Tag Archives: Norwegian Cruise

10 Ways to Beat Post-Cruise Depression 

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sad traveler post-cruise depression cruiseIf the sudden absence of pillow chocolates, umbrella drinks and endless horizons leaves you hollow, you might have Post-Cruise Funk (PCF), an affliction that’s affected nearly 100 percent of cruisers, according to a well-cited study I just invented.

But know this: The situation can be remedied.

We’ve compiled 10 tips and strategies, many sourced from Cruise Critic members in recovery, to get you through the painful sea-to-land reacclimation period. Enjoy a dose of the collected advice, and be sure to add to the group therapy session in the comments.
Prescription: The Photo Detox

cruise ship camera photoIf a picture is worth 1,000 words, a few of those words must be therapeutic. “I found if I take lots of fun photos while on the cruise, I can stave off some of the depression by reviewing and organizing them into a book,” writes member Tudy. She and her husband periodically host “cruise evenings,” during which they peruse photos, share stories and laugh. Check out our tips for taking better onboard photos.

There is no shortage of Web and mobile apps, like Shutterfly or Cruise Critic sister site TripAdvisor’s TripWow, to preserve a cruise experience.

Side Effects: Narcolepsy, if too many photos coupled with tedious narration are shown to friends
Prescription: Write a Review

write a cruise reviewAs with photos, reframing the at-sea narrative — remember that woman with the Royal Caribbean tattoo? — can be like reliving the experience. When you reminisce by way of review, you’re doing thousands of readers a service through your insights, tips and tricks. Heal yourself by writing a cruise review.

Side Effects: Narcissism sparked from the respect and adulation you receive from thousands of Cruise Critic readers in search of the right ship
Prescription: Focus on Diet

cruise foodIf you’re pining over the loss of cruise food — the availability, the variety, the fanfare — there are antidotes. Drool over epicurean content in Cruise Critic’s cruise food section , recreate at-sea meals with readers’ favorite recipes, or chew on some useful member advice in the Cruise Foodies forum. For example, member MissMap keeps all the nighttime pillow chocolates from her cruise and deposits them in a desk drawer at work: “So if I’m having a stressful day at work,” she writes, “I savor one and take a moment to remember the latest great cruise vacation.” Or borrow cruising’s culinary nomenclature, like member Econom405, who admits to referring to the first post-cruise family dinner she cooks as the “chef’s regional specialty.”

Side Effects: Minor weight gain, modest weight gain, excessive weight gain or this
Prescription: Get the Cruise Cocktail Recipe Booklet

tropical drinkFor many passengers, that first slurp of sailaway daiquiri marks the official start to a cruise. If you drink to remember, there might be nothing easier than recreating your favorite cruise cocktail at home.

Side Effects: The cruise hangover can be replaced with an actual hangover. Do not operate heavy machinery after using the cruise cocktail recipe booklet.
Prescription: Always Be Booked

vacation on the calendarChronic PCF sufferers argue there is but one cure to the vicious cycle: the pre-emptive booking. The recommended approach is to plop down on your next cruise while onboard. Many lines offer attractive perks — discounts, reduced deposits, onboard credit — for doing so. The fine print is key here. If you’re serious about this treatment, peruse our in-depth piece on booking onboard.

Don’t think you have the cash? Member Gek offers her tactic on the Cruise Critic forums: “Find a cruise at least 12 months away that looks really good. Forget about cost or circumstances — just book it. Research it, plan it, and up until the day when cancellation penalties kick in, assume the cost or your circumstances will change. If they do not, just cancel and repeat the process. The deposit also becomes a ready source of cash that you can access any time you want. Consider the fun of planning a cruise as the return on your investment.”

Side Effects: Debt, land-sea dysmorphia
Prescription: Join a Roll Call

cruise critic roll call forum message board computerUntil sandals touch lido deck, talking about a cruise is what makes it real. Shameless ship’s horn tooting aside, there is no better place to chat with fellow passengers about upcoming itineraries than a Cruise Critic Roll Call. You can swap tips, set up pre-cruise or onboard events or book a group tour if you think your virtual relationships can make the transition to the real world. Meet your fellow passengers here.

Side Effects: Blood pressure spike if pre-cruise conversation veers into the political, religious or cultural
Prescription: Vicarious Immersion Therapy

online communityNo looming embarkation to boost morale? There are thousands of Cruise Critic members enduring the same pain. Their recourse: the virtual cruise experience. Check out the “live from…” logs endlessly spawned on the Cruise Critic message boards. Here’s but oneprime example, which has been read by thousands of PCF sufferers. Cruise Critic editors also regularly report from wherever cruise ships travel, posting photo-heavy vignettes on the Lido Deck Blog and hosting weekly live chats.

Side Effects: Too much cruise voyeurism can lead to a permanent break from reality and, potentially, loss of family, job or Hawaiian shirt.
Prescription: Become an (Unpaid) Travel Agent

advising coupleTake enough cruises, and you’ll start to discover the secrets the cruise lines don’t tell you. Use your developing expertise to help a friend or family member plan his next cruise. While helping new cruisers is rewarding in and of itself, you just might find a bathrobe, luggage tag and chocolate melting cake mix gift wrapped with your name on it.

Side Effects: Offending friends by demanding a commission
Prescription: Towels as Tonic

cruise towel animal lobsterThere’s no denying it: Most cruisers prefer the company of towel animals to their significant others. Ogle this menagerie of towel creatures, or get your hands linty by learning the time-honored craft.

Side Effects: Callouses, towel shortages, wet floors, grins that last more than four hours, no friends anymore

Prescription: Turn Your Home Into a Cruise Ship

cruise from homeThe next best thing to being there: Install a porthole in your bedroom, and paint the glass with a seascape, like reader Richard S. Alternatively, Member Dodget1964 brings home the breakfast room service menus and hangs them on the bedroom door. “I keep thinking the room service attendant will show up,” she writes. Better still, pass on your love of cruising to your child by filling his nursery with cruise ship accouterments.

For a more tongue-in-cheek approach, see our incisive report oncruising from home in 10 easy steps.

Side Effects: Home resale value reduction

Norwegian-Prestige deal raises prospect of UK deployment

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Norwegian-Prestige deal raises prospect of UK deployment

Norwegian Cruise Line’s acquisition of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises will give it the courage to base a ship in Southampton or Dover, according to Norwegian chief executive Kevin Sheehan.

He said it was too much of a risk to commit so much capacity to the UK market when you have only 13 ships, but with 21 in the combined group, it would definitely be a consideration now.

Sheehan said the deal was financially beneficial but also brought other benefits.

“It helps us withstand economic situations like recessions – the type of customers who travel with Oceania and Regent have a lot of money and that top end of the industry weathered the downturn well.”

It also helps it become more resilient to geographical situations and makes it operationally “smarter”.

But he said “synergies” across the three brands would be created “behind the curtain” initially.

“Certainly for a period of time because we don’t want to do anything stupid, we will continue selling and marketing the three brands individually as it’s worked well and we don’t want to mess that up.

“I don’t want to keep changing strategies like Royal Caribbean has, so we will stay as we are for quite a while,” he said.

But he said sales and marketing teams for each of the three brands would start to share knowledge and best practice.

And commenting on Royal Caribbean chief executive Richard Fain’s recent declaration that he wanted his company to be the best, Sheehan added:

“He can say he wants to be the best, but the report card comes out once a quarter and then we will see who’s best.

“We are bringing together two excellent businesses. Norwegian has gone from being a joke in this industry to the best in class in terms of yields, operational profit and onboard spend. It’s very positive and is only going to become more so.”

Sheehan said the deal had been financed by raising cash, selling some equity and raising money from banks including JP Morgan, Barclays and Deutsche Bank adding that every other bank had fallen over themselves trying to be part of it as “they could see how compelling the transaction was”.

Sheehan said bringing Oceania and Regent parent company Prestige Holdings into the fold had always been on his mind, but talks had never got far.

“I brought it up a couple of times but it never really got going. It was always too complicated or things were happening and getting in the way, like launching ships or taking the company public.

“But then Frank del Rio and I started a romance – we went for dinner and got to where we are now. It’s extremely exciting.”

Sheehan said he was not looking for any further acquisitions in the immediate future.

“We’re a conservative group of guys and girls and our hands will be full for a while. Our focus now is to ensure we have a very successful launch of our new Norwegian ship, Escape, next year and of the new Regent ship in 2016.”

Norwegian Cruise Line to acquire Prestige Cruise Holdings

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Updated: Norwegian Cruise Line to acquire Prestige Cruise Holdings

By Tom Stieghorst

Oceania RivieraNorwegian Cruise Line has announced it will acquire Prestige Cruise Holdings for $3.03 billion in cash, stock and assumed debt.

Norwegian said it will issue more than 20 million shares to help finance the purchase.

Prestige includes Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

Prestige shareholders are entitled to an additional contingency payment of $50 million “upon achievement of certain 2015 performance metrics,” a statement said.

Apollo Global Management controls Norwegian through a 20% ownership stake and rights to nominate a majority of the board of directors. Two other partners in Norwegian, Genting Hong Kong and TPG Pacific, have assented to the deal.

Merging Norwegian and Prestige would create a company that can appeal to a broader market swath than Norwegian can on its own, Norwegian CEO Kevin Sheehan said.

“The combination of three distinct brands, each serving a different market segment, under one umbrella immediately creates an industry-leading cruise operator with an unmatched growth trajectory and a portfolio of products that allows us to appeal to guests at every stage of their life cycle,” he said.

After the merger, Frank Del Rio will remain chairman of Prestige Holdings, the statement said. The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter.

In a teleconference, Norwegian CEO Kevin Sheehan said he sees opportunity to use the business model from Oceania and Regent to do a better job of marketing Norwegian’s Pride of America ship in Hawaii. Pride of America is a one-off product with an unusual itinerary, which lends itself to some of the Prestige approach, he suggested.

Sheehan emphasized he has a long list of potential synergies beyond an initial $25 million but that implementing them cannot damage the guest experience.  He said the synergies will remain “behind the curtain” and invisible to guests.

The synergies Sheehan identified in the call are in areas such as purchasing, crew recruitment, port relations, fuel and insurance sourcing, maintenance and dry dock contracts and marketing sponsorships and partnerships.

Sheehan said there may also be consolidation of the two shoreside organizations, which are located within five miles of each other in western Miami-Dade County.

Prestige chairman Frank Del Rio, who turns 60 in two weeks, said he was committed to remain with the company through the end of 2015. “After that, we’ll see what happens,” he said.

Del Rio said the Prestige brands are best at executing a good cruise but haven’t been as sharp on cost savings because of the company’s small size.

Sheehan suggested that negotiations with Del Rio over the deal were at times acrimonious. “We had our moments in the negotiation process, but at the end of the day we’ve shaken hands and are best buddies again,” he said.

Sheehan suggested that the $50 million contingency payment was a way of building into the deal the Prestige view of its future performance, while not paying for it upfront in case it proves less than forecast.