The last couple of days before departing on a trip are always busy with an array of last-minute to-dos. Today is no exception. We are leaving on Wednesday to fly to New York to board the Queen Mary 2 for a transatlantic crossing. Usually the crossing is straightforward – six days of sailing and then you get off in Southampton, England. This particular itinerary is a bit different in that while it does call in Southampton, it …
In March several of us from AllThingsCruise attended SeaTrade, the annual conference of the global cruise industry, which was held in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. The big news all around is that the cruise industry is booming and there are now over 100 ships on the order books extending through 2030. We have already written about the two new cruise lines – Virgin Voyages and the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection – which will begin service in 2020. But here’s …
Read moreLots of new small ships on order, plus other news from SeaTrade
Although Virgin Voyages made a splash in the larger ships cruise market, most of the action at SeaTrade focused on companies introducing more small ships. SeaTrade is the annual conference of the global cruise industry which was held a week ago in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. Douglas Prothero, the managing director of the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection revealed the design of the first of several small ships (298 passengers) which will offer an ultra-luxury experience….which he describes as its …
Read moreMore from SeaTrade: Ritz-Carlton introduces its new luxury yachts
FORT LAUDERDALE — AllThingsCruise was well represented last week at SeaTrade, the annual conference of the global cruise industry held annually in Southeast Florida. Publisher and Executive Editor Heidi Allison Shane, key writers Jackie Sheckler Finch and David Molyneaux and myself were on site attending informative panel discussions and press conferences, interviewing cruise executives and generally hobnobbing to determine what is going on in this dynamic sector of the tourism industry. The conference always open with a …
Read moreNew cruise lines reveal their designs at SeaTrade Conference
ABOARD THE VIKING SKY – One aspect about sailing with Viking is that itineraries tend to be very heavy on time in port with most sailing done at night. This is convenient in some ways but it does tend to short-change you on time to appreciate the ship actually being on the water. Our last two days on board provided us an opportunity to enjoy being at sea. As we sailed from Boston toward New York at …
Read moreViking Sky: Owner Torstein Hagen reflects on 20 years of Viking
ABOARD THE VIKING SKY — Let’s talk again about this company, Viking Ocean Cruises. This new cruise line…brought to you by the folks who run Viking River Cruises…began sailing in April of 2015 and has been receiving rave reviews since. Most notably Viking was named the #1 Ocean Cruise Line (mid-size ships) by Travel & Leisure readers in its 2016 and 2017 World’s Best Awards, knocking out luxury-line Crystal Cruises from its 20-year run in that position. …
Read moreViking Sky: A look at this cruise company that is winning accolades…and why
ABOARD THE VIKING SKY – Today we are in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and because we have been here a couple of times we opted to sign on for an afternoon tour to the scenic Peggy’s Cove. This gave me the opportunity to slot in a massage this morning. And much to my surprise, my masseur was Joe from Sweden who was my therapist on the Viking Star last year. Familiar crew members are now commonplace on this …
Read moreViking Sky: The LiV Nordic spa is well worth experiencing
ABOARD THE VIKING SKY — Last year, just about the same time of year, we sailed for two weeks in the Baltic Sea aboard the Viking Star. So it was lovely that when we boarded the Viking Sky for this cruise that we saw so many familiar faces. There were our two favorite bartenders, Natasha and Igor. The restaurant manager Jon. The cruise director Aaron. Several of the entertainers. And others, whose names we did not recall …
Read moreViking Sky: Musings about crew, food, tours and wi-fi
ABOARD THE VIKING SKY – For two days we were busy exploring two great cities in Canada, Montreal and Quebec City. So, it was a nice break to sail into the Saguenay Fjord yesterday and to check out a more rural and quite beautiful part of Quebec. When you get to the region of Saguenay, it seems like you are in a very remote area but actually it is only a 2-1/2 drive from Quebec City. But …
Read moreViking Sky: After two days in cities, it was fun to explore the Quebec countryside
ABOARD THE VIKING SKY – After a tumultuous first two days, our next two were more normal. Thank goodness. On Tuesday, we were escorted around historic Quebec City by Caroline Tetu who works with the port promoting cruise tourism. Of the 5 million tourists who visit QC each year, only 200,000 are from cruise ships so this aspect of tourism has great growth potential for the city which will have over 130 cruise calls this season. However, …
Read moreViking Sky: Roaming around picturesque Quebec City and fixing a phone problem
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