Cunard Line Honours Forces Personnel with On Board Credit Programme

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In recognition of those who have served and continue to serve in the armed forces, Cunard Line is promoting its forces on board credit programme for active and retired military personnel. The credit, which ranges from $50 to $250 per stateroom depending on the length of the voyage, is available to members of the United States and Canadian armed forces with appropriate service identification.

"In honour of the recent Veterans and Remembrance Day holidays, we commemorate and thank those who have fought around the globe to bring peace and freedom worldwide," said Peter Shanks, president of Cunard Line. "Throughout our 170 year history, we have supported military forces during wartime; to-day we recognize their dedicated service and hope that this programme provides a small token of our gratitude."

The Line’s military personnel on board credit programme is available to active military personnel plus retired and disabled forces veterans with proper verification as follows:

* Active personnel currently serving in the following service divisions: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, Reserves, Canadian National Defense (military verification certificate).

* Retired Personnel defined as: Enlisted personnel or officers with a minimum of 20 years of service, medically retired or 100-percent disabled (blue or tan uniformed ID card/Canadian white N.D. 21 ID card).

* Veterans with an Honourable Discharge serving a minimum of two years or six months in an active war zone in any of the United States service divisions listed above or Canadian National Defense (DD 214 plus current photo ID).

The on board credit amount is $50 for voyages six days in length or less, $100 for voyages of seven to 13 days, or $250 for voyages of 14 days or longer, offered on a per stateroom basis.

To request the military personnel on board credit, eligible persons should apply no later than one week prior to the voyage departure date. Passenger and sailing information should be accompanied by proof of eligibility and provided to either the guest’s travel agent or to Cunard Line.

For more information and to book a voyage aboard a Cunard ocean liner, contact The Cruise People toll-free at 1-800-968-6523

Technorati Tags: Veterans,air force,navy,marines,army

Round-the-World From CMA CGM Passenger Freighters

by mark Tre

In a different market, Marseilles-based CMA CGM announced the introduction of a new 76-day Round-the-World cargo-passenger service on six British-flag cargo ships. The ships, CMA CGM Blue Whale, Dolphin, Florida, Kingfish, Swordfish and Tarpon, are 5,100 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) container ships, completed in 2007-08 and registered in London.

Starting in New York, the ships will head for the Far East via the Suez Canal, calling en route at Tanger Med in Morocco, and Jebel Ali, twenty miles from Dubai, before proceeding to Singapore. Once in the Far East they will call at Singapore, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Shanghai and Pusan before returning to North America by way of Balboa, Panama, and then trading up the US coast via Houston, Mobile, Miami, Jacksonville, Savannah and Charleston to New York.

 
Each ship has three double cabins, complete with private lounge, refrigerator, desk and chair, and en suite facilities. Passengers are also able to avail themselves of a swimming pool, deck chairs, shipboard library, table tennis and television and DVD player, as well as a daily newspaper.

 
Passengers will be able to board at any port of call and disembark where they wish with fares paid per day. The ocean transits are 9 days from New York to Tanger Med, 14 days from Tanger Med to Jebel Ali, 12 days from Jebel Ali to Singapore and 17 days from Pusan to Balboa, with the rest of the time spent coasting between ports in Asia and on the American coast.
Fares for the full 76 days start at Euro; 7,600 per person double,  9,120 for single passengers, including full board, dues and taxes. Complimentary French table wine is included with lunch and dinner. Part passages are also available, with fares based on the number of days spent on board at Euro; 100 per person per day double and Euro; 120 per day for singles (higher fares apply to voyages of 10 days or less). A number of other new cargo-passenger routes were also announced by CMA CGM last week.

Lecturers Play Musical Chairs On Carnival Group Ships

by Mark Tre
While Bill Miller goes to lecture on Holland America, a very traditional Cunard lecturer, born, like Miller, in Hoboken, New Jersey, has now been recruited by Princess Cruises.

John Maxtone-Graham, New York-based author of the trilogy "The Only Way to Cross," "Liners to the Sun" and "Crossing and Cruising," as well as co-author of "Queen Mary 2: The Greatest Ocean Liner of Our Time," is the doyen of cruise ship lecturers. Author of several other books, including three Cunard histories, he has made hundreds of Transatlantic crossings, not to mention cruises, and he celebrated his 80th birthday on board RMS Queen Mary 2 in New York on July 30, 2009.

Traditionally, but not exclusively, he has lectured on Cunard ships, spending about half his year at sea, but for 2011, in something new for Princess Cruises, it has engaged him to speak on nine of its sailings, on four different ships, next year.

Between January 26 and March 24 he will join Star Princess for three 14-night cruises between Santiago and Rio de Janeiro and a northbound 15-day positioning voyage from Rio to Fort Lauderdale.

On May 7-22, he will make the 15-night transatlantic crossing in Crown Princess from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton.
And between July 2 and August 25, he will speak aboard Ocean Princess, on three 18-night northern sailings, one round trip from Dover to northern Norway and Russia, a cruise to the Top of the World en route from Dover to New York, and a return Fire and Ice cruise from New York to Dover. Ocean Princess is one of Princess’s boutique ships, whose sisters now work for Azamara and Oceania.

Maxtone-Graham will follow these voyages with an 18-day Atlantic crossing in Ruby Princess from Venice to Fort Lauderdale, on October 19-November 6. With four crossings next summer, Maxtone-Graham will be putting in more Transatlantic time than Bill Miller on his two Rotterdam voyages.

Ashore, Maxtone-Graham lectures at New York’s Metropolitan Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society, the Four Arts Society of Palm Beach and at Britain’s National Maritime Museum.

In a few days time, on Friday, December 3, Maxtone-Graham will speak at the Metropolitan Museum on the subject "France’s Last Ocean Liner," to be followed on December 10 by "Norway’s First Caribbean Megaship." This two-part lecture series, entitled "Dames at Sea – from S.S. France to Norway," is in support of his new book "France/Norway" published this year by W W Norton.

For those in Europe who might like to hear him, Maxtone-Graham will be lecturing to the Ocean Liner Society in London on January 4, 2011, in a special presentation on "France/Norway." There are admission fees and details are available from the Metropolitan Museum and the Ocean Liner Society.

LiveJournal Tags: John Maxtone-Graham,Ocean Princess,France,Norway,QM2,Queen Mary 2,Rotterdam

New Round the World Passenger/Cargo Service From CMA CGM

 

The CMA CGM Blue Whale and five sister ships each carry up to six passengers in round-the-world service.

Recently, Round the World cargo passenger services have taken about 120 days or more to circle the globe. Now, however, thanks to CMA CGM, Kevin Griffin, managing director of London-based The Cruise People, reports that "for those who are interested in spending a third less time and money travelling round the world we now have a new 76-day service from CMA CGM, the French line, on British-flag ships."

"Starting in Houston, New York or Hong Kong, six container ships now offer berths for up to six passengers each in this newly-offered express service," adds Griffin. "Starting in New York, the ships head for the Far East via the Suez Canal, calling en route at Tanger Med, a new port in Morocco, and Jebel Ali, twenty miles from Dubai, before proceeding to Singapore. Once in the Far East the ships call at Singapore, Hong Kong, Chiwan, Shanghai and Pusan before returning to North America by way of Balboa, Panama, and then trading up the US coast via Houston, Mobile, Miami, Jacksonville, Savannah and Charleston back to New York."

The six ships engaged on this run, the CMA CGM Blue Whale, Dolphin, Florida, Kingfish, Swordfish and Tarpon, are 5,100 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) container ships, completed in 2007-08 and registered in London.  Each ship offers three double cabins, complete with private lounge, refrigerator, desk and chair, and en suite facilities. Passengers are able to avail themselves of a swimming pool, deck chairs, shipboard library, ping pong and television and DVD player, as well as a daily newspaper.

For those who like their sea time, says Griffin, "the longest ocean transits are 14 days from Tanger Med to Jebel Ali, 12 days from Jebel Ali to Singapore and 17 days from Pusan to Balboa, with the rest of the time spent coasting between ports in Asia and on the American coast. Non-citizens of the US and Canada, however, do require a full US visa for US port calls on these ships, as they are not party to the various visa waiver schemes."

Fares for the full 76 days start at Euros 7,600 per person double, Euros 9,120 for single passengers, including full board, dues and taxes. Complimentary French table wine is also included with lunch and dinner. Part passages are also available, with fares based on the number of days spent on board at Euros 100 per person per day double and Euros 120 per day for singles (higher fares apply to voyages of 10 days or less).

For further information and availability on CMA CGM’s round-the-world service please contact The Cruise People’s Fred Cherney at 416-900-0889 Ex 22, 800-961-5536 Ex 21 or fcherney@thecruisepeople.ca

Holland America Celebrates Its Transatlantic Heritage

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Some sources have been going on about Holland America coming to compete with Cunard Line next year in the North Atlantic. Not so. Holland America has always done Transatlantic voyages and secondly, although managed independently, both companies are part of Carnival Corp & PLC.

What has been announced is that its flagship, Rotterdam, will make two Transatlantic voyages in 2011 that will be used to celebrate Holland America’s Transatlantic heritage.  Rotterdam, still flagship although larger ships have since joined the fleet, will leave Rotterdam on July 3, 2011, and call at Southampton before heading for New York, where she will turn around and offer an eastbound Transatlantic voyage, departing New York on July 12 with a call at Cobh for Cork. Southampton and Cobh have been chosen for their historical roles as Transatlantic ports.

Rotterdam‘s Crows Nest lounge will become a Museum at Sea and as part of this celebration Holland America has engaged author and ocean liner expert Bill Miller and marine artist Stephen Card as lecturers. Miller is the author of dozens of books about ocean liners, including "Great British Passenger Ships," "The Last Bluewater Liners" and "Passenger Liners American Style," not to mention "Going Dutch: The Holland America Line Story," and has lectured on more than fifty cruise ships.

Card is a master mariner and maritime artist who now has ship portraits hanging on every ship in the Holland America fleet, not to mention a few Cunard and Costa ones. Card, a native of Bermuda, is the author of "Holland America Line: The Spotless Fleet" and "Cunarder: Maritime Paintings," as well as co-author of "Queen of Bermuda and the Furness Bermuda Line." Miller has recently also become the subject of a documentary film by Robert Neal Marshall entitled "Mr Ocean Liner," which previewed on RMS Queen Mary 2 in Brooklyn on July 1.

Both Miller and Card will be on board Rotterdam for the round voyage while Stephen Payne OBE, vice-president and naval architect for Carnival Corporate Shipbuilding, and master designer of RMS Queen Mary 2, will be on board for the July 12 eastbound voyage. Payne is also an author, having written "Grande Dame: Holland America Line and the s.s. Rotterdam." Each of the three lecturers thus has a Holland America Line book to his name. .
Of course, Transatlantic voyages are nothing new for Holland America, which has been in the business for 138 years. In fact, this year Prinsendam left Fort Lauderdale for Istanbul in March, Eurodam for Rome and  Westerdam for Venice in April, Noordam for Barcelona in May, and Maasdam left Boston for Copenhagen in July, returning from Dover to Boston in August, while Eurodam left Amsterdam for New York in September and Noordam and Westerdam both left Rome for Fort Lauderdale in October. That’s nine Transatlantic crossings this year

The main difference is that the newly-announced voyages are meant to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Holland America Line’s last regular Transatlantic liner service, so Rotterdam‘s 2011 voyages will be only nine nights long instead of the usual fifteen it takes for a Transatlantic cruise with multiple ports of call.

Rotterdam will also do a couple of those next year, however, taking 16 nights to sail from Fort Lauderdale to Zeebrugge via Cobh, Dublin, Liverpool, Ilfracombe, Cherbourg and Dover in May and 15 nights to sail from Rome to Fort Lauderdale via Ajaccio, Barcelona, Cartagena, Malaga, Tangier and Funchal in November. In fact, Holland America will perform sixteen Transatlantic crossings in 2011, including the two commemorative voyages, but most will be between 15 and 21 days.

 

The Cruise People, Ltd, of Toronto has special fares and shipboard credit for the 3 July crossing.

LiveJournal Tags: Rotterdam,Eurodam,Westerdam

Blog from A Freighter

Living in Calgary, Rose and Dave couldn’t be much farther from the sea but their grand adventure begins in mid-November, 2010. They will sail from Houston around the world in approximately 20 weeks aboard a passenger freighter. You can follow this exciting voyage on their blog:

http://rose.frontenachouse.com

 

ALLURE OF THE SEAS on TV To-day

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A reminder that NBC TV Network is featuring Royal Caribbean’s newest cruise ship on its “Today” show airing at 10am, EST, to-day, 19 Nov.

LiveJournal Tags: Allure of The Seas,Today show

World Voyage by Passenger Freighter

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We are delighted to be able to offer owner’s cabin space in the following ships for complete world voyages or segments (subject to cabotage rules).

RICKMERS SHANGHAI
HOU-HOU approx. February, 2011 (or ANT/HAM-HOU, approx. March)

RICKMERS SEOUL
ANT/HAM-HOU
approx. end of February/early March 2011

There is some availability in cabin 513 later in the winter.

There are now even more reasons to consider the Pearl String Around-the-World voyages.

1. – In an effort to conserve fuel, the ships are now sailing more slowly. The 126 day voyage could become approximately 140 days with no increase in rates.

2. – Early booking savings. Rate is reduced 10% if under deposit a year in advance. The reduction is 5% if under deposit six months in advance.

3. – Singles do not get penalized for travelling alone. Single passengers in single cabins pay the same as each passenger in a double cabin.

4. – Longer port times. Since the ships are partially general cargo, they remain longer in ports giving you more time to explore ashore.

5. – Lower rates. With the extended voyage, rates are less than Euro 71 per day (plus taxes/fees and deviation insurance). Compare this with other world voyages, cruises and flights and you’ll see the value.

Please ask and we’ll be happy to check availability for you. With over 20 sailings per year, there should be a voyage to suit most travel windows.

For more information contact Fred Cherney at 1-800-961-5536 Ex 22 or +1(416)900-0889 Ex 21

BuzzNet Tags: Rickmers,around the world

From Our “Friends” at Cunard and Princess

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“Over the past few years, Princess Cruises and Cunard Line have introduced several online tools and options for booking and servicing reservations. With availability 24/7, use of these tools by our travel agent partners has grown substantially, particularly for making payments online, as consumers have transitioned to using credit cards as their form of payment on the vast majority of bookings. In response to these trends, and in order to provide you with consistent and predictable final payment schedules for Princess Cruises and Cunard Line bookings:
Effective Wednesday, December 1, 2010, ALL Princess Cruises and Cunard Line bookings will automatically cancel as soon as the final payment is past due. Additionally, there will be no grace periods or extensions allowed for receipt of final payment. All Electronic Fund Transfers must be submitted and payments by check must be posted by the final payment date. This final payment policy will also apply to Group bookings.”

CARNIVAL SPLENDOR Out Until 09 January 11

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Carnival Cruise Lines has cancelled voyages of the Carnival Splendor through the departure of January 9, 2011, to allow time for repairs following an engine room fire last week.   The ship is scheduled to re-enter service on January 16, 2011.

    Passengers who were scheduled to sail on these voyages will receive a full refund of their cruise fare and air transportation costs, along with a 25 percent discount on a future cruise.

    Carnival Splendor was towed to San Diego following the fire which occurred off the Mexican coast on November 8.  A team from the U.S. Coast Guard, NTSB and flag authorities, along with Carnival’s engineers and technicians, is currently on board investigating the cause of the fire.  Carnival personnel are being assisted by representatives of the shipyard that built the vessel and other manufacturers of engine room components in assessing damage and necessary repairs.

    “We realize how much guests look forward to their vacations and know that they are very disappointed by this news.  We too are disheartened that we are not able to fulfill the dreams of those who have entrusted us with their important vacation plans. We sincerely apologize to everyone who was scheduled to sail on these cancelled voyages and look forward to welcoming them aboard in the future.  Now that we have a full technical team engaged in the assessment, we wanted to provide this information as quickly as possible,” said Gerry Cahill, Carnival president and CEO.

LiveJournal Tags: Carnival Splendor,Carnival Splendour,cruise line fire