THE RIGHT PRICE………………………………………………………….$499
January 11-12-22-23, 2010: 10 days, Caribbean, New York round-trip
Ship: Norwegian Dawn or Norwegian Jewel Extra: $100 onboard credit per cabin
Ports: San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Maarten, Tortola
Contact: cruises-n-more
In case you think they always smash a bottle of champagne across the bow of a new ship when it is “christened”…well, they don’t. At least, Queen Elizabeth doesn’t.
When the ship named after her had its naming ceremony this week in Southampton, the Queen broke a bottle of white wine (okay, she pressed the button that released the bottle) on her this week. According to CruiseCritic, this is a tradition of a different kind — the two previous ships named Queen Elizabeth were also baptized with white wine, which is served on all Cunard ships — and was in no way connected to the ‘in-this-economy’ cancellation of the Queen’s annual Christmas party for 600 of her closest friends.
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On the subject of royalty…
A 2010 World Tourism Award has been bestowed on Royal Caribbean, in recognition of its Ocean Fund. Since its inception in 1996, the Fund has awarded over $11 million in annual grants supporting nonprofit marine conservation organizations in protecting the world’s oceans through research, education and development of innovative technologies.
The awards, now 13 years old, will be presented on the first day of the World Travel Market, November 8, in London.
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Hurricane Paula was a Category 2 storm that didn’t leave much of a mark (thank goodness) as it cut a swath through the Gulf of Mexico this week, but it did force some modifications to cruise itineraries.
With sustained winds of 100 mph, forced several cruise lines to skip Cozumel and Costa Maya.
Holland America’s Ryndam and Celebrity’s Solstice, along with four Carnival ships — the Ecstasy, Triumph, Imagination and Conquest. changed ports. Carnival’s Inspiration and Elation arrived in Cozumel earlier than planned and the ships departed early to avoid Paula.
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Take your pick…Pirates of the Caribbean or Pirates of the Gulf of Aden. The choice has been made by Fred.Olsen Cruise Ships for its 106-day World Cruise on the Balmoral, which leaves Dover, England, on the fifth day of 2011.
No Gulf of Aden for this ship.
It’s a major itinerary change, in the final days of the journey, in April. That’s when the Balmoral was supposed to leave Australia for the Far East, stopping in ports like Singapore,
Mumbai, Dubai and Alexandria, Egypt. Now it has been re-routed so that it will sail from Australia to South Africa, returning to England up the west coast of Africa, missing all those ports and the Mediterranean.
The official reason is “continuing security problems.”
As for the Caribbean, the Balmoral will pass through it early in the World Voyage, quickly…just in case there are any pirates.
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That’s it, we’re done.