Tag Archives: Hawaii

Enhanced Pride of America Sails in Hawaii

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Enhanced Pride of America Sails in Hawaii

September 30, 2013New suites, single staterooms addedBy: Marilyn Green

Cruise
Guests will experience new suites on the Pride of America // © 2013 Norwegian Cruise Line

Guests will experience new suites on the Pride of America // © 2013 Norwegian Cruise Line

The 2,124-passenger Pride of America, Norwegian Cruise Line’s dedicated Hawaii ship, is now sailing with extensive enhancements. Pride of America recently completed a $30 million refurbishment that includes new suites, studios for single travellers and inside staterooms.

The 24 new suites on Deck 13 have premium custom furnishings, fabrics, carpets and elegant bathrooms. Two are 566-square-foot Owner’s Suites that sleep up to four people, with a spacious bedroom, a separate living room, 1,200-square-foot balconies and bathrooms featuring custom mosaic tiles. The others are Penthouse Suites, including two Deluxe Penthouse Suites with Large Balcony, ranging from 363 to 459 square feet and sleeping up to six guests. There are connecting doors to the Owner’s Suites that allow a party of up to 10 passengers to be accommodated together. Suite guests have dedicated butlers and concierge, Tranquility mattresses, Lavazza espresso makers, Elemis bath products and private dining for breakfast and lunch.

Four 100-square-foot studio staterooms, introduced on Norwegian Epic, have been added, but there is no common lounge for them.  Four inside staterooms also were added to Deck 13.

“Pride of America offers a unique and extraordinary vacation to four of Hawaii’s most popular islands, and these new suites elevate the guest experience on this one-of-a-kind vessel to a whole new level,” said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian CEO.

Flat screen televisions were placed in all accommodations during the refurbishment and the fitness center was upgraded; Wi-Fi access is now available throughout the ship and carpeting was replaced.

A new Brazilian-style steakhouse, Moderno Churrascaria ($20 fee), was added to the restaurants onboard, and Lazy J’s has been made into a signature Cagney’s Steakhouse.

Pride of America is the only U.S.-flagged large cruise ship sailing a seven-day Hawaii itinerary departing from Honolulu every Saturday. Ports of call include an overnight in Kahului, Maui; Hilo and Kona, Hawaii; an overnight in Nawiliwili, Kauai; and an afternoon cruise past the Napali Coast.

Land tours, Europe strong sellers for Montrose Travel

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Land tours, Europe strong sellers for Montrose Travel

By Laura Del Rosso
InsightSales are up for Montrose Travel, one of the country’s oldest and largest host agencies. “It’s up in double digits so far this year, and that’s across the board for us: leisure, corporate and groups,” said Andi Mysza, president of the Southern California-based company.

One segment in particular seeing a boost is land packages and tours to Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe, she said.

“Both cruises and land are up, but we’re seeing larger increases in land travel, presumably because of the negative press that Carnival has gotten,” Mysza said. “People are asking for more land packages, and we’ve increased our marketing efforts there.”LauraDelRosso

As for Europe, Mysza said that the high airfares to the Continent are becoming standard, and travelers are growing accustomed to paying more than $1,000 for flights.

“Last year, I think Europe suffered because of the high fares, but this year it looks like people are getting used to the ‘new normal,’ if you will, and they are going to Europe even with the fares as they are.”

Mtravel.com, the hosting division of Montrose Travel, scheduled its annual educational conference for Oct. 3 to 7 in Los Angeles, with specialized training at Montrose’s headquarters, followed by a three-night Princess cruise to Ensenada, Mexico.

The host agency, which has about 500 affiliated home-based travel agents, typically draws around 125 attendees to the annual conference, which enables them to meet face to face with preferred suppliers and other independent agents and attend training seminars, she said.

“This is the fifth year of doing the annual conference and the first time we’ve done it featuring our headquarters. The theme is ‘Homecoming,’ and we want to get our agents to our home to meet all the Montrose Travel staff that they normally do not get the chance to meet at a conference.”

In the last year, Montrose (No. 47 on the Travel Weekly Power List) rolled out a customer relationship management program for its agents.

“We’ve done extensive training throughout the year on the new platform, which is integrated from a marketing standpoint,” Mysza said. “It’s helping everyone’s business with the ability to push out marketing to our customers, if they choose to receive it. We’ll review it at our conference.”

Norwegian unveils Caribbean lineup for winter 2014

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Norwegian unveils Caribbean lineup for winter 2014

Norwegian Breakaway
By Tom Stieghorst
Norwegian Cruise Line will shuffle its lineup in the Caribbean in the winter of 2014 after the arrival of Norwegian Getaway in Miami.

Norwegian Sun, currently sailing to the southern Caribbean from Miami, will shift to Tampa, while Norwegian’s current Tampa vessel, Norwegian Dawn, will debut in New Orleans.

In addition, Norwegian Jewel will sail from Houston, giving Norwegian passengers five homeports (including New York) to choose from when going to the Caribbean.

Norwegian’s itineraries for 2014-15 also include an increased schedule of Mexican Riviera cruises. Norwegian Star will offer seven-day cruises from Los Angeles to Mexico in December 2014 and March of 2015.