10 cruise highlights of 2014

Posted on 6 January, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

It’s sometimes a little deflating to try a cruise or a new ship and realize that some of the great features you’d been looking forward to fall short of the hype surrounding them.

Windstar Cruises: The twilight al fresco barbecue off Portofino on Windstar’s new Star Pride was about as perfect an evening as I could imagine on a cruise.Then there are surprises the opposite way: things that work so well or are so outstanding that you can’t wait to get off the ship and tell everyone you know about them. Here are 10 such moments from my cruise travels in 2014:

Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival’s push to diversify its itineraries paid off on an eight-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale, which went all the way to Curacao. The late evening departure was an added bonus.

Celebrity Cruises: The unflagging attention and professionalism of Michael’s Club concierge Anca Cenea made me realize how much truly extraordinary service can add to a cruise.

Crystal Cruises: I’m not a big fan of small plates, but the new tapas-style street food served at the Tastes restaurant on Crystal Serenity really won me over.

Icy Strait Point: The zipline at this Alaska cruise port was as much fun as it looked on YouTube videos, but some of the other features, such as Alaska’s Wildest Kitchen, were an upside surprise.

Norwegian Cruise Line: The club performance by jazz flautist Nestor Torres in the Grammy Experience aboard Norwegian Getaway was some of the best live music I’ve heard in a long time.

Norwegian Cruise Line: The Illusionarium on Getaway exceeded the hype.

Princess Cruises: The quality of the Brazilian food served at the Horizon Court buffet on the Regal Princess during a dine-and-dash evening for me was completely unexpected. I would love to try it again.

Royal Caribbean International: The programming in the Two70 lounge on the Quantum of the Seas is mind-boggling.

UnCruise Adventures: A day on a jet boat in the Hell’s Canyon section of the Snake River between Oregon and Idaho was everything you’d want in a soft adventure excursion.

Cruise lines have mixed success on sanitation inspections in 2014

Posted on 2 January, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

The cruise industry had fewer ships in 2014 that received “not satisfactory” grades after inspection by the U.S Centers for Disease Control, but also fewer that scored a perfect 100.

Twelve vessels failed to grade out at 85, the minimum score needed to achieve a satisfactory rating, during inspections conducted in 2014.

Most were smaller, older ships carrying less than 1,000 passengers. Only one of the ships, the 2,348-passenger Norwegian Star, carried more than 2,000 passengers. The Star received an unsatisfactory grade on Feb. 16, then received a 95 on its next inspection on April 25.

The Bahamas Celebration, operated from West Palm Beach by Celebration Cruise Line, was the only ship to receive an unsatisfactory grade twice in 2014. It also did once in 2013. It was recently replaced by Grand Celebration, operated by a reorganized company, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line.

Un-Cruise Adventures, an operator of smaller ships along the U.S. West coast, had two ships receive unsatisfactory grades in 2014, the Safari Endeavor and Safari Quest. The 86-passenger Safari Endeavor also did once in 2013.

The newly launched Pearl Mist operated by Pearl Seas Cruises was graded 61 in an inspection on July 15. Pearl Seas is a new cruise line that hadn’t operated ocean cruise ships before.

The low score of 31 was given to Schooner Zodiac, a 26-passenger two-masted tall ship sailing out of Belllingham, Wash.

Following their unsatisfactory grades, the Bahamas Celebration received a 90 on Sept. 3, the Safari Endeavor a 93 on Sept. 7, and the Safari Quest an 87 on July 18. The Pearl Mist submitted a nine-page corrective-action report but has not been reinspected. The Schooner Zodiac has not submitted a corrective-action report and has not been reinspected.

This year, 26 ships received perfect scores, down from 39 in 2013. Carnival Cruise Lines had eight ships that got perfect 100s, and Royal Caribbean International had six. Other lines with ships getting perfect scores were Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Disney Cruise Line.

Last year, 17 ships received unsatisfactory scores below 85, according to CDC records.

Oceania ship to be out of service for nine weeks following fatal engine room fire

Posted on 24 December, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

Oceania Cruises’ ship Insignia will be out of service for more than two months following an engine room fire which killed three workers and injured another crew member.

The line has been forced to cancel a 24-day cruise over Christmas from Miami and the first three legs of an unprecedented 180-day round the world voyage.

The world cruise, which had been due to depart from Miami on January 10, will now begin in modified form in Singapore on March 22. Fares for the cruise began at $41,999.

The fire on the ship occurred on December 11 in St Lucia while it was on a 10-day sailing from Puerto Rico. The 656 passengers on board at the time were safely evacuated from the ship and flown to Miami and the remainder of the cruise was cancelled.

Parent company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has now confirmed that repairs to Insignia are expected to take about nine weeks.

President and CEO Kevin Sheehan said: “The timing of repairs has unfortunately required the cancellation of Insignia’s holiday voyage along with the modification of the world cruise.

“We understand how disappointing this news must be to our valued guests and we extend our sincere appreciation for their co-operation and understanding.”

The financial impact on the fourth quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 is estimated to be a reduction in earnings of approximately $0.05 and $0.05 per share, net of insurance proceeds, respectively, the company said.