In recent years, the standard way of constructing new cruise ships is to make several of the same design, thus reducing the cost of creating and implementing different designs. Rarely can a ship call itself “unique,” means “one-of-a-kind.” The Queen Mary 2 — the flagship of Cunard Lines — does so and with justification. For one thing, she defines herself as an “ocean liner” which means she sails a regularly scheduled route between points A and B …
ABOARD THE QUEEN MARY 2 – We had a most interesting lunch today. Four of the people who joined our table in the Brittania Dining Room were part of the Road Scholar group and they were absorbed with studying British murder mysteries. The question they discussed between themselves today was which was better: The Detective Morse mysteries or the Endeavour series (which we learned came after the original Morse series but told of his younger years.) Now, …
ABOARD THE QUEEN MARY 2 – We have only been on the QM2 a couple of days. Our first day was mostly spent exploring the ship and its many activities. Rain and cold weather kept most everyone inside so the atmosphere was subdued. Yesterday was a whole ‘nother story. Much attention was paid to the Royal Wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry and American Meghan Markle which transpired early in the day. I turned on the telly to …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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