Travel news from the sources

Contemporary art, tech meet on Celebrity cruises

News from Celebrity Cruises: First cruise line to present art tours on iPads
   
Passengers on Celebrity Cruises will take the industry’s first self-guided art tours on an iPad®.

Earlier this year, the cruise introduced the first Celebrity iLounge, equipped with MacBook® workstations, a retail space featuring Apple products, and an enrichment center where staff present courses and offer guests tips on using Macs and iPods®.

Celebrity also is the first cruise line to present a menu and wine list on an iPad at its Qsine specialty restaurant aboard Celebrity Eclipse.

Reserving Canyon Ranch spa on Oceania ships

News from Oceania Cruises

Passengers on ships operated by Oceania Cruises may reserve treatments at their onboard Canyon Ranch SpaClubs® up to 90 days before departure. Canyon Ranch operates spas on the cruise line’s fleet of premium ships.

“Canyon Ranch SpaClubs have proven so popular with our guests that it makes sense to book early,”  said Oceania president Bob Binder.

Each Canyon Ranch SpaClub features massage, body and skin-care treatment rooms, gym and weight room, men’s and women’s locker rooms, thalassotherapy pool, two whirlpools and Thermal Suite. The SpaClub’s treatments include massages and therapeutic bodywork, mud, aromatherapy, ayuvedic and seaweed treatments, facials and masks, conditioning body scrubs and therapeutic body cocoons.

Cruising Norway in the exciting Arctic Circle

Dog sled rides, icy swims, snow hotel and Aurora Borealis highlight voyage called Hunting the Light

News from Hurtigruten

Hurtigruten offers unique opportunities to explore remote regions and learn about different cultures, including the west coast of Norway in the winter.

From November 15 through March 15, Hurtigruten takes passengers on Hunting the Light voyages – an exploration that offers dog sledding, the nightly viewing possibility of the spectacular Aurora Borealis (or Northern Lights), overnights at the Kirkenes Snow Hotel, swims in the Barents Sea, incredible vistas, wonderful meals, and presentations on the history and cultures of Norway.

Celebrity's four Solstice ships to sail Caribbean

News from Celebrity Cruises:

Celebrity's four Solstice-class ships will sail in Europe in the summer of 2011, then head for the Caribbean for the winter of 2011-2012.

The Solstice ships will join four other Celebrity ships, offering itineraries ranging in length from 4 to 14 nights out of five homeports.
 
The new Celebrity Silhouette, launching in 2011, will sail from Cape Liberty (Bayonne), New Jersey, from November 2011 to April 2012, alternating Southern and Eastern Caribbean voyages of 12 nights.

Costa sails two cruise ships out of Dubai

Costa Deliziosa debuts in February, joins Costa Luminosa

News from Costa Cruises:

Costa Luminosa, inaugurated in June, set sail on seven-night cruises from Dubai December 12. Her sister ship, Costa Deliziosa, will sail similar routes starting in February. Both ships are 92,600 tons and carry 2,260 passengers.

The inaugural season of the Costa Luminosa from Dubai will feature Saturday departures with two overnights in Dubai and visits to Muscat, Fujairah, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. Her season will run through April 10.

The Costa Deliziosa departs from Savona, Italy, on February 5. The ship will call on Dubai for her inaugural festivities from February 23-26. Guests sailing on the February 5th departure will be able to attend the naming ceremony. The ship’s regular route from Dubai on Sundays will feature the same seven-night routes as her sister ship, the Costa Luminosa. These cruises will begin on March 14 and extend through May 9. 

Seven godmothers at Oasis of the Seas naming

News from Royal Caribbean International:

Oasis of the Seas was named officially on Dec. 1, in a ceremony of seven celebrity godmothers.

Gloria Estefan, Daisy Fuentes, Shawn Johnson, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Michelle Kwan, Jane Seymour and Dara Torres each represented a neighborhood on Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship.

The celebration took place throughout the seven signature neighborhoods onboard Oasis of the Seas, culminating with the traditional Champagne bottle breaking ceremony followed by a fireworks display in the waters beyond the stage of the AquaTheater, the ship’s oceanfront theater.  Video of the event is available on the ship’s web site, www.OasisOfTheSeas.com.

Flying beach chair to Roatan's Mahogany Beach

Photos from Mahogany Bay

A new elevated chair lift will transport guests between the new Mahogany Bay Cruise Center in Roatan and Mahogany Beach. 

This Magical Flying Beach Chair debuts with the opening of a new cruise ship center that opens Nov. 20. That's when the $62-million Mahogany Bay Cruise Center welcomes its first ship, Carnival Cruise Lines’ 2,124-passenger Carnival Legend.  

The center, with 20 acres of waterfront and a two-berth cruise terminal, is a joint project of Carnival Corp. & plc and Roatan businessman Jerry Hynds.

The chair lift -- with a fee of $5 per person for the day -- will offer views of the bay and countryside. EDITOR NOTE: Starting May 1, 2010, the price goes to $10.

It will take cruise passengers to Mahogany Beach, a 10-acre private island with lounge chairs, cabanas for rent, floats, a beach volleyball court and watersports. The sand beach is 825 feet long.

Carnival Dream offers high-energy laser show

Carnival Cruise Lines’ new 130,000-ton Carnival Dream will introduce the line’s first outdoor laser shows that will combine the latest in laser technology with rock music to provide guests a unique and exciting nighttime entertainment option.

Carnival Dream’s laser shows will be the first ever for a North America–based cruise ship.

The 15-minute nighttime laser shows will feature choreographed lasers projecting brilliant aerial patterns of blue, red and green set to music by popular artists such as Styx, Rush, Van Halen, Boston and Pink Floyd. 

Smoke machines will be used to enhance the laser light effects in the starry, moonlit sky, creating an ideal setting for guests to relax on Carnival Dream’s expansive open deck.

Golfing in the shadow of the Antarctic

As more ships cruise the coasts of South America, ports are developing new shore excursions. One is the unique opportunity to play golf on the world's southernmost golf course in Ushuaia, Argentina, which is arguably the planet's southernmost city.

Furlong Incoming, a major Argentina shore excursion operator, has introduced a golf tour which provides golfers with green fees and equipment to play Ushuaia's 9-hole course, with two different tee layouts providing an 18-hole round. No motorized carts.

Cruise passengers who complete the round are presented with a certificate, said Furlong's Santiago Lovari.

During a recent port call in Ushuaia by the Carnival Splendor, Allen Normey of Maple Ridge, British Columbia was one of a dozen passengers who chose the golf tour. He said the round the was the "highlight of his golfing experiences."

Non-golfers can book an excursion on the narrow gauge "End of the World" train with it's station adjacent to the course.

Green fees and rental clubs total about $90 for a round of 18 holes. Some cruise ships include the golf course as a shore excursion, with fees and transportation. The course is about 25 minutes from Ushuaia city, on the way to the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

-- Submitted By Stuart Newman of Newman Public Relations, Miami. Newman sailed on the Carnival Splendor.

Next cruising Queen Elizabeth has a keel

With a the keel laying, Cunard Line’s new Queen Elizabeth begins to take shape at the Monfalcone shipyard of Fincantieri near Trieste, Italy.

When Queen Elizabeth debuts in October 2010, she will join Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria in a fleet of famous ocean liners, one the youngest fleets in passenger travel.

A keel laying involves the placement in the dry dock of the first section of the ship’s hull. This section is made up of six pre-manufactured blocks, weighs 364 tons and is fitted with 104 tons of pipes, cables, insulation and other equipment.

Fifty-three sections will be used in the construction of Queen Elizabeth. She will take to the water for the first time at her float out in December 2009.