BERMUDA NEWS

CRUISE CRITIC — The government of Bermuda has passed measures that will overturn a long-held ban on the operation of cruise ship casinos and suspend a cabin tax currently levied on ships calling on the island. 

VILLA ESCAPES:

Ever wanted more from a vacation? More luxury? More privacy?

How about a villa which you could share with friends? Available in the Caribbean,

France, Italy…great idea!

RENT YOUR OWN PRIVATE YACHT:

Have you thought of renting your own private yacht? A Captain and Cook can be provided if you don’t have experience captaining a sailboat. You can have this incredible experience is so many different locations such as the Caribbean (Tortola,

St Lucia, Belize, Grenadines, Canouan), or Mexico (La Paz, Sea of Cortes). One price charters the yacht, so you can take a romantic cruise for two, or bring your friends to share the cost.

COUNTRY LINE DANCING CRUISE:

Sail with Prospector’s Restaurant and Saloon on the 9 night Explorer of the Seas, March 6, 2009 with DJ Cowboy Kenn, DJ/instructor Tony Romeo, Rich from Prospector’s and Mary Lee from Just Cruises.  Enjoy country-dance lessons during the day, and dance time at night plus everything Royal Caribbean’s mega-ships have to offer. Price includes free parking at Prospector’s and round trip bus to Bayonne where we board our ship. Only a few cabins left. Prices guaranteed until July 18: Inside $1189 (4 left); Ocean view $1399 (10 left); Balcony $1499 (9 left).

AIRLINE CHARGES:

If you purchase a United Economy® ticket on or after June 13, 2008 for travel on or after August 18, 2008, a $15 service fee will apply, each way, to check your first piece of baggage. This fee applies to travel within the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.
A $25 fee will apply to check a second bag. Extra charges apply if either bag is over 50 pounds.

Security Camera Captures Woman’s Fall from NCL Ship

Representatives from the F.B.I. and authorities from Bermuda boarded Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Dawn this morning after it docked at Bermuda’s King’s Wharf.. Their goal? To investigate the incident that presumably ended the life of Mindy Jordan, 46, who fell overboard soon after the ship set sail on Sunday evening.Although the investigation is ongoing, one thing has been firmly established: Ms. Jordan was alone and acted alone when she fell from the balcony of her Deck 9 stateroom and into rough seas. According to an official statement from the cruise line, Norwegian Dawn’s extensive and advanced safety and surveillance system has documented, from both inside and outside the ship, most of the time that remains in question.

Royal Caribbean Changes Its Infant Policy

According to the new policy, infants on most cruises must be 6 months old by the first day of the sailing in order to board. However, babies on trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, Hawaii, select South America cruises and cruisetours, and other select cruises and cruisetours must be 12 months old to sail.

Queen Victoria Makes a Crashing Entrance in Malta

Cunard’s newest ship, Queen Victoria cerrtainly made an entrance as it arrived for its maiden call in Malta — by hitting a quay.The 90,000-ton, 2,014-passenger ship arrived in the dock around 11:30 a.m. GMT. Queen Victoria was being manoeuvred to berth alongside the waterfront in Grand Harbour when the incident occurred, damaging the stern. Cunard has confimed that the ship, which left Southampton on a Mediterranean cruise on May 6 with 1,887 passengers onboard, will now remain in Malta until tomorrow for repairs. It had been due to call in La Goulette in Tunisia but unfortunately this has been cancelled.

NCL’s Pride of Aloha Fails CDC Inspection

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) recently released a cringe-inducing review of NCL’s all-Hawaii ship — with stomach-turning revelations worthy of a “Fear Factor” episode — giving the ship a flunking score of 78.  The CDC grades ships on a 100-point scale. Any score below 86 is deemed unsatisfactory, and failing ships must correct the violations, or face a recommendation from the VSP that the ship not be allowed to sail. The most disturbing health violations include poorly refrigerated beef; food kept past the recommended seven-day post-preparation period; an ice machine decked in pink and black mold; a filthy meat grinder; and counters covered with food particles and mold. Add to this list an improperly chlorinated whirlpool — cruisers soaking in the tub had to get up and get out when onboard inspectors discovered that the chlorine levels weren’t up to snuff. The CDC’s report cited other unsanitary conditions such as utensil handles that came into contact with food and inadequate sneeze guards in the buffet;food residue on the waffle irons; food-soiled coffee cups and plates laid out for use; and a contaminated ice cream maker. Editors Note: The Pride of Aloha will be leaving the NCL fleet later this month.  Other NCL ships have passed CDCsanitation tests.

Make Your Royal Caribbean Specialty Restaurant Reservations On-line

By the end of May, you will be able to make reservations for the specialty restaurants on most Royal Caribbean ships.  The specialty restaurants have been very popular and reservations at prime time (7 to 8:30PM) on the days at sea have been hard to get.  Here’s your chance to get a jump on the crowd.

Fox News’ Unfair and Unbalanced Reporting

Fox News reported that a family of 5 was kicked off Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas in their pajamas with a sick child. Watching Fox News, I thought that Captain Bligh ran the ship.

According to Royal Caribbean, the parents brought their sick child to the infirmary less than an hour before the ship was to sail from Nassau.  The child presented with vomiting and diarrhea .  Because the next port was Coco Cay with no medical facilities, it was recommended to the parents (and they concurred) that the child be hospitalized.  Royal Caribbean gave them the option of having one parent go with the child while the others stayed on the ship.  The family decided that they would all go with the child.  Royal Caribbean arranged for a complimentary hotel in Nassau as well as an ambulance to take the child to the hospital.  Fortunately, the illness was not serious and the family returned home at a cost of over $1700.
It should be noted that the family elected to decline travel insurance and had no passports (legal but not smart).

We can’t say that Royal Caribbean handled the situation perfectly, but we know that Fox News was grossly unfair in their reporting.  Our media loves to spin a story and make it sensational.  There is no objectivity left in this once proud but now sleazy profession.

Goodbye to the Galaxy

Celebrity’s Galaxy will be leaving the Celebrity fleet and moving to a German cruise line next March.  We have always liked this ship and its sisters, the Mercury and Century.  You still have almost a year to get a cruise on this great ship.

Celebrity Tightens Smoking Restrictions

Celebrity Cruises will no longer allow passengers to smoke in cabins and on balconies once the new restrictions go into effect in early October. Violators may be slammed with a $250 cleaning fee. While by far most cruise lines permit in-cabin smoking, there’s a small group of lines that have begun to create stricter rules, such as Disney, Crystal, Peter Deilmann and Oceania. One major instigator of tightening restrictions was of course the terrifying fire aboard Star Princess last year; it was discovered that it began as a result of a passenger smoking on his balcony.

Carnival Family Increases Fuel Supplement

Effective for all new bookings made on or after April 21, Carnival’s fuel surcharge will increase from $5 to $7 per person per day, based on double occupancy. In addition, a fuel supplement of $2 per person per day will apply to third, fourth and fifth guests in a cabin. Total fuel charges are not to exceed $98 per person per voyage for the first two passengers and $28 per person per voyage for any other passengers sharing the cabin. The fee increase applies to six of the Carnival Corporation’s cruise lines: Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Costa, Cunard and Seabourne. The price hike actually does not make Carnival’s fuel surcharge the most expensive in the industry Cruise West charges $12 per person per day. However, Carnival can no longer be counted among the cruise lines with the lowest fuel taxes — that territory now belongs to Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara.  Disney is still one of the only major cruise lines to not charge a fuel supplement.

The Queen to Bid Farewell to QE2

Back on September 20 1967 in Clydebank, U.K, a new Queen was launched by its namesake, her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2.Now, 41 years later, and with the ship set to retire from Cunard’s fleet this fall, it seems only right that Cunard Line’s QE2 is bid a fond farewell by the Monarch.  On Monday June 2 the Queen will head to Southampton for a final visit to see the “Grande Dame” before it retires to become a floating hotel out in Dubai. Kids Not Welcome Princess Cruises is citing popular demand for its decision to extend its adult-only Sanctuary areas to all of its ships.

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises Out of Business

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises is no longer licensed to sell travel in the state of Florida — effectively putting the kibosh on rumored plans for a renaissance. Although the CEO of the company promised faithful fans that Windjammer’s ships would be operating again sometime in April 2008, no cruises are sailing and the company’s offices are dark. Windjammer experienced financial difficulties throughout much of last year. Vendors, port facilities and even crewmembers did not receive payment; ships were stranded; and a slew of canceled voyages in the fall of 2007 left many would-be passengers searching for refunds.

Princess Cruises is citing popular demand for its decision to extend its adult-only Sanctuary areas to the rest of its ships through 2010.

American Airlines

American Airlines has canceled several hundred flights today (April 9-10-11) to conduct additional inspections of its MD-80 fleet.  Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

We think that this was a calculated move by American Airlines. These inspections could have been conducted quietly over several weeks time. American chose to make these inspections very public to make it appear that the airline will stop at nothing to preserve safety. This is compares well to Southwest’s and other low-budget airlines’ aircraft that miss and fail inspections all the time.

If fact, The MD-80 has one of the best safety records in its class, far better than the Boeing 737.

News: 

The inspections come almost three weeks after the FAA ordered a check of all U.S. airlines’ maintenance records. That was after controversy erupted over its handling of missed safety inspections at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines. The FAA hit Southwest this month with a $10.2 million civil penalty for missing the inspections and then continuing to fly the planes with passengers on board even after realizing the mistake. 

How Safe is Air Travel

Answer: Very Safe but Not Improving.Go to our website (justcruisesplus.com) and click on “blog” to read a very good piece on the current state of affairs.  Then write to your senators and insist that more needs to be done before disasters strike. 

If the airfare is cheap, must it be Tuesday?

BY ELLEN CREAGER

Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — Are airfares really cheaper on Tuesday nights? That was the question I posed a few weeks ago. I asked for reader help in monitoring airfares for a theoretical trip leaving April 1 to any destination.Now, results are in. And guess what? It appears that if airfares are going to drop, it probably will happen sometime between Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon.Nine of 15 routes monitored by readers had price drops on a Tuesday or Wednesday. No routes had price drops on a Thursday or Saturday. Few drops occurred on Sunday, Monday or Friday. The trend happened across multiple airlines.That’s hardly a massive scientific poll. But it tends to reinforce the theory.”I am never buying a ticket on Sunday or Monday again. The Tuesday theory works according to my research,” reported Patricia LaBeau, after she tracked a round-trip flight from Detroit to Savannah and saw it drop from $324 at 11:01 p.m. on a Monday to $215 at 11:45 p.m. on a Tuesday.Jim Herman tracked a Detroit-Pensacola round-trip and watched it drop from $359 at 12:30 p.m. on a Monday to $215 at 5:50 a.m. Tuesday.Of course, if it were that easy, we’d all be buying tickets on Tuesdays.In reality, the fluctuation in airline ticket prices is about as predictable as the flight of a butterfly and as tricky to predict as pork futures.”I worked for the airlines for 34 ½ years, and I can tell you that the airfares generally are not cheaper on Tuesday,” a former ticket agent told me. “The airline offers so many seats at each airfare. When they run out of seats in a particular class, you will quote from the next highest category.”However, Carl Schwartz, spokesman for Cheapflights.com, says most sales the airlines advertise start on Tuesdays. Diluting Tuesday’s power is the fact that unadvertised sales ”can happen constantly throughout the week and at any time of day. They can run for just a few hours or a matter of weeks,” he says.What about the second theory, the one that buying tickets after 11 p.m. or midnight is best? It turns out that the theory holds water — but only if you are looking for a frequent flier award ticket or a nondiscount seat on a crowded holiday flight, Schwartz says, because those types of tickets are released at midnight. For other deals, the evidence is pretty shaky.Of course, some readers who did the test came away believing the Tuesday night theory is a dud.Rackeline Hoff found a Detroit-Los Angeles round-trip fare that was $379 on a Saturday fall to just $331 on a Sunday, only to rise again to $344 on Monday and Tuesday.Sue Armstrong found her cheapest flight from Detroit to Maui, $818 round-trip, on a Friday; Tuesday and Wednesday prices were more than $125 higher: ”It does disprove the Tuesday night theory,” she says.Randy Knight tracked a Detroit-Dallas fare for 10 days and found if you bought during the first Tuesday night dip for $245, you would miss an even lower fare the next Tuesday night, $229.But don’t give up. Monitoring prices of the routes you plan to fly can pay off.”Being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of it is about 75 percent of the requirement for snagging the deal of a lifetime,” says Schwartz.Laura Bauman can testify to that. She went online every hour on the hour on the Spirit Airlines Web site one Wednesday looking for flights to Orlando, until ”about 1:30 p.m., when I noticed they had their fares for $8 each way,” she says. “I punched in the days that they had available for tickets, and I was so excited to see that I was able to get my airfare.”