Archive for the ‘Africa’ Category

Silversea Speakers – World Cruise 2011

Africa, Mediterranean, News, Silversea, South Pacific, World | Posted by cruisepeople
Apr 21 2010

 

?

The world’s newest ultra-luxury, all-suite cruise ship, Silver Spirit, will take to the seas next January on a 119-day westbound World Cruise traversing both hemispheres from Los Angeles to Southampton.  To complement such an extraordinary odyssey, Silversea is lining up an impressive array of distinguished speakers.

Among those already tapped to host enriching presentations are:

Dan Rather:  The Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist who presented the CBS Evening News in the US for 24 years, and contributed to CBS’ 60 Minutes and other prime-time news programmes, will host Voyage 5107, 22 March – 3 April, Hong Kong – Singapore.

Robert Lacey:  The British historian and biographer, whose numerous international bestsellers include Majesty, considered the definitive study of British monarchy, is slated to host Voyage 5110, 3 – 19 May, Athens – Southampton.

Zahi Hawass:  The world-famous Egyptologist and secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo will host Voyage 5109, 18 April – 3 May, Dubai – Athens.

Bruce Riedel:  A senior fellow in foreign policy at the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy of the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, former CIA analyst, counter-terrorism expert and author is slated to host Voyage 5110, 3 – 10 May, Athens – Southampton.

Geoffrey Blainey:  The eminent Australian historian, commentator and author of numerous books, including his highly acclaimed A Short History of the World, will host Voyage 5105, 12 February – 1 March, Auckland – Sydney.

Lawrence Blair:  The writer, host and co-producer of the Emmy Award-nominated BBC/PBS adventure series Ring of Fire, tracing a ten-year epic journey across the Indonesian archipelago, will host Voyage 5106, 1 – 22 March, Sydney – Hong Kong.

Caroline Boyle-Turner:  The world-renowned art historian, author of several books and founder of the Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art will host Voyage 5103, 20 January – 1 February, Los Angeles – Papeete.

George Losey:  A professor of zoology and marine biology at the University of Hawaii, who has studied the behaviour and ecology of marine animals throughout the world, will host Voyage 5103, 20 January – 1 February, Los Angeles – Papeete.

Mark Eddowes:  The New Zealand archaeologist who has lived in the Society Islands for over 20 years, doing field work throughout Polynesia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Easter Island and the Cook Islands, will host Voyages 5103 – 5104, 20 January – 12 February, Los Angeles to Auckland.

John Hartley:  The retired Australian major general, a graduate of Duntroon’s Royal Military College, the University of Queensland and the US Army War College, will host Voyage 5106, 1 – 22 March, Sydney – Hong Kong.

Denise Heywood:  The author, journalist, photographer, fellow with the Royal Geographical Society, and lecturer for the British Museum on their Asian Art course, will host Voyages 5106 – 5107, 1 March – 3 April, Sydney – Singapore.

Scott Pearson:  The recipient of a PhD in economics from Harvard University, who taught economic development and international trade at Stanford University, winning several awards for his research and teaching, will host Voyages 5108 – 5109, 3 April – 3 May, Singapore – Athens.

Lyn Farmer:  The widely published wine and food writer and senior editor of The Wine News magazine, who has been honoured with the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Writing on Wine and Spirits, will host Voyage 5105, 12 February – 1 March, Auckland – Sydney.

Rosanne Martorella:  The professor of sociology at William Paterson University and author of several books on art and society will host Voyage 5110, 3 – 10 May, Athens – Southampton.

Steve Tucker, Silversea’s vice president of field sales for North America, said:  "The enrichment programme is an integral part of our World Cruise experience and is designed to appeal to luxury travel’s most discerning clientele.  We scoured the globe to find fascinating personalities and some of the most distinguished and stimulating speakers.  Engaging experts from an array of fields will be on hand to share their talents and perspectives."

This grandest of voyages, appropriately themed "Spirit of Discovery," begins in Los Angeles on 19 January, when Silver Spirit is set to welcome no more than 540 privileged passengers for a 119-day odyssey exploring 60 destinations in 25 countries — with 11 overnight port visits — before concluding in Southampton on 19 May.  Along the journey, Silver Spirit will take in the tranquillity of French Polynesia, Australia’s untamed landscapes, the unique customs and cultures of Asia, ancient Egyptian wonders and timeless Mediterranean hideaways spanning from Italy and Monaco to Spain and Portugal.

In the US, Silversea has been voted "World’s Best" by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler (nine times) and Travel + Leisure (seven times), and rated Number-One luxury cruise line by high-net-worth consumers in the 2008 Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI).  International awards include "Best Innovation in Products and Services" from the Italian Innovazione Marketing Oggi Awards (2009); "World’s Leading Small Ships Cruise Line" from World Travel Awards (2009); "Five Star Diamond Award" from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (2009); "Number One" small-ship line in the Readers’ Choice survey conducted by Britain’s Condé Nast Traveller magazine (2007); "Best Luxury Cruise Line" Excellence Award by Spain’s Cruise News Media Group (2009); "Best Luxury Cruise Line" by Australia’s Luxury Travel & Style Magazine (2009); and "Best Luxury Cruise Operator" according to Asia’s Travel Weekly (2008).

For more information on Silversea Cruises, please contact The Cruise People Ltd on +1.416.900.0889 or 1.800.961.5536 or Skype  the.cruise.people

No Comments »

Viva L’España: Pullmantur Advances on the World – Azamara’s Overnight Stays – A Second Cruise Ship for South Africa

Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Azamara Cruises, Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Hapag LLoyd, MSC, Mediterranean, Mexico, Middle East, News, Positioning Voyages, Royal Caribbean | Posted by cruisepeople
Apr 13 2010

by Mark Tre’ – "The Cruise Examiner"
In the past few years, the Spanish cruise market has been one of the fastest-growing in the world and the big two, Carnival and Royal Caribbean have both now joined the play. Spanish-speaking cruises now operate not only from Spanish ports but also from Venice, Piraeus, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Lisbon, Santo Domingo, Cartagena, Acapulco and many ports in Brazil. This week the news is about where Azamara is going and the announcement of a second ship for the South African cruise market.

Viva L’España – Pullmantur Advances on the World
With the publication of an English-language brochure Pullmantur is now making available to a wider audience its worldwide cruise itineraries on its fleet of second generation cruise ships built in the 1980s and 1990s – two by Royal Caribbean, two by Celebrity and one each by Carnival and Hapag-Lloyd.

Pullmantur’s big attraction is its "AI" all inclusive programme that includes not only the usual full board but also "unlimited [bottled] water, fruit juices, coffee, soft drinks, beer, wine and drinks in the bars and restaurants, disco and theatre."

The fleet is a modern one, but composed of more traditional cruise ships than the mammoth 100,000-tonners that have become popular to-day. Two-thirds of it has been acquired from parent company Royal Caribbean. The oldest fleet member is  Ocean Dream, built in 1982 as Tropicale, Carnival’s first newbuilding, and the others are of more recent vintage. Sovereign was built in 1988 as Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas, at the time the world’s largest cruise ship;  Empress in 1990 as Royal Caribbean’s Nordic Empress, the first newbuilding for 3- and 4-day cruises, Pacific Dream as Celebrity Cruises’ Horizon in 1990, and her sister ship Zenith, also for Celebrity in 1992. The line’s sixth ship, Bleu de France, was built as Hapag-Lloyd’s last Europa in 1982 and like the present Europa, was once the top-rated cruise ship in the world. Although operated by its French subsidiary Croisiéres de France, she is also featured in Pullmantur’s English-language brochure.

Since the early days of operating cruises from Barcelona with ships like Oceanic, Pullmantur has advanced to the stage where it now operates cruises between Copenhagen and Helsinki with Empress, from Athens with  Zenith, and from Lisbon and Malaga with both  Zenith and Empress, at different times of the year. Bleu de France also sails from Marseilles for the French market. In the Caribbean, it operates Pacific Dream from Santo Domingo and Ocean Dream from Cartagena. In Mexico, Pacific Dream sails from Cozumel and  Ocean Dream from Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta. Its flagship, meanwhile, the 2,324-berth Sovereign, runs on the line’s traditional routes from Barcelona.
In conjunction with the longer-haul cruises, Pullmantur also operates a fleet of 747s that offer a business class service on the upper deck. But here is the fleet:

Pullmantur’s seventh ship, the steam turbine-powered Atlantic Star, originally Sitmar’s Fairsky, remains laid up for the moment. But there has been talk that she may be placed into a new service in Europe, serving ports such as Dover, Amsterdam, Le Havre and Bilbao, with passengers able to board at any one of them for a 7-day cruise. On such a relatively short circuit, this heavy fuel burner would be much more economic and would also be able to remain in some ports overnight.

All in all, Royal Caribbean, who acquired Pullmantur as the major player in the rapidly-expanding Spanish-speaking market in 2006, has stolen a march on Carnival Corp & PLC, who quickly followed them into that market with Ibero Cruceros in 2007. Ibero Cruceros presently has a fleet of three ships, but these are about to be joined by a fourth in  Grand Holiday, formerly Carnival’s Holiday, now undergoing refurbishment in Genoa.

Ibero’s ship are newer on average, but can only carry about 58% of the fleet capacity of those Pullmantur ships that are in service, which will come down to about half if the Atlantic Star is reactivated.

Nevertheless, like Pullmantur, Ibero Cruceros now bases ships in several of the same main markets, i.e. the Western Med from Spain (primarily Grand Holiday, but also Grand Mistral and Grand Voyager), the Eastern Med from Venice and Piraeus (Grand Celebration), the Atlantic and Canary Islands from Vigo and Lisbon (Grand Voyager), the Baltic and North Atlantic (Grand Mistral) and Brazil (Grand Celebration). Unlike Pullmantur, it is not in the Caribbean or on the Mexican Riviera, but this is still a much better showing for a Carnival Hispanic product after the failed Fiesta Marina project in 1993-94, which used the former Carnivale. Meanwhile, one further Spanish line, operating mainly out of Valencia and Barcelona, as well as Venice and Athens, is a company called Happy Cruises. Formerly know as Quail Cruises, its present fleet numbers two smaller ships:

Gemini‘s claim to fame is that she was actually built in Spain, by Union Naval de Levante in Valencia, while Ocean Pearl is a first generation cruise ship, built as Song of Norway for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. Both ships are owned by the Clipper Group of Denmark and managed by International Shipping Partners of Miami.

Azamara’s Overnight Stays
When Azamara Club Cruises announced that it would be adding more overnight stays so that passengers could get to explore not only the nightlife, theatres and restaurants but also the general environs of where they were, it turns out that it was quite serious. The line announced that there would be overnight stays in no fewer than 38 different ports, and, on top of that, late night (10 pm or later) departures for 63 more ports in 2011-12.

Its spring Mediterranean itineraries have been designed as a series of 7-night cruises where ports generally do not repeat, so that they can be combined into a 14- or 21-night cruise for those who want a longer stay on board. Then heading for the Baltic, Azamara Journey will set sail from the Paris port of Rouen, whose cathedral was the world’s tallest building between 1876 and 1880 and was painted more than thirty times by Monet. Other destinations for this ship will include the West Indies, the Amazon, South America and the Antarctic.

Azamara Quest, meanwhile, will be back in the Far East, with overnight stays featured in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi. After a Far East season, and heading back to the Med, she will feature an overnight stay in Alexandria, then visits to the Greek Isles and the Black Sea. Both ships will be offering 7-night itineraries that can be combined, as well as a number of 11-night voyages. Back to the Red Sea, overnight stays will be offered at Sharm el Sheik and Safaga, as well as Aqaba, and other overnight stays are planned in ports such as Mumbai and Bali.

Azamara also began its programme of complimentary vintage red and white wines chosen from boutique vineyards, bottled waters, soft drinks and specialty coffees and teas, and complimentary shuttle buses at ports where it is felt they are needed.

A Second Cruise Ship for South Africa
For many years now, Starlight Cruises of Johannesburg has been offering Italian cruise ships in the seasonal South African summer market. Ships as varied as  Achille Lauro, Rhapsody, Melody, MSC Armonia and MSC Sinfonia have served this market, usually offering a southbound liner voyage from Italy in November and a northbound voyage back to the Mediterranean in the spring.

For the 2010-11 season, however, two ships will head south, when the 1,544-berth MSC Sinfonia, which is just completing her maiden season in South Africa, will be joined by the return of the 1,064-berth MSC Melody, as she is called now. Most sailings have been from Durban and popular destinations include Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and the Seychelles, as well as Mozambique.

Two ships will give MSC an annual equivalent capacity for over 100,000 cruisers from both Durban, where MSC has long had an important office, and Cape Town. Starlight Cruises began with Greek and other chartered ships but now acts as general sales agent in South Africa for MSC Crociere. What is interesting about MSC in South Africa, however, is that the review sites there give the line the same mixed reports that it gets from other nationalities such as Americans and Britons.

No Comments »

Boom Down Under – The End of EasyCruise? – The German Market

Australia/New Zealand, Canadian Cruises, Cunard Line, Deilmann Cruises, Great Lakes, Hapag LLoyd, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Orion Cruises, P&O, Pearl Seas, Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn Cruises, Transocean Tours | Posted by cruisepeople
Feb 23 2010

by Mark Tre’ – "The Cruise Examiner"
This week’s story is all about Down Under, especially with the recent visits by David Dingle and Peter Shanks of Carnival UK and the announcement from Royal Caribbean that it would double its presence there next year.
We also note the possible demise of easyCruise and have a look at how the German market is developing.

STORY OF THE WEEK
Boom Down Under
As the world cruises all pass by Sydney in February, cruise line executives have the habit of escaping the northern winter and visiting Sydney for various events and announcements. This year was no exception, and while Carnival brands P&O Cruises, P&O Australia, Princess, Cunard and even Seabourn remain to the fore, Royal Caribbean has just announced that it is about to double its presence down under.
To begin with, David Dingle, ceo of Carnival UK (which includes Australia in its portfolio), visited down under late last month and revealed that twelve ships from Carnival brands P&O Australia, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line and Yachts of Seabourn would visit Australia this year. Half of these ships would be based there.
He also revealed that Carnival Australia would book 190,000 passengers this year and then went on to predict that that figure would rise to 300,000 in 2010-11 and 350,000 in 2011-12, a massive increase of almost 85% over two years.
Part of this growth will come from P&O Australia, which has added Pacific Jewel and will soon see the addition of Pacific Pearl when she transfers in to the down under fleet. Both ships are moving to Australia from the Ocean Village brand, which is being closed down.
Mr. Dingle’s visit was followed last week by Peter Shanks, president and managing director of Cunard Line, who revealed that Australia and Germany are Cunard’s fastest-growing markets, and that Cunard will probably attract 10,000 cruisers from Australia this year, up 25% on last year. Not bad for a line whose ships only call on Australia once a year on world cruises. Mr. Shanks sailed from Sydney on Saturday in Queen Victoria, on board which he will host a dinner for the ship’s full round the world cruisers.
Princess Cruises operate two Australian-based ships now in the 1,950-berth Sun Princess and Dawn Princess, which latter will leave Sydney on a world cruise for the Australian market on May 21 for the Mediterranean (with a special call at Gallipoli, where 8,141 Australians gave their lives in the First World War), the UK and Ireland, the United States, Panama, Mexico, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands before arriving home again on September 3.
However, more interesting news came from Gavin Smith, managing director of Royal Caribbean Cruises Australia, who last Thursday announced that in November 2011, Royal Caribbean will send its 2,112-berth Brilliance of the Seas to join the 2,000-berth Rhapsody of the Seas in Australia. He further commented that Royal Caribbean is considering basing a ship year-round in Australia starting in 2012.
This still leaves them a long way behind Carnival Australia but there has to be room in that market for more than just one cruising group, especially as Smith admitted that most of Royal Caribbean’s business in Australia presently comes from abroad. Radiance of the Seas will become the newest and largest ship to be based at Sydney.
Royal Caribbean Cruises has been chasing P&O in the UK market for several years now and has its 3,600-berth Independence of the Seas based in Southampton, to be joined this year by Celebrity Cruises’ 2,850-berth Celebrity Eclipse. In the UK, the two lines have developed a very strong local following and with the addition of some Vegemite and Fosters beer, there should be no reason they couldn’t do the same in Australia. Unfortunately, however, the last time it tried to sell Celebrity in the Australian market, it ended up cancelling the programme (and still  there is still no word on whether Celebrity might try again once all its new ships are delivered).
The false start by Celebrity might remind one of NCL, who also tried the Australian market with Norwegian Capricorn Line in 1997. But when Star Cruises took over NCL in 2001, the line was dissolved.
In terms of penetration of the cruise product down under, probably the easiest comparison is with fellow Commonwealth countries:

It should be noted that while New Zealand looks strong, its cruise market is made up mostly of foreigners. But however one might measure the Australian market, if it were developed to the same level as the UK and Canada it would be producing well in excess of 500,000 cruisers a year instead of the present 330,000. That would indicate that Mr Dingle is probably quite right when he predicts such huge growth for Carnival Australia, even when one realizes that he is predicting that his company alone will handle as many cruisers as the entire Australian market now produces for all lines.
Meanwhile, in Perth, Classic International Cruises has been operating Fremantle-based cruises since 2003. It now uses the 560-berth Athena, and in 2010-11 will add the 450-berth Princess Danae, working out of Singapore, for the Australian fly/cruise market. Meanwhile, Carnival Australia will also be sending its 1,485-berth Pacific Sun and Sun Princess out to Fremantle to compete with them in the Western Australian market.
And while Australia hasn’t seen any Italian ships since the days of Sitmar Cruises’ Fairstar and Fair Princess, the 2,260-berth Costa Deliziosa will be calling there on her 2011 maiden world cruise, adding a bit of a European taste to the product on offer there.
Bottom line to all this is when Australia might see its first cruise newbuilding. As David Dingle once pointed out, Ocean Village was the sort of brand that could only support second-hand ships. But will these same ships in the Australian market be able to produce strong enough support to make it feasible to build a new ship dedicated specifically to Australian cruising?

THIS WEEK IN CRUISING
The End of EasyCruise?
Is last week’s news the end of the line for easyCruise or are they just taking a year out? In August last year, after four years of rather inconsistent operations, Stelios Haji-Iouannou finally sold the rights to the use of the easyCruise name to Greek ferry operator Hellenic Seaways.
From starting off as a boiled down "no frills" cabin price only product on the Riviera it had evolved into a pretty standard budget Greek Island cruise operator, running 3- and 4-day cruises from Piraeus, by the time this sale took place. In return, Mr. Stelios obtained some interest in Hellenic Seaways.
The news broke last week, however, only six months after the Hellenic Seaways agreement, that easyCruise was putting its 2010 itineraries "on hold" and could not confirm any availability until it heard further from its new owners.
EasyCruise has has difficulties from its start in 2005. The 232-berth easyCruise 1 proved to be too small to be viable and had to be replaced by the 462-berth easyLife in 2008. The start-up line’s first venture into river cruising, the easyCruise 2 of 2006, had also closed down midway through its 2007 season.
In a related move, the original sister ship of EasyCruise 1 (both were former Renaissance ships), the 100-berth Clelia II, and named for Mr. Stelios’ sister Clelia, has been chartered for ten years to Australia’s Orion Cruises and is to join them in the summer of 2011 as Orion II. As Clelia II, she opened a Great Lakes cruise service for Travel Dynamics of New York in 2009 and will still return for one more Great Lakes season this year.
News is not all bad for the Great Lakes, however, as Pearl Seas Cruises’ 210-berth Pearl Mist will be cruising the Great Lakes this year and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ 420-berth Columbus will be returning in 2011.
But in the end, getting back to easyCruise, it seems "no frills" cruise lines are not such a great idea after all. Most people really do want the frills (and the thrills). Not only easyCruise, but Airtours’ Sun Cruises and the imminent demise of Ocean Village tend to point in this direction. There are two or three exceptions of course. Thomson maintains Island Cruises as a separate one-ship brand.
And Louis Cruises and Classic International Cruises still manage to carve out a niche for themselves among those who want a low-fare product. But the latter were never introduced as no frills products.
The German Market
Peter Shanks’ comment that Germany was one of Cunard’s two fastest-growing markets does not come as a complete surprise. Going all the way back to Norwegian American Cruises, which Cunard acquired in 1988, it has had a large German following. At first they stayed with Vistafjord, which had typically been about half full of Germans as she was based in Europe, where  Sagafjord was its American ship. Even after Vistafjord became Cunard’s Caronia she retained her strong German following and whenever RMS Queen Mary 2 calls on Hamburg she brings throngs out to see her.
To-day that German following has successfully been transferred to the new Queens and there was a very large number of German passengers on Queen Victoria‘s Transatlantic crossing to New York last month..
In the meantime, the "club cruise" ships of Aida Cruises have built up such a large following that there are now seven of them, ranging 1,185 to 2,050 berths, with two more on order. Aida is such a new name in the business that most people forget that it actually dates back to the 1960s as Deutsche Seerederi (DSR). Its first ship, Volkerfreundschaft, is still sailing as Classic International’s much-rebuilt Athena.
All but the original Aida, built in 1996 and now named AidaCara, were built in Germany, four by Meyer Werft and two by Aker MTW. To-day Aida is operated as the German division of Costa Cruises and its ships are all all registered in Genoa. Nevertheless, it is dedicated to the German-speaking market, so much so that one can even forget sometimes that Aida and Cunard share the same ownership.
The latest product on the German market, TUI Cruises’ 1,870-berth Mein Schiff, is a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and TUI Travel, who also operate the upmarket Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. In the three months to December 2009, TUI Cruises, which began operations in May 2009, generated 122,000 passenger days, for a load factor of 69%.
The upmarket Hapag-Lloyd Cruises produced 77,000 passenger days on its four ships, a 77% load factor. Lower bookings reported in both markets reflected the economic conditions of the period in question. TUI Cruises will celebrate its first anniversary this year with a 12-night Round Britain cruise from Hamburg on May 9-21, with fares from €1,695 per person.
Meanwhile, Phoenix Reisen of Bonn have continued to expand until they now have four ocean ships, the 600-berth Amadea and 885-berth Albatros and the chartered Athena and 450-berth Alexander von Humboldt. They are due to take delivery in 2011 of the 1,200-berth Artania, built as the first Royal Princess and trading today as P&O’s Artemis. Then there is Hansa Kreutzfahrten of Bremen, with its 400-berth Delphin, 650-berth Delphin Voyager and the chartered 450-berth Princess Danae.
Other operators in the German market include three single-ship lines, Peter Deilmann Cruises of Neustadt, with its 550-berth Deutschland, Lord Nelson Seereisen, with its 780-berth Mona Lisa, now in British Columbia for the Winter Olympics, and Transocean Cruises of Bremen with its 590-berth Astor, not to mention numerous river operators.

No Comments »

Cruising in "the Dominions"

Africa, Canadian Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Discovery World Cruises, Fred Olsen, Holland America Line, MSC, P&O, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, South Pacific | Posted by cruisepeople
Dec 15 2009

Years ago, the Commonwealth countries of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were known as "the Dominions" – indeed Canada called itself the Dominion of Canada until the 1950s.

The Dominions, which had been served by lines such as Canadian Pacific, Cunard, White Star, P&O, Shaw Savill and New Zealand Shipping, came to the aid of the UK in two world wars, long before the United States entered either.

To-day, however, very few people realize that these four countries contribute about 1.3 million passengers to the world cruise market. This is more passengers than Germany, Italy or Spain and almost as many as the UK. So let’s have a look at the cruising market in these Commonwealth countries to-day

Canada: 775,000 "Invisible" Canadians
Earlier this month CLIA acknowledged the importance of Canadians to the cruising market, in announcing that the next Cruise 360 travel agents’ conference would be held in Vancouver on June 2-6, 2010. CLIA estimates the size of the Canadian market travelling in its ships at 775,000, or triple the size of a decade ago. This is larger than all European countries except the UK and Germany.

The Canadian market has always been easy to miss as most Canadians travel across the longest undefended border in the world, that with the United States, to join ships that are already full of Americans. Thus, unlike Australia, which is geographically distinct from other countries, Canadian cruisers have become a sort of "invisible minority."

One interesting thing that unites Canada and Australia, however, is that RMS Queen Mary 2 visits both during the course of the year, visiting Quebec in the summer or autumn and Sydney as part of her world cruise, thus being the largest ship to call at each country.
At one time, Eastern Canada did have its own small cruise market, with ships from Cunard Line and later the Soviet  Alexandr Pushkin and the Polish Stefan Batory, operating round trip cruises from Montreal. But over the years Montreal and Quebec became part of a one-way Canada/New England cruise rotation whereby ships shuttled back and forth between Montreal and increasingly Quebec in the north and New York or Boston in the south.

Meanwhile, Vancouver, at least up until the past two or three years, had acted as the base for the Alaska fleet.

However, history was made at the Port of Québec this October as more than 13,000 cruise passengers embarked or disembarked in one 48-hour period, with three ships, Crown Princess, Norwegian Spirit and Costa Atlantica, also making inaugural calls. And inward visits into the St Lawrence in 2009 totalled 166,000 passengers on 21 ships.

On the west coast, however, Vancouver, with close to500,000 passengers, 80% of them American, embarking there, remains the cruise capital of Canada, despite the loss of half its Alaska business to Seattle and a general reduction in the Alaska cruise trade because of the Alaska head tax.

Australia: 330,000 Cruisers With a Geographical Base
Unlike Canada, Australia is so far removed from the rest of the world that it has always had its own ships cruising from Australian ports full of mainly Australian (and of course New Zealand) passengers. Starting with P&O ships and a number of ships from Sitmar, which was later taken over by P&O Princess, the two largest carriers to-day are both branches of Carnival, in P&O Cruises Australia and Princess Cruises. Carryings in the Australian market were about 330,000 in 2008.

P&O Cruises has expanded from two ships to four in a fairly short time, with the delivery this month of Pacific Jewel, ex-Ocean Village 2, and in 2010 its fourth ship, Pacific Pearl, now Ocean Village. Having already acquired Regal Princess, now Pacific Dawn, this means that the flagships of the P&O Cruises fleet in Australia are now the last of the Sitmar ships.

The once Crown Princess and Regal Princess were introduced in 1990-91, while the old Fair Princess was still cruising from Australia.
Last Thursday, December 10, proved to be a big day for Sydney, with Diamond Princess arriving first, followed by  Pacific Jewel, fresh from her makeover in Singapore, and then Sun Princess. Nearly 10,000 passengers were handled in Sydney that day.

With Diamond, Sun and Dawn Princess, Pacific Dawn, Sun and Jewel all based in Sydney either full time or for the summer, the Australian market has finally shown it can support not just one or two ships but two fleets of ships with P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises each having its own fleet of Australia-based ships now. And in the west, Classic International Cruises has its Athena now based in Fremantle on a seasonal basis.

New Zealand: 119,000, Mostly Foreigners
In the 2008/09 season, 118,987 cruisers were reported to have left New Zealand ports, of whom almost 90% were visitors, mainly American, Canadian and Australian. About 25,000 were actually New Zealanders. This total of almost 119,000 was up from 40,000 in 2004/05 so the market has almost tripled in just four years.

The local New Zealand market is strong enough, however, that P&O Cruises will lengthen its 2010 Auckland season for  Pacific Sun from two months to twenty-four, after the 2009 season sold out with 12,000 Kiwis cruising in her over just two months.

South Africa: 70,000 in MSC Sinfonia Alone
South Africa this year has its largest cruise ship yet in the 2,100-passenger MSC Sinfonia, now based at Durban for the 2009/10 winter season and working for South Africa-based Starlight Cruises. MSC Sinfonia is expected to carry some 70,000 cruisers this season and replaces  MSC Melody and MSC Symphony/Rhapsody before her.
Spring will also see Holland America Line’s Noordam and Westerdam in Durban and Port Elizabeth, not as cruise ships but as accommodation ships for the 2010 World Cup in Cape Town
Other than that, there is no indigenous South African cruise market other than those operated by Starlight Cruises, although other ships calling in South Africa this season will be Queen Mary 2, Balmoral, Discovery, Seven Seas Voyager, Silver Wind, Crystal Serenity and Columbus, all making calls on world cruises or longer voyages.

Conclusions
For those who like statistics, here are the estimated non-US markets by rank, in number of cruise passengers, with Commonwealth countries shown in red:
UK – 1,500,000
Germany – 907,000
Canada – 775,000
Italy – 682,000
Spain – 497,000
Australia – 330,000
France – 310,000
Scandinavia – 123,000
New Zealand – 119,000
Benelux – 92,000
South Africa – 75,000
Switzerland – 62,000
Commonwealth – 2,799,000
Continent – 2,673.000
The Commonwealth countries thus total 2,799,000 cruisers while Continental European countries total 2,673,000 – a very different way of looking at things, but one that is no longer current since the UK joined the European Union.
(Source: By Mark Tré – Cybercruises.com)

No Comments »

Ocean Liner Days: The Real Thing

Africa, Asia, Atlantic Crossing, Australia/New Zealand, Azamara Cruises, Canadian Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Deilmann Cruises, Discovery World Cruises, Fred Olsen, Holland America Line, MSC, Oceania Cruises, P&O, Positioning Voyages, Royal Caribbean | Posted by cruisepeople
Aug 30 2009

When RMS Queen Mary 2 recently sailed from Southampton, she left behind some who had tried to book her but could not get space. Despite the fact that she has about 1,000 more berths to fill than the old Queen Elizabeth 2 and despite a world recession, QM2 often sails full these days.
Cunard is not alone in being a company that has ocean liner roots that it still honours to-day.
Others have also found a new seasonal niche in moving their ships between cruising grounds (positioning voyages) and it is now not rare to find these voyages sold out, sometimes well in advance.
Surprisingly, a lot of tradition survives in this 21st Century market of 5,000-passenger ships. So let’s look at some of the opportunities available to-day to and from North America, Australasia, South America and Asia.

The North Atlantic
Cunard Line has the longest North Atlantic liner tradition on Earth, dating back to the first scheduled sailing of its Britannia from Liverpool on July 4, 1840. The last century saw many famous Cunard ships ploughing the Atlantic waves – among them two Mauretanias, Aquitania, two Caronias and three Queens, which will soon be six when the second Queen Elizabeth delivers next year. And in its traditional way, it like to call its ships, ocean liners.
To-day, Cunard maintains the last regular ocean liner link between Europe and North America with RMS Queen Mary 2‘s dozen scheduled voyages for each of 2009 and 2010, plus the occasional voyage by Queen Victoria and in 2011 by Queen Elizabeth as well, usually in connection with the January departures of their world cruises.
For several years now, since it started to add larger ships to its fleet, Fred. Olsen has been offering special voyages around Africa and around South America, as well as world cruises that can be booked by sector. This autumn, however, sees two special North Atlantic sailings to Canada. Balmoral will leave Dover on September 26 for a 13-night passage to Montreal via the Azores, Corner Brook, Gaspe and Quebec and after two weeks cruising the east coast, she will leave Halifax on October 23 for a 12-night sail back to Dover by way of Sydney, Charlottetown, St Pierre, St John’s and Cobh.
Two more Canadian sailings are being offered by Costa and Peter Deilmann. Costa Atlantica will leave Savona on September 16 for Quebec City, a 17-night voyage via Barcelona, Lisbon, the Azores, New York, Boston and Charlottetown. And Deilmann’s classic Deutschland leaves Hamburg September 22 for a 12-night sailing to Montreal by way of Falmouth, Ireland, Newfoundland, St Pierre and the Saguenay Fjord.
Other than RMS Queen Mary 2, which offers a full Transatlantic schedule, other operators tend to offer very seasonal fare, that is, from America to Europe in spring and back from Europe to America and the Caribbean by autumn. This year, there will be three sailings from Europe to New York or Boston in August, two of these by old-time liner operator Holland America Line; six in September to New York, Boston or Fort Lauderdale, two of which will be offered by Princess Cruises; seven in October, two of which again are by Holland America; a dozen sailings in November, two each by Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and one by Holland America; and three stragglers in December by Azamara, Fred. Olsen and MSC.
One crossing that has attracted much repeat business each autumn is Oceania Cruises, with its smaller 684-berth ships, but the biggest ship crossing will be Royal Caribbean’s 3,600-berth Independence of the Seas, a 13-night crossing leaving Southampton on November 23 for Fort Lauderdale. One line that we have mentioned, Holland America Line, founded in 1872, was among the original North Atlantic operators and even tried to take ownership of the words "ocean liner" for a while until they wisely allowed Cunard to take the role of operating the real ocean liners within the Carnival group.
Other than the US sailings, several ships also terminate in Caribbean ports. And the same fleet will all be headed back to Europe next spring, with the exception of new ships such as  Carnival Dream and Celebrity Equinox, which will be making delivery voyages to their new cruising grounds after a few introductory cruises in Europe.
For people who need more flexibility, there are also year round cargo ship voyages that carry a few passengers. One of these, on the Independent Container Line route between Antwerp, Liverpool and Philadelphia, even offers weekly sailings. And although they only carry passengers between April and November, year-round sailings are still available to and from the Mediterranean.

Europe To the West Coast
An interesting departure for North America’s west coast is Cunard Line’s departure of  Queen Victoria, which leaves Southampton on January 4, 2010, for San Francisco by way of New York, Fort Lauderdale and Acapulco, to arrive 24 nights later. Yet another ship, Arcadia, that was originally intended to have been completed as Queen Victoria too, but then switched to P&O, leaves Southampton on January 10, to arrive in San Francisco 22 nights later, sailing by way of Madeira, Barbados and Acapulco.

Australia and New Zealand
P&O, which actually got its start a couple of years before Cunard, eventually developed into a line best known for its services to and from Australia and New Zealand and India and the Far East. People who remember names such as Orion, Oronsay, Viceroy of India, Arcadia and Canberra can still to-day book liner voyages with P&O by booking a particular sector of its annual world cruises.
Aurora leaves Southampton, for example, on January 5, 2010, offering a 55-night voyage through Suez to Brisbane, 57 nights to Sydney, 60 nights to Melbourne or 66 nights to Fremantle, while Arcadia leaves Southampton on January 10 and offers a 38-night voyage via the Panama to Auckland, 45 nights to Sydney or 47 nights to Brisbane.
On the way back to Southampton,  Arcadia leaves Auckland on February 15 (59 nights), Sydney on February 22 (52 nights) and Brisbane on February 24 (50 nights), returning via Suez. The Aurora, meanwhile, leaves Brisbane on February 26 (52 nights), Sydney on February 28 (50 nights), Melbourne on March 3 (47 nights) and Fremantle on March 9 (41 nights), returning to Southampton via the Cape of Good Hope.
Returning from Sydney, Queen Victoria sails on February 18 for a grand 63-night voyage back to Southampton. The same voyage is available from Auckland in 70 days, while Fremantle to Southampton takes 55 days via Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai.
For Canadians and Americans too, there are opportunities. The same Queen Victoria that arrives in San Francisco on January 26 offers a 25-night sailing to Sydney via Honolulu, Fiji and New Zealand. And Arcadia that arrives in San Francisco on February 1 offers a 16-night sailing to Auckland, New Zealand via Honolulu and Christmas Island, or a 22-night sailing that finishes in Sydney.
Another regular operator to and from Australia is Classic International, first with Funchal, but now with Athena, offering an annual autumn departure from Athens for Fremantle and a March return voyage that can be booked as liner voyages. This year Athena leaves Athens’ port of Piraeus on November 14 for a 34-night voyage to Fremantle through Turkey, Cyprus and Suez via Colombo and Singapore. After a season of Australia-based cruises, she will then leave Fremantle on March 14 for a reverse voyage that finishes 35 nights later in Nice. Fares compare very well with P&O and Cunard.
A longer passage, offered by Cunard Line, is RMS Queen Mary 2, leaving Southampton on January 11 for a 57-night voyage to Sydney via the Med, Suez, Singapore, Hong Kong, three ports in Japan and two in New Zealand. Equally, Southampton to Auckland is 53 nights. Coming the other way, Queen Mary 2 leaves Auckland March 2 for a 51-night passage back to Southampton by way of the Far East, Indian Ocean and Cape of Good Hope, and leaves Sydney on March 6 for a 47-night trip back to the UK.
Queen Victoria will be sailing the other way, leaving Southampton on January 4 for a 47-night voyage to Australia via New York, San Francisco, Honolulu and New Zealand, or a 55-night passage to Fremantle. Those wishing to disembark in Auckland may also do so after 40 nights. And North Americans may sail from San Francisco, which she leaves on January 26, for Sydney in 40 nights.

South America
Certain South American countries boast a large Italian population that can be traced back to the era of ocean liners, especially SpA "Italia," as it was known, and then Costa. Italian liner companies always considered their South American connections to be almost as important as their North American ones and this holds true right up until to-day. Every year, Costa and MSC Cruises send several ships to Brazil and Argentina for the winter (nine this year) and in the process offer a seasonal liner service, out from Europe in the autumn and back in the spring.
MSC will offer half a dozen outbound South American sailings this autumn, with two returning to the UK in the spring. First, on October 5, 2009, MSC Lirica leaves Genoa for Santos, Brazil, via Madeira, the Canaries and ports in Brazil, a voyage of 18 nights. On March 12, 2010, she will return from Santos via a similar route, returning to Genoa on March 29. MSC Melody, meanwhile, leaves Genoa for Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, on October 23 (a short 14-night voyage) and returns from Bahia on March 13, 2010, another quick 14-night trip back to Genoa.
And on November 2, MSC Musica leaves Venice for Santos via Madeira and ports in Brazil, another 18-night voyage. On March 17, 2010, she will return from Santos via a similar route, arriving at Venice on April 4. MSC Armonia, leaves Venice for Buenos Aires on November 15 (21 nights) and leaves Buenos Aires for Venice on April 29, 2010 (also 21 nights). These are the four sailings that will return to Italy next spring, but two more MSC ships will also leave Italy, but return to Dover next spring.

South America to UK Sailings
New this year, two MSC ships will return from Brazil to the UK next spring. On October 26, 2009, MSC Opera leaves Venice for a 17-night voyage to Rio de Janeiro via the Canaries and ports in Brazil. And on May 3 2010, she returns from Santos via a similar route, but this time in 18 nights to Dover, thus offering British passengers a direct sailing from South America. And on December 1, 2009, MSC Orchestra leaves Genoa for Santos via Madeira, the Canaries and Brazilian ports, a voyage of 17 nights. On April 20, 2010, she will return from Santos via a similar route, also to Dover, offering British passengers a second direct sailing from South America, this one in 16 nights. Return dates in April and May will also allow more flexibility to those planning to travel from Brazil to the UK next spring.
Where MSC have half a dozen ships headed for South America, Costa will be sending three. Costa Magica will make an 18-night crossing from Savona to Santos on November 18 and Costa Concordia will perform a similar voyage just four days later, on November 22. Then Costa Victoria will depart Savona on December 3 for a 19-night voyage to Buenos Aires, her base for the winter. And like the MSC ships, all three will return to Italy next spring.
Royal Caribbean, meanwhile, will be sending Splendour of the Seas and Vision of the Seas to Brazil, both from Lisbon, while Oceania will offer Insignia from Barcelona, for three more South America sailings this autumn, producing a total of a dozen crossings this autumn.
For those who don’t live like lemmings, however, and can’t cope with such seasonality, Grimaldi Lines offer a sailing every 10 days between Tilbury and Buenos Aires in 12-passenger cargo ships that also call in Brazil. This has been so successful that passenger accommodation on their Buenos Aires ships is now sold out many months ahead of sailing.

Far East and India
Viceroy of India, we mentioned, was a well-known P&O ship, but outbound Britons can now join P&O’s Aurora at Southampton on January 5 for a 21-night voyage to Mumbai, or 27 nights to Singapore or 35 nights to Hong Kong. They could also catch Cunard’s QM2 on January 11 for a 27-night voyage to Singapore or 34 nights to Hong Kong. And for those who wish to leave earlier, Voyages of Discovery offers a November 28 sailing from Barcelona to Mumbai (24 days), Singapore (39 days) or Hong Kong (65 days) in  Discovery.
For Canadians and Americans, the February 1 departure of Arcadia from San Francisco offers a 38-night sailing to Hong Kong with stops in Sydney, Cairns and Kota Kinabalu, shades of both the old Matson and American President Lines.
For those wishing to sail back to the UK from the Far East, Cunard’s Queen Victoria leaves Hong Kong on March 9 for a 44-night passage to Southampton, or Singapore on March 23 for a 30-night voyage. Also from Hong Kong, on March 12, Britons can catch Arcadia home to Southampton in 34 nights via Bangkok, Singapore, Mumbai and Athens. The same voyage also offers a 20-night opportunity from Mumbai to Southampton, leaving on March 29. Equally, Aurora offers a March 17 sailing from Singapore to Southampton, taking 33 nights by way of the Indian Ocean and Cape of Good Hope.

South Africa
There was a time when voyages to and from South Africa were more common, but for the moment, there are only a few opportunities. MSC offers one Durban sailing this autumn. On November 24, 2009, MSC Sinfonia leaves Leghorn for Durban via Naples, Suez, the Seychelles and Madagascar, a voyage of 20 nights. She then returns on April 1, 2010, from Durban, on a 21-night passage back Leghorn via Mauritius, the Seychelles, Suez and Naples again, one of the few liner offerings to South Africa these days other than a twice-monthly cargo-passenger service between Antwerp and Cape Town and two UK sailings a year by the mail ship RMS St Helena.
Although South African opportunities have been less frequent recently, the activities of pirates off Somalia have convinced some operators to avoid the Suez Canal on some future voyages, and we are likely to see more such opportunities in 2011. One such opportunity is now being offered in P&O’s Aurora on April 4, 2010, when she leaves Cape Town for Southampton on what will be a 15-night voyage via Walvis Bay, St Helena and Madeira.
So not every ship in the cruise world goes round and round the same five or six ports every seven days. Lots sail the world and if you pay attention there are plenty of opportunities to be had to cross the ocean like our ancestors and parents did, enjoying the voyage for what it is with many days at sea rather than the mad whirlwind of a port a day. It does take a little more planning now; you can’t call your travel agent and say "book me on the next boat to Sydney, Lou," as the opportunities come and go. But it’s worth the extra work if you can do it.
(Source: By Mark Tré – Cybercruises.com)

No Comments »

Princess Promotions as of 23 Aug 09

Africa, Alaska Cruises, Asia, Hawii, Mediterranean, Mexico, Northern Europe, Panama Canal, South America, South Pacific | Posted by cruisepeople
Aug 24 2009


These promotions are for the Toronto area.

Contact The Cruise People on 1-800-268-6523 for specials in your area

SOUTH AMERICA

Star Princess – January 5 – S. Amer. Horn 12 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,380 Inside Standard
Other dates*: February 18
RDB

Star Princess – March 16 – GIG/FLL 18 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,840 Inside Standard
RDB

Star Princess – March 2 – S. Amer. Horn 14 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,874 Inside Standard
RDB

Star Princess – January 17 – South America/Antarctica 16 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $2,299 Inside Standard
Other dates*: February 2
RDB

Star Princess – March 2 – S. Amer. Horn 14 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $2,582 Inside Standard
RDA

Royal Princess – January 2 – S. Amer. Amazon 14 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $2,989 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 16; February 27; March 13
RDB

Star Princess – March 2 – S. Amer. Horn 32 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $3,713 Inside Standard
RDB

Star Princess – March 2 – S. Amer. Horn 32 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $4,015 Inside Standard
RDA

Royal Princess – February 27 – S. Amer. Amazon 28 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $5,749 Outside Standard
RDB

SOUTH AMERICA CRUISETOURS

Star Princess – February 24 – 20 Nts Machu Picchu Explorer Day #GB4 – “Best Available”
From: $4,944 Inside Standard
RT1

EUROPE

Ocean Princess – October 20 – Mediterranean Collection 7 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,210 Outside Standard
RGA

Ruby Princess – April 19 – Trans-Atlantic 16 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,315 Inside Standard
RGA

Ocean Princess – August 14 – Baltic 7 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,320 Inside Standard
RGA

Star Princess – May 22 – Baltic 10 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,420 Inside Standard – $2,025 Outside Standard
Other dates*: May 12; June 1 & 21
RGA

Ocean Princess – August 7 – British Isles 7 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,430 Outside Standard
RGA

Ocean Princess – September 1 – Greek Isles 7 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,430 Outside Standard
Other dates*: September 8
RGA

Ocean Princess – July 31 – North Cape 7 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,430 Outside Standard
RGA

Star Princess – November 22 – Eastern Med 12 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,475 Inside Standard
RGA

Ruby Princess – May 5 – Western Med 12 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,805 Inside Standard
RGA

Star Princess – November 10 – Mosaic 12 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $2,135 Outside Standard
RGA

Star Princess – June 11 – Baltic 10 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $2,190 Outside Standard
RGA

Ruby Princess – June 22 – Greek Isles 12 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $2,190 Inside Standard
RGA

Ocean Princess – August 21 – Med/Atlantic 11 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $2,740 Outside Standard
RGA

Ruby Princess – April 19 – Trans-Atlantic 28 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $2,899 Inside Standard
Other dates*: April 24
RGA

Star Princess – September 9 – Med/Atlantic 14 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $3,015 Outside Standard
RGA

Ocean Princess – August 21 – Greek Isles 18 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $3,729 Inside Standard
RGA

Ocean Princess – June 7 – North Cape 18 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $5,050 Inside Standard – $5,215 Outside Standard
RGA

Ocean Princess – June 25 – Iceland 18 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $5,215 Outside Standard
Other dates*: July 13
RGA

EUROPE CRUISETOURS

Star Princess – August 12 – 18 Nights Oberammergau Day #04B – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $5,797 Inside Standard
RT1

Star Princess – August 2 – 18 Nights Oberammergau Day #04A – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $5,852 Inside Standard
RT1

ALASKA

Island Princess – May 17 – Gulf 7 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $549 Inside Standard
Other dates*: May 15, 22, 24, 29 & 31; June 5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 21, 26 & 28; July 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26 & 31; August 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28 & 30; September 4, 6, 11 & 13
RGA

Sapphire Princess – May 16 – Inside Passage 7 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $715 Inside Standard
Other dates*: May 15, 22 & 29; June 5, 12, 19 & 26; July 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31; August 7, 14, 21 & 28; September 4, 11 & 18
RGA

Sea Princess – May 22 – Inside Passage 10 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,210 Inside Standard – $2,200 Outside Standard
Other dates*: June 1, 11 & 21; July 1, 11, 21 & 31; August 10, 20 & 30; September 9 & 19
RGA

Royal Princess – May 24 – Connoisseur 14 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $2,200 Inside Standard – $2,640 Outside Standard
Other dates*: June 7 & 21; July 5 & 19; August 2, 16 & 30
RGA

CARIBBEAN

Sea Princess – May 1 – Southern Classic 6 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $517 Inside Standard – $770 Outside Standard
RDA

Caribbean Princess – January 31 – Southern 7 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $574 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 3, 10, 17 & 24; February 7, 14, 21 & 28; March 7, 14, 21 & 28; April 4, 11, 18 & 25
RDC

Crown Princess – January 30 – Western 7 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $574 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 2, 9, 16 & 23; February 6, 13, 20 & 27; March 6, 13, 20 & 27; April 3, 10, 17 & 24
RDC

Emerald Princess – January 3 – Eastern 7 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $632 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 10, 17, 24 & 31; February 7, 14, 21 & 28; March 7, 14, 21 & 28; April 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18 & 25; May 2
RDC

Royal Princess – April 24 – Eastern 6 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $689 Inside Standard – $977 Outside Standard
RDB

Grand Princess – January 4 – Southern Classic 11 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,035 Inside Standard
RGC

Caribbean Princess – January 3 – Southern Logical 14 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,092 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 10, 17, 24 & 31; February 7, 14, 21 & 28; March 7, 14, 21 & 28; April 4, 11 & 18
RDC

Ruby Princess – January 29 – Eastern Voyager 10 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,149 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 9; February 18; March 10 & 30
RDB

Ruby Princess – April 9 – Southern Medley 10 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,149 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 19; February 8 & 28; March 20
RDB

Grand Princess – January 15 – Collection 14 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,379 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 29; February 12 & 26; March 12 & 26
RDC

Grand Princess – January 29 – Collection 14 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,380 Inside Standard
RDC

Sea Princess – April 3 – Southern Adventurer 14 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,495 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 9; February 6; March 6
RDC

Sea Princess – April 3 – Southern Adventurer 14 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,495 Inside Standard
RGC

Sea Princess – February 20 – Eastern Islander 14 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,495 Inside Standard
Other dates*: March 20; April 17
RDC

Sea Princess – February 20 – Eastern Islander 14 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,495 Inside Standard
Other dates*: April 17
RGC

Royal Princess – April 10 – Calypso 14 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,512 Inside Standard – $2,184 Outside Standard
Other dates*: March 27
RDC

Sea Princess – January 23 – Eastern Islander 14 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,609 Inside Standard
Other dates*: February 20; March 20; April 17
RDB

Sea Princess – April 3 – Southern Adventurer 14 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,667 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 9; February 6; March 6
RDB

HAWAII

Golden Princess – January 3 – Hawaii/Roundtrip 14 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,379 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 17 & 31; March 14; April 11 & 25
RDC

Golden Princess – January 3 – Hawaii/Roundtrip 14 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,379 Inside Standard – $2,300 Outside Standard
Other dates*: January 17 & 31; February 14 & 28; March 14 & 28; April 11 & 25
RGC

MEXICO

Sapphire Princess – January 2 – Mexico 7 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $574 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 9, 16, 23 & 30; February 6, 13, 20 & 27; March 6, 13, 20 & 27; April 3, 10, 17 & 24; May 1
RDC

Sapphire Princess – February 13 – Mexico 7 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $747 Inside Standard
RDC

ORIENT/ASIA/AFRICA

Diamond Princess – April 30 – Alaska/Far East 16 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,495 Inside Standard
RDC

Diamond Princess – March 13 – Southeast Asia 16 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,955 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 3 & 19; February 4; March 29
RDC

Diamond Princess – March 13 – Southeast Asia 16 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,955 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 3; March 29; April 14
RGC

Diamond Princess – February 21 – Orient/Asia/Australia 20 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,955 Inside Standard
RDE

Diamond Princess – March 13 – Southeast Asia 16 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $2,295 Inside Standard
Other dates*: March 29
RDB

Diamond Princess – April 30 – Alaska/Far East 23 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $2,300 Inside Standard
RDB

Diamond Princess – April 30 – Alaska/Far East 23 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $2,357 Inside Standard
RGB

Diamond Princess – March 29 – Southeast Asia 16 Day – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $2,985 Outside Fully Obstructed – $2,985 Inside Standard
RDA

Diamond Princess – February 21 – Orient/Asia/Australia 36 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $4,250 Inside Standard
RDB

Diamond Princess – February 21 – Orient/Asia/Australia 36 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $4,250 Inside Standard
RGB

Ocean Princess – March 6 – Orient/China 14 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $4,301 Mini-suite
RDA

Diamond Princess – April 14 – Alaska/Far East 32 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $4,480 Inside Standard
RDC

Diamond Princess – April 14 – Alaska/Far East 32 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $4,480 Inside Standard
RGB

Diamond Princess – April 14 – Alaska/Far East 32 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $5,452 Inside Standard
RDB

Diamond Princess – February 21 – Orient/Asia/Australia 36 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $5,509 Inside Standard
RDA

Sun Princess – March 3 – Orient/Asia/Australia 42 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $8,050 Outside Standard
RGA

ORIENT/ASIA/AFRICA CRUISETOURS

Diamond Princess – April 25 – 28 Nights Best Of China Day #AB3 – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $5,037 Inside Standard
RT2

SOUTH PACIFIC

Diamond Princess – January 28 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,265 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 4 & 16; February 9
RDF

Diamond Princess – January 16 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,265 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 28; February 9
RGB

Diamond Princess – February 9 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,610 Inside Standard – $1,724 Outside Fully Obstructed
RGB

Dawn Princess – January 24 – New Zealand 13 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,720 Inside Standard – $2,295 Outside Standard
Other dates*: January 23; February 5, 6, 18 & 19
RDB

Diamond Princess – January 16 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $2,065 Inside Standard
Other dates*: February 9
RDB

PANAMA CANAL

Island Princess – January 19 – FLL/FLL 10 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,264 Inside Standard – $1,379 Outside Fully Obstructed
Other dates*: January 29; February 8; March 30; April 9 & 19
RDC

Island Princess – January 19 – FLL/FLL 10 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,264 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 29; February 8; March 30; April 9 & 19
RGC

Island Princess – January 9 – ACA/FLL 10 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,264 Inside Standard – $1,379 Outside Fully Obstructed
Other dates*: February 18 & 28; March 10 & 20
RDC

Island Princess – January 9 – ACA/FLL 10 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $1,264 Inside Standard
Other dates*: February 18 & 28; March 10 & 20
RGC

Island Princess – January 19 – FLL/FLL 10 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,609 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 29; February 8; March 30; April 9 & 19
RGB

Island Princess – January 19 – FLL/FLL 10 Day – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $1,609 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 29; February 8; March 30; April 9 & 19
RDB

Island Princess – January 9 – ACA/FLL 10 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,609 Inside Standard
Other dates*: February 18 & 28; March 10 & 20
RGB

Island Princess – January 9 – ACA/FLL 10 Day – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $1,609 Inside Standard
Other dates*: February 18 & 28; March 10 & 20
RDB

Sea Princess – May 7 – FLL/SFO 15 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,610 Inside Standard – $1,725 Outside Fully Obstructed
RDC

Sea Princess – May 7 – FLL/SFO 15 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,610 Inside Standard
RGC

Coral Princess – January 6 – LAX/FLL 15 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,839 Inside Standard
Other dates*: February 5; March 7; April 6
RGC

Coral Princess – January 6 – LAX/FLL 15 Day – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $1,839 Inside Standard
Other dates*: March 7; April 6
RDC

Coral Princess – February 5 – LAX/FLL 15 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,954 Inside Standard – $2,185 Outside Fully Obstructed
RDC

Coral Princess – April 21 – FLL/LAX 15 Day – “$$ Off Escape Fares”
From: $1,954 Inside Standard – $2,185 Outside Fully Obstructed
Other dates*: January 21
RDC

Coral Princess – February 20 – FLL/LAX 15 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $1,954 Inside Standard
Other dates*: January 21; March 22; April 21 & 29
RGC

Coral Princess – February 20 – FLL/LAX 15 Day – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $1,954 Inside Standard
Other dates*: March 22; April 21 & 29
RDC

Island Princess – April 29 – FLL/YVR 18 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $2,184 Inside Standard
RGC

Island Princess – April 29 – FLL/YVR 18 Day – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $2,184 Inside Standard
RDC

Coral Princess – April 21 – FLL/YVR 19 Day – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $2,323 Inside Standard
RDD

Island Princess – April 29 – FLL/YVR 18 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $2,759 Inside Standard
RGB

Royal Princess – April 30 – FLL/SEA 20 Day – “Guaranteed”
From: $2,874 Inside Standard – $3,220 Outside Standard
RGC

Royal Princess – April 30 – FLL/SEA 20 Day – “Free Upgrade!”
From: $2,874 Inside Standard – $3,220 Outside Standard
RDC

Coral Princess – April 21 – FLL/YVR 19 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $2,988 Inside Standard
RDA

Royal Princess – April 30 – FLL/SEA 20 Day – “Balcony Bonanza!”
From: $3,449 Inside Standard – $3,450 Outside Standard
RGB

*Calculation is the same, but fares may be higher and ship may be different. All fares are non-air unless otherwise stated. All promotions are capacity controlled and based on space availability. Fares quoted in Canadian dollars.

RESERVATIONS: 1-800-268-6523

No Comments »

Expedition Cruising – Is Antarctica Getting Too Crowded?

Alaska Cruises, Antarctica, Celebrity Cruises, Cruise West, Crystal Cruises, Deilmann Cruises, Discovery World Cruises, Expedition Cruises, Transocean Tours | Posted by cruisepeople
Aug 19 2008

More Cruisers for Antarctica
During the 2006/07 Antarctic season 9,693 Americans, 4,518 Brits, 4,082 Germans and 2,756 Australians landed in Antarctica out of a total of 29,576. The 2007/08 total is expected to be around 34,000. With Silversea recently introducing its Prince Albert II, Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic Explorer and GAP Adventures buying a ship to replace its own Explorer, lost in the Antarctic last November, there is much new for visitors to the Antarctic.
New money is also going into the expedition business and main line cruise operators are planning a "scenic" invasion that could see close to 50,000 tourists sail to the seventh continent next year. But one question remains. What if there is an accident?
New Expedition Ships
Last week brought news that GAP Adventures of Toronto had purchased the 345-foot Viking Line ferry Alandsfarjan for $2.6 million. GAP intends to convert the 6,172-ton Ice Class 1B Swedish ferry, into an expedition ship that will replace its ill-fated 108-passenger Explorer, lost in Antarctic waters in November.
This year, GAP chartered the 98-passenger Russian ship Polaris, a near-sister to the original Explorer, as a stop-gap measure. As presently configured with bow and stern doors and car decks, as well as no major overnight accommodation, the new 1972-built acquisition will need some major conversion work before she can go into service as an expedition ship.
Meanwhile, the inaugural voyage of Silversea Cruises’ first expedition ship, the 120-passenger Prince Albert II, has left Londonfor islands of the Atlantic, Norway and Spitsbergen.
Acquired last year from Sembawang Shipyards in Singapore, the Ice Class 1A 6,072-ton Prince Albert II was previously Society Expeditions’ rather luxurious World Discoverer II, but has lain idle since that company went out of business five years ago. Two weeks after Prince Albert II leaves London, Lindblad Expeditions’ new Ice Class 1A 148-guest National Geographic Explorer enters service.
Formerly Hurtigruten’s 6,167-ton Lyngen, this 1982-built coastal mail boat, has been converted in Las Palmas into a much-reinforced 350-foot expedition ship,  left her old home port of Bergen on June 26 for her own first voyage, to the Norwegian fjords and Spitsbergen.
Meanwhile, Oceanwide Expeditions of the Netherlands is planning to convert the former 2,977-ton Dutch oceanographic ship Tydeman into the 296-foot expedition ship Plancius, full details of which have not yet been announced. For 2008 and 2009, however, they will use the 84-passenger chartered Chilean vessel Antarctic Dream.
Corporate Changes
A lot has also happened recently in terms of the ownership of expedition companies, particularly as First Choice Holidays, the UK holiday company that is now part of Germany’s TUI, has acquired a fistful of expedition companies, not only marine but also land-based, in a move to diversify away from mainstream travel.
It started with First Choice’s £19.5 million acquisition of Melbourne-based Peregrine Adventures in November 2005, along with the operation of the 110-passenger Akademik Ioffe and Akademik Sergey Vavilov. The very next month First Choice announced the purchase of St Louis-based INTRAV, operating the 122-guest Clipper Adventurer and 128-berth Clipper Odyssey (as well as the smaller US-flag Nantucket Clipper and Yorktown Clipper, which were sold on to Cruise West).
Finally, last May, when Quark Expeditions founder Lars Wikander announced his retirement, First Choice revealed that it was also buying Connecticut-based Quark, whose fleet consisted of one owned ship, the 82-passenger Ocean Nova, and a number of chartered Russian and Ukrainian ships. These included the 120-passenger icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov, the 110-berth Lyubov Orlova, the 50-passenger Akademik Shokalskiy and Professor Multanovskiy,and the 100-passenger nuclear icebreaker Yamal, which it uses for one or two voyages to the North Pole every year.
All previous operations of Peregrine and Clipper have now been brought together under Quark, which has gained new offices in Melbourne and St Louis.
By summer, Quark sublets the Lyubov Orlova to Cruise North Expeditions of Toronto, which offers cruises from Kuujjuaq, Quebec, (formerly Fort Chimo) to Baffin Island and Hudson Bay.
Cruise North is owned by Makkovik Corporation, a native company, and had previously used the 66-passenger Argentine ship Ushuaia. A few days after announcing its acquisition of Quark, First Choice announced that the sale of Clipper Adventurer and Clipper Odyssey to International Shipping Partners (ISP) of Miami, but with the charter back of  Clipper Adventurer for the next five Antarctic seasons.  Clipper Odyssey will be used by Zegrahm Expeditions of Seattle and Noble Caledonia of London.
ISP itself has greatly expanded its own activities in the small ship sector, particularly in connection with the Clipper Group of Denmark.
It also manages the 112-passenger Island Sky for Noble Caledonia, the 60-passenger Quest for Polar Quest of Gothenburg and the 112-berth Corinthian II, which will sail the Antarctic for Travel Dynamics of New York, in addition to Quark’s Ocean Nova, a near sister of the Quest.
As well as these smaller vessels, over the past year Clipper, through ISP, has begun to acquire a number of medium-size cruise ships for charter to other operators.
Not related to Quark, but also owned by TUI, is Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, whose four-ship fleet includes two highest ice class expedition ships, the 184-guest Hanseatic and 164-berth Bremen, in the upmarket sector.
With a sale of Hapag-Lloyd AG by TUI now a possibility, its cruise operation, if not included, may soon be in need of a new name. Hapag-Lloyd will perform two Northwest Passage cruises in the summer of 2009, with Hanseatic and Bremen crossing the Canadian Arctic in opposite directions. The pair will meet in Cambridge Bay for a barbecue that will also be attended by the line’s managing director from Hamburg.
Meanwhile, Hapag-Lloyd is so heavily sold out on Antarctica departures that it raises the question of how or when it might add more capacity to fulfil this demand.
At the end of last month, it was announced that KSL Capital Partner had acquired Orion Expedition Cruises of Melbourne, who operate the 106-passenger Ice Class E3 Orion, built in Germany in 2003. The new owners said there would soon be fleet expansion by way of newbuildings and/or second-hand acquisitions.
Orion operates from Australian ports to the Antarctic, the Kimberley, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia and Asia. All these ships carry only 100 or so passengers and are equipped with zodiacs to land their passengers to observe wildlife (including seals, whales and of course the many varieties of penguins), the area’s spectacular scenery and international research stations, many of which are now historic sites.
Big Ships, Inexperienced Crews
The Antarctic tourist season, which normally runs from November to March, has flourished in the past fifteen years, growing from around 6,500 visitors in 1997 to 30,000 in 2007, or five times in a decade.
Part of this huge growth has come from main line cruise operators that operate larger ships than the adventure companies. Beginning in 1993 with Orient Lines’ 848-passenger Marco Polo, now operating for Transocean Tours of Bremen, this grew when the 710-berth Discovery joined her in 2001 after being acquired by Voyages of Discovery.
Two newer Norwegian Hurtigruten ships, the 500-passenger Fram and 690-passenger Nordnorge have also joined this sector. These ships limit the number of passengers they carry in the Antarctic to between 350 and 400 in order to be able to perform landings. Even then, as not all passengers can be landed at one time, they must do so in stages.
Others in this category include Saga, Peter Deilmann and now Transocean.
More recently, lines such as Holland America and Princess, the big two in Alaska, have scheduled cruises to the Antarctic. These larger ships do not offer landings but something they call "scenic cruising" of the "dazzling landscape" of the Antarctic.
This year, Golden Princess carried 2,425 passengers and 1,120 crew to the Antarctic, and her sister ship Star Princess is to do the same in 2009.
Holland America’s Rotterdam, which can carry up to 1,668 passengers, also made a cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula in January. The latest to join the fray, with an announcement last month, is Celebrity Cruises, whose Celebrity Infinity, which can carry up 2,450 passengers, will perform two Antarctic cruises in 2010.
Of the upmarket cruise lines, only Crystal has sent the 960-passenger Crystal Symphony on such "scenic" cruises.
What worries people most about these ships is not just the huge numbers of souls they can carry to isolated locations and the lack of Antarctic knowledge among their officers and crews, but also the fact that the owners of these ships do not feel it is necessary to have double hulls or even ice-strengthening to navigate these waters, not to mention the risk of pollution from the heavy oil that these ships burn as opposed to the lighter diesel used by most expedition ships.
What if there is an accident?
Last year, at about 3 am on November 23, GAP Adventure’s Explorer was holed by ice near King George Island, taking on water and beginning to list.
All 154 passengers and crew were evacuated after about 5 hours in lifeboats and she sank about 15 hours later. The Explorer had been built in 1969 as Lindblad Explorer, the pioneer Antarctica expedition ship, designed for navigating these waters.
Ten years ago, at 1:30 am on December 15, 1998, Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas struck Proselyte Reef in Great Bay, St Maarten, causing a 130 by 7 foot gash in her starboard hull.
All 2,557 passengers had to be evacuated by tender and flown home after the ship started taking on water.
One of her officers at the time recently told this author that the ship would have sunk had her master not taken quick action to ground her on a nearby sandbank, something that the subsequent investigation said would take a minimum of about 12 hours. Ninety years ago, at about 2 am on October 24, 1918, Canadian Pacific’s Princess Sophia, en route from Skagway to Juneau, Alaska, grounded on Vanderbilt Reef in the Lynn Canal.
All 343 passengers and crew lost their lives 39 hours later after heavy weather prevented rescue efforts and she slipped off the reef and sank in deep water.
Lost in time, this tragedy was completely overshadowed by the end of the First World War a few days later.
In the case of Explorer, winds were not high and there was no fog at the time.
In the case of Monarch of the Seas, despite the large numbers involved, help was as near as the closest shore tender by which the ship’s passengers were rescued.
In the case of Princess Sophia, though, even though she was in isolated waters, help was at hand. But over a period of almost two days the weather prevented anyone from being rescued before she sank, taking all with her within sight of land.
As it happens, as National Geographic Explorer is in drydock at Las Palmas, her 110-berth fleetmate National Geographic Endeavour is also there, undergoing some work of her own.
She had participated along with the Nordnorge in the Explorer rescue in November. As for  Nordnorge, the Explorer rescue was actually her second of the year, as in January she had been called to evacuate 294 passengers from her sister ship Nordkapp after she ran aground off Deception Island, something that forced the cancellation of the rest of her 2007 season.
And just this January, Hurtigruten gave 50% refunds to passengers of  Fram, the Nordkapp‘s replacement, after her engines failed and she drifted into ice at Brown’s Bluff during her Christmas cruise to Antarctica.
After receiving ice damage to one of her lifeboats, she had to cancel her subsequent cruise as well.
As well as the natural threats of wind, weather, ice and grounding, not to mention machinery failure, there is the hazard of fire. In March 2006,Star Princess, which is scheduled to sail to Antarctica in 2009, suffered a fire in which one died and eleven were injured.
At the time, she was sailing between Grand Cayman and Jamaica and help was nearby.
But in Antarctica help can be 36 to 48 hours away across the Drake Passage, one of the roughest stretches of water in the world. To quote a cruise expert who has sent many adventurers to the Antarctic, "When Explorer sank they had just 154 people to rescue. Twenty times that many would be a catastrophe."
To send ships to the Antarctic without double hulls, let alone any ice strengthening, is probably begging for something to happen and it might behoove the 46 nation members of the Antarctic Treaty Organization to have a look at this.
There is a saying in shipping that the more times you move something, the more chance there is of damaging it, and the same holds true of ships.
The International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), possibly in an attempt to be able to control them, has allowed the owners of larger cruise ships to become members. In an effort to do so, since 2001 it has required that ships carrying more than 500 passengers make no landings in the Antarctic.
IAATO, founded by seven private members in 1991, now consists of 104 private companies, 44 of which are full members and five of these are cruise lines.
There is a precedent that some IAATO members already have to follow at the other end of the world. A good set of regulations exists in Canada, which has its own set of rules for Arctic waters. Called the Arctic Ice Regime Shipping System, it was designed to enforce the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act of 1970.
Although the Arctic suffers from multi-year pack ice, it includes areas that have only seasonal ice and the scheme, whlle complicated, may be worth a look.
But the main question is should ships with no ice strengthening be allowed to cruise the Antarctic?
(Source: By Mark Tré – Cybercruises.com)

1 Comment »

Princess Cruise Specials for Ontario as of 27 Sep 08

Africa, Alaska Cruises, Asia, East Coast Cruises, Mediterranean, Mexico, Northern Europe, Panama Canal, Princess Cruises, South America, South Pacific | Posted by cruisepeople
Jul 28 2008

ALASKA

Sapphire Princess – August 30 – Gulf 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $550 Inside Standard
Other dates*: August 25; September 1, 6, 8, 13 & 15
RGD

Sapphire Princess – August 30 – Gulf 7 Day – "Best Available"
From: $600 Inside Standard
Other dates*: August 25; September 1, 6, 8, 13 & 15
RBB

Golden Princess – August 30 – Inside Passage 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $700 Inside Standard
Other dates*: August 23; September 7
RGA

 

Golden Princess – August 30 – Inside Passage 7 Day – "$57 Upgrade!"
From: $700 Inside Standard
Other dates*: August 23, 24 & 31; September 7 & 13
RDA

 

Sapphire Princess – August 30 – Gulf 7 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $700 Inside Standard
Other dates*: August 25; September 1, 6, 8, 13 & 15
RBA

 

Sapphire Princess – September 6 – Gulf 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $750 Inside Standard
Other dates*: August 25 & 30; September 1, 8, 13 & 15
RDA

 

Star Princess – August 31 – Inside Passage 7 Day – "$289 Upgrade!"
From: $1,300 Balcony
Other dates*: August 23, 24 & 30; September 6, 7, 13 & 14
RBB

ALASKA CRUISETOURS

 

Diamond Princess – September 3 – 11 Day Heart Of Alaska Day #06S – "Best Available"
From: $1,237 Inside Standard
RTK

 

Island Princess – September 8 – 12 Day Heart Of Alaska Day #05N – "Best Available"
From: $1,487 Inside Standard
RT9

 

Coral Princess – September 3 – 13 Day Heart Of Alaska Day #09H – "Best Available"
From: $1,537 Inside Standard
RTH

 

Coral Princess – September 1 – 12 Day Heart Of Alaska Day #04C – "Best Available"
From: $1,551 Inside Standard
RT8

Coral Princess – September 1 – 15 Day Explorer: Kenai Day #16N – "Best Available"
From: $1,987 Inside Standard
RT9

CARIBBEAN

 

Caribbean Princess – November 30 – Southern 7 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $550 Inside Standard – $450 Cruise Air Add On
Other dates*: November 23
RCC

 

Caribbean Princess – November 2 – Southern 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $550 Inside Standard – $600 Outside Fully Obstructed
Other dates*: November 9, 16, 23 & 30; December 7, 14, 21 & 28
RGB

Crown Princess – November 16 – Eastern 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $600 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 23
RGA

 

Crown Princess – November 16 – Eastern 7 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $600 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 23
RDA

 

Caribbean Princess – November 23 – Southern 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $600 Inside Standard
RDB

 

Caribbean Princess – November 2 – Southern 7 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $600 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 9, 16, 23 & 30; December 7 & 14
RDA

 

Ruby Princess – December 13 – Western 7 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $600 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 15 & 22
RDA

 

Crown Princess – November 23 – Eastern 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $700 Inside Standard
RDB

 

Ruby Princess – November 22 – Western 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $700 Inside Standard
RDB

 

Ruby Princess – November 22 – Western 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $700 Inside Standard
RGB

 

Emerald Princess – December 10 – Eastern Voyager 10 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $800 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 20
RGB

 

Sea Princess – October 23 – Southern 9 Day – "Best Available"
From: $800 Inside Standard
RBB

 

Emerald Princess – November 10 – Southern 10 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $850 Inside Standard
RGB

 

Crown Princess – December 21 – Eastern 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $900 Inside Standard
RDE

 

Crown Princess – December 21 – Eastern 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $900 Inside Standard – $999 Outside Fully Obstructed
Other dates*: December 28
RGA

 

Ruby Princess – December 20 – Western 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $900 Inside Standard
RDB

 

Ruby Princess – December 20 – Western 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $900 Inside Standard – $999 Outside Fully Obstructed
Other dates*: December 27
RGA

 

Crown Princess – December 21 – Eastern 7 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
RDB

 

Caribbean Princess – December 21 – Southern 7 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: December 28
RDA

 

Ruby Princess – December 20 – Western 7 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: December 27
RDA

 

Caribbean Princess – November 16 – Southern 14 Day – "$$ Off Escape Fares"
From: $1,140 Inside Standard
Other dates*: December 7 & 14
RDA

 

Emerald Princess – December 30 – Eastern Voyager 10 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,200 Inside Standard
RDB

 

Emerald Princess – December 30 – Eastern Voyager 10 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,200 Inside Standard
RGA

 

Caribbean Princess – November 23 – Southern 14 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,204 Inside Standard
RDA

 

Sea Princess – November 29 – Southern 14 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,240 Inside Standard
RDA

 

Emerald Princess – December 30 – Eastern Voyager 10 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,300 Inside Standard
RDA

 

Grand Princess – December 19 – Collection 14 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,900 Inside Standard
RGA

 

Sea Princess – December 13 – Eastern Islander 14 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,940 Inside Standard
RDB

 

Grand Princess – December 19 – Collection 14 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $2,000 Inside Standard
RDA

 

Sea Princess – December 13 – Eastern Islander 14 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $2,020 Inside Standard
RDA

 

Sea Princess – December 27 – Southern 14 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $2,040 Inside Standard
RDA

 

Royal Princess – December 23 – Calypso 14 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $2,398 Outside Standard
RDB

 

Royal Princess – December 23 – Calypso 14 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $2,398 Outside Standard
RGA

 

Royal Princess – December 23 – Calypso 14 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $2,698 Outside Standard
RDA

EUROPE

 

Grand Princess – October 29 – Greek Isles 12 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,490 Inside Standard – $1,690 Outside Fully Obstructed
Other dates*: October 17
RGD

 

Emerald Princess – October 3 – Trans-Atlantic 18 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,500 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 17
RGD

 

Grand Princess – November 10 – Eastern Med 12 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,516 Inside Standard
RDC

 

Grand Princess – October 29 – Greek Isles 12 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,516 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 17
RGC

 

Emerald Princess – October 3 – Trans-Atlantic 18 Day – "Best Available"
From: $1,600 Inside Standard – $2,700 Balcony
RBD

 

Pacific Princess – November 28 – Trans-Atlantic 21 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $1,619 Inside Standard – $1,703 Outside Standard – $1,300 Cruise Air Add On
Other dates*: November 22
RCA

Crown Princess – September 17 – Trans-Atlantic 18 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,645 Inside Standard – $2,300 Balcony
Other dates*: October 3
RDG

Emerald Princess – August 28 – Western Med 12 Day – "Tiered Flat Rates"
From: $1,660 Inside Standard
RFB

Pacific Princess – November 28 – Trans-Atlantic 21 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,660 Inside Standard – $1,714 Outside Standard
Other dates*: November 22
RDD

Grand Princess – November 22 – Trans-Atlantic 21 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,700 Inside Standard
RGD

Pacific Princess – November 28 – Trans-Atlantic 21 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,700 Outside Standard – $1,700 Inside Standard
RDC

Emerald Princess – August 28 – Western Med 12 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,740 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 9
RBD

Emerald Princess – September 9 – Western Med 12 Day – "Best Available"
From: $1,800 Inside Standard
RBD

Crown Princess – September 17 – Trans-Atlantic 18 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,800 Inside Standard
RDD

Emerald Princess – October 3 – Trans-Atlantic 18 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,900 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 17
RDB

Emerald Princess – August 28 – Western Med 12 Day – "$289 Upgrade!"
From: $1,930 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 9
RDC

Grand Princess – September 11 – Greek Isles 12 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $2,000 Inside Standard
RGA

Grand Princess – September 11 – Greek Isles 12 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $2,000 Inside Standard
RBA

Pacific Princess – November 28 – Trans-Atlantic 21 Day – "$289 Upgrade!"
From: $2,159 Outside Standard
RDB

Grand Princess – November 22 – Trans-Atlantic 21 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $2,200 Inside Standard
RDB

Sea Princess – August 16 – Medley 14 Day – "$289 Upgrade!"
From: $2,230 Inside Standard
RDA

Grand Princess – November 10 – Eastern Med 12 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $2,290 Balcony – $2,890 Mini-suite
RGD

Grand Princess – August 30 – Med/Atlantic 12 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $2,916 Mini-suite
RGD

Grand Princess – August 30 – Med/Atlantic 12 Day – "Tiered Flat Rates"
From: $3,000 Mini-suite
RFE

Grand Princess – November 10 – Trans-Atlantic 33 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $3,600 Inside Standard
RGA

HAWAII

Golden Princess – November 26 – Hawaii/Roundtrip 14 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,100 Inside Standard – $1,498 Outside Standard
Other dates*: October 1, 15 & 29; November 12; December 10
RGC

Golden Princess – December 10 – Hawaii/Roundtrip 14 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,200 Inside Standard – $1,600 Outside Standard
Other dates*: October 29; November 12 & 26
RDC

Golden Princess – October 1 – Hawaii/Roundtrip 14 Day – "Best Available"
From: $1,400 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 15
RDF

Golden Princess – December 10 – Hawaii/Roundtrip 14 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,400 Inside Standard – $1,900 Outside Standard
Other dates*: October 1, 15 & 29; November 12 & 26
RDB

Golden Princess – December 24 – Hawaii/Roundtrip 14 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,900 Inside Standard – $2,300 Outside Standard
RDB

Golden Princess – December 24 – Hawaii/Roundtrip 14 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,900 Inside Standard – $1,999 Outside Fully Obstructed
RGA

Golden Princess – December 24 – Hawaii/Roundtrip 14 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $2,200 Inside Standard – $2,600 Outside Standard
RDA

MEXICO

Sapphire Princess – November 29 – Mexico 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $500 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 11, 18 & 25; November 1, 8 & 15; December 6 & 13
RDB

Sapphire Princess – October 18 – Mexico 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $500 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 4, 11 & 25; November 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29; December 6 & 13
RGD

Sapphire Princess – September 27 – Mexico 7 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $600 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 4, 11, 18 & 25; November 1, 8, 15, 22 & 29; December 6 & 13
RDA

Sapphire Princess – December 20 – Mexico 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $900 Inside Standard
Other dates*: December 27
RDB

Sapphire Princess – December 20 – Mexico 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $900 Inside Standard
Other dates*: December 27
RGA

Star Princess – October 21 – Mexico 10 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $900 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 31; November 10
RGB

Sapphire Princess – December 20 – Mexico 7 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,100 Inside Standard
RDA

CANADA/NEW ENGLAND

Caribbean Princess – September 14 – NYC/NYC 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $600 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 21 & 28; October 5 & 12
RDF

Caribbean Princess – September 14 – NYC/NYC 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $600 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 21 & 28; October 5 & 12
RGE

Caribbean Princess – September 14 – NYC/NYC 7 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $700 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 21 & 28; October 5 & 12
RDD

Sea Princess – October 13 – YQB/NYC 10 Day – "Best Available"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 13 & 23; October 3
RBD

Sea Princess – October 13 – YQB/NYC 10 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 13; October 3
RGE

Caribbean Princess – October 12 – NYC/NYC 7 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 14, 21 & 28; October 5
RDA

Sea Princess – October 13 – YQB/NYC 10 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,100 Inside Standard
Other dates*: September 13 & 23; October 3
RDC

ORIENT/ASIA/AFRICA

Diamond Princess – November 23 – Southeast Asia 19 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $1,700 Inside Standard – $1,699 Cruise Air Add On
RCA

Diamond Princess – November 23 – Southeast Asia 19 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,900 Inside Standard
RGC

Diamond Princess – November 23 – Southeast Asia 19 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,900 Inside Standard
RDC

Diamond Princess – November 23 – Southeast Asia 19 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $2,300 Inside Standard
RDA

Diamond Princess – November 23 – Southeast Asia 31 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $2,700 Inside Standard – $1,699 Cruise Air Add On
RCA

Diamond Princess – November 23 – Southeast Asia 31 Day – "$$ Off Escape Fares"
From: $2,900 Inside Standard – $3,160 Outside Fully Obstructed
RDB

Diamond Princess – November 23 – Southeast Asia 31 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $2,900 Inside Standard
RGC

Diamond Princess – November 23 – Southeast Asia 31 Day – "Best Available"
From: $3,400 Inside Standard
RBA

Diamond Princess – November 23 – Southeast Asia 31 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $3,400 Inside Standard
RDA

SOUTH AMERICA

Star Princess – December 8 – S. Amer. Horn 14 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard – $1,200 Outside Standard
RDF

Star Princess – December 8 – S. Amer. Horn 14 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $1,030 Inside Standard – $1,400 Outside Standard – $1,599 Cruise Air Add On
RCB

Star Princess – November 20 – S. America 18 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $1,400 Inside Standard – $1,800 Outside Standard – $999 Cruise Air Add On
RCB

Star Princess – November 20 – S. America 18 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,400 Inside Standard – $1,600 Outside Standard
RDD

Star Princess – November 20 – S. America 18 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,500 Inside Standard – $1,699 Outside Fully Obstructed
RGD

Star Princess – December 22 – S. Amer. Horn 14 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,500 Inside Standard – $1,800 Outside Standard
RDE

Star Princess – December 8 – S. Amer. Horn 14 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,715 Inside Standard – $1,898 Outside Standard
RDB

Star Princess – December 22 – S. Amer. Horn 14 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,800 Inside Standard
RGA

Star Princess – December 22 – S. Amer. Horn 14 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,800 Inside Standard – $2,200 Outside Standard
RDC

Star Princess – November 20 – S. America 32 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $2,300 Inside Standard
RDA

Star Princess – November 20 – S. America 32 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $2,300 Inside Standard – $1,099 Cruise Air Add On
RCA

Star Princess – November 20 – S. America 32 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $2,300 Inside Standard
RDB

Star Princess – November 20 – S. America 18 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $2,400 Inside Standard – $2,598 Outside Standard
RDA

Pacific Princess – December 19 – S. Amer. Amazon 14 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $2,898 Outside Standard
RDA

SOUTH PACIFIC

Diamond Princess – December 12 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $1,100 Inside Standard – $1,899 Cruise Air Add On
RCB

Diamond Princess – December 12 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,100 Inside Standard
RGD

Diamond Princess – December 12 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,200 Inside Standard
RDC

Dawn Princess – December 5 – New Zealand 13 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,200 Inside Standard
RDB

Dawn Princess – December 5 – New Zealand 13 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,200 Inside Standard
RGA

Tahitian Princess – December 9 – Cook Islands 10 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,400 Outside Fully Obstructed
RGA

Diamond Princess – December 12 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,500 Inside Standard
RDB

Diamond Princess – December 24 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,600 Outside Fully Obstructed – $1,600 Inside Standard
RGB

Diamond Princess – December 24 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,600 Inside Standard
RDD

Diamond Princess – December 24 – Aus/N. Zealand 12 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,700 Inside Standard
RDB

Sun Princess – November 20 – Australia 28 Day – "Tiered Flat Rates"
From: $2,900 Inside Standard – $4,300 Outside Standard
RFA

Dawn Princess – September 24 – SFO/SYD 31 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $3,003 Inside Standard – $1,289 Cruise Air Add On
RDC

Sun Princess – November 20 – Australia 28 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $3,400 Inside Standard
RGB

Sun Princess – November 20 – Australia 28 Day – "Best Available"
From: $3,430 Inside Standard – $4,930 Outside Standard
RBA

Dawn Princess – September 24 – SFO/SYD 31 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $3,500 Inside Standard
RGA

Dawn Princess – October 26 – Australia 28 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $4,045 Inside Standard – $6,020 Outside Standard
RDB

PANAMA CANAL

Island Princess – December 14 – FLL/FLL 10 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 2, 12 & 27
RDA

Island Princess – December 14 – FLL/FLL 10 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard – $1,099 Outside Fully Obstructed
Other dates*: October 2, 12 & 27
RGB

Island Princess – December 14 – FLL/FLL 10 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 2, 12 & 27
RBB

Royal Princess – November 27 – GYE/FLL 12 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard – $1,200 Outside Standard – $799 Cruise Air Add On
RCB

Royal Princess – November 27 – GYE/FLL 12 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,000 Outside Standard – $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 15
RDG

Coral Princess – November 29 – ACA/FLL 10 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 19
RDA

Coral Princess – November 29 – ACA/FLL 10 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard – $799 Cruise Air Add On
RDB

Coral Princess – November 29 – ACA/FLL 10 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 19
RGB

Coral Princess – November 29 – ACA/FLL 10 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,000 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 19
RBA

Royal Princess – November 27 – GYE/FLL 12 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,100 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 15
RDF

Royal Princess – November 27 – GYE/FLL 12 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,100 Inside Standard
Other dates*: November 15
RGD

Coral Princess – December 9 – FLL/LAX 14 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,200 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 22
RGD

Coral Princess – December 9 – FLL/LAX 14 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,200 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 22; November 16
RBA

Coral Princess – December 9 – FLL/LAX 14 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,300 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 22; November 16
RDB

Coral Princess – December 9 – FLL/LAX 14 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $1,300 Inside Standard – $499 Cruise Air Add On
RDC

Island Princess – November 30 – LAX/FLL 14 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $1,400 Outside Fully Obstructed – $1,400 Inside Standard
RGC

Island Princess – November 30 – LAX/FLL 14 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $1,400 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 13; November 5
RDC

Island Princess – November 30 – LAX/FLL 14 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $1,500 Inside Standard
Other dates*: October 13
RDA

Island Princess – November 30 – LAX/FLL 14 Day – "Air Included!"
From: $1,500 Inside Standard – $499 Cruise Air Add On
RDB

Royal Princess – November 15 – FLL/GYE 12 Day – "$144 Upgrade!"
From: $1,500 Inside Standard – $1,698 Outside Standard
Other dates*: November 27
RDD

Island Princess – September 25 – LAX/LAX 18 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $2,225 Inside Standard
RDA

Coral Princess – December 23 – LAX/FLL 14 Day – "Free Upgrade!"
From: $2,399 Outside Fully Obstructed
RGA

COASTAL

Golden Princess – September 27 – SEA/YVR 1 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $80 Inside Standard – $115 Outside Standard
RDA

Golden Princess – September 28 – YVR/LAX 3 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $260 Inside Standard – $320 Outside Standard
Other dates*: September 22
RDA

Golden Princess – September 28 – YVR/LAX 3 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $300 Outside Standard
RGB

Sapphire Princess – September 20 – YVR/LAX 7 Day – "Guaranteed"
From: $550 Inside Standard – $600 Outside Fully Obstructed
RGB

Sapphire Princess – September 20 – YVR/LAX 7 Day – "$$ Off Early Booking Discount"
From: $600 Inside Standard
RDB

*Calculation is the same, but fares may be higher and ship may be different. All fares are non-air unless otherwise stated. All promotions are capacity controlled and based on space availability. Fares quoted in Canadian dollars.

 

 

No Comments »

New Costa Brochure – Exotic an Special Voyages

Africa, Asia, Costa Cruises, East Coast Cruises, New Brochure, South America | Posted by cruisepeople
Apr 01 2008

LOGOCOSTA

Dubai, Far East, South America, Indian Ocean, Canadian Maritimes and New England

 

Contact us for your copy.

No Comments »

MARCO POLO Cruise Offer from New Operator

Cruise Lines, Northern Europe, Transocean Tours | Posted by cruisepeople
Feb 27 2008

logotransocean

 

Marco Polo (ex Alexandr Pushkin)

9-night British Isles Discovery
7th May 2008
Departing London Tilbury to Invergordon, Kirkwall (Orkney Isles), Portree (Isle of Skye),
Tobermory, Dublin, St Mary’s (Isles of Scilly), St Peter Port, Guernsey

Cabin Type

Rate per person

Standard Plus Inside

£699

Superior Twin Inside

£799

Standard Twin Outside

£899

Standard Plus Twin Outside

£1049

Superior Plus Twin Outside

£1299

Premium Twin Outside

£1349

Junior Suite

£1799

Gratuities Included!
    
Marco Polo has eight passenger decks serviced by three main lobbies and four lifts. Her wide range of public facilities include an impressive restaurant or as an alternative – the more informal and stylish bistro. There are five lounge areas and a variety of day and evening entertainment to enjoy. Other facilities include a well stocked library, card room, internet centre, shops and photo gallery. The Spa, Fitness & Beauty Centre offers a sauna, gym and massage facilities plus there’s an outdoor pool and three hot tubs. There is a good selection of comfortable cabin accommodation with 70% of cabins having an ocean view.

    *
      Exceptional value destination cruising. Fares include gratuities!
    *
      Traditional British style summer cruises from London Tilbury
    *
      Intimate and relaxed with friendly attentive service
    *
      Straightforward fares – no fluid pricing

 

Contact The Cruise People, Ltd. on 1-800-268-6523 for details and reservations.

No Comments »