Mercury Just a Memory Celebrity

She disappeared a year ago last month, without a whimper, without a wake. If we hadn’t visited Celebrity’s website this week to check on the size of its fleet, even we may have forgotten the passing of the Mercury. In horse vernacular, you’d say she was being retired to stud. Or maybe that should be… Continue reading Mercury Just a Memory Celebrity

Royal's New Ship The Standard?

The news yesterday that Royal Caribbean is exercising its option to build another new ship again begs the question: Has the cruise industry discovered the customer’s tolerance for big ships? The same cruise line that owns the two biggest ships “of the Seas”, the mighty Oasis and the equally mighty Allure. They carry about 6,000… Continue reading Royal's New Ship The Standard?

Space Ships…or Space on Ships

So much is made of the sizes of cruise ships, isn’t it? Some cruisers think biggest is best. Some think smaller is better because of its intimacy. There is, naturally, no correct answer. In reading about cruise ships, we came across an interesting measurement. Take the size of the ship (measured in “gross tonnage”) and… Continue reading Space Ships…or Space on Ships

Key Upgrades for Sapphire Princess

It’s finally happened. All 16 Princess ships have piazza and pizza, and it’s a good thing the cruise line has competent proof readers. The Sapphire Princess is now out of dry-dock and on a Hawaiian vacation. It has a new Piazza Atrium, and it also has Alfredo’s Pizzeria. Anybody who has ever been on a… Continue reading Key Upgrades for Sapphire Princess

Norovirus Sickens Princess

It’s entirely possible that Princess now holds the norovirus record. This weekend, the cruise line admitted the number of cases on two of its ships had grown to 499. Saturday, the Crown Princess returned to Fort Lauderdale from the Caribbean with 12% of the people on board suffering from the disease — 364 passengers and… Continue reading Norovirus Sickens Princess