Choosing Cruising Blog

Here are the charges on a selection of the most popular cruise lines for the cost (including the appropriate tip) for a bottle of Becks 330ml beer.

Fred Olsen £2.20 , P&O £2.35 , Princess £2.51, Ocean Village £2.65 , Holland America £3.05, Costa £3.05, Cunard £3.41, Celebrity £3.59, NCL £3.61, Royal Carribean £3.95.

Interestingly the British Lines such as Fred Olsen and P&O were the cheapest and American lines such as Royal Caribbean and NCL the most expensive.

Celebrity Cruises will renovate its four Millennium class ships between April 2010 & 2012. As part of the renovations, staterooms will also be overhauled. This includes all new carpeting and bedding. Passengers will also find flat-screen TVs in their staterooms. Suites will also be improved with modern furniture and upholstery.

Celebrity Cruises will launch the fourth Solstice class cruise ship in April 2011. The ship is named Celebrity Silhouette to float alongside Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Equinox and  Celebrity Eclipse (to launch in April of 2010).

Despite the inaugral sailing date of April 2010, Celebrity Eclipse has become the best booked Celebrity vessel.

Celebrity Eclipse is the newest and most booked ship

Robin Shaw (Royal Caribbean Cruises vice-president) commented that the sales figure was attributed to trade marketing that has positioned Eclipse as offering something new from Southampton next year.

Perhaps the cuisine is a reason for this?
Celebrity Cruises president Dan Hanrahan said “Eclipse will be offering the Brits’ favourite beers and lagers, and the cruiseline will be adding dishes such as “mushy peas and steak and kidney pie.

I’m told that’s what the British like to eat. We’re not planning to make big changes on board for the British market, but we are looking at tweaking some of the food offerings.”

Find Celebrity Eclipse cruises here

Celebrity Cruises’ newest ship, Celebrity Equinox, arrived in Southampton on 19th July 2009 ahead of almost two weeks of inaugural celebrations.  More than 5,000 travel agents, travel industry professionals and consumers will be visiting the 2850-guest, 122,000-tonne ship during the fortnight.

Celebrity Equinox

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As of September 2009 Celebrity will be rolling out Celebrity Select Dining. It will be an addition to seat assignments in the larger restaurants. Passengers will be given the choice of open or traditional seat designation, when the cruise is booked.

Have you ever thought why cruise lines bring out new ships? Customer feedback has lead to a definite demand for more relaxation and facilities. Here is a round up of all the new ships launched in 2009: (more…)

The Mexican Centre for Disease Control & Prevention has now lifted the ban for non essential Travel.  Following on from this, here is an overview of the cruise situation in Mexico: (more…)

Here is an overview of the smoking policies onboard the major cruise lines.

Carnival Cruise Lines
In previous years Carnival ran a no smoking ships, however today all of the ships have zones where smokers are free to light up such as in the casinos, most of the bars and lounges, the discos and in designated areas on the open decks including the outside dining area of the Lido cafe. Smoking is also permitted in the cabins and on balconies. Dedicated cigar bars are provided on some of the larger ships in the fleet. (more…)

Cruising (as opposed to more traditional holidays) can offer alternatives when the unexpected occurs.  Recent examples such as pirate attacks, potential disease outbreaks or horrendous weather simply mean that the ships docks at another port or take another route.

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