Cruise Community (say in your best pirate voice “there be registration required matey!”) is reporting that Crystal Cruises president Gregg Michael met with a shipyard in Germany last weekend in their pursuit of a third ship. However, the line is in no rush to get ship number three and there are still some basic things that need to be worked out.
Crystal is still working to determine just what features will interest prospective passengers in their target demographice over the next several years. While Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises are both working on plans for larger ships, Crystal is unsure that bigger is the right direction for them.
When I was in school, I didn’t look forward to the annual spelling bees. Now that I’m older, I’m still not sure I can get excited about participating in a spelling bee while I’m on vacation…
Princess Cruises however feels that their passengers might be interested in putting their spelling skills to the test while on vacation.
When Princess Cruises’ newest ship, Crown Princess, sets sail on June 14, she’ll offer passengers the opportunity to compete in one of the nation’s hottest “new” reality competitions: the spelling bee.This scholarly sport has seen a dramatic rise in fame in recent months, thanks to such popular movies as Akeelah and the Bee (which opened this month at theaters nationwide) and Bee Season (based on the best selling novel by Myla Goldberg), as well as the Tony-award-winning Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. And, America’s fascination with reality television will give this time-honored competition its moment in the spotlight on June 1 when, for the first time in its 79-year history, the Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship Rounds will be broadcasted live on ABC-TV during primetime.
Passengers aboard the new Crown Princess can try their hand at this increasingly popular pursuit with “The Bee at Sea.” This two-day challenge from Princess Cruises will test passengers’ skills and nerve with intense drama, escalating word difficulty, and suspense-filled elimination rounds. Featured in the Princess Theater on each sailing, The Bee at Sea will feature both an adult and kids version, and the winners will receive a special dictionary signed by the ship’s captain. Finalists will enjoy a larger audience for their 15 minutes of fame when the final rounds of competition are shown in the ship’s dramatic Movies Under the Stars outdoor film venue, which features a 300-square-foot LED screen, set amidst comfortable chaise lounges, a swimming pool, hot tub, and poolside bar.
Cruise vacations have long been known for offering passengers the opportunity to try out new activities that may have piqued their interest on land, but had neither the time nor the facilities to pursue. “While on our ships, our passengers love to try their hand at everything from pottery and scrapbooking to cooking, ballroom dancing, web design, photography, golf and more,” says Jan Swartz, Princess’ senior vice president of customer service and sales. “And the best part about our new ‘Bee at Sea’ competition is…if not aboard Princess, then where will they try it? Spelling bees for entertainment and enjoyment are not offered in many places.”
Princess tested the competitions last month aboard sister ship Caribbean Princess, and the feedback was extremely positive. Says Swartz, “Our passengers loved the drama of the competition, and it provided a more scholarly complement to our popular ‘Princess Pop Star’ talent competition.”
The Bee at Sea competitions will be rolled out among the Princess fleet starting in July. Crown Princess will be the first ship to offer this program when it sets sail on its inaugural voyage on June 14.
The 113,000-ton Crown Princess will introduce a number of new design innovations to the Princess fleet, including a dramatic new piazza-style atrium, new casual dining venues, and The Sanctuary, an adults-only retreat that features private cabana massages, MP3 players for rent, and a host of relaxing amenities and services. Within the new street café environment of the atrium, passengers will find an International Café serving up fresh pastries and baked goods in the morning and assorted other offerings throughout the day, as well as a wine and seafood bar. Several signature Princess venues have been further enhanced, including an expanded Sabatini’s Italian trattoria with a new piano lounge, and the Crown Grill, a new steak and seafood restaurant with an open, theater-style kitchen where chefs will custom-prepare steamed shellfish and cooked-to-order steaks and chops.
The ship will also feature the many hallmark features that define the Princess experience, including the dramatic Movies Under the Stars poolside movie screen, multiple dining and entertainment options, a Lotus Spa fitness center, an extensive children and teen’s center, a wedding chapel and nearly 900 staterooms with private balconies.
The inaugural 2006 summer season for Crown Princess will feature nine-day roundtrip voyages to both the Eastern and Western Caribbean, and will mark the return of Princess visits to Bermuda, as well as the line’s first-ever regular calls to Grand Turk. In the fall the ship will reposition to San Juan for winter Caribbean sailings.
NCL Corporation (“NCL”) today announced that its parent company, Star Cruises, has agreed to sell Norwegian Crown to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines Pte. Ltd., Singapore effective August 2006. Star Cruises will concurrently charter the vessel back from Fred. Olsen and NCL will continue her announced deployment through to November 2007.
Norwegian Crown is presently owned by Star Cruises along with four other mid-sized vessels also operated by NCL and Orient Lines. These vessels are on inter-company charter between Star and NCL. Last week, NCL announced that Norwegian Wind will be transferred in late April 2007 to Star Cruises to become SuperStar Aquarius, based in Hong Kong.
This summer and fall, Norwegian Crown is sailing seven-day Bermuda cruises from Philadelphia and New York and will sail her popular 14-night South American cruises throughout the winter season of 2006/2007. In summer 2007, she will again offer a full season of Bermuda cruises from New York and Philadelphia and will end her deployment as an NCL ship at the close of the Bermuda season at the end of October 2007.
The 34,000 gross-ton Norwegian Crown, which entered service in 1988 for Royal Cruise Line, accommodates over 1,000 guests (double occupancy) and features six restaurants, six bars and lounges, the Crown Club casino, the Mandara Spa & Fitness Center, a Kid’s Center and an Internet Café. Norwegian Crown has also operated in both the Norwegian Cruise Line and Orient Lines brands as Crown Odyssey and Norwegian Crown.
The departures of Norwegian Wind and Norwegian Crown from the NCL fleet are designed to occur within the same period as the scheduled delivery and entry into service of two new purpose built NCL Freestyle Cruising ships of approximately 2,380 lower berth capacity each, Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Gem.
It’s time for another one of those apology posts… Patricia and I both made a few goofs in the last few days that affected the site and what you could and couldn’t get to…
Let’s see… first there was the experimental layout changes over the weekend that broke the “more” link on the bottom of posts. (That’s been fixed)
Then there was the reconfiguration of the Photo Gallery that only allowed “registered users” to access the gallery (now fixed)
And finally there was the accidental reconfiguration behind the scenes with the plumbing of the internet that took the site down completely for a few hours last night.
We apologize for any incovenience we’ve caused, just remember we’re cruise specialists, not web designers. 
We’re much, much better at helping you plan your cruise than managing web sites…. Which is a really good thing!
More passengers than ever will have the opportunity to view the stunning autumn colors from a Princess ship next year as the line will offer nearly 20 percent more berths on this popular annual route. Crown Princess makes her Canada/New England debut in the region and will be joined by Grand Princess, marking the first time that two of the line’s largest, amenity-filled vessels will sail the northeast coast. In total, the two ships will offer nine departures on three different itineraries. Crown Princess will sail on seven-day roundtrip cruises from New York, while Grand Princess departs on 10-day sailings between New York City and Québec City. Grand Princess will also sail one Canada & Colonial America voyage along the full length of the Atlantic coast. The Canada & New England season will run from September 15 through October 18, 2007.The 3,080-passenger Crown Princess’ debut in the region features a seven-day roundtrip itinerary featuring the best of the northeast. With convenient New York departures from Brooklyn, the itinerary features visits to Halifax (Nova Scotia), Saint John (New Brunswick), Bar Harbor (Maine), Boston and Newport (Rhode Island). The ship sails on five voyages between September 15 and October 13, 2007.Meanwhile, the 2,600-passenger Grand Princess takes over the line’s classic 10-day Canada & New England voyage between New York City and Québec City. The route, which visits Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, Saint John, Halifax Sydney (Nova Scotia) and Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island), also features an overnight stay in the quaint Québec City. Grand Princess’ three sailings depart between September 18 and October 8, 2007.
In addition, Grand Princess will also offer a special 12-day Canada & Colonial America voyage between Québec City and Ft. Lauderdale. This journey departs on October 18 and features calls at Sydney, Halifax, Bar Harbor, Boston, Newport, New York City, Norfolk (Virginia) and Charleston (South Carolina).
For those who would like to extend their Canada & New England vacation, Princess offers escorted pre- or post-cruise land tours in conjunction with these sailings, in which passengers can travel back through historic America or spend further time in Canada with a complete cruisetour.
Early booking fares for Princess’ Canada & New England sailings begin at $1,095 for Crown Princess seven-day voyages and $1,595 for Grand Princess’ 10-day cruises.
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