Travel Maven Blog ... posts from The Travel Mavens.com

Cruising on Oceania's Riviera, a premium eating experience

When you pay extra to cruise a bit upscale, you get roominess, unlimited lobster tails, sushi, lamb chops

Relaxing on Oceania's Riviera (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

Cruise ships have a reputation for encouraging a measure of gluttony.

On nearly every modern ship, you may start eating before the sun comes up and maintain a forkful until late into the night, when a call to room service will bring a snack to tide you over until dawn. A cruise can be a constant flow of French fries, sticky buns, and globs of multi-course meals with a never ending supply of desserts and between-meal enticements.

Eating full, of course, is not the same as eating well.

When an expert travel agent described Oceania Cruises’ newer vessels -- the upscale Marina and Riviera -- as the “eating ships,” he wasn’t talking about passengers stuffing themselves from plates piled high.

Instead, he was describing meals at sea that rival the quality of your favorite restaurants at home -- all included in the basic cruise rate.

This is a formula that is working well for Oceania Cruises.

Norwegian Breakaway rocks New York

Cruise lines normally shy away from mentioning “rocks” when talking about their ships and where they are sailing.

Five water slides on Norwegian Breakaway (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

But Norwegian, perhaps the most innovative of all the modern cruise companies, is not shy. And neither is the world’s newest cruise ship, the 4,028-passenger Norwegian Breakaway, which, says the company, now rocks New York City.

After a trip across the Atlantic Ocean, Norwegian Breakaway, built in Germany, arrived in America this week like so many other Europeans through the years, cruising past the Statue of Liberty on the way to Manhattan.

After two days aboard the Breakaway, I can tell you that this immigrant is ready for prime time.

Cruise industry's recent troubles bring bargain rates for a while

The cruise industry image is floundering again, with more bad news and big pictures about ships losing power (and the subsequent much-feared inability to flush toilets).

If history is any guide, cruise lines will fight back by throwing money at the image problem, lowering their prices until customers start buying again.

So if you are thinking about booking a cruise, this may be the time to find a bargain. (This article appeared earlier this week in The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, Ohio.)

Shorter cruises for luxury lines show off ships around the world

Cruise lines from mass-market to luxury increasingly are designing shorter voyages, both to introduce their ships to vacationers who have not been to sea and to provide getaways for busy world travelers who may have only a few leisure days to spare.

 

Tea time in Palm Court on Crystal Serenity (Picture from Crystal Cruises)

This year, in addition to traditional cruises of two-to-five nights out of Florida and the U.S. East, West and Gulf coasts -- including Norwegian Cruise Line trips to nowhere of one and two nights out of New York -- you’ll find well-known brands with short cruises from ports around the world.

Ships are sailing with short itineraries from Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Durban, Barcelona, Lisbon, Stockholm, Copenhagen, London, Rome, Hamburg, and Monte Carlo.

Redundancies and power issues in the cruise ship world

Cruise line executives and industry leaders meet annually in March at Cruise Shipping Miami. This week, for the second year in a row, their conference and trade show, designed to talk about past profits and show off innovative products, was marred by a recent international black eye.

In January 2012, the Costa Concordia rollover at sea, off the coast of Italy, killed 32 people, and two months later, when the cruise industry finally got around to talking about the disaster, the pall in the Miami convention hall was a mood stealer.

This year, the industry’s wound was more image than damage.

Cruising into 2013, ships new and renewed

Some intriguing new cruise ships are on the way, including Norwegian Breakaway, which will breakout with a major party in New York in May.

Peter Max painted the hull for Norwegian Breakaway, which will be sailing out of New York

In England in June, Royal Princess is due to debut with a long-awaited new design from Princess Cruises. After a summer in the Med, the ship will cross the pond, arriving in Fort Lauderdale in late October.

Early looks at Norwegian Breakaway and Royal Princess.