Travel Maven blog

Applause for cruise lines’ new non-smoking policies

Starting with cruises this weekend, there will be no smoking in any of the piano bars on the ships of Carnival Cruise Lines.

That’s great news for all the piano bar lovers who can’t stand the heavy haze of second-hand cigarette smoke. I thank you, Carnival, and so do most of the piano players.

The new non-smoking rules announced this week by Carnival -- and by  Princess and Holland America -- go far beyond the piano bars.

The piano bar on Carnival Magic, above, has been smoke-free since the May inaugural

My guess is that the cruise lines will hear applause from around the world from non-smokers, including many of us who have serious allergies and are concerned about the negative health impact of second-hand smoke.

New pirate ship bar greets cruisers to Half Moon Cay

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Make no mistake: The new bar on Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas may look like a pirate ship, but it has never been to sea, and it’s not going anywhere.

The Captain Morgan on the Rocks Island Bar was built from scratch on bedrock, 9 feet below the sand, and those wood planks on the ship’s hull were nailed together – in the fall of 2010.

Disney Dream is christened, cruises from Port Canaveral

 
With fireworks and a Disney cast of hundreds, the new Disney Dream was christened today at Port Canaveral by godmother Jennifer Hudson, who started her singing career aboard a Disney ship.

In Disney extravaganza style, a helicopter picked up a giant bottle said to hold the pixie dust of dreams, and swung it against the Disney Dream's bow, where a real bottle of champagne awaited, setting off a fireworks display.

Later, the Disney Dream headed out to sea for a two-day preview cruise for media and folks in the travel business.

 

Disney ready for cruise line's new Dream ship

Wednesday is a huge day for Disney. The vacation company will introduce a new cruise ship, the first in a decade.

Tomorrow, the Disney Dream will join the Magic and the Wonder, making the mouse house fleet a threesome. Disney will show off the Dream in Port Canaveral, about an hour east of Orlando. And I am excited to take a look at my third Disney ship.

Today, I am in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World to gather a little pixie dust for the Dream ride tomorrow.

Cruising, life aboard Azamara Journey

Nearly two weeks into our voyage across the Atlantic, from Rome to Miami on the Azamara Journey, we have grown into a community.

We began this cruise traveling separately. On our first morning, many of us, singles and couples, tentatively chose an empty table for breakfast on the fantail, outside Windows Café.

Now, we are traveling together. Having shared insights about our homes, vocations, and families in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia, we recognize new friends in the ship’s restaurants (Aqualina, pictured above), lounges, spa, and around the pool.

Zadar, Croatia, cruise port with sea organ

The joke going around the Seabourn Odyssey, a 450-passenger cruise ship sailing between Athens and Venice, is that the captain found the port of Zadar, Croatia, by Googling it on his computer.

Because so many passengers said they had never heard of Zadar, Captain Geir-Arne Thue-Nilsen feigned ignorance, too, as if he had stumbled upon Zadar while wandering up the Dalmatian Coast of the Adriatic Sea. “I just Googled it this morning,” he would say.

Zadar may be off the radar for some modern travelers, but ship captains have been stopping at this port for more than 700 years.