mercedes

Jancancruise, it’s great to have you onboard, and please post often.

With demand stagnating for voyages in Europe and Alaska, Celebrity Cruises is taking another look at that old standby cruise destination, the Caribbean. The Miami-based premium line, which usually sends all seven of its ships sailing across the oceans to Europe and Alaska during the summers, officially announced this week that it'll be keeping one of its vessels -- the Celebrity Century -- closer to home starting in 2010. Celebrity says the 1,814-passenger Century will sail four- and five-night Caribbean itineraries year-round out of Miami start in May 2010. The voyages opened for sale Thursday. The five-night sailings will alternate between two different itineraries. One, which is new for the line, features calls at Roatan, Honduras and Cozumel. The other five-night itinerary, similar to past offerings, offers stops in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and George Town. The four-night itinerary will feature visits to Key West and Cozumel. The last time Celebrity had a ship in the Caribbean for a summer season was in 2004. Executives from several lines have said recently that pricing for Caribbean voyages has been holding up much better than pricing for European and Alaskan trips as cruisers look for less pricey, closer-to-home vacations.

Neals6, have a safe and enjoyable cruise.

bookworm82, it’s great to have you onboard, and please post often.

Yellowrocks, it’s great to have you onboard, and please post often.

This past week, leaders of the 34 countries that are members of the Organization of American States (OAS) gathered on the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, to take part in the Fifth Summit of the Americas. This major international political event, which focuses on economical, social and political development of the region, attracted more than 5,000 visitors including heads of state, members of the media and other dignitaries including President Barack Obama, and representatives from North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago was the first Caribbean nation to host the summit. In order to supplement the 1,700 existing hotel rooms in Port of Spain, the National Secretariat of Trinidad and Tobago engaged the services of Miami-based Landry & Kling to arrange for dockside ship charters to house thousands of guests. Landry & Kling brought in two cruise ships, the Carnival Victory and Caribbean Princess, to provide close to 3,000 rooms for the event. Increasingly, dockside charters like these have become vital for booking large-scale conferences and global events in regions where demand for accommodations outstrips supply. Aside from fulfilling the immediate need for guest rooms, Landry & Kling's CEO Joyce Landry says, "The ships are ideally located just steps away from the center of summit activity, docked in downtown Port of Spain. Because of this, both ships were used for pre-summit and parallel events, including breakfast/lunch meetings and plenary sessions. The ships provided needed venues for private sector events for 400 to over 1,000 people for the opening ceremony reception." The vessels had business centers which were used by media and the various delegations accommodated onboard. The ships' restaurants also served meals to staff and volunteers on a daily basis. Both ships were docked adjacent to the Hyatt Hotel and a short distance from the Summit Village, which was a main gathering spot for delegates and special guests. Landry says the per-room cost is comparable to any hotel in Port of Spain -- plus, the ships include meals and services that would be charged as extras in a hotel. An important factor is for the ships to be a self-liquidating expense in the summit budget. As a cost recovery initiative, both ships set sail at the conclusion of the summit on 4-day cruises with all revenues going to the government to defray the cost of deploying the vessels to Trinidad for the Summit. The Carnival Victory will re-position to Barbados and cruise from there to Antigua and St. Maarten. The Caribbean Princess will sail from Port of Spain, Trinidad and cruise to Curacao and Margarita Island, Venezuela. These cruises have been offered to local residents, and were quickly sold out.

The deals are working. That's the word from Royal Caribbean, which says the hefty discounts the company has been offering in recent months for cruises on its namesake brand and sister line Celebrity Cruises have been successful in getting people booking again. "Discounting continues to be aggressive," the line said today in a statement accompanying its first quarter earnings release. "Yet (the discounting) remains within the range of previous guidance and booking volumes have been sufficient for the company to achieve its forecasted occupancy levels." Royal Caribbean said it lost $36.2 million, or $0.17 per share, during the first quarter, a sharp reversal from a year ago when the company had a first quarter profit of $75.6 million. Still, the loss is not as bad as some Wall Street firms had expected, and it beat the company's earlier guidance. Helping Royal Caribbean: A significant drop in costs. Net cruise costs, excluding fuel, fell by 6.8% on a per passenger basis. Like other travel companies, Royal Caribbean has been hard hit by the downturn in the economy as vacationers cut back on spending, and the company had warned investors earlier this year that its net yields -- a measure of how much money it generates per cabin -- could be down 14% to 16% for the quarter. But yields were down just 13.5%, helped by stable close-in bookings. Still, the company projects the second quarter will be tough with yields down 17%, and for the full year the company now projects yields toward the lower end of its previous guidance at down 12% to 13%. "A later booking pattern continues to make forecasting difficult, but our visibility gets better every day," says Royal Caribbean chief financial officer Brian Rice. "We have lowered our revenue forecast marginally to take into account selected areas of weakness including a more cautious view of onboard revenue, but overall, our bookings continue to come in within the range of our earlier expectations. In today's world, that is significant." Rice says the company has seen consumer behavior stabilize in recent months. "We are obviously not completely back to equilibrium yet," he says. "But the predictability of our bookings gets better every day and the risk of a dramatic deviation continues to fall."

It's been a tough year for Royal Caribbean, no doubt about it. But there's at least one bright spot at the company: The pending arrival of the much-ballyhooed Oasis of the Seas. Demand for the groundbreaking, 5,400-passenger cruise ship, scheduled to debut in December, has been incredibly strong, despite the economic downturn, and the prices the vessel is commanding are well above what the line is getting for its other ships, company executives said today. "The level of bookings and the pricing for Oasis' first ten months is very exciting," Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein told Wall Street analysts during a conference call to discuss first quarter earnings. "In fact, the prices that Oasis is commanding . . . are really quite remarkable." In announcing it had lost $36.2 million during the first quarter, Royal Caribbean said it has been forced to discount voyages on most of its ships heavily in recent months to keep bookings flowing in for the year. But cruises on the much-awaited Oasis of the Seas -- the largest ship ever built -- have been an exception. Later in the conference call, in a response to a question from a Wall Street analyst on whether the line will be discounting voyages on the ship as its debut approaches, Goldstein didn't rule out the possibility. But he indicated it's unlikely there would be across the board price slashing for the ship anytime soon. "If you look at her performance on a whole, it's really quite spectacular at this point," Goldstein said.

Industry giant Royal Caribbean will base a cruise ship in England year-round -- a first for the company -- starting in 2010. The 3,600-passenger Independence of the Seas -- currently the world's largest cruise ship --already has spent one summer sailing out of Southampton, England after its debut last year. And it's scheduled to spend another season sailing out of the port town starting Saturday. But today the line announced the ship will remain in the city permanently starting with the summer of 2010. The expanded presence comes in the wake of a strong response to the earlier cruises out of the city. The cruises have been marketed heavily at the British market -- part of the line's strategy of being a global brand with appeal to customers from around the world. “Royal Caribbean International is committed to continuing to grow its presence in the British and Irish markets," says Royal Caribbean executive Robin Shaw. The year-round deployment "means that we firmly cement our position as one of the leading players in the UK cruise industry.” Royal Caribbean first based a ship in Southampton for a summer in 2005 when it assigned the 2,076-passenger Legend of the Seas to the port town for several months. The Legend returned to the port for the summer of 2006, followed in 2007 by the bigger, 3,114-passenger Navigator of the Seas. Royal Caribbean says its plans for Independence during the winter of 2010/11 include 11- to 18-night cruises that will go as far as Italy and the Balearic Islands. Independence will be the second Royal Caribbean ship based in Europe year-round. In 2008, the line deployed Brilliance of the Seas year-round in the Mediterranean based out of Barcelona.

gritz25, have a safe and enjoyable cruise.

darrah, it’s great to have you onboard, and please post often.

cruisesbygidget, it’s great to have you onboard, and please post often.

Carnival Cruise Lines began accepting reservations this week for a new series of seven-day western Caribbean voyages from Mobile, Ala., taking place next year. The new weeklong cruises will depart the Alabama Cruise Terminal May 8 and 15, July 3 and 10, and Oct. 23 and 30, 2010, and feature three tropical Caribbean ports of call: Montego Bay, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico. Designed to complement the line’s popular four- and five-day schedule from Mobile, the new seven-day cruises will be offered aboard the Carnival Fantasy, which late last year underwent an extensive multi-million-dollar renovation which included an expansive Carnival WaterWorks aqua park, new Serenity adults-only retreat and redesigned tropical-themed main pool area. Carnival Fantasy’s new seven-day itinerary is the latest chapter in the line’s continued expansion at the Port of Mobile, which has garnered excellent consumer feedback since Carnival launched the port’s first year-round cruise program aboard the Holiday in 2004. Carnival Fantasy will replace the Holiday in November 2009, representing a 42 percent capacity increase. In addition to the new open-deck upgrades, Carnival Fantasy’s suites, along with its 12,000-square-foot Spa Carnival facility and formal and casual dining venues, were renovated and cosmetic enhancements were made to virtually every public area. A new "Circle C" facility catering to 12- to 14-year-olds was added, as well.

Industry giant Royal Caribbean has unveiled its plan for short cruises to the Caribbean in 2010 and 2011, and it includes more capacity in Tampa. The line today announced it will have five ships sailing voyages of five or fewer nights in the region for the 2010-2011 season and will offer 20 different short cruise itineraries. The schedule will include: -- An enhanced and expanded deployment in Tampa. The 2,501-passenger Radiance of the Seas will begin short cruises out of the city in the fall of 2010, taking over seasonal winter sailings from the smaller, older Grander of the Seas. Radiance of the Seas’ itineraries will include a four-night sailing calling at Cozumel, Mexico, and a five-night sailing that adds Costa Maya. -- Alternating ships in Fort Lauderdale. The Grandeur of the Seas will reposition to Fort Lauderdale to offer short cruises during the summer and fall of 2010, after which the larger Navigator of the Seas will take over short cruises in the market. The Grandeur of the Seas will sail four- and five-night Western Caribbean itineraries with calls at Key West, Cozumel, Costa Maya, George Town and CocoCay. The Navigator of the Seas sailings, which start in November 2010, also will be four- and five-night trips but with some different itineraries. On one of its five-night itineraries that depart Mondays, Navigator will call at the new port of Falmouth, Jamaica, and Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s private beach resort on the north Haitian coast. Other ports of call will include George Town, Cozumel, Belize City, and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. -- Continued sailings out of Miami and Port Canaveral. The line's Majesty of the Seas and Monarch of the Seas will continue their current schedule of year-round, three- and four-night sailings to the Bahamas from the ports. Calls include Nassau, CocoCay, and Costa Maya.

Is this the bottom for cruise prices? In a research note out today, prominent Wall Street cruise analyst Robin Farley of UBS says fares for upcoming voyages to the Caribbean, Alaska and Europe have stopped going down. But that doesn't mean they're going up, either. "Our proprietary UBS Cruise Pricing Survey indicates ticket pricing in the Caribbean, Alaska and European trades appear to have stabilized over the last several weeks," she says. But the stabilization comes "at levels down materially from the start of the season." Farley says prices in the Caribbean are down "in the mid-teens" since the start of the year. Pricing in Europe and Alaska is down "in the mid- to high- twenties percentage range."

susuw, have a safe and enjoyable cruise.

JANNIEBABE, have a safe and enjoyable cruise.

Jackie and Tony, have a safe and enjoyable cruise.

Should passengers have to pay for a cruise wrecked by norovirus? Longtime travel industry watcher Chris Elliott raises the issue today at his online travel site, elliott.org, offering up the heart-breaking tale of an extended family that saw its $10,000-plus vacation ruined by a severe outbreak of the illness on a Disney Cruise Line voyage. Elliott says the entire family -- four generations of whom were on the trip -- fell ill within hours of each other and spent day after miserable day trapped in their cabin. "Both our rooms smelled of vomit and diarrhea," the matriarch of the family, Patricia Branham, tells Elliott. "Our bedding had to be changed constantly as . . . we had no control of bodily functions." Elliott says Disney offered the Branhams 15% off a future cruise after they complained about the experience. But the family thought they deserved more, and they successfully disputed nearly $7,000 in charges from Disney on their Visa card. Should Disney have offered the family more compensation? Should Visa have reversed the charges? As Elliott notes, the fine print in cruise contracts is quite clear that lines will not be held liable for passenger illnesses.

rokijames, it’s great to have you onboard, and please post often.

We have visited during a cruise, but not to embark.

Cunard's one-year-old Queen Victoria was the scene of a dramatic rescue today after a woman in need of a kidney transplant learned a donor organ had become available back on land. England's Daily Mail reports Judy Stockwell, 64, of England, had signed up for the voyage as a "last holiday" after waiting two years for a kidney transplant and concluding a suitable kidney might never be found. But just hours after the ship steamed away from England late on Monday, word reached the vessel that an organ suddenly had become available. The Daily Mail says Stockwell was told she had just five hours to reach the hospital in Cambridge, England where the kidney was available, prompting an all-hands-on-deck effort on the ship. At the time the vessel was 50 miles off the coast of Cornwall. The news outlet says the Victoria's captain reached the Royal Navy, which scrambled a sea helicopter that arrived within an hour to scoop Stockwell up in a winch. The helicopter then raced her hundreds of miles to an airport near the hospital. "I'm so grateful to all those involved," Stockwell told the Daily Mail just minutes before going into surgery earlier today. "We knew we had to get to the hospital and everyone just rose to the occasion."

The parent company of Windstar Cruises has announced the quick sale of its travel and events division as it maneuvers to avoid a bankruptcy filing. In a statement issued Monday, the financially struggling company, Ambassadors International, said the sale of the division to a private equity fund would be effective as of last Thursday. "The board and management are pleased to have completed this transaction," Ambassadors CEO Art Rodney said in the statement. "We will continue to focus all of our capital and efforts on Windstar Cruises and the small ship luxury segment." Ambassadors' businesses have been hit hard by the economic downturn, and the company warned last week in its annual 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it may not be able to continue as a going concern if it isn't able to to sell assets, get additional financing and/or renegotiate its debt. As part of the filing, which was submitted late, Ambassador's independent accountant, Ernst & Young, warned it had "substantial doubts about the company's ability to continue as a going concern." Ambassadors, which also owns a marina business, reinsurance operations and the now defunct Majestic America Line, has put all of its assets with the exception of the Windstar line up for sale. Ambassadors shut down the money-losing Majestic America Line in November after failing to find a buyer for the business. The line's boats are being pulled out of the water and put into long-term storage. "Due to the current global downturn in the economy, specifically the decrease in vacationers’ discretionary spending and the direct impact this has on the reduction in cruise bookings, decrease in corporate spending on incentive programs and the tightening effect of the credit market on financing for construction projects, we will need additional sources of cash in the immediate future in order to fund operations in 2009," the company explained in the 10-K filing. In a sign of the cash crunch at the company, Ambassadors failed to make a $1.8 million interest payment due on its debt last Wednesday. UPDATE, 5:15 PM ET: Ambassadors was paid $500,000 for its travel and events business, the line disclosed late today in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The buyer of the business also agreed to assume $3.8 million of the company's liabilities, according to the filing.

cruisegal64, it’s great to have you onboard, and please post often.

I have my Baltic cruise that I had to reschedule planned for June 1, 2010.