Archive for Princess Cruises
Leonard Maltin Gives Four-Star Review to Princess Cruises
Posted by: | CommentsBy the Avid Cruiser
Princess Cruises, which introduced the first of its top-deck Movies Under the Stars screens several years ago, is partnering with film critic Leonard Maltin to create discussion groups based on the movies that are shown during its cruises. Princess will showcase a Maltin-selected movie each month on all ships, and guests who want to participate can join the Leonard Maltin Movie Club to discuss the film. The movie club provides passengers the opportunity to join fellow film buffs to discuss specially selected motion pictures during their cruise. Also, the relationship with Maltin extends further. The new Leonard Maltin Movie Channel will show popular and classic movies in staterooms.
The partnership celebrated the fifth anniversary of Movies Under the Stars, which first debuted on Caribbean Princess. The giant Times Square-style movie screens are now available on most other ships in the Princess fleet. Movies Under the Stars has been popular from the opening credits, and Princess decided to draw more attention to the feature with the Maltin partnership.
The Leonard Maltin Movie Club invites passengers to view a specially selected film on Movies Under the Stars or in the Princess Theater. Each month, a new movie will be featured, with a special video introduction from Mr. Maltin. Soon, films will be announced Princess’ website prior to the sailing, so passengers will know what Movie Club selection will be presented on their cruise. After the film is shown, the cruise staff will host a gathering for passengers featuring a group discussion of the film, guided by questions and trivia from Mr. Maltin. The one-hour club meeting is open to all passengers.
As part of this new relationship with Princess, Leonard Maltin will be traveling aboard a Princess ship, on a cruise that will be announced later on, to share his movie insights with passengers in a series of onboard presentations, and to host the Movie Club.
Content provided by the Avid Cruiser
Family Powwows in Alaska with Princess
Posted by: | CommentsBy the Avid Cruiser
Round up granny, grandpa and the cousins and head for the Last Frontier, Princess Cruises has announced a 12-night cruisetour option geared to families (who don’t mind taking the kids out of school to do it!), with five departures offered in May, 2012. The cruisetours include family-fun stuff to do, from a sternwheeler boat ride to panning for gold.
“This is really the ultimate family vacation,” said Charlie Ball, president of Princess Tours. “Alaska is a wonderful travel destination with kids, so we wanted to make it easy and affordable to plan the perfect Alaska experience for everyone in the family.”
The cruisetour includes a seven-night Voyage of the Glaciers cruise plus a five-night land tour featuring one night at Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, one night at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and two nights at Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. On sea days, families can also take advantage of Princess’ onboard programs geared to children, including a special Junior Ranger program in Glacier Bay National Park.
In addition, special tour extras included in the fare are daily breakfast, Riverboat Cruise and El Dorado Goldmine Tour (from Fairbanks, travel on an authentic sternwheeler for a fully-narrated cruise along the Chena River and try gold panning), ”Direct-to-the-Wilderness Rail Service with Lunch” (gets families to wilderness lodge faster), Denali Natural History Tour (intimate tour of Denali National Park), and a visit to the Alaska Wildlife Center.
Content provided by the Avid Cruiser
Helsingborg, ‘The Real Sweden,’ Say Grand Princess Passengers
Posted by: | CommentsBy the Avid Cruiser
Helsingwhat? That was the response from some cruise passengers who stepped ashore in the Swedish town of Helsingborg this morning. “It’s been a long time since school geography,” said one man from the United Kingdom. “I’m afraid my knowledge isn’t sufficient enough to have known about Helsingborg.”
But he and other passengers disembarking Grand Princess said they were impressed by the city in the south of Sweden.
“I’m very impressed,” said Jim Hough, from Banks, Oregon. “I’m a city manager, so when I come, I look to see how well-kept the town is, and Helsingborg is very well kept. Everyone is obviously very proud of what they have here. I’m so glad it was put on our itinerary, because now I believe I’ve seen the real Sweden as opposed to the metropolitan Sweden.”
“We’ve been to the major cities, which is great,” added another passenger, “but this is a small city and we feel closer to the local population and not swamped by long queues of tourists.”
A couple from Detroit remarked on the cleanliness of Helsingborg. “It’s very fresh and interesting,” they added.
Content provided by the Avid Cruiser
In-Depth Alaska: Cruise + Tour = Cruisetour
Posted by: | CommentsBy the Avid Cruiser
Research shows that most people planning a trip to Alaska want to see two places: Glacier Bay National Park and Denali National Park. You can get to Glacier Bay aboard a cruise ship and admire the national park’s stunning scenery from the comfort of your balcony stateroom. But to get to Denali (a.k.a. Mt. McKinley), you’ll have to get off the ship, lace up your hiking boots, and trek inland. That’s where a cruisetour comes in.
Cruisetours combine a cruise voyage with a fully escorted stay on land. The cruise lines have streamlined their product so that you’ll pay one price in exchange for two vacations: one at sea, and the other on land in the Alaskan interior. You’ll also enjoy two completely different travel experiences. While at sea, you’ll gaze out at glaciers, fjords, and lots of marine life. While in the interior, you’ll see snow-capped mountains (on a clear day, you may want to “fly by” Denali, North America’s tallest peak), wildlife, and what some have called “the real Alaska.” While a cruise offers travelers an excellent taste of Alaska, a cruisetour serves up the complete five-course dinner — the total Alaska experience.
Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International are all among the major cruise lines offering cruisetours. Each line employs their own tour guides, owns their own fleet of comfortable buses, and operates private glass-domed railcars that hitch up to the Alaska Railroad for the journey between Anchorage and Denali. The rail journey alone is spectacular — on a clear day, you’ll spot Denali’s dome several times from along the rails.
In total, a cruisetour will last anywhere from 10 days to three weeks. That includes the cruise portion of your trip, and you can choose to add your land stay either before or after you sail. Some cruisetours include two full days in Denali National Park, allowing you plenty of time to spot grizzly bears and admire the mountain scenery.
Travelers can explore Denali via 90 miles of semi-paved road that reaches deep into the park, or take to the skies and see Denali from an aerial perspective. Along the way, you’ll have the opportunity to stay in back country lodges or mountain chateaus, and you’ll likely spend at least one night in Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city.
Some cruise lines offer close to thirty different cruisetour options. With so many variations available, it’s always advisable to speak to your cruise consultant about which option is best for you. Cruisetours also fill up quickly, so plan as far in advance as possible. The greatest number of cruisetour bookings occur in October and November — for the following year’s peak season — but it’s never too late to see what’s available.
Alaska is enormous. At 586,412 square miles, it’s more than twice the size of Texas, and cruise lines skirt only a small portion of the state’s 33,904 combined miles of coastline. For many, the real Alaska lies in the vast wilderness beyond the shorelines — and a cruisetour can take you there.
Content provided by the Avid Cruiser
Family Cruises
Posted by: | CommentsBy the Avid Cruiser
Family vacations can take one of two tacks: Either they are full-on disasters, or they go down as one of the “best vacations ever.” Cruise vacations are “best vacation ever” opportunities in the making.
Quite simply, my kids (and yes, your kids too) love to cruise. And why not? After all, where families are concerned, a cruise ship is little more than a floating, self-contained family resort, with all the features and activities that adults and kids could ever wish for.
I’ve put together a roundup of the best cruise lines and ships for families. Ranking is based on my experience of traveling with my children and experiencing the ships first-hand. I also considered input from others, advice from travel agents, and of course, the final word from the experts: kids.
You won’t go wrong choosing any of these cruises:
Cruising is the best vacation choice for families. Modern cruise ships offer wonderful accommodations, multiple dining options, and award-winning children’s programs. The key to planning a successful vacation is matching the right product to the needs of your family.
Happy family cruising!
Content provided by the Avid Cruiser
Big Ship Cruising
Posted by: | CommentsBy the Avid Cruiser
What do you want to do today? Where do you want to eat? On a big ship, these are legitimate questions that need to be answered because the choices are not limited to either/or.
The major cruise lines that have been unveiling and sailing larger and larger cruise ships for the past decade take pride in offering so many choices that, for instance, it takes a week to visit every restaurant or dining room for dinner.
Superliners from Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean International and others provide a cruise vacation that can be wild and wooly one minute and cool, calm and collected the next. The facilities on these floating resorts, which all deserve the state-of-the-art label, will satisfy everyone from the health nut who wants to stay fit to the party animal who wants to dance all night.
It’s the big ships that feature the headline-grabbing innovations like surfing simulators, rock-climbing walls, ice skating rinks and wave pools, but because they are newer, they also feature some of the neatest twists on cruise-ship staples such as health spas, libraries and game rooms.
Mix in a few days visiting appealing ports, and a week on a big ship will seem to fly by. What may be most impressive, though, is how these ships can accommodate more than 2,000 people while not seeming crowded. More than anything, that’s a testament to all the different choices everyone is making every day.
Big ships typically offer exceptional value, but get you with the on-board spending. You’ll pay for extra for everything, soft drinks, speciality coffees, wine, beer and spirits. Plus, you’ll need to budget extra, as gratuities are not included as they are on luxury cruises. Still, big ship cruising can be tons of fun, and they offer up something for everyone in the family.
Big Ship Cruises
-
- Carnival Cruise Lines
- Carnival Conquest
- Carnival Destiny
- Carnival Dream
- Carnival Ecstasy
- Carnival Elation
- Carnival Fantasy
- Carnival Fascination
- Carnival Freedom
- Carnival Glory
- Carnival Imagination
- Carnival Inspiration
- Carnival Legend
- Carnival Liberty
- Carnival Magic
- Carnival Miracle
- Carnival Paradise
- Carnival Pride
- Carnival Sensation
- Carnival Spirit
- Carnival Splendor
- Carnival Triumph
- Carnival Valor
- Carnival Victory
- Princess Cruises
- Royal Caribbean International
- Adventure of the Seas
- Allure of the Seas
- Brilliance of the Seas
- Enchantment of the Seas
- Explorer of the Seas
- Freedom of the Seas
- Grandeur of the Seas
- Independence of the Seas
- Jewel of the Seas
- Legend of the Seas
- Liberty of the Seas
- Majesty of the Seas
- Mariner of the Seas
- Monarch of the Seas
- Navigator of the Seas
- Oasis of the Seas
- Radiance of the Seas
- Rhapsody of the Seas
- Serenade of the Seas
- Splendour of the Seas
- Vision of the Seas
- Voyager of the Seas
- Costa Cruises
- NCL
- MSC Cruises
- Carnival Cruise Lines
Content provided by the Avid Cruiser
The Perfect Mix of Sand and Sea
Posted by: | CommentsBy the Avid Cruiser
The Crown Princess’ sleek hull slices the Atlantic Ocean’s gentle swells as our ship makes its way back to New York. Crown Princess departed Brooklyn’s cruise terminal last Friday morning, and here, on our return one week later, passengers are intent on savoring the last two days of a nine-day cruise.
“I am dreading tomorrow,” confides a lady in the elevator.
“Why?” a man in a swimsuit asks, reminding her, “We still have one more day at sea.”
“Oh, thats right,” she says. A smile beams across her face. “One more day. Well, I plan to make the most of it. Then, its back to reality.”
Crown Princess, which operates under the Princess motto “Escape Completely,” did indeed completely remove more than 3,000 passengers away from their daily routines and the bump and grind of real life. Moreover, our itinerary, roundtrip from New York, was what many on our cruise considered to be the perfect mix of sand and sea. Of our nine days aboard ship, four were full sea days, plus two half days. Relaxed time at sea punctuated time ashore in Bermuda, San Juan, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. We docked at each port, so that no tender was required.
“We don’t feel worn out or beaten down,” says a couple from Ohio on the day before we disembarked. Normally, when the ship stops in port everyday, you feel like you have to get off so that you dont miss anything. But with only four days in port, the pace was relaxed.
En Route To San Juan
Port-intensive itineraries, such as those that deposit passengers on shore everyday, can be rewarding for intrepid travelers and destination collectors, but the tempo can be tiring for those seeking respites from their busy lives back home. Throw in a good mix of sea days, however, and the tempo tones down, providing for a relaxed resort-like experience, but with just enough time in port to stretch your legs and see a few sights.
Our tempo on Crown Princess was just right. Under the command of Captain Andy Proctor, the ship departed New York Friday evening, and sailed a full day at sea before docking in West End, Bermuda at the Royal Naval Dockyard on a bright Sunday morning. Passengers who did not disperse on shore excursions were free to hang out on ship or at the Dockyard with its shops, pubs and entertainment venues.
Our ship set sail late afternoon, charting a course for San Juan. The route took a full day and a half before we docked within walking distance of Old San Juan at noon. I disembarked late afternoon for a shore excursion to Bioluminescence Bay, where I kayaked through mangrove canals and swam in a bay inhabited by single-cell luminous organisms that emitted light when agitated. The fact that this phenomenon can be observed in only 15 places worldwide made the 90-minute bumpy bus ride (each way) tolerable.
Others opted to enjoy Old San Juan’s nightlife before our departure at 11 p.m., just in time for the Island Party up on the top deck or for watching Rocky Horror Picture Show while nibbling on popcorn at Movies Under The Stars on the 300-square-foot LED screen light enough to be seen even during full sun at mid-day.
With only a short stretch of sea to transit to St. Thomas, our ship was docked alongside Charlotte Amalie’s West Indian Company Dock early the next morning. Having visited St. Thomas many times before, I stayed aboard ship until our departure mid-afternoon.
This raises a delicate but salient point: It is permissible to allow yourself to stay on the ship, particularly in ports that you’ve visited before. In fact, one of the pleasures of not disembarking with 3,000 other passengers is that you have the ship practically to yourself. I lingered at the coffee bar at the atrium-level International Cafe, a new 24-hour dining concept for Princess. Satellite internet seemed speedier, because others weren’t using bandwidth checking e-mail or browsing the web. There was no line for lunch, and I had no trouble finding an open table or a deck chair.
Going To Grand Turk
At 4 in the afternoon, we departed St. Thomas for Grand Turk. With more than 400 nautical miles to cover, Crown Princess would not be alongside Grand Turk until 1 p.m. the next day.
Around 11 in the morning, I spotted Grand Turk on the horizon. As our ship approached, I could make out the whole island, only seven miles long by 1.5 miles wide. Crown Princess towered 19 stories above the dock at the new Grand Turk Cruise Center, an extremely well-done entertainment facility that Carnival Corporation funded and operates.
Grand Turk is a must-see destination. The sleepy provincial capital reminds me of how I would picture the Caribbean three decades ago. The main street in Cockburn Town was so quiet that a dog padded down the middle of the street for a few hundred yards undisturbed by automobiles. “How long do you think it would take for you to get bored here?” a fellow passenger asked the man sitting beside her in the Hop On, Hop Off bus. “How long have we been here?” he quipped.
But Grand Turk oozes such laid-back charm that passengers who I spoke with did not want to leave. “I would have liked to have stayed longer,” said a woman from Rochester, New York. Four hours was just not enough. Its so isolated that you couldn’t get there easily, and there are few places in the Caribbean that are so noncommercial and undeveloped. I am glad I got the chance to see it now.
Our tour guide told us that we were here during an important juncture in Grand Turk’s history, between being explored by cruise lines and being exploited by throngs of passengers.
Back at the cruise center, passengers were hoisting Pina Coladas and Margaritas from the pool at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, the largest of its kind outside the United States. We sat down for a Perfect Margarita and nachos before boarding Crown Princess and waving farewell to Grand Turk. We were a long way from New York, with two days of sea ahead of us, the perfect way to end a perfect cruise.
Content provided by the Avid Cruiser
10 Reasons To Cruise Over The Winter Holidays
Posted by: | CommentsBy the Avid Cruiser
- Cruise lines offer holiday cruises of all lengths on all types of ships, including the world’s newest and largest, in all parts of the world, from Africa to the Caribbean to the Mediterranean to Antarctica.
- When quality family time counts the most, a holiday cruise offers flexibility and choice in recreational activities, entertainment, relaxed dining and fun for travelers of all ages.
- With special pricing, an abundance of diverse activities and plenty of entertainment, cruising for the holidays is the ideal choice for multigenerational groups or groups of families and friends.
- Holiday cruisers do not need to worry about planning and preparing menus, doing the dishes or cleaning the house. On a cruise, you can leave holiday chores behind and concentrate on enjoying time spent with loved ones.
- In times of stress, the chance to totally escape is just what the doctor ordered. Vacationing has been proven to be healthy and good for one’s well-being.
- With a caring ship’s staff doing all the work, including the entertaining, a holiday cruise means more time to celebrate and enjoy the festivities.
- With so many different cruises and cruise ships to choose from, there is a holiday cruise for every budget.
- Featuring inclusive pricing, incomparable comfort and convenience, and travel to some of the most popular vacation destinations in the world, no holiday celebration offers more value for money spent than a cruise.
- What better or more-appreciated gift could there be than the lifetime memories of a holiday cruise with family or friends?
- It’s not too late; many cruise lines are waiting to welcome last-minute cruise shoppers for the holidays.
For a sampling of what cruise lines are offering this year during the holidays, read on.
- AMAWATERWAYS. The festive, traditional Christmas Markets of Vienna, Regensburg, Cologne, Prague and Paris are among the highlights of AMAWATERWAYS’ winter holiday voyages on the great rivers of Europe. Strolling through bustling village squares decorated with lights and Christmas trees, passengers can shop for everything from home-made gingerbread to hand-carved wooden toys, returning at the end of the day to a ship festooned with a holiday décor. In addition to such special touches as a formal Christmas Dinner and New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner, the company is offering “wonderful winter savings” with “Companion Cruises Free!” pricing. Passengers traveling in single accommodations may elect to waive the single supplement charge.
- CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES. Throughout the Carnival fleet, the winter holidays are celebrated with Christmas trees, wreaths and mistletoe, seasonal music, holiday entertainment, Christmas-themed movies and more. Santa Claus always makes an appearance toting a bag of gifts and an elaborate production show enables children to participate onstage, showcasing decorations they have made in Camp Carnival. Holiday menus feature such traditional favorites as oven-roasted turkey and pecan pie. On New Year’s Eve, guests are provided with party favors, noise makers and Champagne.
- COSTA CRUISES. With Costa Fortuna and Costa Atlantica sailing the Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale, Costa offers a warm and festive Italian style winter holiday experience. The ships are completely decorated with Christmas trees, twinkling lights and beautiful ornaments and, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Santa Claus makes special visits with keepsake gifts. Special holiday dinner and lunch menus offer a mix of the Italian cuisine and traditional favorites. A special New Year’s Eve “gala” night provides the opportunity to dress up for the holidays.
- CRYSTAL CRUISES. This Christmas and New Year, Crystal Symphony will be cruising Antarctica and South America, allowing guests to experience both the South American spring and a white Christmas in Antarctica and Cape Horn. For a warm-weather Christmas, Crystal Serenity will be in the Caribbean for the holidays, sailing roundtrip from Miami. Ports include Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Barts, Turks & Caicos, Bonaire and Miami. All Crystal Holiday voyages feature more than $100,000 in seasonal décor, handcrafted decorations, lavish feasts and parties and a black tie New Year’s Eve gala. They also offer the Crystal Family Memories program, with special savings, shipboard credits, free fares for children and more for groups.
- CUNARD LINE. Imagine the winter holidays in picture-perfect Copenhagen and other Scandinavian capitals filled with antiquity and charm. Roundtrip from Southampton, this Scandinavian itinerary includes overnight stays in Hamburg, Germany and Copenhagen, Denmark. Both Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 will hold Hanukkah services and will have kosher culinary offerings available to guests. The ships will also be festooned with greenery, including trees and wreaths, ornaments, nutcrackers, gingerbread cottages and twinkling lights for Christmas, and kids will be delighted to find Father Christmas handing out gifts.
- DISNEY CRUISE LINE. The spirit of the season surrounds guests of Disney Cruise Line during the winter holidays. Starting with Disney characters in their finest holiday attire welcoming guests at the decorated cruise terminal in Port Canaveral, the festivities include: “King Triton’s Tree Lighting” ceremony; family crafts such as stocking decorating and building gingerbread houses; holiday storytellers sharing tales of Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwaanza; traditional holiday feasts in three themed dining rooms and “Til We Meet Again,” a special holiday edition of the line’s cheerful farewell on the final night of the voyage. Disney Magic sails on seven-night eastern and western Caribbean holiday cruises; Disney Wonder offers three- and four-night Bahamian holiday cruises.
- HOLLAND AMERICA LINE. Holland America offers 20 holiday cruises. The Caribbean beckons with 11 holiday sailings from Fort Lauderdale and Tampa that range from seven to 14 days over one or two holidays. In a new offering, ms Maasdam will sail a 10-day Western Caribbean itinerary and an 11-day Eastern Caribbean itinerary. Most sailings feature a visit to Half Moon Cay, the line’s award-winning private Bahamian island. Holland America also offers roundtrip seven-day holiday cruises from San Diego to Mexico, three Panama Canal transits between Fort Lauderdale and California, a 15-day Circle Hawaii itinerary and longer cruises in Australia, New Zealand, South America and Antarctica.
- MSC CRUISES. MSC celebrates the winter holidays with an international flair, with festivities and traditions practiced around the world. In the Caribbean, MSC Poesia will offer a seven-night “Happy Holidays, Caribbean-Style” Eastern Caribbean voyage from Fort Lauderdale, and a seven-night “Caribbean & Confetti New Year’s” Western Caribbean. In the Mediterranean, from Genoa to Egypt, guests can celebrate on MSC’s two newest ships, the MSC Splendida and the MSC Fantasia, on Eastern Mediterranean and Western Mediterranean holiday itineraries. Children 17 and under sail free with MSC when sharing a stateroom with two adults paying full fare.
- NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE. Norwegian makes Christmas at sea an unforgettable experience. All ships are festively decorated, crew members stage an interactive holiday show in the ship’s theater, cruise directors and staff sing carols and Santa takes time out of his busy schedule to hand out gifts on Christmas Day. Holiday-themed menus feature dishes such as honey-glazed black forest ham with sweet potato mash, roasted turkey with apple and apricot stuffing, pumpkin soufflé and a pear and chestnut torte. Hanukkah is celebrated with kosher menus and the lighting of a menorah each day to commemorate the eight-day celebration. While kids enjoy Norwegian’s youth program, parents enjoy the high-energy, festive White Hot New Year’s Eve party.
- PRINCESS CRUISES. Princess’ 17-ship fleet offer a wide range of sailings in the Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Panama Canal, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, South America, Hawaii and South Pacific for Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s. Whatever the destination, guests will find Yuletide carolers, waiters wearing Santa hats, festive décor, live seasonal music and films, and special holiday feasts featuring all the traditional favorites. Popular with families, the holiday voyages offer young travelers parties, sing-a-longs, arts and crafts, and the chance to help decorate the ship’s Christmas tree. They also may participate in a holiday theatrical production and, on Christmas Day, Santa Claus makes a surprise appearance, bringing gifts and joy for all.
- REGENT SEVEN SEAS CRUISES. The ships of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, beautifully decorated over the holidays with trees, garlands, bunting and ginger bread houses, will be in the Caribbean, French Polynesia and transiting the Panama Canal over the winter holidays this year. A 10-night voyage roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale features many of the Caribbean “Saints”: St. Thomas, St. Barts, St. Kitts, and Saint Maarten as well as the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Panama Canal is the featured attraction of sailings between Fort Lauderdale and California and Papeete is the departure point for sailings in Polynesia. The voyages also offer an ecumenical religious service over the holidays for those guests wishing to attend, and a special Christmas dinner menu in the main dining room.
- ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL. Families will have the opportunity to sail the newest, biggest ship in the world this holiday season when the 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas departs from Fort Lauderdale to the Caribbean. In addition to seasonal decorations, the entire RCI fleet will offer such holiday favorites as classic movie screenings, caroling, cookie decorating, festive music and readings of classic Christmas stories. The sailing of Independence of the Seas, also from Fort Lauderdale, will combine the Jewish Festival of Lights, or Hanukkah, with an eight-night Eastern Caribbean cruise. RCI offers holiday sailings from 10 domestic ports, including Bayonne, Baltimore, Port Canaveral, Miami, Port Everglades, Tampa, Galveston, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- SEABOURN CRUISE LINE. Seabourn Legend welcomes guests to a warm, sparkling Caribbean Holiday voyage this winter. Holiday revelers can choose from a seven-day “Legendary Christmas” voyage departing Fort Lauderdale and ending at Barbados, or a “Legendary New Year’s” cruise from Barbados ending at Fort Lauderdale. Or, they may combine the two voyages and sail on a 14-day round trip voyage to enjoy both the holidays’ festivities and fun.
- SEADREAM YACHT CLUB. SeaDream I and SeaDream II, the company’s twin luxury mega-yacht cruisers, will make four Caribbean holiday sailings this year. Offered as a roundtrip voyage from San Juan or one-way between St. Thomas and San Juan, the five-, seven- and nine-day voyages all feature an overnight stay at St. Barts in the French West Indies. Late evening stays in several other Caribbean ports of call allow for holiday shoreside festivities. Ports of call include islands in the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, the French West Indies, the Grenadines, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, depending on the cruise chosen. SeaDream fares include all meals, wine with lunch and dinner, open bar with selected premium brands, plus use of “water toys” from the vessel’s Marina, and gratuities.
- SILVERSEA CRUISES. The six globe-trotting Silversea ships, including the brand new Silver Spirit, celebrate the holidays from Antarctica to Zanzibar on itineraries ranging from eight to 17 days. Silver Spirit will holiday in the Mediterranean and North Africa, offering an 11-day maiden voyage from Barcelona to Lisbon. Silver Wind will spend 14 days in Africa and the Seychelle Islands, departing from Mahe. Prince Albert II departs Ushauaia on a 17-day expedition to Antarctica. Silver Shadow departs from Barbados on a nine-day Caribbean itinerary, and on a 15-day roundtrip voyage from Fort Lauderdale through the Caribbean. Other voyages over the holidays feature South America and the South Pacific.
- UNIWORLD BOUTIQUE RIVER CRUISES. Cherish all the glory and magic of the season in grand European style as you cruise along the magical rivers during this festive time of the year. Cruises include: elegantly appointed riverview staterooms, meals with complimentary wine, beer, and soft drinks, celebratory events and entertainment, fully escorted shore excursions, and all transfers on arrival and departure days.
- WINDSTAR CRUISES. Windstar Cruises offers special rates on holiday and New Year’s cruises in the Caribbean and Costa Rica. Wind Spirit’s holiday sailings feature a new seven-day St. Martin itinerary that includes the British Virgin Islands, St. Barts and Jost Van Dyke. Wind Star offers an in-depth discovery of Costa Rica, and Wind Surf sails roundtrip from Barbados, calling on such islands as St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Iles Des Saintes, St. Kitts, Bequia and St. Barts. The ships are decorated with beautiful holiday decorations and feature a special holiday menu prepared by the executive chef. New Year’s cruises include a festive New Year’s Eve party including party favors, live music, an official countdown by the captain and a Champagne toast.
Content provided by the Avid Cruiser
