Keeping An Eye on Airfare

Although this is a cruise blog, the nature of cruising is such that flying to and from your port of embarkation is, for most of us, a necessity.  It's a factor that can impact your cruise vacation in a way few others can: the relatively high cost of airfare plays a significant part in determining both when and where we cruise, and the veritable maze of additional 'unbundling' charges like fees for luggage can further dent our travel plans.

The one beacon of light has been that, thanks to the recession, seat sales are fairly commonplace thanks to light load factors.  Supply and demand at its finest hour: more empty seats equals more savings for you.

But there are signs this may be a thing of the past: Reuters reported that Canada's two largest airlines, Air Canada and WestJet flew with greater numbers of passengers in June - 84% full for the former, 78.2 for the latter. On the same day, US Airways reported record load factors, and European lo-cost carrier EasyJet announced its passenger traffic jumped 10% during this same month.

What does that mean?  Simply put, planes are heading out with fewer empty seats - and fewer rock-bottom fares on certain routes.  On many popular routes, the best pricing is the earliest pricing, with fares increasing steadily as departure date nears.

On a flight to London from Vancouver last year, we booked five months in advance - and watched as prices climbed steadily as we got closer to our departure day.  When the time came, our Airbus 330 was packed - there literally wasn't a single seat left on the aircraft.  On a more recent JetBlue flight from Seattle to Long Beach, while we got a great deal by booking three months in advance, that flight too was full - only one seat on the Embraer-190 was unoccupied. The cost of a ticket booked two weeks in advance?  Four times what we'd paid.

So what to consider when booking your next cruise - or jumping on that incredible 'last-minute' cruise deal?  You may want to check your airfare prices first before deciding and paying a deposit on a future cruise - or risk being at the mercy of airfare that costs more than the rest of your vacation.
 

Unique Itinerary: South America

 Mariner of the Seas anchored at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Photo © 2010 Aaron Saunders

When Royal Caribbean made the decision to redeploy Mariner of the Seas to Europe and the Caribbean for the 2011 cruise season, it faced a dilemma:  how to get it there.  At over 1,000 feet in length and 157 feet wide, the ship is far too big to transit the Panama Canal.  In order to reach the Atlantic Ocean, the ship must circumnavigate South America.

That loss is your gain.

Departing January 16, 2011 from Los Angeles, Mariner of the Seas sails an excellent 16-Day itinerary to Valparaiso, Chile that includes stops in Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; Lima, Peru; and the port city of Arica, Chile.

As exciting as the itinerary is, it's made all the more appealing by an incredible price point: inside staterooms start at just $1,009.00 per person.

Royal Caribbean doesn't often have itineraries like this, and certainly not on a ship as large as Mariner of the Seas.  To be one of the few who have had the privilege of sailing aboard her 'around the horn', be sure to visit Royal Caribbean's website for full details.

Photo of the Week - July 5

Crown Princess & Celebrity Equinox at

Geiranger, Norway on August 4, 2009.

Photo © Aaron Saunders

This week's Photo of the Week showcases Crown Princess commencing tendering operations in the picturesque port of Geiranger, Norway.  Celebrity Equinox is shown in the background, calling at the port on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England.

Nestled at the end of Geirangerfjord, this popular town nestled in the mountains has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005, and its easy to see why: the combination of scenery, history, and the journey up the fjord itself have resulted in one of Norway's most popular cruise ship ports of call.

From the Deck Chair will return on July 6th.

Where Did All the Windows Go?

 The fantastic "wall of glass" in the Atrium of

Grandeur of the Seas.

Photo © Aaron Saunders

I've always thought one of the best things about being at sea is simply being able to sit down either inside or out and watch the ocean go by.  Even if you're just walking from one end of the ship to another, there's something incredible about seeing the ocean rush past as your ship carries you to some new and exotic destination.

Have a look at some of the newest ships to be built, though, and notice just how many public rooms exist in an interior-only space, with few or no windows at all. 

The thinking is rather logical: in order to appeal to a different kind of passenger - the kind who prefers Las Vegas or a land vacation to a cruise - a few lines are going to great lengths to make passengers forget they are on a ship.  They limit outdoor deck space, do away with promenade decks, and concentrate on designing interior areas that have few or no windows.

 Even smaller rooms, like the International Cafe shown

here aboard Crown Princess, offer large picture windows.

Photo © Aaron Saunders

I didn't realize the extent to which this was occurring until I read Bart de Boer's excellent Norwegian Epic photo-tour on his ShipParade website.  As usual, his descriptions of the ship and the photographs he's taken are the best of the best, but what caught my eye was what wasn't in the photos.  Have a peek: there's all the usual rooms.  Dining rooms, casino, atrium, elevator banks, show lounges...but take a close look at them and notice just how few of them have windows of any kind.  The atrium looks more like a large shopping mall or international terminal at an airport than a ship.  In fact, it reminds me a bit of the waiting area in Terminal 3 at London's Heathrow airport: a lot of stark white finish broken up by skylights and the occasional window.

They didn't have to, but they did: Cunard included windows

at the forward end of the Promenade deck aboard QM2.

Photo © Aaron Saunders 

Royal Caribbean's Vision-class ships were originally dubbed "Ships of Light" when they first set sail back in the mid 1990's.  Their enormous, two-story glass windows that covered atrium and dining areas let in an incredible amount of natural light, and afforded passengers excellent views regardless of weather conditions.   These ships are remarkable at dawn and dusk: their interiors glow bright red with the setting sun in the evening, making for a memorable night aboard.  To an extent, Royal Caribbean carried this theme over to its popular Radiance, Voyager, and Freedom-class ships: all boast the same wall of glass alongside their sweeping dining rooms.

Holland America Line's Vista-class ships are notable for their dual port-and-starboard banks of glass elevators.  Located amidships, the elevators traverse every deck of the ship, running through a glass tunnel that offers magnificent views of the ocean.  Once the elevators descend below promenade-deck level, clever murals create the illusion of being under water.

 Is this a dying feature?  Hallways flooded with natural light,

like this one aboard Regent's Seven Seas Mariner.

Photo © Aaron Saunders

Though Carnival Cruise Lines may be best known for their whimsical - and sometimes outlandish - interior decor, the line has never skimped when it comes to viewing space: even their trendsetting Fantasy-class ships, which were at their height during the mid-to-late 1990's, offer ocean views from just about every room.

So is cutting back on the view a growing trend?  Hopefully not.  In as much as lines are trying to court new passengers who may traditionally not have considered a cruise vacation, there's still a large contingent of us who love the sweeping views of the sea from our ship. 

After all, isn't that the point of being on the ocean?

The Cleanest of the Clean

Carnival Glory shown at sea.

Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Lines

It's disappointing that with all the media coverage afforded to ships stricken with stomach bugs like Norovirus, few and far between bother to report on the other side of the spectrum: the ships that are so squeaky-clean they earn the prestigious 100% score on their random spot inspections.

 Carnival Cruise Lines is proud of the officers and crew of Carnival Glory for that very reason: the ship aced her recent inspection by Health Canada in the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, achieving the much-sought after 100% score.  The unannounced inspections are required for any international vessel calling at a Canadian port, and cover almost every area of shipboard operations including proper food handling, preparation and storage, as well as overall cleanliness.  Potable (drinking) water is also tested, along with water in pools and hot tubs.  

Most major cruise ships perform well during these surprise inspections, which also take place in many US and international ports.  A score of 85 or higher is widely considered to be a passing grade; many ships routinely achieve scores in the high nineties.  The areas below decks are so clean you could eat off of them: food storage and preparation areas, as well as laundry, printing and technical spaces are kept in the same spotless state as passenger areas. 

Carnival Glory is currently sailing a mix of five and seven-night Canada & New England voyages roundtrip from New York City.  Taking over for the Carnival Victory, which has sailed this run for the past few years, it seems her crew are keen to make a good impression on both passengers and officials alike.

 For more information on the spotlessly-clean Carnival Glory and her Canada & New England departures, be sure to check out Carnival's website.

Expect the Unexpected

It's been an eventful forty-eight hours for many Caribbean-bound cruisers, courtesy of Hurricane Alex - the first named hurricane of the 2010 season.

First, there were the cancelled port calls: Oasis of the Seas scrapped plans to call at the Mexican port of Costa Maya on June 30th due to high seas and wind.  Yesterday, Carnival Dream was also prevented from calling at Costa Maya for the same reasons.  The popular port serves as a gateway to the historic ruins of Chichen Itza, and is completely exposed to the open sea, leaving it at the mercy of any approaching weather systems.

Carnival Ecstasy's passengers also found themselves with a change of plans: instead of returning to Galveston, Texas yesterday, high seas prevented local pilots from boarding, which resulted in the ship being unable to dock - meaning passengers expecting to fly home were left with an unexpected bonus day aboard ship, while guests ready to board for a four-day Caribbean jaunt were left stuck in Galveston.  It is expected that Carnival Ecstasy will try again today to dock in Galveston and disembark her passengers.

With the start of the 2010 hurricane season upon us, there are a few important lessons that Hurricane Alex so timely reminded us of:

1.  Don't Book a Cruise for a Particular Port.  Sure, everyone wants to visit all the ports on their itinerary - but unexpected weather systems can often wreak havoc with the best-laid plans, particularly in unprotected ports like Costa Maya or ones that require the use of tenders to ferry passengers ashore.  In 2000, we missed a scheduled port call in Santorini, Greece due to one of the worst storms in twenty years.  In 2008, we were aboard Queen Mary 2 when she was delayed leaving New York by Hurricane Kyle.  The result?  Instead of spending a day at sea, we spent a day anchored off Staten Island - within sight of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal where we had boarded the day before. 

2.  Purchase Trip Cancellation / Interruption Insurance.  In the case of Carnival Ecstasy, any passenger with scheduled flights would have missed them.  Trip Cancellation/Interruption insurance would provide the means to pay for any flight change fees or differences in price that would result from having to re-schedule flights, and would also cover expenses for those passengers who arrived in Galveston expecting to board a cruise ship but instead scurried around trying to secure hotel rooms for the evening.

The moral of the story?  Expect the unexpected, roll with the punches, and you're sure to have an enjoyable cruise - regardless of the weather.

We're Docking...Lower the Lifeboats

Norwegian Epic at Sea.

Photo courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line 

I really didn't want to write any more about Norwegian Cruise Line's brand-new Norwegian Epic.  The ship has received a host of media attention and certainly doesn't need yet another blog reporting on it.

But this little tidbit is just another in a long string of events that make you scratch your head and think, "nobody thought of this beforehand?"

Gene Sloan writes on his USA Today cruise blog that Norwegian Epic's lifeboats are posing a bit of a problem for the ship when she docks in New York this morning.  So much so, that they will have to lower five of them into the harbor, dock the ship, then re-hoist them up once they have un-docked tomorrow evening.

The reason?  Unlike traditional lifeboats on most cruise ships, which sit nestled within the superstructure over the promenade deck, Norwegian Epic's hang out: extending over the superstructure of the hull and effectively increasing the overall width of ship.

In order for the ship to fit into its Manhattan berth, five of the lifeboats have to be removed first. 

It isn't a huge thing for the passengers, but for the Officers it must be something of a bother: just another task to have to perform on an already-busy turnaround day for a four-thousand-plus passenger ship.

They will have a fair amount of practice with this by the end of the week: the same task must be repeated when the ship arrives back in New York on July 4th.

For more information on Norwegian Epic, visit the Norwegian Epic micro-site.