Let's Cruise!

Disney Names Two New Ships

This month at the 2009 annual meeting of shareholders at the Walt Disney Company they announced the names of their two new ships.  Robert A. Iger, Disney President and CEO announced "The Disney Dream will sail on 2011 and Disney Fantasy will hit the high seas in 2012."  Their names were chosen to celebrate Disney's unique heritage of creating enchanting places and stories where dreams come true!

The new ships will be built at the Meyer Werft ship yard in Papenburg, Germany.  They will be built with families in mind.  Each ship will have 1,250 staterooms and double their capacity for Disney Cruise Lines.

For more information you may visit:  www.disneycruise.com     

A New Cruise Ship is Coming to Port Canaveral

 In early October of 2010 Norwegian Cruise Line will be bringing their 1,936 passenger ship Norwegian Sun to Port Canaveral.  The ship is currently sailing out of South American ports.  Once it arrives it will be offering 7-night sailings alternating between the Eastern and Western Caribbean.  Canaveral's C.E.O., Stan Payne said "This announcement reflects an important milestone in the execution of our business strategy to expand Port Canaveral's cruise offerings as we continue to expand our market."

How Does Your Cruise Line Rate

 The following ratings were done by GalaxSea Cruises of San Diego.  They have claimed to have cruised on all major cruise lines and this is how they see it.

Luxury Class
Regent Seven Seas - The top rated cruise line of them all!
Silversea - One of the top luxury small-ship cruise lines.
Crystal - One of the best & dominated this market until 2001 when Regent Seven Seas took this place.
Seaborn - One of the older luxury cruise lines and now owned by Carnival.

Deluxe Class - Between Luxury and Premium
Azamara Cruises - A new cruise line from Celebrity Cruises - extra high level of food & service.
Oceania Cruises - Has great food and service, but Azamara ranks higher.

Premium Class - Just below Deluxe and above Budget Class
Celebrity Cruises - Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity and has made them their upscale brand.
Royal Caribbean - The best overall cruise line for families and active adults.
Holland America - A fine premium class that caters to seniors.
Disney Cruises - A great brand that caters to children.
Princess Cruises - Owned by Carnival Corp.  Many new reports of poor food quality & service.

Budget Class - Usually the price leader but with problems and issues.
Carnival Cruises - is the low price leader in the cruise market.  Their ships pack in more people than any others.
NCL - A cruise line they do NOT recommend.  Too many problems and complaints and NCL has an atrocious way of handling problems.

www.galaxsea.com/ratings     

New Ships Coming in 2009

 A while back I reported that 5 new ships would come into service this year.  I then updated it to 8 and now the Cruise International Association (CLIA) has announced that it will be welcoming in 14 new vessels!  The total cost of these ships will be $4.8 billion and will carry between 82 passengers to 5,400 passengers.  The new ships include:

American Cruise Line:  Independence, 104 passengers
AMAWATERWAYS:  ms. Amadolce, 148 passengers and ms. Amalrya 148 passengers
Carnival Cruise Line:  Carnival Dream, 3,646 passengers
Celebrity Cruises:  Celebrity Equinox 2,850 passengers
Costa Cruises:  Costa Luminosa 2,260 passengers and Costa Pacifica 3000 passengers
MSC Cruises:  MSC Splendida 3,300 passengers
Pearl Seas Cruises:  Pearl Mist 210 passengers
Royal Caribbean International:  Oasis of the Seas 5,400 passengers
Seaborn Cruise Line:  Seaborn Odyssey 450 passengers
Silversea Cruises:  Silver Spirit 540 passengers
Uniworld Boutique River Cruise:  River Beatrice 160 passengers and River Tosca 82 passengers

MSC - Fantasia

MSC describes their ships as:  Beautiful.  Passionate.  Italian.  The Cruise Line is better known in Europe, particularly Spain and Italy.  In December the largest cruise ship owned by a European owner was delivered.  MSC Fantasia was christened on December 18, 2008.  It weighs 133,500 tons and will carry 3,300 passengers.  The ship was built for winter cruising in the Mediterranean and will feature a covered pool for swimming.  For the children, it has a 2-deck high water slide.  MSC Fantasia will cruise Western Mediterranean round trip from Genoa.  Cruise rates begin at $999. per person for a balcony.  ( government fees, taxes and fuel surcharges are additional )  For more information contact your travel agent or visit www.msccruises.com     

Norwegian Pearl To Air On Travel Chanel

 Norwegian Cruise Line sets sail in a Travel Channel's one hour special entitled "Great Cruises:  Norwegian Pearl."  The show will be aired February 12,2009 at 10:00 p.m.EST.  It was filmed in high definition during a 7-day Alaska Cruise.  The show will allow viewers to see Alaska's Inside Passage, with stops in Juneau,Skagway,Glacier Bay and Ketchikan,Alaska.  Throughout the hour long show ,cruise and travel experts provide their expertise including,   Gene Sloan USA Today's Cruise Editor.  Today, NCL has the youngest fleet in the industry with 11 purpose-built Freestyle Cruising Ships.  NCL is presently building a new third generation Freestyle Cruising project known as F3 for delivery in 2010.

Carnival Dream - Coming To Port Canaveral

 Carnival calls this ship "What dreams are made of!"  Sometime in December of 2009, Carnival Dream is coming to Port Canaveral.  This is the largest "Fun Ship" Carnival has ever constructed and will carry 3,646 passengers.  It will have a 2-story cloud nine spa, that's bigger than Bill Gate's mansion!  There will be a 5,500 sq.ft. playroom for children.  And that's not all, it will feature a mini-golf area, splash park and a 4-story high Twister Water Slide.  There are pictures of this ship on-line and it looks quite beautiful!  To learn more go to:  www.carnival.com/dream