— From Travel Weekly The new cruise port in Falmouth, Jamaica, isn’t ready for prime time. After discussions in early January with the Port Authority of Jamaica, Royal Caribbean delayed once again the arrival of its ships in Falmouth. “We concluded that even though we can deliver, there’s no gun to our head,” said John Tercek, Royal Caribbean’s vice president of new business development. “We decided to spend a few more weeks finishing this out. We’ll have more …
Reading the blogs written by cruise executives can be enlightening. Often they break news sooner (we receive the official press releases later) and they add insightful comments. Just yesterday Adam Goldstein, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) posted on his Why Not? blog the very interesting news that RCCL will be dropping Park West as its on-board art auctioneers. Here is the actual statement: …our contract with Park West Art Services has expired and …
This news came to us from the Cruise Brothers online travel agency. It is worth sharing: Several weeks ago a new process for cruise line luggage tags was introduced by Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara cruise lines. This new process took away the agency’s ability to print luggage tags in advance and it put the cruise line in charge of printing and mailing luggage tags for its clients. This new process worked very well at first (for …
This is the time of year when most of us give some serious thought to doing good. We try to help others as best we can either through donations or actions. The cruise lines also do a lot of good through their various philanthropic programs. My good friend, cruise writer Marcia Levin, compiled the following list of what various member lines of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association Foundation (FCCA), do to help others: • As one of South …
The Equinox cruise is over but the memories still linger. Well, the last memory wasn’t the best, as debarkation did not go very well. Of course, it was the first time that this ship had visited Ft. Lauderdale but I do believe that the Solstice has been here already so there shouldn’t have been any surprises. The first problem was that the original gangplanks were too steep…so, with about 200 people jammed into the lower level, they …
By Marcia Levin Special to AllThingsCruise.com Nov. 23, 2009 — Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas is true to its pre-inaugural hype. It’s big and bodacious, absolutely brilliant in design and looks darn good in the process! CEO and president Richard Fain told reporters aboard a November inaugural sailing of the new 5,400-passenger ship that it is “one-third familiar, one-third evolutionary and one-third revolutionary.” Familiar touches include the Royal Promenade – an enhanced area of shops …
Tuesday, November 16, 2009…My Equinox diary Tomorrow is our final day at sea before arriving at Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday so everything is kind of wrapping up. People are checking their accounts, packing up their trip purchases and planning their Thanksgiving holidays. Today there were two highlights: First was the passenger talent show. There were 15 “acts” – brave souls willing enough to get onstage before hundreds of people to perform – and most acquitted themselves admirably. …
Sunday/Monday, November 14-15, 2009…My Equinox diary These past two days at sea have passed swiftly. Our mornings are generally quiet. Chet gets up and goes to the gym early and then we have coffee in our cabin and go to breakfast between 8:30-9 a.m. Timing is a little off for everyone as we turn back the clocks one hour almost every night. Then we generally go to the top of the ship, to the Lawn Club area, …
Saturday, November 14, 2009…My Equinox diary Today was our second full day at sea and we decided to sample as many of the onboard activities as we could. So, this morning we attended a culinary demonstration in the main showroom given by the Executive Chef Steve van der Merwe from South Africa and the Head Pastry Chef Bruno. As anyone knows who attends such an event in a huge venue, there really wasn’t much to see…but the …
Friday, November 13, 2009…My Equinox diary Today was Friday the 13th but no one here on the Celebrity Equinox would have known it. The weather was just about perfect with a smooth following sea…a fine beginning to our six-day crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. If all sea days go by as fast as this one then our week will be over in no time. It seems that the day just flew by. There was certainly plenty to …
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