Port Everglades enables mobile customs declaration

Posted on 27 November, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

Passengers disembarking from cruise ships at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale will be able to use an app on their smartphones to fill out re-entry forms for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Airports, including those in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, already have this feature but Port Everglades will be the only U.S. cruise port to offer it, port director Steve Cernak said.

“An added bonus is that [the system] will be in service in time for the arrivals of Royal Caribbean International’s Harmony of the Seas and Holland America Line’s Koningsdam,” Cernak said.

Port Everglades plans to go live with the service on Nov. 4.

The app is currently available for Apple phones and is expected to be available for Android phones later this month.

Developed by Airside Mobile and Airports Council International-North America in partnership with the CBP, the app allows U.S. citizens with a passport debarking a cruise ship to complete their customs declaration using their smartphones or other mobile devices, expediting their clearance process in the terminal.

A physical passport or passport card is still required for re-entry.

The Fort Lauderdale port also recently completed pilot testing of the Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks in two of its cruise terminals, another CBP initiative to streamline the traveler-screening process.

Royal Caribbean offers trade 10-day Wi-Fi trial

Posted on 17 November, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

by Natasha Salmon

Royal Caribbean International’s decision to extend a free Wi-Fi promotion to the trade has been welcomed, but the 10-day limit has been questioned.

From tomorrow (November 18), agents will be able to offer customers free Wi-Fi on selected European and Dubai sailings of six nights or more between January 1 and October 28, 2017. The promotion ends on November 28.

The offer was previously only available to customers who booked direct for a six-week test period, prompting complaints from agents, although the line said it always planned to roll it out to the trade.

Denise Hodgson, a partner at Travel the World 2 in Cheshire, welcomed the move but said the promotion seemed ‘unbalanced’.

“This would have been more welcome if it had come to agents in the first place. How will they be able to compare? If this is still part of the test, it is unbalanced as it is not running for the same period.”

Ben Bouldin, Royal sales director, stood by the promotion, saying: “I said from day one it was a test and we would offer it to the trade. It is for just 10 days, but if successful it will be considered for future campaigns and run for longer. If it works really well it could become a more mainstream part of our campaigns.”

Bouldin added: “Our research shows connectivity is an absolute priority for holidaymakers.

“We have just launched our November campaign and we thought the free Wi-Fi would be a good overlay before we head into a strong selling period around Thanksgiving and Black Friday.”

Royal’s November promotion includes a 25% discount on 2017 European and Dubai sailings, up to $400 onboard spend and low deposits from £25 per person.

In an intricate spectacle, Harmony of the Seas christened

Posted on 11 November, 2016 by Spacejunkie2

From left, Harmony of the Seas captain Gus Andersson, Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley and ship godmother Brittany Affolter.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Royal Caribbean International turned the Harmony of the Seas naming ceremony into a technology demonstration, using its robotic bartenders as part of the process.

The ship was christened at Port Everglades by Brittany Affolter, a 23-year-old Teach for America educator in Miami who won a contest for teachers that drew over 1,000 nominees.

Far from a typical christening, Royal Caribbean cooked up a Rube Goldberg-style procedure that started with Affolter and Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain on stage in the ship’s open-air Aqua Theater.

An aerialist descended from above on guide wires with a button to activate the process. When Affolter pressed the button, it sent a signal to the robot, which did a spin and punched a second button, which then released a bottle of champagne rigged to the ship’s zipline.

A 3-foot bottle of champagne smashes into the Harmony of the Seas.

The bottle, a 3-foot tall sovereign custom-made for Royal Caribbean by Veuve Clicquot, then whizzed down the zipline course and crashed into a steel nameplate above the ship’s pool deck.

Back at the Aqua Theater, a blizzard of blue confetti was unleashed and singer Jon Secada, who once performed on Royal Caribbean ships, gave a concert.

Witnessing all of the festivities via a giant TV screen in the ship’s Studio B ice skating arena were 500 travel agents from Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld conference, who were invited to participate in a launch viewing party onboard.

The Harmony entered service last May and spent its first few months sailing in Europe. It arrived in Fort Lauderdale earlier this month, and will sail seven-night Caribbean voyages from the port.