginning for Costa.

Meanwhile, the widely-anticipated Quantum of the Seas embarked on her maiden transatlantic crossing from Southampton to the port of New York/New Jersey.

Thus, this week saw important milestones in the lives of three new cruise ships.

On Beyondships this week, we have a new section on the mansions that are the most popular attraction in cruise destination Newport Rhode Island. http://www.beyondships3.com/cruise-destination-newport-attractions---mansions.html This includes an in-depth review of a shoe excursion to Rough Point, the mansion of heiress Doris Duke. http://www.beyondships3.com/newport---rough-point.html In addition, we have a new photo and video feature on Holland America Line's Eurodam. http://www.beyondships2.com/eurodam-boston-photos.html

Photos: Love Boat cast - courtesy of Princess Cruises; Costa Diadema - - courtesy of Costa Cruises.

The three (or more) versions of the Royal Caribbean cruise experience

2014-11-02T13:03:00.000-05:00

I recently had a note from someone who said that he was considering going on Royal Caribbean International's new ship Quantum of the Seas and since I have sailed with Royal quite often, he wanted to get my insights into the cruise experience on the Royal Caribbean ships. Although this was a seemingly straightforward question, it was difficult to answer because there is more than one Royal Caribbean cruise experience. In fact, there are presently at least three types of cruise experience offered that roughly correspond to the various classes of ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet.

At the outset, I should say that there are a number of things that are done throughout the fleet. Thus, you always know when you are sailing on a Royal Caribbean ship. For example, the daily program is the Cruise Compass, the children's program is Adventure Ocean, and the loyalty program is the Crown and Anchor Society. They all have a Viking Crown Lounge. But just as both rural Mississippi and urban New York City are both part of the United States, life can be much different depending upon which class of Royal Caribbean ship you are cruising on.

The Radiance (ex. Radiance of the Seas ) and Vision (ex. Vision of the Seas) class ships are medium size cruise ships ranging from approximately 75,000 gross tons to 90,000 gross tons and carrying 2,000 to 2,500 passengers. The cruise experience on these ships is more of a classic cruise experience that is favored with a high percentage of adult passengers. Although the recent fleet-wide revitalization program, the Royal Advantage, has given these ships more specialty restaurants and a number of other features, their size does not permit them to have all of the features of the larger Royal Caribbean ships. Consequently, the emphasis tends to be on friendly and personalized service. In addition, the ships, especially the four Radiance class ships, tend to go to a wider range of ports than their larger fleetmates.

The eight Freedom (ex. Freedom of the Seas ) and Voyager (ex. Explorer of the Seas) class ships are cities at sea. Indeed, the Royal Promenade that runs down the center line of these ships is essentially a main street with shops, bars and restaurants. On the open decks, there are two large pool areas and on the Freedom class, a kids' aqua park and surfing simulators. Both classes also have ice skating arenas. Thus, there are lots of things to do. Of course, the Freedom class ships are nearly twice the size of the Vision class ships and carry up to 4,375 passengers. So the cruise experience is not as personalized as on the smaller ships. In general, the cruise experience on these ships tends to be a more active experience with a high proportion of families as passengers.

Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas offer yet another cruise experience. These giants are not merely bigger versions of the Freedom class ships, they are a new model of cruising. Traditionally, an evening on a cruise ship revolved around the two seatings in the main dining room and the two performances in the ship's theater. Even the advent of flexible dining did not change the model significantly because the only real entertainment offerings were, as a practical matter, the two shows in the theater. With Oasis and Allure, you not only have quality dining alternatives but quality entertainment alternatives.

People who have not cruised on Oasis or Allure often express concern to me about the number of passengers on the Oasis class (6,300). However, the boarding and disembarkation goes amazingly quickly and the passenger flow on these ships is so well managed that long lines are a rare exception. Indeed, I have been generally impressed by the sophisticated management of these ships.

The new Quantum class, which is just going into service this week with Quantum of the Seas, may offer yet another version of the Royal Caribbean cruise experience. A little larger than the Freedom class ships, one might expect Quantum to be a bigger version of that model of cruising. However, she has no ice rink nor a traditional Royal Promenade. Nor is she a miniature Oasis. Instead, she has new entertainment venues and a new dining system, which replaces the main dining room with five themed, complimentary restaurants. Thus, Quantum promises yet another version of Royal Caribbean.

I like the fact that Royal offers more than one type of cruise experience. It provides variety. If the experience were the same throughout the fleet, it would be as dull as traveling on an airliner or having dinner every night at the same chain food restaurant where everything is ~~homogeneous~~. Also, not everyone likes the same thing and so by offering a variety of cruise experiences Royal Caribbean appeals to a wider audience.

On Beyondships this week, we have a new destination guide to cruise port Boston. http://beyondships.com/Ports-Boston.html In addition to looking at the port http://www.beyondships3.com/boston-cruise-port.html, we walk the Freedom Trail http://www.beyondships3.com/boston-freedom-trail.html , take a look at USS Constitution http://www.beyondships3.com/uss-constitution.html and take shore excursions to Fenway Park http://www.beyondships3.com/visiting-bostons-fenway-park.html and to neighboring Salem, Massachusetts http://www.beyondships3.com/visiting-salem.html

Norwegian Dawn update - photos, menus, Hotel Director interview

2014-07-13T10:05:00.000-04:00

Recently, I was aboard Norwegian Dawn. Although it seems like I am always running into Norwegian Dawn in various ports of call, I had not been aboard her for several years. Thus, I was anxious to see how the ship had changed.

During this period, Norwegian has been a cruise line on the move. Since Kevin Sheehan took over as CEO, there has been a marked improvement in the line. He seems to have been able to release the talent of both Norwegian's head office and the crews on the ships. Therefore, I was interested in seeing not just any physical changes but also how the revolution had affected the Dawn,

As for physical changes, there have been several. The area that was the observation lounge has been turned into suites and a conference center. Keeping the name of the old observation lounge, a new Spinnaker Lounge has taken the place of the department store that was at the stern of the ship aft of the main lobby. The shops have been moved forward and can now be found in the area corresponding to the shops on Norwegian Gem. Another change is that the Moderno Churascarria South American steakhouse has replaced the Tex/Mex Salsa specialty restaurant.

More changes are to come. Moderno will be moving up to an area near Cagney's steakhouse and the entire mezzanine overlooking the lobby will become an O'Sheehan's Bar and Grill.

Beyond these physical changes, the officers and crew seem to share the optimistic spirit that you find on other Norwegian ships these days. Once Norwegian's New York-based ship, Dawn is quite content with her new home in Boston and is looking forward to wintering in New Orleans.

We have updated Beyondships's Norwegian Dawn profile. The photo tour has been expanded and numerous new photos of the interior added. We have added a new menus page including examples of the new menus being used in the main dining room of which Norwegian is quite proud. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-dawn-menus.html There is also a new daily programs page with copies of Freestyle Dailies from past cruises. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-dawn-daily-programs.html Copies of the current deck plans have been added. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-dawn-deck-plans.html Hotel Director Alain Magnier talks about what the Dawn is all about these days. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-dawn-hd-interview.html

In addition, we have a new photo feature showing Dawn in Bermuda http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-dawn-photos.html and a video of Dawn heading out to sea. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-dawn-video.html

Portland England cruise port; Dorset attractions; Celebrity Reflection

2014-07-06T10:02:00.000-04:00

Portland is a cruise port of call that has been gaining attention over the last few years. Once a Royal Navy base, there is plenty of room for large ships to maneuver and dock. It is also located in a desirable spot on the southwest coast of England in Dorset, not too far from attractions like Bath and Stonehenge. With Southampton so much in demand by ships seeking to originate and or terminate cruises, Portland is a good alternative for ships seeking to make an in-transit port call.

While the cruise lines place emphasis on the proximity of internationally famous sites such as Stonehenge, there are worthwhile things to see in Dorset itself. There is for example, the beautiful rural countryside that so inspired the novelist Thomas Hardy. The chalk cliffs of the Jurassic Coast have a natural splendor of a different sort. Then there is the mysterious carving of the giant of Cerne.

One excursion I particularly enjoyed was to Minterne House, a large Elizabethan-style manor house. The home of the Digby family, it is set on 1,300 acres of stunning parkland. The house itself is not usually open to the public but the family did open its doors for our shore excursion group. Lord Digby greeted us and told us the story of the house and his family. Then we were allowed to explore the grand rooms on the lower level of the house.

During the tour, it was mentioned that one of the creators of the popular television series Downton Abbey lives nearby and has been a guest at Minterne. Could he have been inspired by those visits. Certainly, the story of the Digbys has a dramatic appeal. Lord Digny's sister was Pamela Hariman and she grew up at Minterne.

Accordingly, this week on Beyondships, we have a profile of the Portland cruise port http://www.beyondships3.com/portland-england-cruise-port.html ; a photo feature of some of the nearby attractions http://www.beyondships3.com/dorset-england.html and a feature on visiting Minterne complete with a slideshow http://www.beyondships3.com/minterne-house-england.html .

In addition, we have a feature showing Celebrity Reflection going to sea. It includes both still photos http://www.beyondships2.com/celebrity-reflection-photo.html and a video http://www.beyondships2.com/celebrity-reflection-video-2.html .

SS United States Profile; Adventure of the Seas interviews

2014-06-29T12:26:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, I had the great good fortune to go aboard the SS United States. It is a ship that I have read about for years as she is indisputably one of the great ships of history. Indeed, I have a painting of her over my desk along with the great French ocean liner Normandie. Inasmuch as the ship is rarely open to the public, it was a privilege to go aboard.

The SS United States is the fastest ocean liner ever built, a title she has held since 1952. No ocean liner or cruise ship before or since has come close to her top speed of nearly 40 knots. She is widely considered the height of American shipbuilding.

During her 17 years in service, the SS United States was a popular ship, carrying royalty, statesmen and celebrities across the Atlantic along with thousands of tourists. Bill Clinton, on his way to study at Oxford University, was one of them. She was a more down-to-earth and informal ship than the Cunard Queens or the French Line ships that were her main competitors.

The SS United States was a very American ship. As her confident, flowing lines and technological prowess suggest, she personified the spirit of America in the post war era.

She was built, not just for commercial reasons, but also for national defense. In fact, the United States government contributed the bulk of the $79 million needed to construct her in the early 1950s. The idea was that the ship could be quickly converted into a troopship capable of carrying 15,000 soldiers across the Atlantic in four days. The fact that the United States could quickly reinforce the NATO troops stationed in Western Europe with large numbers of soldiers acted as a deterrent to any notion that the Soviet Union may have had to invade Western Europe with conventional forces.

The SS United States was prematurely retired in late 1969. Commercial jet travel had arrived and demand for Atlantic crossings by ship was declining. At the same time, labor costs and fuel costs were increasing. Essentially, her owners, the United States Lines, took the ship down to Virginia and gave her to the government.

Once it was decided that the SS United States was no longer of military value, the government sold her to private interests. Then began came a succession of owners who had various grand schemes to put the ship back in service. Fortunes were spent on these dreams but none ever came to fruition.

During one of these episodes the ship was moved from Virginia to Turkey, then the Ukraine, and then back to the United States. She has been in Philadelphia since 1996.

Despite all the money that has been spent on her, the ship looks quite pathetic. She has not been painted in years, her deck machinery is rusting and there is even grass growing where some of the lifeboats once stood. Her interior is empty, stripped down to the metal. Her first owners sold off all of the moveable contents. Then when she was in the Ukraine, her interior walls were removed in order to remove the asbestos that was used to fireproof everything in the 1950s.

Her blemishes, however, are only cosmetic. Surveys have shown that the ship is still structurally sound. In addition, her vast expanse of interior space appears to be full of potential for development.

Finding someone that will realize that potential is the goal of the SS United States Conservancy. It has been talking with real estate developers and government agencies in an effort to preserve the ship. While there is hope for a new future, time is fleeting. It costs some $60,000 a month just to maintain the ship where she is and the Conservancy does not have unlimited resources. Once its money runs out, the SS United States will probably go to the scrapyard.

What a shame that would be! The SS United States is not only an important part of maritime history but is a symbol of the United States. Future generations will condemn us for our stupidity if we let her go. This is especially so considering her potential for future use. The Tate Modern in London, the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and the High Line in New York City are examples of how new uses can be found for old historic structures once they are no longer needed for their original purpose.

I have added an SS United States section to Beyondships with information and photos about the ship. http://beyondships.com/SSUS-home.html It includes a feature article outlining the story of the SS United States. http://www.beyondships2.com/ss-united-states-story.html There is also a photo feature showing the interior of the ship from my visit to the SS United States. http://www.beyondships2.com/ss-united-states-visit.html Also, we have a video showing the fine proud lines of the exterior of the SS United States. http://www.beyondships2.com/ss-united-states-video.html

Also on Beyondships this week is Part Two of our update on Adventure of the Seas. It includes an interview in which the captain, the hotel director and the guest services manager discuss what the cruise experience on Adventure is like. http://www.beyondships2.com/adventure-of-the-seas-101.html In another interview, Hotel Director Gary Davies talks about the recent changes made to Adventure of the Seas and those planned for 2016. http://www.beyondships2.com/adventure-of-the-seas-evolves.html Finally, Captain Olle-Johan Gronhaug explains what is happening when you see a cruise ship's lifeboats being launched while the ship is in port. http://www.beyondships2.com/adventure-of-the-seas-boat-drill.html

Adventure of the Seas review and photos

2014-06-22T10:35:00.000-04:00

This week the focus is on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas. In April, Adventure underwent a refit, which added several new features to the ship. Thus, it is an appropriate time to take another look at Adventure. To this end, we recently did a transatlantic crossing on her followed by a short European cruise.

Adventure is a Voyager class cruise ship. In fact she was the third ship built in that class, entering service just after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Accordingly, she was named in New York by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and her god parents are six New York City firefighters and policemen.

Despite her New York City connection, Adventure is not Royal Caribbean's New York ship. (Somewhat oddly, her sister ship Explorer of the Seas was given that role when RCI decided to base a ship in New York harbor year-round). Instead, she has spent most of her time in the Caribbean sailing out of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The last few years, however, Adventure has been spending her summers in Southampton, England, sailing to the Mediterranean, the Canaries, the British Isles, Northern Europe and Scandinavia. She is doing that this summer but plans for 2015 call for her to revert back to year-round San Juan sailings.

Adventure is a very big cruise ship. At 137,000 gross tons, she is no longer the biggest cruise ship but she is still bigger than the vast majority of ships. Her size allows her to have many features including some that are not at all traditional on passenger ships. These include a pedestrian mall, lined with shops, bars and a cafe, running a considerable length down the ship's center line and a large ice skating arena. These are both used as entertainment venues as well so that there is more to an evening on Adventure than what is going on in the theater and the casino.

Normally, in the Caribbean, Adventure's passenger list is dominated by young families. However, on the two week long transatlantic crossing, there were few children. This left the ship's facilities almost entirely to her adult passengers. As a result, the adults had lots of choices and lots of space to indulge themselves in.

The crossing was not a straight run from Miami to Southampton. Rather, the ship took her time going across with Caribbean stops in Nassau, San Juan and St. Maarten to start the voyage and a stops mid-way across the Atlantic in the Azores. Thus, there were elements of a Caribbean cruise and a European cruise in this crossing. But most of it was long, lazy sea days, which makes these types of voyages so popular with experienced cruisers.

The weather going across was fine. Adventure took the southern route across, which tends to have better weather than the more northerly, traditional ocean liner route. The only grey skies were after the ship left the Azores and was skirting the Bay of Biscay.

For her European cruise, Adventure had a mix of sun and rain. Sun in Zeebrugge, Belgium and rain in Le Harve. Whereas on the crossing, there had been many British passengers, many of whom were going home after wintering in Florida, the vast majority of passengers on this cruise were British. There were more children than on the crossing but still not many as the schools were still open.

I used to find Royal Caribbean's success with the British public somewhat surprising. Royal provides an excellent cruise experience with nice ships, friendly service and quality choices in entertainment and dining. However, it is very much an American-style product, bold, informal and sometimes flashy. I have since come to the conclusion that this experience is successful with the British precisely because it is not British. Just going on one of the RCI ships is like going abroad, a break from the everyday routine.

The cruise was a different experience than the crossing. In Europe, the ports play a much more significant role as there is such a variety of things to see and do in the ports.

The new additions to Adventure include a giant video screen overlooking the pool, flat screen televisions in the passenger cabins, a new lounge for Diamond-level members of Royal Caribbean's Crown and Anchor Society loyalty program and interactive electronic signage in the public rooms telling you such things as what is happening aboard and how to get from where you are to where you want to be. The Portofino specialty restaurant has become Giovanni's Table. These additions are only some of the features that will be added to the ship in the next few years under the line's Royal Advantage program, which is bringing features from the Oasis class ships to the rest of the Royal Caribbean fleet.

I was pleased to see that the ship is being well-maintained. In fact, new carpeting was being installed unobtrusively as we sailed.

We have updated the Adventure of the Seas section on Beyondships. http://beyondships.com/AOS-Profile.html The photo tour of the ship has been updated to include the new features and expanded with more photos of the ship's interior and open decks. http://www.beyondships.com/AOS-tour.html There is a new menus page with menus from the main dining room and specialty restaurants. http://www.beyondships2.com/adventure-of-the-seas-menus.html We've added a daily programs page with examples of the Cruise Compass from past cruises and of other informational materials distributed aboard Adventure. http://www.beyondships2.com/adventure-of-the-seas-daily-programs.html There is a new deck plans page. http://www.beyondships2.com/adventure-of-the-seas-deck-plans.html Finally, we have a new photo feature with exterior photos of Adventure in eight different ports. http://www.beyondships2.com/adventure-of-the-seas-photos.html

Bermuda's Horseshoe Bay, Royal Princess, Celebrity Constellation

2014-06-15T11:03:00.000-04:00

I've just returned from Bermuda where I was again struck by the beauty of the island's South Shore beaches. These lie in a line along the south west coast and have the island's patented pale pink sand. The waters that lap upon the beaches are turquoise in color. To add some drama, there are periodic rock outcroppings that rise up vertically from the water and/or sand.

The most popular and best known of the South Shore beaches is Horseshoe Bay. It is quite large and has the most facilities of this group of beaches including a place to snack and a place to rent umbrellas and beach chairs.

Horseshoe Bay is not far from the Royal Naval Dockyard where essentially all the cruise ships dock these days. The cruise lines offer transfers to Horseshoe Bay. However, there are a number of other alternatives. Therefore, I've put together an article with some information about how to get to Horseshoe Bay. It is posted at http://www.beyondships3.com/getting-to-horseshoe-bay.html

While Horseshoe Bay is the most popular of the beaches, some of the neighboring beaches are even prettier. Chaplin's Bay, Stonehole Bay, Jobson's Cove and Warwick Long Bay have the pink sand, the dramatic rock formations and the added advantage of being more secluded. They are linked together by a sand trail that I've walked many times. I've put together a video showing some of the vistas along the way. http://www.beyondships3.com/bermudas-south-shore-beaches.html

Last Friday was the first anniversary of the naming of Princess Cruises' Royal Princess by the Duchess of Cambridge. Accordingly, in honor of Royal Princess' first birthday, we present a photo feature showing the ship in St. Maarten and in Southampton during her recent eastbound transatlantic crossing. http://www.beyondships2.com/royal-princess-photo-feature.html

We also have a photo feature and video showing Celebrity Constellation leaving Fort Lauderdale and sailing out at sea. The photo feature is at http://www.beyondships2.com/celebrity-constellation-photos.html and the video is at http://www.beyondships2.com/celebrity-constellation-video.html

Norwegian Cruise Line Private Island Great Stirrup Cay; Costa Luminosa

2014-05-25T12:10:00.000-04:00

Norwegian Cruise Line's private island Great Stirrup Cay has been undergoing a dramatic transformation. Located in the Bahamas, GSC was the first island to be purchased by a cruise line.

Over the years, Norwegian did not do very much to develop the property. As a result, a call at GSC was something of a castaway experience. Guests landed on the island's only beach on landing craft military-style. There were a few wooden huts that housed a bar and a dining pavilion. There wasn't much there but it was usually a fun day.

Since 2010, Norwegian has invested more than $30 million in GSC. There is now a harbor where the tenders land. The original beach has been significantly improved and there are now three more new beaches with fluffy white sand. New concrete buildings contain bars, a snorkel shop, and a Bahamian market. Another building houses the dining facility and several neighboring pavilions are equipped with picnic tables for having lunch. There is also a pavilion where guests can wait out of the sun before boarding tenders back to the ship. The developed area has been landscaped with palm trees and lawn.

The transformation continues. Construction work is taking place on the other side of the island and at the edge of the developed area. Indeed, it is difficult to keep up with all of the improvements, the island changes so fast.

Our updated and expanded photo tour of Great Stirrup Cay begins at http://beyondships.com/NCL-GreatStirrupCay.html

Also, this week, we have added a new mini-profile of Costa Cruises' Costa Luminosa. http://www.beyondships2.com/costa-luminosa-mini-profile.html This goes along with a photo essay showing Costa Luminosa in various ports. http://www.beyondships2.com/costa-luminosa-photos.html

Norwegian Getaway - Captain, Hotel Director, Cake Boss, Artist and Restaurant Review

2014-04-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

This week we present a series of inside views of Norwegian Getaway by people connected to the ship. While a cruise ship's facilities are certainly an important part of the cruise experience, the people who work aboard give the ship its soul. So one of the ways Beyondships seeks to give a feel for the various cruise ships it covers is by presenting interviews with the people who run the ships.

Captain Tommy Stensrud is an experienced mariner who is in overall command of Norwegian Getaway. So we turned to him for an assessment of the nautical qualities of Getaway as well as the big picture view of what the ship is all about. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-getaway-captain.html

Hotel Director Sean Wurmhoeringer is in charge of everything that directly impacts the cruise experience including the food, the beverages, the entertainment and the accommodations. He is a veteran hotelier who has brought many cruise ships into service. We spoke with him about the process of breathing life into the ship as she entered service. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-getaway-hd.html

Artist David LEBO Le Batard painted the lively hull art that adorns Getaway. He speaks about the concepts that underlie his painting. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-getaway-lebo.html

Viewers of the popular television show “Cake Boss” are familiar with master baker Buddy Valastro. Mr. Valastro talks about his relationship with Norwegian Cruise Line and about opening a branch of Carlo's Bakery at sea. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-getaway-valastro.html

Another interview that we did on Getaway was with Norwegian's CEO Kevin Sheehan. While not specific to Getaway, Mr. Sheehan's remarks about Norwegian Cruise Line place its latest ship in perspective. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-ceo-kevin-sheehan.html

Finally, we have a review of Le Bistro specialty restaurant on Getaway. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-getaway-le-bistro-review.html

Norwegian Getaway Profile and Photo Tour

2014-04-06T14:06:00.000-04:00

We have added a profile of Norwegian Getaway to Beyondships.

Norwegian Getaway is Norwegian Cruise Line's latest ship. Like her sister ship, Norwegian Breakaway, she is a very big ship - - 146,000 gross tons. However, more importantly, she is part of the new breed of cruise ships. Traditionally, an evening on a cruise ship revolved around dinner in the main dining room and a show in the ship's theater. The new breed give guests several quality alternatives, not only in where and when to eat but also a variety of entertainment options. As a result, the guests have much more freedom to decide how to spend their evenings than before.

Physically, Getaway is very similar to Breakaway. Indeed, the only structural difference I noticed was that the courtyard in the Haven area does not have a retractable roof like it does on the Breakaway. However, there have been several changes in the line-up of public rooms. Chief among these is the Illusionarium, a dinner theater where guests are awed by a series of magicians and mentalists whose appearances are connected by a light-hearted storyline. There is also the Grammy Experience, where Grammy-nominated artists give live performances.

Most of the differences between Breakaway and Getaway relate to the fact that Breakaway is intended to reflect her homeport of New York City while Getaway is designed to capture the spirit of Miami. Getaway has a Latin theme that appears in menu items, drinks and in the entertainment. Indeed, Getaway's version of the Burn the Floor dance show is set in Old San Juan.

This does not mean that Getaway will only appeal to people with a Latin background. For the most part, Getaway offers the Norwegian cruise experience. It has the signature dining venues, Le Bistro, Cagney's Steakhouse, La Cucina Italian restaurant, and Ocean Blue seafood restaurant. Freestyle Cruising is still the name of the game. It just has a Latin overlay to it. Consequently, Getaway will appeal to all Norwegian fans.

Like Breakaway, Getaway was built by Meyer Werft. Once again, the German shipyard has delivered a quality product.

The profile page for Norwegian Getaway is at http://beyondships.com/NorwegianGetaway.html . Our photo tour of the interior, public areas and accommodations on Getaway starts at http://beyondships.com/NorwegianGetaway-Tour-1.html

In addition, the profile includes menus from Getaway's restaurants. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-getaway-menus.html There are copies of her deck plans. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-getaway-deck-plans.html And a selection of Freestyle Dalies (daily programs) and other information distributed onboard Getaway. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-getaway-daily-programs.html

Next week, we get an inside look at Getaway from her captain and other people connected with the ship.

Revolutionary dining for Quantum of the Seas; Majesty of the Seas photos

2014-03-30T13:20:00.000-04:00

Adam Goldstein, CEO and President of Royal Caribbean International, unveils Dynamic Dining

Last week Royal Caribbean unveiled a revolutionary new dining system for its Quantum class ships - - the forthcoming Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas and a ship to be named later. The presentation quite impressed me because the new system, which Royal Caribbean is calling “Dynamic Dining” is so different than what anyone - - including Royal Caribbean - - are presently doing.

Traditionally, cruise ship passengers were assigned to a specific table in the ship's main dining room for their meals. On larger ships where the main dining room could not accommodate all of the passengers at the same time, each passenger was assigned to either the early or the late seating.

In the 1990s, this began to change as ships developed buffet restaurants that became a viable alternative for breakfast and lunch. However, for dinner, passengers continued to be assigned to a specific table at one of the two seatings on most ships. Some ships began to add a specialty restaurant where you could dine for an extra charge.

Early this century, Norwegian Cruise Line developed Freestyle dining. Its ships have more than one main dining room plus an array of specialty restaurants. Guests could eat in any of the main dining rooms or in any of the specialty restaurants when they wanted. No assigned tables, no assigned dining times.

In response, almost all of the other major cruise lines have added flexible dining options. Usually, one part of the main dining room follows the traditional system while another part has a system that allows guests to come when they chose. On ships that have multiple dining rooms, typically, one dining room is devoted to the traditional system while the other(s) have flexible dining. The menus used in all the dining rooms are the same. These lines have also added more specialty restaurants as time has passed to give the guests more alternatives.

With Dynamic Dining, Royal Caribbean is doing away completely with the traditional dining system. Instead of one main dining room, there will be five complimentary dining rooms as well as an array of extra tariff specialty restaurants. It is up to the guest to decide where and when to dine.

Dynamic Dining differs from Freestyle dining chiefly in that each of the complimentary dining rooms will be different with a unique theme and a unique menu. One will be American favorites, one will be a grand formal restaurant, one will be very hip and cutting edge, one will be Asian-inspired and one will be a California-style venue.

In addition, each of the complimentary restaurants is a relatively small venue and each has its own galley. (On most ships with multiple dining rooms, all of the food is prepared in the same galley). Thus, the chefs will be able to give more time and attention to each meal. This should enable them to make more sophisticated dishes.

To prevent more passengers than a particular restaurant can handle all arriving at the same time, Royal Caribbean is instituting a reservations system. Making reservations for cruise ship specialty restaurants is something passengers are used to but it is a rare exception for complimentary dining rooms. In any event, Royal Caribbean has developed an app that will enable guests to make reservations before they board and while on ship. There will also be other more traditional means of making reservations.

Dynamic Dining is a bold move. It promises to offer more choice and variety in cruise dining. At the same time, there are risks. For example, the traditional dining system lends itself to getting to know your fellow passengers. Over the course of the cruise, you often become friends with the people that dine at your table each night. This is particularly important to solo travelers.

There is also the question of how passengers will react to having to make reservations for dinner. Requiring reservations could dampen the feeling of being able to decide at the spur of the moment where and when to dine. Also, will people who purchase their cruises near the sailing date be disadvantaged because people who booked the cruise earlier have taken all the choice spots.

I tend to think such concerns can be dealt with using a little creative thinking. Thus, I look forward to seeing this concept in action. Moreover, the food samples served at the unveiling event in New York were excellent.

I spoke with several Royal Caribbean executives including Adam Goldstein, Presidenmt and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, about Dynamic Dining. That article is at http://www.beyondships2.com/quantum-of-the-seas-dining.html The article also covers the new specialty restaurant offerings on Quantum including venues developed in partnership with celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver, Michael Schwartz and Devin Alexander.

Turning from Royal Caribbean's newest ships to the grand dame of the fleet, we have a photo feature showing Majesty of the Seas as she traveled on one of her short Bahamas cruises. http://www.beyondships2.com/majesty-of-the-seas-in-the-bahamas.html There is also a video of Majesty at sea. http://www.beyondships2.com/majesty-at-sea.html All of this augments our profile of Majesty of the Seas. http://beyondships.com/RCI-MJOS-Profile.html

Legend of the Seas profile and review

2014-03-23T12:28:00.000-04:00

We have added a new section to Beyondships on Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas.

Legend of the Seas is one of six ships that comprise Royal Caribbean's Vision class. In fact, Legend was the first one that they built.

I had been looking to sail on Legend for some time. Each of the Vision class ships is somewhat different - - four were built in France and two in Finland - - and so you find different layouts and different nautical characteristics. I've enjoyed cruising on the other Vision class ships that I have sailed on (Vision of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas and Grandeur of the Seas) so I was looking forward to exploring Legend.

Catching up with Legend wasn't that easy. Royal Caribbean uses her to develop new markets and for the last five years she was sailing out of Singapore, which is quite far from my home base. Last summer they brought her closer - - the Mediterranean - - but this winter she did a season of Caribbean cruises, which is almost down the street from me.

The cruise experience on Legend followed the classic model. Although new dining and entertainment options have been added to enhance the experience, it is very much the way cruising used to be - - relaxing and comfortable. We wandered lazily through the islands of the Southern and Eastern Caribbean, well-fed and entertained. The crew seemed happy and eager to please.

Of course, Legend is nearly 20 years old. Last year, Royal Caribbean did a multi-million dollar revitalization of the ship. They added new specialty restaurants and entertainment offerings such as a giant LED screen over the main pool. They also redid the passenger cabins. This did not and was not intended to magically transform Legend into a new ship. She retains the character of the ships of the time in which she was first built.

While I like the new ships that are coming out of the shipyards these days, there is clearly a place for more classic ships. Ships like Legend are more intimate and less flashy than the new ships. The recent changes to the ship do make the cruise experience more interesting but Royal Caribbean is to be commended for not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. They supplement rather than detract from the ship's overall ambiance.

Legend was built at a time when the cruise lines were still interested in building fast ships and so she can tool around at 25 knots. Citing the high cost of fuel, she only uses her speed in cases of emergency. However, it is comforting to know it is there.

Along the same lines, the ship has good stability. A dick tail was added to the stern of the ship in 2013 to make the ship even more stable in rough seas and during high speed turns.

The home page for our profile of Legend of the Seas is at http://beyondships.com/RCI-LGOS-Profile.html The photo tour of the interior and public areas of the ship begins at http://beyondships.com/RCI-LGOS-Tour-1.html We also have a page of daily programs (Cruise Compass) http://www.beyondships2.com/legend-of-the-seas-daily-programs.html and a page of menus from the main dining room and the specialty restaurants http://www.beyondships2.com/legend-of-the-seas-menus.html.

We spoke with Captain Kjell Nordmo http://www.beyondships2.com/legend-of-the-seas-captain.html and Hotel Director Silvio Ghigo http://www.beyondships2.com/legend-of-the-seas-hotel-director.html to get their insights as to what Legend of the Seas is all about. Then we have reviews of the new Izumi specialty restaurant http://www.beyondships2.com/legend-of-the-seas-izumi.html and of the Chef's Table dining experience http://www.beyondships2.com/legend-of-the-seas-chefs-table.html on Legend of the Seas.

Norwegian Sky revisited

2014-03-16T12:19:00.000-04:00

Norwegian Sky sails on three or four day cruises out of Miami to the Bahamas. It is a very competitive market with Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Lines ships sailing essentially the same itinerary.

Like all of the ships doing this itinerary, the Sky has a reputation for being a party ship. And as it turned out, it was during my most recent cruise on her. However, it was not a rowdy, obnoxious party. People were having fun but not misbehaving, at least in not in a way that intruded upon others.

Sky, is now 15 years old. She Is clean and well-maintained. You do not have all of the facilities of the more recent Norwegian ships. But then you would not have time on a three or four day cruise to do everything that those ships offer. Indeed, the Sky offers more dining options than you could experience in just a short cruise.

The Sky has some very elegant traditional venues. Both Le Bistro and Cagney's specialty restaurants have splendid 19^th century decors. The menus for these venues are the same as on the bigger Norwegian ships but the rooms are entirely different. Thus, for those who travel regularly on Norwegian, the Sky offers a pleasing combination of the familiar and the new.

I was impressed by the attitude of the crew. During the pre-inaugural on Norwegian Getaway, the line's CEO, Kevin Sheehan, had challenged members of the press to talk to the crew and how they they felt about Norwegian. On Getaway, the crew was very enthusiastic but then you would expect that from the crew of the line's latest ship just as it was entering into service. But what about on Norwegian Sky, one of the oldest ships in the Norwegian fleet? I found that the spirit was much the same as on Getaway - - enthusiastic about the company and a genuine desire to make sure that the guests were having a good time.

All in all, Norwegian Sky delivered what it promised - - a fun and relaxing short break.

We have updated and expanded Beyondships' profile of Norwegian Sky. http://beyondships.com/NCLSky.html.

New photos and pages have been added to our photo tour of the interior of the ship.http://beyondships.com/NCLSky-Tour-1.html

We have also added an interview with Hotel Director Calvin Lodge in which he gives his insights as to what Norwegian Sky is all about. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-sky-hotel-director.html

There is also a new photo feature http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-sky-photos.html and video showing the ship at two ports of call - - Nassau and Norwegian's private island Great Stirrup Cay. http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-sky-video.html

We have also added a menus page http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-sky-menus.html and a daily programs page http://www.beyondships2.com/norwegian-sky-programs.html . (You can learn quite a bit about what goes on on a ship from reading its daily programs).