Princess Finds Big Winner…Again

  On our calendar, it's 492 days until December 3, 2015. Can you believe there's a cruise that's sold out that far in advance…in fact, even further, because this isn't exactly "breaking news" as they say incessantly on CNN? The Love Boat Cruise is sold out. Billed as the "50th Anniversary Mexican Riviera" cruise, it… Continue reading Princess Finds Big Winner…Again

Freestyle Flashback: What's Up?

Here's an item that strikes at the very heart of our love of cruising. Dinner reservations on Norwegian. As you may have read here before, we came back to cruising because Norwegian was the first cruise line NOT to insist on fixed dining. No traditional times. No identical dining partners, night after night. All of… Continue reading Freestyle Flashback: What's Up?

Carnival Live Surprising Performers

This was Day 2 of an 8-day Carnival Freedom cruise and Jim Berra, the line's Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer, was talking about Jennifer Hudson. It's entirely possible that Jim Berra never thought his name would be linked to Jennifer Hudson's, but this was that day. The reason was Carnival Live, the concert series… Continue reading Carnival Live Surprising Performers

The Skinny On Building New Ships

When a cruise line that already has two new ships still being built announces that it is building two more, as Norwegian did on Monday, there's a tendency to think this is an unprecedented construction explosion. It's not. Aggressive…yes. Unheard of…no. Starting with the Breakaway Class, by 2019 Norwegian will have launched six ships in… Continue reading The Skinny On Building New Ships

The Fame Of Man Named Francesco

There we were late Saturday night, settling in to watch the late news, and along comes Francesco…again. If you don't know who "Francesco" is just Google the name and chances are you'll discover he's one of the four most famous Francescos in the world, according to Google. The last name is Schettino and if that… Continue reading The Fame Of Man Named Francesco