Just Cruises Plus

It’s estimated that more than one-billion people will tune in for this year’s Olympic Games in the host city of London, and Celebrity Cruises has arranged the opportunity for guests sailing on its modern luxury fleet to be among them.

From the eagerly anticipated Opening Ceremony July 27 to the celebratory Closing Ceremony August 12, Celebrity will broadcast ‘live’ via satellite the swimming, diving, gymnastics, rowing, cycling, athletics, and basketball events, in addition to airing daily compilations of highlights from all 26 sports featured in the Games of the XXX Olympiad. On Celebrity ships sailing in North America, the events initially airing live also will be re-broadcast during more convenient times of day for guests to enjoy.

Whether sailing on Celebrity Constellation in Scandinavia and Russia; in Iceland and the Fjords on Celebrity Eclipse; in the Eastern Mediterranean on Celebrity Equinox; in the Adriatic on Celebrity Silhouette; in the Mediterranean from Venice on Celebrity Solstice; in Bermuda on Celebrity Summit; or in Alaska on Celebrity Millennium, Celebrity Infinity and Celebrity Century, Celebrity’s guests can stay on top of the Games while vacationing.

Only 4 people correctly named the structure (shown below) featured in our April 22nd photo contest.  It is the Koutoubia.  Congratulations to Mark Shapiro of Mission Viejo, CA, whose name was randomly selected from those who responded correctly.  

Koutoubia Mosque, 4/22/12 Photo Contest

The Koutoubia is the dominating structure in Marrakesh’s Medina (old city) and is the largest mosque in Marrakesh.  Rising 221 feet in the air, the 5 times per day call to prayer can be heard throughout the city.  The Koutoubia’s minaret was completed nearly a thousand years ago in the 12th century.

The best tomato salad in the world is in Quarzazate, a Moroccan town at the edge of the Sahara dessert.  At least, that was our opinion on a visit to Morocco.  An order to get to this amazing salad, we had a hair raising bus ride over the Atlas mountains on a twisting, narrow road sans guard rails. 

Atlas Mountains en route to Quarzazate

Example of Quarzazate Architecture

Our “home base” was Marrakesh, one of the most exotic cities that we’ve visited, particularly the Medina where much haggling goes on in the Djemaa el Fna (Place of the Dead).  The photo of the square was taken from the café where 14 people died in a terrorist attack in 2011. 

View of the outside of the wall of the Medina

Djemaa el Fna viewed from a cafe balcony

In the new part of Marrakesh, we saw well dressed school children plucking oranges from trees as the made their way home.  This contrasted with the Berber markets outside of the city where locals bought and bartered the goods.  The Berbers used donkeys to bring their goods to market.  The only camels we saw were “tourist camels” used to give rides to visitors.

Gathering at the Berber Market

Fruit and vegetables at the Berber Market

Tourist Camels

We can’t say if it’s still there but we had a wonderful dinner cooked in tangines at Mr. Driess’ restaurant in Marrakesh.  Despite Rick’s Café, we think that Marrakesh is a far more interesting Moroccan city than Casablanca.

We had a record response to our trivia question, “What was the name of the man who canceled his sailing on the Titanic, was a railroad tycoon, had controlling interest in the White Star Line and whose name is associated with a major investment bank?”  We did not fool very many of you.  Of 38 responses to our Titanic trivia question,  31 were correct.   Congratulations to Lisa Torre of Roslyn, PA, our gift card winner, whose name was randomly drawn from those who responded correctly. 

The correct answer is JP Morgan, who had his own private suite and promenade deck on the Titanic.  It is said that he was supposed to join her for her maiden voyage, but canceled passage. 

Some folks thought that the owner was J. Bruce Ismay.  However, he was the managing director of White Star Line and survived the sinking.  He has been severely criticized for his behavior during the sinking.  It has been said that he ordered Captain Smith to run the ship fast despite warnings of ice.  He was also alleged to have dressed up as a woman in order to get into a lifeboat.  There is no evidence to support these charges but just the fact that he survived made him unpopular with the press.

There were also a couple of  “Alfred Vanderbilt” responses.  That response is fascinating because Alfred died in the sinking of the Lusitania which was torpedoed during WWI.  Ironically, he had been scheduled to cruise on Titanic’s disastrous maiden voyage 3 years earlier but cancelled at the last minute.

Exactly 100 years ago at 11:40 PM on Saturday night, the Titanic struck an iceberg.  Less than 3 hours later on Sunday morning, she was gone along with more than 1500 people.

Congratulations to Alan Heller, of Pikesville, MD, whose name was randomly selected from the 14 who responded
correctly to last week’s Trivia contest question:  What is the link between  between Celebrity’s Millennium and the RMS Titanic?

The link is that Millennium’s specialty restaurant, the Olympic, is named for the Titanic’s sister ship, the RMS Olympic.

In addition, the restaurant’s authentic paneling was obtained from the premier dining room of the RMS Olympic.  Celebrity Cruise Line found the paneling in a private English residence, and purchased it through Sotheby’s.

Painting of RMS Olympic located in the room adjecent to the Olympic's dining area.

View of the magnificent, authentic paneling in Millennium's Olympic Restaurant.

View through the Archway

Monarch of the Seas to Leave Royal Caribbean Fleet

The Monarch of the Seas will join sistership Sovereign of the Seas in the Pullmantur fleet.  Puumantur is Spains largest tour/cruise company.  The Monarch is 21 years old and is now used for 3 and 4 day cruises out of Florida.  She has  few balconies and her standard staterooms are “cozy” at 122 square feet so she is not competative with the more up-to-date ships.  The transfer will take place next year.

Congratulations to Pat Horne, of Edison, NJ, whose name was randomly selected from the 21 who responded correctly to our March 9th photo contest question. 

The London Eye, or Millennium Wheel (shown in the contest photo below), was officially called the British Airways London Eye and then the Merlin Entertainments London Eye.  In January of 2011, its new official name became the EDF Energy London Eye^[following a three-year sponsorship deal.   The Eye is located on the south bank of the River Thames in London.

The London Eye, 3/9/12 Photo Contest

View from within the capsule.

Big Ben and Parliament viewed from The Eye

Titanic 100th Anniversary Nears

Near midnight on April 14th 1912, the world’s newest and greatest ocean liner, RMS  Titanic struck an iceberg.  In less than 3 hours, she was plunging to the bottom of the Atlantic nearly 2 miles from the surface..  More than 15oo people perished.  The rich and famous were aboard but it was the poor immigrants who died in the greates numbers.

(Affluent) Women and Children First

In 1912, the rule of the seas was women and children to the lifeboats first and this held true for the Titanic.  However, when we look at survival rates according to class, we see that the wealthy were at a distinct advantage.  Remember, back in the day, ocean liners were segregated by class.  Each class ate and were entertained in different parts of the ship.  The first class passengers enjoyed opulent surroundings while the steerage had comfortable but very plain accomodations.

It is apparant that most of the first class women and children made it to the lifeboats since 97% of them survived.  Third Class woman were not  so lucky.  Only forty-nine percent survived but the steerage children fared even worse where only 31 percent survived.   Even female crew fared better with over 90% reaching safety.

 Men  (especially steerage men)  Go Down with the Ship

Over 80% of the men on the Titanic died but the highest proportion of male deaths was among the steerage passengers where 87% died in the icy North Atlantic.

Overall the survival rate among first, second and steerage  passengers was  63%, 43% and 25% respectively.  The crews survival rate was 23%.

Trouble for Another Costa Ship

The Costa Allegra lost power in the Indian Ocean and was adrift for 3 days without power.  She has been towed safely to the port of Victoria on the Seychelles island of Mahe.

We are very familiar with events resulting from loss of power on a cruise ship.  We were aboard the Norway when she lost power and was adrift for 3 days.  No lights, no air conditioning, no flushing toilets, no hot food — these are some of the inconveniences caused by the failure of a ship’s ability to make power.  However the biggest thing to overcome was boredom.  There is absolutely nothing to do but read and complain.

Our captain tried to alleviate boredom by giving free drinks.  However, that resulted in fights and broken bones.

We are glad that the Allegra’s passengers have left the ship safely.  We also must point out that the news media got it wrong when they said that the Allegra was a “sister ship” to the Costa Concordia which capsized off the Italian coast last month.  The Concordia is 4 times larger than the Allegra and is hundreds of feet longer.

Disney Fantasy Visits the Big Apple

The newest Disney ship, the Disney Fantasy stopped in NY long enough to host a number of VIPs including Mayor Bloomberg as well as Seinfeld and it’s “godmother”, Mariah Carey.  The Fantasy headed past the Statue of Liberty and out to sea on Friday and will begin cruising nest week.

Passenger Robbed at Gunpoint in Puerto Vallerta

A group of passengers from the Carnival Splendour were robbed during a cruise line sponsored tour.  Masked bandits stopped their bus and stole money,  jewelry and cameras.  Fortunately, no one was injured.  We have recommeded for months that folks avoid the Pacific side of Mexico (the route of the Love Boat).  However, we don’t see the same dangers in Cozumel and Cancun, which are located on the Caribbean side.

The winner of last weeks trivia contest is Elizabeth Pasquarello of Phoenixville, PA whose name was randomly selected from the 21 who responded correctly.

Last Week’s Question:  Name a first lady or former first lady who is godmother to a cruise ship or ocean liner and name that cruise ship or ocean liner.

Which former first lady was a godmother?

Correct Responses:  Of the 21 responses we received,  most gave the answer that we had in mind:

– Rosalynn Carter was godmother of the MS Sovereign of the Seas.  In her role as godmother, Rosalynn ceremoniously “launched” or christened the ship by breaking a bottle of champagne on it’s bow.

We were delighted to receive two additional answers which were also correct and these were included in the random drawing as well!

– Eleanor Roosevelt was sponsor of the SS America

– Yvonne de Gaull was godmother of the SS France (later to become the SS Norway)

Effect of Costa “Accident” on Cruising

All of the major cruise lines have experienced a moderate decline in bookings as a result of the grounding of the Costa ship off the coast of Italy.  We have noticed that we are getting fewer inquiries about Europe and more interest in Alaska, South America and the Caribbean.

The cruise lines have already committed many ships to Europe this summer based on an improving economy here in the U.S. and a decline in the Euro relative to the US Dollar.  With the grounding of the Concordia and the uncertainty regarding Iran,  Americans have become “gun shy” on Europe.  We think that this will result in an over supply of cruise ship berths in Europe, especially the Mediterranian.  Since this is a purely supply-demand business, we expect lots of deals.

In fact, Princess has started with an “Up to 2 for 1”  promotion on their European cruises.  Royal Caribbean has a 15 night cruise from Dubai for $699 (Oceanview room).

When we look at the situation objectively, we think:

1. The Costa Concordia is a very rare event and is highly unlikly to be repeated.

2. War with Iran is unlikly.

Perhaps now is the time to take advantage of the cruise line’s predicament.  Rememeber what they say on Wall Street; “buy when everyone else is selling and sell when every on else is buying.”

Ship Migration to Start Soon 

The Caribbean season is winding down and the vast majority of ships now sailing in the Caribbean will be moving to Europe and Alaska.  Celebrity and Princess will have zero ships in the Caribbean this summer.  This leaves the Caribbean to Royal Caribbean and Carnival.  Of course, the two big Royal Caribbean ships, the Allure and Oasis of the Seas will stay in the Caribbean.

Because their are fewer ships and demand is fairly high (families travel in the summer), we don’t expect any terrific deals in the Caribbean until the ships come back in October.