Tag-Archive for » Tampa «

The Modern Problem Of Picking A Port

By
30
Nov 2015

With each day, and each violent activity often linked to terrorism, reasonable people who like to travel get even more reasonable. Or concerned. Or paranoid. Or even scared.

Pick an adverb. The uncertainty of traveling abroad — be it in one direction to Europe or in the other to Asia — understandably may leave North Americans more likely to pick a cruise ship departing and returning to a North American port. Not that there are any guarantees that doing so will keep you from being an unsuspecting victim of terrorism.

But even seasoned travelers are at least having second thoughts. Why fly internationally to get on a cruise if you can fly domestically, or better yet drive or take ground transportation to a port of departure?

This is good (okay, more comforting) news for cruise lines with ships that primarily visit the Caribbean, or assorted other warm-weather spots in the Western Hemisphere. Since a Caribbean cruise still out-ranks all others, that would be most of them, yet many have shifted their investments — and some of their ships — to Asia the last couple of years, which in today’s world could mean counting on a local (Asian) clientele.

For North Americans, there is no shortage of options. A quick count shows that there are 21 cruise homeports in this continent: Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Port Canaveral, Tampa, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Galveston, Houston, Charleston, Baltimore, Norfolk, Bayonne, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Anchorage, Boston, San Diego, Seattle, Montreal.

So if you’re an avid cruiser who’s reluctant to fly afar to get to a ship, pick a port.

You may find many kindred spirits.

In the news…

• Two biggest ships (both Royal Caribbean) in southern hemisphere meeting in Sydney

Today at portsandbows.com: Christmas markets with Viking in Europe


Norwegian Getaway
7 nights
December 13, 2015
Miami (return): Great Stirrup Cay, Ocho Rios, George Town, Cozumel
Inside: $649
Cost per day: $92
www.ncl.com

Category: Cruise News, Deals, Ports, Stories  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  Comments off

Carnival, Dr. Seuss, Kids & Friends

By
06
Aug 2015

There are probably some general misconceptions about the professional athlete of today. One, that he is so rich he doesn’t care two slam-dunks about his fellow man and fellow woman. Two, that his only meaningful skill is playing his sport so well that things like education are secondary.

Evan Longoria is one poster man (and there are many) for what the pro athlete is.

He cares. He reads. He gives back.

This week, before the Tampa Bay Rays who pay him millions of dollars to swing a round stick at a round ball left town on their current road trip, the star third-baseman dropped by the Carnival Paradise. The ship was moored, as it often is, in the west Florida city and Longoria wasn’t going on a cruise…he was reading stories to kids.

In a project Carnival partners with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Longoria was recruited to read — for one of the first times anywhere — a book called What Pet Should I Get? It’s the newest Seuss book and it’s not newly written…it’s newly discovered. The author, Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) has been gone for many years and the book was re-discovered in his La Jolla, California home and published last week.

While Longoria was reading it to kids in Tampa, Angela Hill was reading to kids on the Carnival Dream in New Orleans, where she is a broadcasting legend.

The book-reading events were fund raisers. Carnival is making a donation to the Tampa and Louisiana chapters of the SPCA for animal rescue operations.

Cruise line President Christine Duffy said in a statement:

“Carnival is the number one cruise line for families and we’re delighted to team up with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to bring the joy of reading to kids with these special presentations. The Angela Hillkids were absolutely thrilled to have been treated to a reading of the first new Dr. Seuss book in 25 years and our most sincere thanks to Evan and Angela, as well as the SPCA, for the valuable work they do each and every day,”

Carnival’s also matching Longoria’s donation of $100 to the Pet Pal Animal Shelter for every home run he hits this season. With the one he hit yesterday afternoon in Chicago, Longoria has 12 and has hit between 22 and 33 for most of his eight-year career.

The book is one of two manuscripts discovered two years ago. It has no title…yet. Undoubtedly it will. And if Dr. Seuss Enterprises is looking for somebody to give it that first reading, Carnival has a couple of candidates with experience.

In the news…

• Norwegian Holdings applies for three licenses to cruise to Cuba
• U.S. Coast Guard's 225th anniversay celebrated on a forever stamp
• Norwegian Jade program announced for Tampa Bay in 2016-17 fall/winter

Today at portsandbows.com: Carnival settles disability issue

Norwegian Jade
7 nights
November 28, 2015
Houston (return): Cozumel, Belize, Roatan
Inside: $479
Cost per day: $64
www.ncl.com

Category: Cruise News, Deals, People, Reviews, Ships, Stories  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  Comments off

Cuban Cruising Causing Angst in Florida

By
10
Dec 2013

The fight to cruise Cuba is on and the battleground, which may or may not surprise you, is Florida.

As the U.S. and the Communist country 90 miles from its southernmost shore inch towards normalizing relations, Florida sees some of its cruise stakes slipping away, like fragments of driftwood floating into the Gulf of Mexico.

The two imminent victims are Tampa and Key West.

While they aren't exactly hot ports of the industry, both have enough of a cruise-ship presence that if it should go away, there would be an impact on each's economy. While places like Miami and Fort Lauderdale are clearly poised to send Varadero

-Henryk Kotowski photo

ships full of passengers to Cuba, the concerns of Tampa and Key West have nothing to do with their geographical desirability, which both have with regards to Cuba.

It has to do with ships.

In Tampa, the port is not equipped to handle the biggest cruise ships, and when Cuba is finally on-limits you can anticipate there will be a rush. (As an aside, there has been talk of Tampa being the northern terminus for ferry service from Cuba.) Tampa's ineligibility for cruise ships is tied to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which isn't high enough. If you can believe it, government officials are looking at raising the bridge!

In Key West, a frequent port on many Caribbean cruises, the concern is that it will be replaced by Havana and other Cuban ports less than 100 miles away. So it's "problem" is being "attractive" beyond making channels wider and deeper, although that's part of the equation. Can Key West compete with Cuba…when the time comes?

Meanwhile, to the West, Florida's "enemy" for Cuban business is lurking. Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston and Houston right now are better equipped to serve Cuba with larger ships than either Tampa or Key West.

With friendlier relations between the countries inevitable, the clock is ticking for two Florida ports.

Cunard Queen Elizabeth
11 nights
January 10, 2014
London, New York, Fort Lauderdale
Balcony: $1,299
Cost per day: $118
www.cunard.com

Category: Cruise News, Deals, Ports, Ships, Stories  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  Comments off

Norwegian Star Freestyle First

By
18
Oct 2011

We have a soft spot for the Norwegian Star, the ship that as of Sunday is calling Tampa home. While we have trouble finding a cruise ship we don’t like, the Star was special.

It was several years ago. Okay, many. It was a cruise on the Mexican Riviera. For us, it was a first. Not our maiden cruise, not our first time to Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas.

Our “first freestyle.”

We loved the concept, and just like that Norwegian enhanced our attitude about cruising. For people who sometimes eat dinner at 4 p.m. and sometimes at 10 p.m., the rigidity of the traditional you-must-eat-dinner-at-this-time just doesn’t work.

It’s not that we won’t…just that, most times, we prefer having the option that Norwegian’s Freestyle Cruising offered. Judging from what other cruise lines have since done to copy it, in one form or another, we are not alone.

So NCL’s Star, now sailing out of Tampa for the first time until next April, will always be “our Star.”

DAILY DEAL:
Norwegian Pride of America
7 nights
December 17, 2011
Honolulu (return), Maui, Hilo, Kona, Kauai
Inside $999 plus on-board credit
www.ncl.com

Category: Cruise News, Deals, People, Ports, Reviews, Ships, Stories  Tags: , , , , , , , , ,  Comments off

  • Categories

  • Archives