San Juan cruise port sees record daily arrivals

Posted on 27 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

The cruise port of San Juan reached a record high of 17,847 passenger arrivals on Feb. 25, who arrived on six cruise ships.

The new figure topped the previous records of 15,776 passengers set on Dec. 31; 16,712 on Jan. 8; and 16,395 on Feb. 4.

“The arrival of more than 17,000 passengers in a single day represents an economic impact of approximately $2 million to the economy of Puerto Rico,” said Luis Munez Martinez, deputy director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC).

Recent improvements at the cruise port aided in the passenger and cruise call increase, including Pier 1, which made possible the arrival of the Disney cruises, and the expansion of Pier 3, which favored the arrival of Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas, according to Colberg Ingrid Rodriguez, executive director of the Port Authority.

The ships that called on Feb. 25 included the Quantum of the Seas, Disney Fantasy, MSC Divina, Carnival Glory and Holland America’s Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam.

Cruise ships calling on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27 include the Oceania Riviera, Carnival Liberty and Silversea’s Silver Cloud, making a total of 21 cruise ships that have called in San Juan since Feb. 21, including 11 ships that called between Feb. 21 and Feb. 25.

Disney Cruise Line’s enviable kid clout

Posted on 25 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

By Tom Stieghorst

Almost without exception, you can tell which cruise lines are serious about attracting families by whether there are animated characters prowling the pool deck.

Whether it is Smurfs, Cinderella, Kung-Fu Panda or SpongeBob SquarePants, they generally signify which lines have a year-round business attracting kids and which don’t.

Some lines make no claim to providing characters or attracting children, including Oceania Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises and, soon, Viking Ocean Cruises. Others don’t do a lot of family business during the school year, often because of longer itineraries.

Of the lines that do provide characters, one stands above the rest. Disney Cruise Line’s advantage is almost unfair, its roster of characters so deep and historic, that if characters are a primary consideration, it has to be tops on the list.

And the line isn’t content to rest on its laurels. Its animation factory just keeps turning out the hits.

On Sunday night, Disney took home an Oscar for its movie “Big Hero 6,” featuring Marvel Comics superheroes, who are also present on Disney Cruise Line ships. That comes on top of last year’s Oscar for “Frozen,” the top-grossing animated movie of all time.

“Big Hero 6” topped DreamWorks Studios’ entrant in the Oscars derby, “How To Train Your Dragon 2.” DreamWorks characters such as Shrek are exclusive to Royal Caribbean International ships.

Of course, popular films emerge from other studios besides Disney. The DreamWorks stable includes notable franchises such as Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar.

But Disney’s four ships have so many characters to pick from. This summer it will feature characters from “Frozen” on cruises to Norway and Iceland. Next year it will have “Star Wars Day at Sea” on eight selected sailings, featuring characters from the Star Wars movies.

The ownership of Disney Cruise Line by entertainment powerhouse Walt Disney Co., of course, gives it access to these properties. And it kind of puts the success of the cruise industry in perspective. When you ask which cruise company has the biggest investor value, it isn’t Carnival Corp, valued at $34 billion. It is Walt Disney, valued at $178 billion.

The Force Is With Disney Cruise Line, Star Wars Is Coming!

Posted on 11 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Disney Cruise Line has announced that Star Wars is coming in 2016. The Force is with Disney Cruise Lines!

A new celebration of Star Wars and its iconic characters will come to the cruise line in 2016 but only on one cruise ship and for a limited time. Cruise Hive has long been hoping that some day there would be a Stars Wars feature at sea and now it;s actually going to happen.

The celebration will be held aboard the Disney Fantasy and will be known as a “Star Warts Day At Sea”. The new experience will be held on eight special sailings and will be an all day event. Expect to see all the popular hero’s and villains from the well-known brand that is owned by Disney after being purchased from Lucas Arts.

There will be plenty of fun and entertainment including a deck party, meet-and-greets with favorite characters,Star Wars-themed youth activities, unique food and beverage offerings, and special merchandise. The animated series called Star Wars Rebels will also be available for people to watch.

The youth onboard will play a major role as they can become young “Padawans” or “Younglings” and enjoy Jedi Academy training from an elite Jedi Night. Theres will be fun competitions and activities all types of cruisers as the ship will be overrun by Star Wars.

The deck party will have a fireworks display along with competitions and special stage show featuring all the characters. Special effects will light the deck up and make passengers feel like they are apart of the Star Wars Universe.

Star Wars Day at Sea will be on Disney Fantasy cruises sailing on Jan. 9, 23; Feb. 6, 20; March 5, 19; April 2and 16, 2016. Departing from Port Canaveral, the seven-night Western Caribbean itinerary includes Cozumel, Mexico; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and Disney’s private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay.

Check out CruiseHive @ http://www.cruisehive.com/