Travel Maven Blog ...... David Molyneaux posts from TheTravelMavens.com

Sky Princess crew use computer pads to make cruise service more personal

OceanMedallion is easy tech at work

The 3,660-passenger Sky Princess, anchored off Princess Cays in the Bahamas (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

By David G. Molyneaux
TheTravelMavens.com

If ever you have been unclothed or otherwise unprepared for visitors to your cruise ship cabin, and realized suddenly that a steward has unwittingly entered the cabin to tidy up, you will see immediate vacation advantages in the techy OceanMedallion distributed free to passengers by Princess Cruises on an expanding number of its ships.

Not that Princess is touting cabin privacy as the key attribute of the pokerchip-sized medallion. Instead, cruisers will hear about easy boarding at the beginning of their voyage and using their smart phone to order goodies from a deck chair for quick delivery.

Key to the OceanMedallion is that crew members know who you are, what you typically consume, and, especially, where to find you.

Crew members carry a small computer pad. On the pad, each passenger is a circle, which moves as you move about the ship, a medallion dangling from your neck.

Enter a bar and the bartender sees your image in a circle arriving on his pad. Sit in a deck chair and want a coffee? A whiskey? A slice of pizza? Order it on your smart phone. A waiter will find you and your medallion. And voila!

Snazzy restaurants, go-kart track, ‘Kinky Boots’ highlight big city life aboard new Norwegian Encore

Norwegian Encore, newest big cruise ship of Norwegian Cruise Line, sails out of Miami for the winter of 2020, moving to New York in April. Eduardo Arranz-Bravo, of Barcelona, created the artwork on the hull (Photo by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

By David G. Molyneaux
TravelMavenBlog.com

Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

My first mission on the 3,998-passenger Norwegian Encore, now cruising weekly into the Bahamas and Caribbean out of Miami, was to secure a seat to “Kinky Boots,” the Tony-award winning musical that is a must-see on this new ship. But a woman at the box office on Deck 7 said that all tickets to the show already had been reserved.

“I just came aboard,” I said.

“You can reserve up to six months ahead,” she said. “Seats will be available tonight. Don’t worry.” Theater reservations (all seats are unassigned) must be claimed 10 minutes before the performance begins.

“The show is free,” she said, “so lots of people just don’t show up, or they are running late. For the 10 o’clock show, you will want to be in the stand-by line by 9:40 pm.” Which I was, joining about 100 other happy passengers in a last-minute rush to more than 100 empty seats.

The outstanding show is about a drag queen named Lola and an English shoe factory saved by its transformation into a maker of non-conventional footwear. Before you go, you might want to slip into some long, sparkling boots. Red is best.

My wife and I cruise often, but it had been a year since we sailed on a big, big ship, and getting acclimated during our recent voyage on Norwegian Encore took some patience, and a few calming beverages.

 

Vacationing in a big city buzz

 

Life in big cities and on big ships can be busy, frenetic, and noisy, but that’s expected by people who choose to reside and/or vacation in such stylish with-it worlds.

Passengers book a cruise on ships such as Norwegian Encore because there’s exciting stuff to do, sophisticated dining choices, high quality entertainment, and charges of energy that accompany bunches of people moving about, laughing, having some drinks, hurrying to dinner — or standing in line hoping to get into a sold out show.

Sounds a lot like New York or Las Vegas, which is what Norwegian has in mind when designing its new cruise ships.

Cruising and testing Princess Cruises newfangled Ocean Medallion

 Princess promises simplicity, techy service in the Caribbean

By David G. Molyneaux, editor
TheTravelMavens.com and TravelMavenBlog.com

(Updated December 1, 2019)

Thousands of passengers on ships of Princess Cruises are toting around a new toy: An Ocean Medallion that is among the most innovative and potentially exciting new trappings for vacations at sea.

The Ocean Medallion will open your cabin door and connect well to most smartphones on Princess Cruises ships in the Caribbean.

These Medallions, smaller than a poker chip and not much heavier, are powerful enough to eventually change some basic cruise experiences.

They open your cabin door and connect with your smartphone to order a drink from a deck chair, play a trivia game against other passengers you may never meet, and locate a wandering child or errant spouse, whose whereabouts are given away by their own all-knowing medallions.

By fall of 2019, all passengers sailing on the Princess fleet in the Caribbean Sea will be armed with a Medallion. Two ships already have been outfitted to handle a portion of the full power of the Medallion; its capabilities slowly are being introduced to cruisers.

(Update to come in January 2020, a report from the new Sky Princess)

Other Princess ships already have or are scheduled for the Medallion, though some provide or will provide primarily high-speed Internet services called MedallionNet.

White Island was a rugged cruise to an active New Zealand volcano in the South Pacific

My cruise ship shore excursion to an active volcano on White Island off the north coast of New Zealand in 2013 was the strangest and most exciting tour of my life. It never was a trip for the queasy or careful.

(This report was updated on December 8, 2019, after the volcano exploded on White Island. My guide from 2013, Hayden Marshall-Inman, was killed.)

David Molyneaux, with gas mask, on White Island

At least one American expert on volcanic activity told me that White Island was highly dangerous. Maybe that’s why some cruise passengers chose to remain above the island, booking a flight-seeing tour offered by several ships.

The report that follows was not a recommendation to fly above or to board a boat to the island on a tour from Whakatane, near New Zealand’s port of Tauranga.

It was written as a tale from a traveler who made the questionable sea journey.

White Island, formed by volcanic eruptions, is a world of gaseous steam and serious acid, where the ground shakes from the Ring of Fire that burns below the rim of the basin of the Pacific Ocean.

Sailing on the Sea Cloud with the rich and famous, since the 1930s

Spiffy ship tops cruising's wish list

Sea Cloud, built in 1931, sailing in the Caribbean. The picture was taken in 2019 from a Zodiac launched from the ship for passengers. (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

By David G. Molyneaux and Fran Golden
TheTravelMavens.com

 

On a cruise aboard the famed sailing ship Sea Cloud, sometimes you may feel like an heiress, which is how the ship’s story began nearly 90 years ago.

 

Through the twists, turns, and capricious winds of history, Sea Cloud has survived glorious and stormy times to be rescued, restored, and returned to a place atop the wishlist of many a worldly traveler.

 

Today, the Sea Cloud cruises mostly in the Caribbean during winter seasons and the Mediterranean in summers, with as many as 64 passengers aboard. A crew of 59 tends to the sails that hang from four masts, cooks fine meals with an emphasis on what swims in the waters below, and caters to travelers hungry for a grandeur seldom seen at sea.

 

A hallway links the original 10 cabins on Sea Cloud

On deck, you are never far from the serious series of heavy ropes and pulleys used by the deck crew of 18 to raise and lower the sails, from the slaps of seawater against the hull, and from the winds that not only propel the vessel, but also occasionally remind passengers of how close they are living to the whims of weather.

 

At night, you may want to climb the steps above the bridge where a hidden sundeck is perfect for stargazing.

Once a busy trade route, the Upper Rhine now offers history without crowds

River cruising in Germany and France 

By David G. Molyneaux, editor, TheTravelMavens.com

Outside the walls of the fortified city of Neuf-Brisach, France, with a design of the octagon-shaped city laid out in the grass.(Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

NEUF-BRISACH, France — On a pleasant morning before the summer vacation season was in full swing, the bicycle shop in the Rhine River port city of Breisach, Germany, was closed. So my wife and I walked into France. We crossed the wide river bridge and trekked about three miles of quiet country roads to Neuf-Brisach.

 

Neuf means “new” in French (except when neuf means nine), and Neuf-Brisach was new in the late 1600s. Today, it is one of the few remaining fortified towns built during the reign of Louis XIV to guard the eastern border of France.

 

The town, which is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is sleepy but still alive, surrounded by towering brick walls that seem impenetrable. In the Alsace, fortification was essential to surviving a seemingly endless stream of invading armies.

 

After a simple sidewalk café lunch, we visited the museum (10 euros) dedicated to Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, a French engineer who built 150 citadels and strongholds along France’s vulnerable borders. Their defensive designs are still considered masterpieces of military architecture.