This week Disney Cruise Lines announced that several Disney Channel Stars will be sailing onboard DCL ships this summer.  Celebrity Millenium is getting a  $10 million upgrade.

Holland America is introducing new Digital Workshops, but if youre listening to our show you probably know what they’re going to teach you, and with the CDC easing their Mexico warnings cruise lines are making plans to head back to Mexico.

First NCL announced that they are moving Norwegian Sun from Alaska to Europe for the Summer of 2010.  Meanwhile Norwegian Jewel will move to New York instead of Europe for the Summer 2010 season.  Meanwhile Princess elects to have two ships sail the Caribbean over the Summer 2010 season.

Fincantieri elects to cancel the delivery ceremony for Costa Luminosa because of a labor dispute.  Royal Caribbean expands My Time Dining fleetwide.

Finally we have a quick update about MSC Melody’s pirate attack, and then we talked about the Swine Flue impact.  Expecting to go on a cruise to Mexico in the next month?  We need to talk because your itinerary has changed.  No matter where your cruise is headed there is now an industrywide standardized screening process in place.

Of the line’s 14 ships, a total of five ships (and five sailings) are impacted by these changes. Four are the current sailings of the ms Ryndam, ms Statendam, ms Westerdam and ms Zuiderdam. The May 1, 2009 cruise of the ms Veendam will also be impacted.

The itinerary planning team at Holland America Line is developing alternate itineraries for these sailings and the new ports of call will be announced as they are confirmed.

If the CDC travel advisory changes prior to the conclusion of any of these five sailings, the cruise line may consider re-instating the original itineraries if possible.

The health and well being of our passengers and crew is our foremost priority, and therefore we are monitoring the swine flu situation closely. Our ships and medical staff are already well equipped to prevent and contain the spread of contagious diseases, including swine flu. Even though the risk of contracting this illness is very low, we will be taking extra precautions, and will be guided by advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Six Princess ships are currently scheduled for calls in Mexican ports through next month. In light of yesterday’s CDC’s travel health warning for Mexico, we have cancelled the two calls scheduled for Mexican ports today — Puerto Vallarta (Sapphire Princess) and Cabo San Lucas (Coral Princess). Further, we have revised the itinerary for Sapphire Princess, replacing the Mexican ports with San Diego and Catalina. We hope that our passengers will understand that these changes were beyond our control and that we have provided them with an attractive, alternative itinerary. We are in the process of reviewing the other close-in sailings that include Mexican ports and making itinerary changes, and these details will be communicated by tomorrow. In the meantime, some of the actions we are taking onboard all of our ships include: We will continue to closely monitor the situation and will do everything possible to protect the health of our passengers and crew.

The health and well-being of our guests and crew is of the utmost importance to Norwegian Cruise Line. Accordingly, the company is closely monitoring the health advisories regarding the current Swine Influenza (Swine Flu) situation. As a precautionary measure due to the recent travel advisory relating to Mexico, the company is cancelling Norwegian Pearl’s final two calls in Mexico on its current repositioning cruise. The stops were scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, April 29 and Friday, May 1, 2009. Apart from this sailing, Norwegian Cruise Line’s scheduled deployment does not include any other ports of call in Mexico until the end of September 2009. Norwegian Cruise Line has stringent protocols for cleaning and sanitation on all of its vessels to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. In addition, the company is taking proactive precautionary measures to protect its valued guests, including, but not limited to, fleet-wide guest screening via a health questionnaire prior to embarkation and on-board education regarding Swine Flu symptoms and preventative actions. As a result, the company does not anticipate that its guests’ cruise experience will be impacted. Furthermore, Norwegian Cruise Line’s on-board medical centers are stocking an appropriate amount of the anti-viral medication used to treat the illness, in the unlikely event the need for its use becomes necessary.

We spent the rest of the show talking about passport and passport card issues.  From what you will and won’t be able to use a passport card for, to how to get your passport and passport card.

While we have a lot of great information in this show about passports and passport cards, you will always find the best and most up to date information at the US State Department’s foreign travel website located at travel.state.gov

Now that you’re going to get your passport how about collecting some stamps by taking advantage of a great deal on a Carnival Splendor sailing in the Med this July.

Now, if you read through the travel.state.gov site you’ll discover that you can supply a photo you’ve taken as long as it meets the following requirements (remember you need to supply two photos)-

• 2×2 inches in size
• Identical
• Taken within the past 6 months, showing current appearance
• Color
• Full face, front view with a plain white or off-white background
• Between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head
• Taken in normal street attire
• Uniforms should not be worn in photographs except religious attire that is worn daily.
• Do not wear a hat or headgear that obscures the hair or hairline.
• If you normally wear prescription glasses, a hearing device, wig or similar articles, they should be worn for your picture.
• Dark glasses or nonprescription glasses with tinted lenses are not acceptable unless you need them for medical reasons. A medical certificate may be required.

For the most part all of the requirements are easy to meet, although there are a few bits that may be a little daunting like getting the head in the picture to be between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches. However the good folks at The Consumerist (which I might add is a place that we hope never has a reason to write badly about us ) have pointed us to this post on Money, Matter and More Musings which tells you just how you can take your own passport photos that meet all of the above requirements.

First, get yourself a white cloth to use as a backdrop and select a well lit area and take your pictures. Now YOU can select the best photos. Head over to ePassportPhoto and upload your pictures, this free service lets you crop your photos and will automatically resize them to the correct size. If you have a good photo printer and photo paper you can print out the pictures yourself. Don’t have a photo printer, then take (or send) your photos to Target, Costco or a similar store that will print digital pictures and get your passport photos printed out. Even if you have to buy the backdrop and pay to get the pictures printed out taking your own passport pictures could cost you as little as 25% of what many places charge for passport and ID photos…

U.S. citizens may begin applying in advance for the new U.S. Passport Card beginning February 1, 2008, in anticipation of land border travel document requirements.  We expect cards will be available and mailed to applicants in spring 2008.

The passport card will facilitate entry and expedite document processing at U.S. land and sea ports-of-entry when arriving from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.  The card may not be used to travel by air.  It will otherwise carry the rights and privileges of the U.S. passport book and will be adjudicated to the exact same standards.

The Department of State is issuing this passport card in response to the needs of border resident communities for a less expensive and more portable alternative to the traditional passport book.  The card will have the same validity period as a passport book: 10 years for an adult, five for children 15 and younger.  For adults who already have a passport book, they may apply for the card as a passport renewal and pay only $20.  First-time applicants will pay $45 for adult cards and $35 for children.

To facilitate the frequent travel of U.S. citizens living in border communities and to meet DHS’s operational needs at land borders, the passport card will contain a vicinity-read radio frequency identification (RFID) chip.  This chip will link the card  to a stored record in secure government databases. There will be no personal information written to the RFID chip itself.

It had always been our intention to record a show last week.  Unfortunately we were hit by an illness just hours before our normal recording time, and things didn’t get back to normal until almost mid-week.

To make up for missing last week – we offer you two shows this week.  As the new year started the was quite a bit of news in the cruise industry and we thought there was too much to just do one show.  Even so there were several stories that we posted on the site that didn’t make it in to the show.

Some of the stories we talked about this week -

New check in policies coming – Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara and NCL  have announced their changes, other lines to announce changes over the next month.   Bottom line- by February 19 all cruise lines will require you to be checked in for your cruise at least 60 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time.

Carnival has announced new minimum ages and has revised their policy regarding pregnant passengers.

Crystal is tighten their smoking rules, and Disney is introducing a new show on Disney Wonder.

Royal Caribbean has a new show coming to  Explorer of The Seas, and they will have trans-fats removed from their ships over the course of the next few weeks.  They’ve also renewed their operating agreement with the Port of Galveston.

Also SeaSocks folks should start watching their mailboxes for their invoices – they should be arriving later this week.

No Deal of The Week this week, but we expect that it will be back for next week.

The  latest  update on Windjammer Barefoot Cruises is not promising.  The line, which had hoped to resume operations  with one ship by the middle of last month has instead canceled sailings until at least December 8.  Windjammer is hoping to resume sailing Legacy – and use the profits from Legacy to resume sailing it’s three other ships in the Spring of 2008.

Before Legacy can return to service, Trinidad’s Maritime Services Division must first conduct an audit of Windjammer’s management company – and that audit has not taken place yet.

While the line vows to process refunds for those affected quickly, some would be Windjammer clients are being told that they might not see refunds until April.  Adding to the trouble is a lawsuit filed by credit card processor NCMIC who is looking to be reimbursed for chargebacks from customers seeking refunds from canceled sailings.   The lawsuit alleges that Windjammer is continuing  to sell cruises but is unable to provide those cruises.

Also of concern is that Windjammer’s website (which was down when we posted our update in October) makes no mention of the line’s financial difficulties, legal troubles, or even that sailings have been canceled.  The site is still accepting bookings – with payment via PayPal…

We recognize that Windjammer needs to take in deposits in order to have any hope of restarting operations, but if you’re considering a booking with the line we STRONGLY advise that you look in to third party travel insurance in the event that Windjammer is unable to return their fleet to operation.

Last year many travel agents reported that Windjammer had been late paying commissions, often an early sign that a cruise line is having difficulties.

Then there was a labor dispute aboard the Polynesia this past August which delayed embarkation, followed by the s/v Yankee Clipper being detained by port authorities in Grenada after a crew member sued for $9,000 in back pay. The ship has since been released but has been sitting in Trinidad for several weeks.

There was the announcement late last week that they would be canceling all of their sailings, although the Miami Herald reports that two of the line’s four ships haven’t sailed for the last several weeks anyway… No reason was given for the cancellation, and no information was provided about future sailings.

The Miami Herald is also reporting that the line’s shipping agent in Aruba has had to supply the crew of Polynesia with water because the ship does not have sufficient supplies.  A group of past passengers, alarmed by reports that crews don’t have enough supplies or the money to return home have begun collecting donations on a message board in order to assist the stranded crew members.

The line has been quiet on the apparently worsening situation, their website which used to be www.windjammer.com is now a parked domain page with Network Solutions, but a mirror site appears to working at http://www.asource.com/windjammer.  The mirror site makes no mention of the difficulties that the line is experiencing.

Crystal is speeding up internet access onboard, and Princess is adding some Hawai’ian cultural programs to their Hawai’i sailings.

Silversea has snatched up the expedition ship World Discoverer, meanwhile Disney has announced how they will be celebrating the upcoming holidays onboard their ships.

MSC has revised it’s smoking policy, and Carnival is re-affirming their commitment to New Orleans departures.

Don’t forget, US passport regulations get a little tighter today too!

We talk a bit about insurance, however we don’t did too deep – this is insurance after all and not the most exciting of topics.

With us heading out of town this week, there’s no Deal of The Week. But as always when we had out of town, one of our colleagues we be keeping an eye on our phones while we are gone.

Finally a piece from The Arrogant Worm’s Ballad of Dan closes out the show this week. Listen and you’ll know why!

Starting on October 1, ALL travelers entering the US by plane are required to have a valid passport INCLUDING US CITIZENS!

For US citizens, a government issued ID and Official State Department proof of application for a passport will no longer be sufficient for use as proof of citizenship to travel to the US.

Both airlines and cruise lines consider it the passenger’s responsibility to ensure that they have proper documentation to travel.  They will deny boarding if you are unable to supply them with the required documentation for your trip.  It is almost unheard of for cruise lines or airlines to compensate passengers when boarding is denied due to inproper documentation, and this situation is typically not covered by travel insurance.  Proper travel documents are required for EVERY member of your party, regardless of age.

While a passport is currently not required for US citizens returning to the US via ship, we continue to strongly recommend that you obtain a passport if you are preparing for any international travel regardless of your mode of transport.  We are hearing that the backlog of passport applications has eased significantly compared to what it was earlier in the year, and that passports are being delivered much quicker than they had been.

Remember, the US State Department’s foreign travel website travel.state.gov is your best resource for passport and other international travel information.

Royal Caribbean: Freedom of The Seas was the first cruise ship to visit Jamaica after Hurricane Dean with her port call in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. At this point no further itinerary changes are expected.

Carnival Cruise Lines: No further changes have been announced since yesterday.

In addition we are receiving reports of serious damage to Puerto Costa Maya, with the port estimating that it will be closed for 6 to 8 months while repairs are completed. The port estimates that they have lost as much as half of the pier after the community was stuck by the full force of the then Category 5 storm. Damage assessments at Costa Maya continue but at this time there are no reports of casualties.

We are closely monitoring the progress of Hurricane Dean. All of Carnival’s ships will continue to operate at a safe distance from this storm at all times. Our number one priority is the safety of our guests and crew.

We will make some itinerary changes for several departures this weekend in order to provide our guests with an enjoyable shore experience, while operating the ships in the safest and most comfortable conditions possible.

Carnival Triumph August 18 departure – The ship will visit San Juan, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay and Nassau.

Carnival Imagination August 18 departure – The ship will visit Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Nassau.

Carnival Inspiration August 18 departure – The ship will visit Nassau and Freeport.

Holiday August 18 departure – The ship will visit Freeport and Key West.

Carnival Legend August 19 departure – The ship will visit Key West, Nassau, Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk.

Carnival Valor August 19 departure – The ship will visit Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

Carnival Conquest August 19 departure – The ship will visit Grand Cayman and Cozumel as scheduled, but the call in Montego Bay will be cancelled.

Entering the summer travel season passport offices, post offices, travel agents, and even congressional offices have been besieged by travelers who’s departure dates are approaching and still haven’t received their passports.

In recognition of how serious the situation has become the President has ordered a temporary change to the passport rules.

US Citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda who have applied for but not yet received passports can temporarily enter and depart from the United States by air with a government issued photo identification and Department of State official proof of application for a passport through September 30, 2007.

There’s two important pieces of this latest change – First, if you will be traveling to outside of the US via air you must still apply for a passport.  If you are traveling to any international destination outside of Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, or Bermuda you must still have a valid passport.  Finally this rule expires on September 30, 2007.

Need to check on the status of your passport application or get proof of application for a passport?  Head over to travel.state.gov, where you can get everything you need.  The website advises that passport status requests submitted through the website take about a week to process.

If you are going to travel destination in the next six months that requires a passport and don’t have one yet you still need to apply for one.  We strongly recommend that you expedite your passport application, while costly, expedited applications are taking between 4 to 6 weeks to be processed and delivered.

If you have additional questions feel free to call us at 888-286-9827 or visit travel.state.gov 

There was a ton of cruise news this week, while we didn’t cover all of it in the show we still went a bit long. You’ll have to go through the news section of the site to check out the stories that we didn’t discuss on the show.

What we did discuss:

Queen Mary 2 visits San Francisco, and I will get pictures up soon!

With the deadline looming for the option on Royal Caribbean’s second Genesis class ship, we wonder if the line is going to take the option and order Genesis number 2.

Crystal and HAL announce 2007 itineraries for Europe and Alaska respectively. We didn’t discuss it, but Celebrity announced their 2007 Alaska excursions too.

Regent Seven Seas remembers the Radisson Diamond onboard the Seven Seas Mariner next month.

Princess introduces “The Department of Romance” which I guess is a bit more friendly than the Ministry of Love

Lots of Carnival news including new itineraries for Imagination two newbuilds get names, rumors that Carnival Splendor may spend some time in Northern Europe, and the Fantasy gets hit by a barge in New Orleans.

We also talk about British Airway’s new baggage rules and some possible expansions by the Walt Disney Company.

No Deal of The Week this week, but it should be back on Feb 24.

As always you can find the show in iTunes, our click one of the links below to play it right in your browser or download it to your computer.

On this week’s news show:

• Crystal’s 2007 European Season
• Seabourn cancels Libya stops
• Royal Caribbean expands kids programs
• Norovirus onboard Freedom of The Seas
• Norovirus information
• Carnival Freedom to offer two Trans-Atlantic sailings in 2008
• Scotty Bowman to sail onboard MSC Opera
• MSC Poesia keel laid
• Viking River Cruises guarantees your satisfaction

This week we’ll be talking about Hawai’i in our feature show, so our Deal of The Week is a different itinerary to Hawai’i.� Normally we spotlight NCL America when it comes to Hawai’i, but for a change of pace we find a terrific deal from Holland America Line.� Be sure to check it out.

The site now features a cleaner design that should actually make it easier to find what you’re looking for.  While the site still features our great cruise search engine that allows you to search by any combination of year, month, destination, length of cruise, destination,  ship name or departure port; make sure you check out the new “Where in The World” widget.  Not sure where you want to go or what line goes there?  Using the “Where in The World” widget you can select a port and in addition to a description of the port you’ll also get a chart that shows you what lines visit that port and what months they call on that port.

Those changes are just the tip of the iceberg though.  We have another major redesign of both the .net site and the .info site (this site) in the works.  When we’re finished the two sites will share design elements from each other and provide you with an even better experience when visiting them.

Norwegian Cruise Line and NCL America (together “NCL”) are closely monitoring the situation in Hawaii after the earthquake on Sunday, October 15th. <em>Norwegian Wind, Pride of America, Pride of Aloha</em> and <em>Pride of Hawaii are all safe and secure. No passenger or crew injuries have been reported.Flight information is changing rapidly; however, we are aware of several cancellations and many flight delays.  The company asks that passengers check with their airline before traveling.

NCL has made the decision to keep Pride of Aloha in Honolulu overnight to accommodate as many guests as possible, from the just-ended cruise, whose flights out of Honolulu today have been cancelled, and to wait until tomorrow for those guests, due to embark the just-starting cruise, whose flights into Honolulu today have been cancelled. For those guests who cannot be accommodated because of lack of cabin space on Pride of Aloha tonight, NCL is working to secure hotel rooms in Honolulu. Priority is being given to guests who booked their air travel through NCL, but, as always, the company is working to try to assist everyone affected.

Pride of Aloha will depart Honolulu at 8:00 pm. The adjusted itinerary will be announced shortly.

NCL will make every effort to update guests aboard Pride of Hawai`i, whose cruise is scheduled to end in Honolulu on Monday, October 16; however, the airlines have not updated the company yet on flights scheduled for tomorrow.

Updated 9:30 a.m. EST.

Many airports on the islands are without power or are operating on emergency generators.  Flights are arriving at Hawai’i airports, however few are departing.  As of our last check with the cruise lines with itineraries scheduled for the next few weeks there are no diversions or itinerary changes to report.  We will continue to monitor the situation in Hawai’i as it develops and post any updates that may be of interest to the cruise community.

Thanks to the Stevens-Leahy Amendment to the 2007 Homeland Secruity Appropriations Bill thing just got a bit more complicated.

For travellers entering the US via sea, passports will be required NO LATER THAN June 1, 2009. Passports for air travelers will still be required this January.

What this means for you the cruiser: If you enter the US via a cruise ship that has visited a foreign port, you do not need to passport to enter the US.

If your cruise ship voyage ends outside the US regardless of where it originated from, and you must fly back to the US, you WILL be required to have a valid passport to enter the US.

This information is brand new, and the US State Department’s website travel.state.gov has not been updated to reflect the new requirements. We expect the site to be updated to reflect the new rules soon.

The reason behind the regulation change is to allow the government to develop an economical alternative to passports called the PASScard. Considering that a passport will now cost you $97 we can understand why there might be a push to implement something that isn’t quite so expensive. While a final prices hasn’t been decided, it’s looking like a PASScard will cost around $50 and only be valid for 5 years as opposed to the 10 years a passport is valid for.

The key piece of information though is that passports will STILL be required for travelers entering the US by plane.

For information about obtaining a passport be sure to visit the US State Department’s website. Again we expect the site to be updated soon with the new passport requirements.

To offer guests more time in select ports of call and a better arrival time for viewing Alaska’s breathtaking, ice-blue Hubbard Glacier on Mercury’s seven-night Alaska sailings in 2007, Celebrity Cruises has changed the ship’s port of arrival and departure to Vancouver, B.C.

Guests currently holding reservations with deposits made for Celebrity’s Mercury cruises from Seattle between May 4, 2007, and September 14, 2007, will receive a $100 per stateroom onboard credit. Celebrity’s Air/Sea department will make the necessary changes for any Air/Sea guests whose air travel is impacted by the shift to Vancouver. Cruise-only guests who incur a fee due to changing their air reservations will be reimbursed up to $100 per person, providing proof of the air change fee is provided. The itinerary from Vancouver will feature the same ports of call: Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, Alaska, and including cruises through the Inside Passage and several hours beside Hubbard Glacier.

Grandeur of the Seas, scheduled to depart Sunday, September 10 – unfortunately has experienced a mechanical problem involving its starboard rudder. Royal Caribbean regrets this unexpected development. The ship will now delay its departure until approximately midnight Monday – to allow time to repair the rudder – and sail an alternative itinerary. Guests booked on this sailing may embark between 5 and 10 p.m. Sunday and make full use of the ship until its departure Monday night. Due to time, distance and weather constraints, the ship will now make a three-night sailing (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) with no ports of call, returning Friday morning as scheduled. Guests booked on this sailing may cancel their cruise and receive a letter of credit for 125 percent of the amount paid to Royal Caribbean. That letter of credit may be applied to a future Royal Caribbean cruise. Guests sailing on this cruise will receive a 50 percent refund and a 25 percent discount on a future Royal Caribbean cruise.

The revised schedule has the ship departing Port Canaveral at 9pm, arriving in Nassau at 3pm Wednesday and departing at noon on Thursday.  Friday the ship will be at sea, returning to New York on Saturday at 10am.

Port Everglades/Fort Lauderdale is currently closed to all inbound and outbound traffic.  All cargo operations have also ceased with the exception of petroleum operations.

The Port of Miami is closed, Port Canaveral remains open (I know, that makes sense since Norwegian Spirit arrived earlier today) however all commercial and recreational vessels are required to depart the by 10:30PM Eastern.

The Port of Jacksonville is still open, but should be closed by 6pm Wednesday.

Finally, there is a possiblity that the Cruise Planners site may go down. The server it’s housed on is in Miami, now the hosting facility is supposed to be rated to withstand a Category 5 storm, but you never know…

Carnival’s Fascination which departed Miami today will be in Calica on Wednesday and the ship’s scheduled call in Key West may be cancelled.

Norwegian Cruise Lines Norwegian Dawn which departed New York and arrived at Kings Wharf, Bermuda today will remain in the vicinity of Kings Wharf for until Thursday.  The ship’s port calls in the Bahamas have been cancelled.

Norwegian Spirit will call on Port Canaveral as scheduled on Tuesday.  The remainder of the ship’s itinerary will be determined based on the latest forcast updates from the National Hurricane Center.

We will continue to post updates as we receive them.

The US Coast Guard has alerted all South Florida ports to prepare for tropical storm force winds and was preparing to shut down the Ports of Miami and Fort Lauderdale later this evening in anticipation of the storm. A hurricane watch is in effect for the Florida Keys and the southern peninsula of Florida. Current forcasts from the National Hurricane Center in Miami indicate the storm will turn north and make landfall on the Florida peninsula early Wednesday. You’ll find the details on the adjustments that cruise lines are making to their itineraries by clicking on “more”

Carnival has revised the itineraries of five of its ships due to the storm. Elation which departed yesterday from Miami is at sea today instead of Half Moon Cay, will visit Grand Turk on Tuesday, flip it’s St. Thomas and San Juan port calls and add a visit to Nassau.

Ecstasy visited Progreso today instead of tomorrow, will visit Cozumel today a day earlier than originally scheduled. Carnival Conquest will visit Progreso tomorrow instead of visiting Montego Bay on Wednesday, instead calling on Cozumel on Wednesday two days earlier than originally scheduled.

Carnival Miracle will call on the same ports it was scheduled to, but in a different order. Carnival Glory will sail an Eastern Caribbean itinerary (St Thomas, St Maarten) and visited Nassau yesterday instead of at the end of it’s voyage. Originally the ship was scheduled for a Western Caribbean itinerary calling on Cozumel, Belize, and Costa Maya.

Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas is headed to Belize on Wednesday, Costa Maya on Thursday, and Cozumel on Friday. Meanwhile, Enchantment of the Seas which departed Port Everglades today will spend Tuesday and Wednesday in Nassau, Thursday at Coco Cay, and Key West on Friday.

Per the TSA in the United States the following restrictions are in place for all passengers departing on domestic or international flights:

NO LIQUIDS OR GELS OF ANY KIND WILL BE PERMITTED IN CARRY-ON BAGGAGE. ITEMS MUST BE IN CHECKED BAGGAGE. This includes all beverages, shampoo, suntan lotion, creams, tooth paste, hair gel, and other items of similar consistency.

Exception: Baby formula, breast milk, or juice if a baby or small child is traveling; prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger’s ticket; and insulin and essential other non-prescription medicines

• Beverages purchased in the sterile area must be consumed before boarding because they will not be permitted onboard the aircraft.
• Passengers traveling from the U.K. to the U.S. will be subject to a more extensive screening process.

Per the British Airports Authority (BAA) passengers on UK international and domestic flights are subject to the following restrictions:

  Passengers are prohibited from carrying hand luggage into the cabin of an aircraft with the following excepts (which must be placed in a plastic bag):

pocket size wallets and pocket size purses plus contents (for example money, credit cards, identity cards etc (not handbags));

travel documents essential for the journey (for example passports and travel tickets);

prescription medicines and medical items sufficient and essential for the flight (e.g. diabetic kit), except in liquid form unless verified as authentic.

spectacles and sunglasses, without cases.

contact lens holders, without bottles of solution.

for those travelling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted by the accompanying passenger) and

sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight (nappies, wipes, creams and nappy disposal bags).female sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight, if unboxed (eg tampons, pads, towels and wipes).

tissues (unboxed) and/or handkerchiefs

keys (but no electrical key fobs)

All passengers must be hand searched, and their footwear and all the items they are carrying must be x-ray screened. Any liquids discovered must be removed from the passenger.  Pushchairs and walking aids must be x-ray screened, and only airport-provided wheelchairs may pass through the screening point. In addition to the above, all passengers boarding flights to the USA and all the items they are carrying, including those acquired after the central screening point, must be subjected to secondary search at the boarding gate. Any liquids discovered must be removed from the passenger.

 We will continue to monitor the situation and will post updates should authorities announce a change in the security restrictions or if other nations choose to adopt more restrictive security policies as well.

While it’s very convienent to be able to use your cell phone onboard it is important to remember that while the ship is at sea, your phone will be roaming. We’re seeing reports that on many ships your phone may even appear to be on your home cellular network even though it is really roaming. This means that phone calls and text messages will cost you even if you have gobs of minutes in your calling plan, free nights and weekends etc… Those costs can add up quickly!

We strongly encourage you especially when cruising to US destinations, to keep your cell phones off while onboard ship.