Just Cruises Plus

Oceania's Nautica

Oceania Cruises, our most requested deluxe cruiseline, has announced an investment of $50 million to upgrade three of its small cruise ships during a six-week dry dock next year.   The upgrades are expected to transform the suites, staterooms and most public areas by incorporating the best features of Oceania’s newer and larger O-class ships (the Marina and Riviera).

Refurbishments to sister ships Regatta, Insignia and Nautica will include:

– completely new bathrooms in the ships’ Owner’s and Vista suites.

– an overhaul of the casual dining venue, the Terrace cafe, and the addition of the Baristas coffee bar.

– the ships’ only indoor smoking areas will be completely enclosed and an air filtration system added.

– the ships’ restaurants, the Grand Dining Room and Toscana, will be expanded with more tables for two. 

– the Canyon Ranch and Spa Clubs will receive new steam and changing rooms.

The 3 ships are scheduled for dry dock between April 24 and June 6, 2014.  

Oceania Cruises, as well as Azumara Cruises, offer a clear step above the mass market cruise lines with a very moderate extra cost.  In other words, they are a very good value for folks looking for a more upscale experience and who can forego the waterslides and rock climbing walls.

An expose on CNN  showed food being stored in crew staterooms and hallways on board the Silver Shadow while she was  cruising in Alaska.  The media generally accentuates the negatives in any story relating to cruise lines.  However, there are times that the cruise lines are not responsible or forthcoming.  There are times when cruise companies will cut corners to save a buck.  When it doesn’t affect safety or health, it’s no big deal.  For example, we heard that one cruise line stopped putting parsley on potatoes to save money.  This is cheap but no big deal.

However, when food requiring refrigeration is stored in cabins and hallways, a catastrophy is being risked.  Silversea denies that this was a company policy and that it was crew members who were acting inappropriately.

Silversea charges top dollar for their cruises and should be able to afford the refrigertors required to store their food.  The ship will again be inspected but we would not recoomend the Silver Shadow until it has passed several inspections.

We get the Center for Disease Control Vessel Inspection scores and we find that a failure is exceedingly rare.  Most ships score over 95 (out of 100).  Check your ship out at http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/.  You’ll see that both Princess and Royal Caribbean had multiple ships that scored a perfect 100.

Grandeur of the Seas Docked in Baltimore

The Grandeur of the Seas is cruising again after spending 6 weeks in a shipyard undergoing repairs caused by a fire at the stern of the vessel.  We had the opportunity to visit the ship yesterday and we witnessed first-hand the full range of Oasis type enhancements that were incorporated into the Grandeur’s upgrade in 2012.  The enhancements turned a middle aged lady into a young, vibrant athlete.

Here is a quick summary of the Oasis style changes:

The Grandeur’s Centrum has been designed with an Alice-in-Wonderland type theme.  The Centrum, in addition to being the focal point for passenger services, is used as a unique entertainment hub which includes aerialist performances.

A 220 square foot movie screen provides pool-side entertainment.

The Grandeur’s rugs, bedding and bathrooms are new and modern.

The Grandeur has a Royal Family suite which can accommodate up to 8 guests.

The Grandeur has three specialty restaurants in addition to Chops Grille:

Giovanni's Table - Decorative Wall

Izumi, an Oasis-class Sushi and Asian-fusion cuisine restaurant

Giovanni’s Table, a classic Italian trattoria. We had a wonderful meal here and, because the appetizers were served family-style, we had the opportunity to try delicious dishes that we might not have ordered on our own.

Chef’s Table, an intimate, exclusive gourmet dining experience for a very limited number of guests.

Centrally located panoramic staterooms with over-sized windows were added to Decks 7 and 8. When first introduced, these staterooms were the same price as standard ocean view staterooms, however Royal Caribbean has since discovered the appeal of these staterooms (both in terms of window size and location) and has now moved them to a higher priced category.

The Grandeur hosts a jogging track, rock climbing wall and a state of the art fitness center.

Looking for a cruise on a mid-sized ship that does notrequire air travel?  For those who live on the east coast, Baltimore is a wonderful alternative to (and addition to) Bayonne, Boston New York and the Grandeur of the Seas is a terrific modernized option!

Grandeur's Modern Sink Design

The Grandeur’s Baltimore sailings include a variety of itineraries including 6 and 7-night Bermuda, 7 and 8-night Bahamas and 10-night Eastern and Western Caribbean.

Chops Grille

Chefs Table

Centrum’s Alice in Wonderland Theme

Grandeur of the Seas

Royal Caribbean cancelled the next 6 cruises of the Grandeur of the Seas while she undergoes repairs caused by a fire in the mooring area at the stern of the vessel.  She is currently scheduled to resume cruises from Baltimore July 12th.

Options if you are Booked on a Cancelled Sailing

1. Do Nothing – All payments will be refunded to you via the method that you paid.  For example, if you paid by credit card, your refund will be made to the credit card.  If you paid by check, you will receive a check.  You will also receive a voucher for a future cruise valued at 25% of the price of your original cruise (not including taxes).

2. Re-book – If you want to cruise soon and you re-book a Royal Caribbean cruise before June 12th, Royal Caribbean will move the money that you paid on the original sailing to the new sailing.  They will also apply the voucher to the new cruise.  Any monies owed to you will be refunded.

Crew Lauded

The vast majority of passengers heaped praise on the crew of the Grandeur of the Seas for their professionalism and good humor.   Passengers spent about 4 hours at their muster stations awaiting the news that the fire was put out.  Fortunately, there were no injuries to passengers or crew although there was some medical treatment rendered for symptoms related to anxiety.

Power was Never Lost

There was a vast difference in the experiences of the Grandeur passengers and the passengers who spent many days drifting on the Carnival Triumph.  The difference was power.  The Royal Caribbean ship never lost power and therefore her passenger amenities were not affected.  The Carnival ship’s fire resulted in a near total power loss and therefore passenger comfort suffered greatly.

Galapagos Turtle

The Galapagos National Park has cited Celebrity Xpedition for transportation and storage of 12 kilograms of frozen lobster tails in the Galapagos while out of season. Because of this, Celebrity Xpedition’s license that is necessary to enter the Galapagos National Park has been temporarily suspended by the local authority. As a result, Celebrity has cancelled the June 2 sailing of Celebrity Xpedition whille the licensing issue is resolved.

Update 6/14/13: The June 16th sailing has been cancelled as well

Crown and Anchor members may book cruises on the new Quantum of the Seas beginning on Tuesday May 28th.

– Diamond Members and above may book on Tuesday*

– All other Crown and Anchor members may book on Wednesday*

– Non Members may book beginning  Monday, June 3rd

Call us with your Crown and Anchor number and Credit Card.  Deposit is required at time of booking during the first week.  If you don’t know your Crown and Anchor number, call us and we will get it for you.

The Quantum will offer 4 different itineraries from its homeport, Cape Liberty (Bayonne), NJ.  It’s  first cruise from  will be on November 23rd 2014.

The schedule is not yet official.  Itineraries that we are aware of so far:

12 Night:  Labadee (Private Island); St Marten, St. Kitts, Martinique and Barbados – January 11th, March 1st and April 12th

11 Night:  Labadee, San Juan, St Thomas, St Kitts annd St Marten – December 1st and February 2nd

8 Nights: Labadee, San Juan, Samana (Dominican Republic) – January 3rd and March 21st

7 or 8 Nights:  Labadee, Nassau and Coco Cay – November 23rd, December 12th, December 20th, December 27th, February 13th, March 13th and 29th and April 24th

*Note:  Due to the reciprocity of benefits between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, if you are a Celebrity Captain’s Club member with Elite status, you are automatically considered to be a Diamond member on Royal Caribbean.  If you are a Captain’s Club member with Select status, you are considered to be a Platinum member on Royal Caribbean.

Last week’s trivia question asked: What do Hopalong Cassidy, John Wayne, Judy Garland, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Marilyn Monroe and the Mona Lisa have in common?

The correct answer is that they all sailed on the SS United States.  Congratulations to Mark Shapiro of Mission Viejo, CA whose name was randomly selected from the eight correct responses.

The SS United States

She was the fastest of her breed.  More than 50 years after breaking the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing, the SS United States still represents the epitome of speed at sea.  She routinely “cruised” at 35 miles per hour.  During her record shattering maiden voyage, she averaged 44 miles per hour, so fast that she shed the paint from her bow.  The SS United State’s steam turbines produced twice as much power as the largest cruise ships of today despite being less than half the weight.

The SS United States – Then

A Philadelphia native, William Francis Gibbs, designed the ship to very high military standards (he also designed many ships of the US Navy in WW II).   Subsidized by the US government, the SS United States could be converted to a 15,000 person troopship within 48 hours and was nearly used during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  She plied the Atlantic for 17 years after her maiden trip in 1952 and never experienced a breakdown (listen up Carnival Cruise Line).

Now she is in trouble.  During the last 17 years, this national treasure has been rusting away at a South Philadelphia pier waiting for a knight in shining armor to come to her rescue.  Five years ago, philanthropist H. F. “Gerry” Lenfest gave the United States Conservancy more than 5 million dollars to purchase the ship and find a way of preserving her for future generations.

The SS United States – Now

Now the money is gone and, in a few weeks, this proud example of the genius of American engineering know-how will be become Toyotas and razor blades if she is not thrown a life ring.

Should the ship be saved?  Should the government step in?  We’d like to hear your views.

For years, Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas has called Bayonne “home”.  It’s hard to believe, but the Explorer is about to become a teenager.  In November of 2014, the brand new Quantum of the Seas will replace the Explorer in Bayonne.  We first boarded the Explorer 13 years ago; we were wowed by the radically innovative design.  With each new iteration, Royal Caribbean expects ever-bigger WOWS.   Based on the initial reports, the Quantum won’t disappoint. 

Quantum of the Seas' North Star

 North Star.  A capsule that holds up to 13 people is attached to a long arm which raises it  to more than 300 feet above the ocean as it rotates above the ship.  The “ride” is about 15 minutes and is complementary (except for some special occasions).  A definite WOW!

 Rip Cord by iFly   It simulates the experience of sky diving.  A Wind Tunnel keeps you in the air while you “parachute to earth”.  A super WOW!!

 Sea Plex  Bumper cars.  We did the bumper cars along Stillwell Avenue at Coney Island last summer and it was OK but not WOW (the Cyclone is WOW). Maybe if the ship gets rocking and rolling, it will become a WOW.   We’ll wait and see on this one.

 A plus are the larger staterooms.  The standard rooms are 9% larger than their counterparts on the Oasis class ships, which are more than adequate in size and comfort.

 Bookings will open up for Crown and Anchor members on May 27^th.  Non-Crown and Anchor members will be able to reserve rooms on June 1^st.

Following the loss of power of the Carnival Triumph, we expressed concern about the management team of Carnival Cruise Line but we did suggest that their troubles might be the result of bad luck.  Today, Carnival is faced with two additional mechanical issues which are affecting the vacations of their passengers. 

The Carnival Dream experienced a failure of her backup generators while at a pier in St Martin and the Carnival Legend has a problem with one of her Azipods¹ which necessitated a sharp reduction in the speed of the ship.  The problems with the Dream and the Legend probably would not have made the news had it not been for the far more serious failure of the propulsion system of the Carnival Triumph.

The evidence seems to be building that bad luck is less of an issue than bad management.  We’re coming to the conclusion that the Carnival Corporation is far better at marketing ships than they are in operating ships.  They may be starting to recognize this sad situation since on Tuesday, Carnival announced it was conducting “a comprehensive review” of all 23 of its ships after the fire last month that crippled Triumph in theGulf of Mexico.  Carnival President and CEO Gerry Cahill said the investigation will focus on the prevention, detection and suppression of fires, engine room redundancies, and what additional hotel facilities might be provided and might run off the emergency generators.

This is a much needed step that should have been done years ago.  Should you book a Carnival cruise?  Reality is that the vast majority of Carnival cruises are fun filled and come home with happy passengers.  Carnival is cheaper then the competition so that might be a factor in your decision.  Thus far, no one has been seriously injured as a result of the mechanical failures.  However, there is no denying statistics.  Carnival ships have experienced more mechanical issues than their competitors and we have very serious questions about how Carnival handled the Triumph issue and we think that they were very lucky not to have had serious injuries.

1 Azipods are used in most modern cruise ships.  They are pods that are attached to the ship.  The functions of the propulsion motors, the propellers and the rudder are all part of the Azipod system.

Heroes – The staff of the Carnival Triumph.  From all indications, the staff worked tirelessly to make the passengers as comfortable as possible even though they had to suffer the same privations as the passengers.

Heroes – The vast majority of passengers.  They made the best of a very difficult situation.  I experienced a multi-day power failure on the Norway and I can tell you that it’s no picnic to be on a ship with no air conditioning, limited bathroom facilities and cold food.

Goats – The news media who emphasized the negative and engaged in fear-mongering.  Their “news coverage” was an embarrassment to the profession.

Goats – Carnival Cruise Line management.  They have a lot of questions to answer.  My main question is…why do all of the major incidents happen to Carnival Corporation ships.  Two years ago the Carnival Splendor went dead in the water off the West Coast. Last year, the Costa Concordia (a Carnival subsidiary) went aground with loss of life.  Also last year, a Costa ship lost power in the Indian Ocean and had to be towed back to port.  And now we have another serious incident with a Carnival ship.

To Carnival Management…. Are your problems due to:

a) Poor ship design

b) Poor or deferred maintenance

c) Poorly trained technical crew

d) Bad luck

Carnival cruises are generally lower priced than their competitors.  Is this an example of “you get what you pay for”?