So far I haven't seen a new cruise ship thread for this year (and no updates for quite a while on the 2018 thread). Let's start a new thread, and feel free to post cruise line/ship news, your experiences, etc.!

I just got back from a cruise myself--Star Trek: The Cruise III, the third annual Star Trek: The Cruise themed charter voyage, a boatload of fellow Trekkies joined by Whil Wheaton and many other Star Trek stars. Like the previous two years, this cruise was on a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) vessel, the Jewel-class Jade (the 2017 inaugural was on sister ship, Pearl). However, next year's voyage, Star Trek: The Cruise IV (2020) will be on Royal Caribbean's Voyager-class Explorer of the Seas, a larger (3500 capacity) ship with larger venues for all the Star Trek themed activities, shows, etc. Kate Mulgrew (Capt. Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager TV series) will be the headliner, and will be joined by (mostly) other actors from Star Trek: Voyager. I'm booked for the 2020 voyage, in a promenade-view interior cabin.

Some news on the horizon for cruise lines and ships:

Virgin Voyages: New ship "Scarlet Lady" is under construction; cruises are soon to go on pre-sale; designs for suites have been revealed. New terminal also planned for PortMiami for Virgin.

Royal Caribbean: Passenger banned for life from cruising on RC after jumping off ship in stunt (and may face legal action). A bunch of new ships are on order--new Oasis class, Quantum class, and a totally new class (Orion).

Carnival: New ships in the pipeline--the new Mardi Gras (will be 2nd ship to bear that name, after Carnival's first ship) and Panorama, plus three unnamed 135,000-185,000 GRT ships. Another new feature on Carnival ships--a roller coaster wrapping around the iconic whale tail funnel and going over the uppermost decks.

Norwegian: New NCL terminal under construction at PortMiami (I saw the dug-up construction site last week as I was on a NCL cruise, with footers for foundations). New ships: Breakaway Plus-class Encore launching this year, plus 6 new "Project Leonardo" ships in the pipeline.

Disney: 3 new ships in the pipeline, even bigger than the existing two largest ships in their fleet.

Celebrity: Edge just launched (first ship of new class, Edge class), 3 more Edge-class and a new class called Flora coming soon.

Cunard: New, unnamed fourth ship planned to join QM2, Queen Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth.

Feel free to add your own updates, and let's keep this thread sailing smoothly through 2019!

SmithAir747

I’ve sent my relatives on Azamara cruise - it’s a bit higher end line, and cruises are a bit more expensive than mainstream, but beer and wine are included, as are tips. Ship was Azamara Quest. If I see a good deal on them again - I’ll book them once more.

SmithAir747 wrote:

Virgin Voyages: New ship "Scarlet Lady" is under construction; cruises are soon to go on pre-sale; designs for suites have been revealed. New terminal also planned for PortMiami for Virgin.


SmithAir747

Will be interesting to see how this works for Virgin. A friend of mine has been closely involved in the roll out of the marketing. I like some of the designs but others are a bit tacky as are some of the tag lines. I guess its the Virgin brand but I would still like to experience the product even once to really see what it is like.

New ships and terminals underway as I referenced in the opening post:

Virgin Voyages: Scarlet Lady and new PortMiami terminal





Carnival: Mardi Gras (new ship, named after Carnival's first ship):



Norwegian: New terminal being built at PortMiami; new Breakaway Plus class ship Encore (with abstract art on hull by Spanish artist Eduardo Arranz-Bravo); and new Project Leonardo ship concept:







Disney: 2 new ships planned, even larger than the two largest (Dream and Fantasy):



Celebrity: Newest ship, Edge, just launched, will be the first of a new class called Edge:



Cunard: New ship, unnamed, to join Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Victoria:



SmithAir747

Can't wait for November when I'll be sailing on Norwegian Encore's maiden voyage from Southampton to Miami.

I should be looking at 2020 cruises as well. Maybe an Alaska cruise...cruise lines definitely need to expand the solo cabins.

Link to thread of 2018:

viewtopic.php?t=1384657

I like how different that new Virgin ship shown above looks, it's certainly a bold design, but looking at all the other new ships in the pipeline I just feel that the ship's are becoming far too large and ugly. It'll be horrendous when a couple of ships pull up to a small island and dump such large numbers of people into the local area.

Where will this built on Dodge Island?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Miami ... 80.1917902

Red pin marks the location of new terminal

Of particular interest to solo cruisers, the Celebrity Edge has single occupancy cabins--these single staterooms are called "single staterooms with infinite veranda" (one of the class of cabins called infinite veranda staterooms).

With these single staterooms, Celebrity joins Norwegian, Cunard, Royal Caribbean, P&O, Holland America, and other lines that have single occupancy staterooms (with special pricing for solo cruisers that does not add on a single supplement as in double occupancy cabins).

SmithAir747

SmithAir747 wrote:

So far I haven't seen a new cruise ship thread for this year (and no updates for quite a while on the 2018 thread). Let's start a new thread, and feel free to post cruise line/ship news, your experiences, etc.!

I just got back from a cruise myself--Star Trek: The Cruise III, the third annual Star Trek: The Cruise themed charter voyage, a boatload of fellow Trekkies joined by Whil Wheaton and many other Star Trek stars. Like the previous two years, this cruise was on a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) vessel, the Jewel-class Jade (the 2017 inaugural was on sister ship, Pearl). However, next year's voyage, Star Trek: The Cruise IV (2020) will be on Royal Caribbean's Voyager-class Explorer of the Seas, a larger (3500 capacity) ship with larger venues for all the Star Trek themed activities, shows, etc. Kate Mulgrew (Capt. Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager TV series) will be the headliner, and will be joined by (mostly) other actors from Star Trek: Voyager. I'm booked for the 2020 voyage, in a promenade-view interior cabin.

Some news on the horizon for cruise lines and ships:

Virgin Voyages: New ship "Scarlet Lady" is under construction; cruises are soon to go on pre-sale; designs for suites have been revealed. New terminal also planned for PortMiami for Virgin.

Royal Caribbean: Passenger banned for life from cruising on RC after jumping off ship in stunt (and may face legal action). A bunch of new ships are on order--new Oasis class, Quantum class, and a totally new class (Orion).

Carnival: New ships in the pipeline--the new Mardi Gras (will be 2nd ship to bear that name, after Carnival's first ship) and Panorama, plus three unnamed 135,000-185,000 GRT ships. Another new feature on Carnival ships--a roller coaster wrapping around the iconic whale tail funnel and going over the uppermost decks.

Norwegian: New NCL terminal under construction at PortMiami (I saw the dug-up construction site last week as I was on a NCL cruise, with footers for foundations). New ships: Breakaway Plus-class Encore launching this year, plus 6 new "Project Leonardo" ships in the pipeline.

Disney: 3 new ships in the pipeline, even bigger than the existing two largest ships in their fleet.

Celebrity: Edge just launched (first ship of new class, Edge class), 3 more Edge-class and a new class called Flora coming soon.

Cunard: New, unnamed fourth ship planned to join QM2, Queen Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth.

Feel free to add your own updates, and let's keep this thread sailing smoothly through 2019!

SmithAir747

Did the newest Disney ship few years ago as a family trip. Hopefully they won’t go taller. We were the second deck from the top and it was some of the worse swaying I’ve ever experienced on any boat. We had some weather, but even on the calm days it was doing more that rocking us to sleep. There is such a thing as too tall.

SmithAir747 wrote:

Celebrity Edge

Although Id say to them to wait a year as due to it being a new ship Celebrity are charging premium rates this year. Hard to justify that kind of money when you could easily spend not much more and go Silversea or Viking for example.

We're going on our 5th NCL cruise this year on the Norwegian Pearl--AMS-FCO. We've also done Alaska, the Baltic, Norway and Oz & NZ. I've never been on a Caribbean/Mexico cruise and have no desire to go on one. I like the 2000 +/- passenger ships that we've been on--Star, Sun and Jewel.

Holland America's newest ship, MS Nieuw Statendam, entered service in December of 2018. It's Holland's second Pinnacle class ship, after MS Koningsdam, with a third (as of yet unnamed) Pinnacle class ordered. Like all the HAL ships it has a more classic look than many of the new vessels from other lines.

SmithAir747 wrote:

Some news on the horizon for cruise lines and ships:

Virgin Voyages: New ship "Scarlet Lady" is under construction; cruises are soon to go on pre-sale; designs for suites have been revealed. New terminal also planned for PortMiami for Virgin.

SmithAir747

The second ship is also under construction, first steel was cut for her in July last year.

Some interior designs from Virgin .


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The suites look nice, though that amp scares me, the regular cabins look okay, though just a hammock on the balcony ???

The itineraries.... 4 and 5 night Havana, 5 night Costa Maya and 5 night Puerto Plata

Well those are inspiring choices.....Not

And if I don't get a blowup unicorn there will be trouble

Norwegian Encore's maiden voyage got altered, from an 11-day trip from Southampton to Miami (calling at Ponta Delgada, Azores) to a 9-day trip from Southampton to New York (straight through but overnighting in NY).

NCL prorated the cost of the cruise, offered a 25% refund, and $100 onboard spending.

Still waiting to see more deck features (the spa in particular).

DL717 wrote:

Did the newest Disney ship few years ago as a family trip. Hopefully they won’t go taller. We were the second deck from the top and it was some of the worse swaying I’ve ever experienced on any boat. We had some weather, but even on the calm days it was doing more that rocking us to sleep. There is such a thing as too tall.

I think that's more of an issue with ship design than being tall. Norwegian Epic is a tall ship, but I never felt swaying in any direction (and my cabin was an interior cabin on Deck 12). Odds are that it was made with features to minimize or mitigate the swaying.

Just did the Celebrity Reflection in December

They have added lots of stuff that was advertised as being on the new Edge, granted none of it was functional yet. Thankfully, they have not added any of the bad stuff and the cost is still much, much lower than the edge

Looks like the Carnival Corp might be in a little bit of hot water..

A federal judge Wednesday threatened to stop Carnival Corp. from docking its ships at U.S. ports temporarily as punishment for possibly violating probation but said she would make a decision at a hearing scheduled for June.


Carnival has been on probation for the last two years as part of a $40 million settlement for illegally dumping oil into the ocean from its Princess Cruises ships for eight years and lying about the scheme to U.S. authorities. While on probation, according to court filings, Carnival Corp. and its subsidiary cruise lines have sought to avoid unfavorable findings by preparing ships in advance of court-ordered audits, falsified records, dumped plastic garbage into the ocean and illegally discharged gray water into Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. The company also has tried to lobby the U.S. Coast Guard through a back channel to change the terms of the settlement, prosecutors allege. The company has acknowledged these incidents.

In a statement issued following Wednesday’s hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz, Carnival Corp.’s Chief Communications Officer Roger Frizzell said, “It appears there were some mischaracterizations made by others to the court. We intend to fully address the issues raised at today’s court conference.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/busine ... rylink=cpy

Question to NCL cruisers: have any of you ever submitted bids for upgrades?

Norwegian Encore is very light for the maiden voyage and I realized that I can move from a Studio cabin to an interior cabin and then bid to upgrade to an oceanview or a balcony.

I'm actually wondering if it's better for me to simply change the fare and move up to the desired cabin (oceanview/balcony) or attempt the bidding game. The difference in fare from the Studio to a balcony, for example, is about $600 and it's cheaper than upgrading to an oceanview (thought this is a translatlantic cruise in November...will I even use the balcony)?

Thoughts?

einsteinboricua wrote:

Question to NCL cruisers: have any of you ever submitted bids for upgrades?

Norwegian Encore is very light for the maiden voyage and I realized that I can move from a Studio cabin to an interior cabin and then bid to upgrade to an oceanview or a balcony.

I'm actually wondering if it's better for me to simply change the fare and move up to the desired cabin (oceanview/balcony) or attempt the bidding game. The difference in fare from the Studio to a balcony, for example, is about $600 and it's cheaper than upgrading to an oceanview (thought this is a translatlantic cruise in November...will I even use the balcony)?

Thoughts?

Considering you are doing the more northerly route the balcony may not be worth it. For example on the QM2 TATL I would only consider a sheltered balcony as that offers protection from the wind/rain. Of course you may get lucky and have mostly calm and dry weather but being November its 50/50. Not sure about the US market but here in Europe since NCL axed their Premium All Inclusive product the rates have come down a lot to compete with RCI CEL who are also lowering prices. Maybe worth keeping an eye on your booking to see if you can avail of any further discounts/upgrades.

Greetings Folks,
Have just scrolled through the 2018 threads and have picked up on the 2019.boy am I feeling somewhat nostalgic!
So much so that my sailing companion ( the nearest and dearest) and I have decided to treat ourselves to another cruise.
No surprise that it will be on another Regent cruise and as fate would have it we will be on board the Seven Seas Voyager.
this time the cruise will take us from Rome ( Civitavecchia) to Athens stopping off at Catania (Sicily) Valletta, Naupilon ,Santorini .
Ephesus disembarking in Athens (Piraeus).
Before embarking in Rome we will spend some more time in Lisbon and Valencia. Both places we have been to before and have fond memories of. Both cities are easy to move around and in addition the people make one feel at home.
Would appreciate hearing from fellow travellers who have sailed with Regent their comments.
In the meantime wherever you are and whatever you do ,enjoy the moment.
Cheers 325i.

As a European I don’t really the fascination for cruises. To me it’s something you do when you’re 60+.

marcelh wrote:

As a European I don’t really the fascination for cruises. To me it’s something you do when you’re 60+.

It’s not so different to the package holiday which Europeans love.

marcelh wrote:

As a European I don’t really the fascination for cruises. To me it’s something you do when you’re 60+.

Have you even tried one?

There are cruises that are definitely geared towards the older crowd, some for the middle crowd, and some for the younger, but in general, all cruises offer something for all ages.

Go on a Disney cruise if you want the Disney experience for your kids; go on a Carnival cruise if you like to party; go on a Cunard cruise if you're looking for more R&R luxury.

einsteinboricua wrote:

marcelh wrote:

As a European I don’t really the fascination for cruises. To me it’s something you do when you’re 60+.

Have you even tried one?

There are cruises that are definitely geared towards the older crowd, some for the middle crowd, and some for the younger, but in general, all cruises offer something for all ages.

Go on a Disney cruise if you want the Disney experience for your kids; go on a Carnival cruise if you like to party; go on a Cunard cruise if you're looking for more R&R luxury.

Of course if you want different, sail on the Royal Clipper with your 220 other passengers and enjoy the experience of a five mast sailing vessel, climbing up to the crow's nest..

Not sure if the Flying Clipper is in service yet.

I'm interested in a cruise right through the Panama Canal; I know Princess Cruises does some cruises from Florida (Ft. L & Miami) to Los Angeles/San Diego and they would probably be my first choice, but are there other companies that do this - thinking of not longer than 2 weeks.

How does Princess rank as a cruise line? I've never been on a cruise before, so I'd like something a bit classy and luxurious.

kaitak wrote:

I'm interested in a cruise right through the Panama Canal; I know Princess Cruises does some cruises from Florida (Ft. L & Miami) to Los Angeles/San Diego and they would probably be my first choice, but are there other companies that do this - thinking of not longer than 2 weeks.

How does Princess rank as a cruise line? I've never been on a cruise before, so I'd like something a bit classy and luxurious.

Princess is exactly that. Older demographic on that route so don't expect to be partying in the night. Not the highest end, but certainly way above Carnival, Norwegian as well as some of Royal Carribean's older ships. Other luxury mainstream lines are Celebrity (young, "hip" demographic in the Carribean/when school is off with some wee-hour parties, middle-aged to older when not) and Holland America (traditional, much older demographic). Both of these lines rank slightly higher than Princess, but that's like picking between Southwest and say DL in coach, the difference is barely noticeable.

kaitak wrote:

I'm interested in a cruise right through the Panama Canal; I know Princess Cruises does some cruises from Florida (Ft. L & Miami) to Los Angeles/San Diego and they would probably be my first choice, but are there other companies that do this - thinking of not longer than 2 weeks.

How does Princess rank as a cruise line? I've never been on a cruise before, so I'd like something a bit classy and luxurious.

That being said, I would NOT start out with a Panama Canal cruise. I say this to everyone, your first cruise should be the classic 7 night Carribean cruise, the cruise that made cruising popular. Those routes are tailored to perfection and really show you what cruising is about, on the best ships

Dear Marcelth, do not apologise for being European ,there will come a time in your life when you are bored with land based tours.
Cruising is SOOOO relaxing combined with educational trips (land based) .
If you have the means and are adventurous enough sample or checkout Regent Cruises.
Most travel agents would be more than happy to assist.
On Regent there are no children and everything you need is built into the fare.Please do yourself a favour and investigate the pleasures of being indulged upon. I do however respect the fact you have reservations.
Cheers 325i.

kaitak wrote:

I'm interested in a cruise right through the Panama Canal; I know Princess Cruises does some cruises from Florida (Ft. L & Miami) to Los Angeles/San Diego and they would probably be my first choice, but are there other companies that do this - thinking of not longer than 2 weeks.

How does Princess rank as a cruise line? I've never been on a cruise before, so I'd like something a bit classy and luxurious.

Princess would be fine for the Panama Canal. Not sure if you want to do it this year or next but the deployment of ships for September 2020 onwards are Coral Princess, Crown Princess (MedallionClass), Emerald Princess, Island Princess and Pacific Princess. I have been on Princess a few times both old and new ships. The food , entertainment and service cant be faulted. I slightly disagree about doing a Caribbean cruise first because I fail to see what you would gain by spending money for a typical Sun holiday as opposed to the Panama Canal which seems to be on your bucket list. Had my first cruise been a Panama Canal one I would have been delighted. Another bonus is that Princess are expanding in the Irish market and have some very good offers in Euro with some extras included which are not always available in other markets. The earlier you book with Princess the better the deal. A lot book the Panama Canal 10 months before.

I gotta say, I'm kinda ticked off at the fact that NCL's Joy is different than her sister ships: Bliss and Escape. I get the whole thing about designing a ship for another market but then it should have been a ship in its own class (or subclass).

Carnival Sunshine (I hate that name and still prefer to call her Carnival Destiny) is different than her sisters (Triumph and Victory).

RCCL's Vision class was also an example of ships that were sisters but different (they each were in one of three subclasses: Legend and Splendour, Grandeur and Enchantment, and Vision and Rhapsody).

stl07 wrote:

kaitak wrote:

I'm interested in a cruise right through the Panama Canal; I know Princess Cruises does some cruises from Florida (Ft. L & Miami) to Los Angeles/San Diego and they would probably be my first choice, but are there other companies that do this - thinking of not longer than 2 weeks.

Kaitak - my first and so far only cruise was in October/Novermber 2015 Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego...through the Panama Canal. 15 nights I believe, aboard the Holland America MS Veendam. A relatively "small" ship, with a relatively older crowd (I was 51 at the time). None of this "free-for-all" I can imagine onboard a Disney or Carnival cruise. I don't know your age bracket but this cruise was very nice. Since I'm also a bird photographer I was probably able to get closer to the water (for photographing sea birds / birds at sea) while onboard the Veendam than those huge floating city blocks. I didn't partake in any of the onboard entertainment...I was there for the passage through the Canal and bird photography, both at sea and while in the ports. I did take several shore excursions that had a birding element in them...and also a couple hour off-shore excursion in Cabo San Lucas aboard a make-shift pirate ship.

The passage through the canal was very interesting and took nearly all day, from just after dawn until almost sunset. Mind you this was mid-autumn so the days were growing shorter.

Regardless, I would recommend the Canal trip whether you take it as your first cruise or wait. Just my 2 cents.

A bit of self-gloss, but also open invite for folks in case they wanna meet up: I've booked two more cruises. I'm gonna try to be loyal to NCL. I'll try to get as high as Platinum on their loyalty chart before I consider trying other cruise lines...I need 66 more points.

1. Norwegian Bliss - 7 day round trip Alaska cruise from Seattle on July 2020.
2. Norwegian Epic - 14 day Transatlantic from San Juan to Barcelona on April 2021.

This also is good timing since their newest ships after Norwegian Encore don't come out until 2022. Hopefully by then we'll know more about their layout and which markets they'll be placed in.

aeromoe wrote:

stl07 wrote:

kaitak wrote:

I'm interested in a cruise right through the Panama Canal; I know Princess Cruises does some cruises from Florida (Ft. L & Miami) to Los Angeles/San Diego and they would probably be my first choice, but are there other companies that do this - thinking of not longer than 2 weeks.

Kaitak - my first and so far only cruise was in October/Novermber 2015 Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego...through the Panama Canal. 15 nights I believe, aboard the Holland America MS Veendam. A relatively "small" ship, with a relatively older crowd (I was 51 at the time). None of this "free-for-all" I can imagine onboard a Disney or Carnival cruise. I don't know your age bracket but this cruise was very nice. Since I'm also a bird photographer I was probably able to get closer to the water (for photographing sea birds / birds at sea) while onboard the Veendam than those huge floating city blocks. I didn't partake in any of the onboard entertainment...I was there for the passage through the Canal and bird photography, both at sea and while in the ports. I did take several shore excursions that had a birding element in them...and also a couple hour off-shore excursion in Cabo San Lucas aboard a make-shift pirate ship.

The passage through the canal was very interesting and took nearly all day, from just after dawn until almost sunset. Mind you this was mid-autumn so the days were growing shorter.

Regardless, I would recommend the Canal trip whether you take it as your first cruise or wait. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks very much; I'll certainly consider the Holland America Line, too.

Hopefully cruise ship design will move away from floating apartment blocks to sleep futuristic space age ships like the Poseidon seen in the 2006 movie.

Not widely known weather item, May is/can be the driest month for parts of the Inland Passage to Alaska. Friend and I did a car trip up the Fraser River and over to Prince Rupert. Then the BC Ferry down to Port Hardy. That ferry route covers much of what is too small a channel for the big cruise ships. Lucked out with perfect weather the whole ferry ride (bookends of rain in both ports). I would rate it as one of the best road trips/ferry I have ever done. The ferry part is about 13 hours and with a car upwards a thousand dollars.

Recently had the chance to go onboard Viking Sea which was something I had wanted to do for a while. Always was curious about their product and if it might be something for me to try in future. I have to say it exceeded my expectations and I really did like it . The interior felt very warm and homely. Lots of public spaces to relax in. The small ships certainly have a big advantage.

Here are a few photos I took :


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The ship was spotlessly clean and staff very friendly.

There will be 16 of these ships eventually, it will be the largest class of cruise vessels ever built.

Norwegian Encore to be floated out at around 0800 CEST on Saturday August 17 (around 2am EDT/11pm PDT (this would still be Aug 16)). Meyer Werft will apparently have a livestream of the event.

einsteinboricua wrote:

Norwegian Encore to be floated out at around 0800 CEST on Saturday August 17 (around 2am EDT/11pm PDT (this would still be Aug 16)). Meyer Werft will apparently have a livestream of the event.

Awesome. I have yet to get on Norweigian but it looks great. How is it for those of you that have been on?

stl07 wrote:

Awesome. I have yet to get on Norweigian but it looks great. How is it for those of you that have been on?

I've only been on Norwegian Epic, but the Freestyle cruising is really liberating. Having sailed with RCCL three times prior to NCL, NCL is definitely onto something with it.

einsteinboricua wrote:

stl07 wrote:

Awesome. I have yet to get on Norweigian but it looks great. How is it for those of you that have been on?

I've only been on Norwegian Epic, but the Freestyle cruising is really liberating. Having sailed with RCCL three times prior to NCL, NCL is definitely onto something with it.

Can you explain freestyle cruising? Every time I try to find out about it, I end up on a site trying to sell me a cruise instead of explaining the concept

stl07 wrote:

einsteinboricua wrote:

stl07 wrote:

Awesome. I have yet to get on Norweigian but it looks great. How is it for those of you that have been on?

I've only been on Norwegian Epic, but the Freestyle cruising is really liberating. Having sailed with RCCL three times prior to NCL, NCL is definitely onto something with it.

Can you explain freestyle cruising? Every time I try to find out about it, I end up on a site trying to sell me a cruise instead of explaining the concept

It's just like a hotel or resort style holiday. Some nights you might want to dress up, book ahead and have a fancy meal. Other times you might want to see how you feel and turn up somewhere more casually dressed.

It's totally flexible. Dress code is as you would on land, all restaurants are open seating which you can reserve from 90 days prior to sailing (100 days in suite, concierge or Haven accom.) or onboard. I think pretty much the whole fleet have live information on dining all around the ship (except Norwegian Spirit who will get her upgrade shortly) - each restaurant has a red / amber / green status for every half-hour throughout opening times so you know before you get there how busy it is.

Worked for them for years and have been on all the ships except Norwegian Joy and Pride of America so I'll have bias but I do agree with einsteinboricua - it is a liberating experience to not have to worry about set dining or restricting yourself to selected venues because you opt-in or opt-out of a dining scheme. Some venues are at a charge and some are included - usually it's around 50/50. Totally recommend Cagneys if you decide to book - an amazing steak restaurant, my favourite.

Not having to take formal wear is great too for me. It is more relaxed than most but it's not shorts and vest tops in the main restaurants for example. You'll see people in suits (appropriate but not mandatory for Le Bistro, for example) and even black tie formal wear, but their choice and at the time they want.

Also, I used to hear from potential customers that they wanted same table and waiter every night. You absolutely can do that - it can be arranged onboard, as can sitting with new people every night if that's your thing.

They've long had good reputation for entertainment which has improved since Norwegian Epic arrived. Food in speciality dining was always good but otherwise it was hit and miss. This has, in my opinion, been the biggest change since NCLH acquired Prestige. I was on the Norwegian Bliss pre-inaugural and it was incredible, even in the main dining rooms and Garden Cafe.

There are other elements to Freestyle Cruising that are promoted but the "what/where do I eat" and "what do I wear, when do I wear it" questions are where the main differentiators are.

I'm on Norwegian Encore pre-inaugural in late October and can't wait.

Mark

One notices with great satisfaction, that the city council of Venice has finally had enough of these floating hotels and have banned any cruise ship weighing more than 1000 ton from entering the canals.

This is a trend that is sure to spread to the many smaller ports, where cruise ships are putting an increasing burden on infrastructure and delicate nature. Norway will probably be next to place bans and/or restrictions on the number and size of cruise ships it will accept in smaller ports and fjords.

It's the most polluting form of vacationing known to mankind, and those ships are more a blight on the ports they visit than anything else. The upsides to the small communities they visit are very limited indeed, and more often than not the bottom line will be negative.

B777LRF wrote:

One notices with great satisfaction, that the city council of Venice has finally had enough of these floating hotels and have banned any cruise ship weighing more than 1000 ton from entering the canals.

This is a trend that is sure to spread to the many smaller ports, where cruise ships are putting an increasing burden on infrastructure and delicate nature. Norway will probably be next to place bans and/or restrictions on the number and size of cruise ships it will accept in smaller ports and fjords.

It's the most polluting form of vacationing known to mankind, and those ships are more a blight on the ports they visit than anything else. The upsides to the small communities they visit are very limited indeed, and more often than not the bottom line will be negative.

Will Barcelona do the same, considering that it is a large city.

Cruise ship negatives:
Much of the art sold is inferior or even fake
Wine and internet are very expensive (a deal breaker for me)
Salespersons for various services are more annoying than Lonely Planet's worst cities for scams and beggars
It all is kind of phony
Usually you have to take a long airplane trip just to start
They really are lousy boats
I really don't enjoy gathering together with my 4000 best (LOL) friends
The various lines are perpetually breaking one law or another (and usually getting away with it), and I usually don't associate with law breakers

Positives
A great place for a family reunion
You can visit a number of destinations in one swoop (OK if they are not all that important destinations, otherwise I Iike several days)
If they have a large buffet for most meals those on special diets can easily find what they need
Unlimited coffee is included in the price
It can be a great place to read and watch scenery

SEABOURN LAUNCHES PRIVATE AIR

Seabourn, the ultra-luxury cruise line, has launched Seabourn Private Air, a private jet service for its well-heeled customers.

The service uses a global network of private jet operators for guests who don’t wish to take regularly scheduled flights. The smallest planes are capable of carrying 5-8 passengers, mid-size jets will get between 7-8 while the largest aircraft will be capable of carrying 9-16 passengers.

http://cruise-adviser.com/seabourn-laun ... ivate-air/