Celebrity & Azamara Top Cruisers Choice Awards

by Kevin Griffin writing for cybercruises.com

Sister lines Celebrity and Azamara walked away with the top positions in the Cruise Critic Cruisers Choice awards last week. Looking at the top five ships in three categories in the US and UK polls, Celebrity scored nine firsts and Azamara eight, followed by Oceania and Thomson with six each.

For purposes of its polls, Cruise Critic defined a medium-sized ship as carrying between 1,200 and 1,999 passengers, with anything above that being defined as large and anything below as small. The results are laid out below for the best five ships in each of category for each of the UK and US, as well as the best ship in each category for dining, entertainment and service for the UK and US. The actual ships’ scores are given in brackets. Some of the surprizing results: are laid out below.

Cruise Critic Cruisers Choice awards 2013 – Scores courtesy of Cruise Critic

The most interesting result was that of the forty-eight results laid out above, Royal Caribbean brands collected eighteen of the top spots, compared to only four for Carnival brands. Celebrity’s nine wins were all for 2,850-berth Solstice class ships except for 1,814-berth Celebrity Century positioning third in the UK medium ships category. Celebrity took the UK’s top three large ship positions.

Azamara did proportionally even better in that with only two 684-berth ships, it managed to pick up eight of these awards. The other Royal Caribbean win was the 5,408-berth Allure of the Seas, which took third-best large ship in the US results.

Oceania managed six wins in the categories we have chosen above, all by its two newest ships, the 1,258-berth Marina and Riviera. But the real surprise was Thomson Cruises walking away with six awards, not only from their own market in the UK but also from US voters. We can think of only one reason for that and that is that the UK results must be included in the US ones, but the website is not clear as to the methodology.

Certainly, with Thomson selling off brands, such as its ski operation, Neilson, and contemplating unloading others to pay down £1.6 billion in debt, any aspiring bidder might look at Thomson Cruises as a possible acquisition. That its older ships should have achieved tops in the mid-size awards for entertainment in both polls and also outscored Carnival’s brand-new 3,690-berth Carnival Breeze makes Thomson worth a look.

It is actual cruisers who are being polled here and of the Carnival brands only one ship from each of Carnival, Cunard, Holland America and Seabourn managed to score in this sample, and none from P&O or Princess. What makes it even odder is that Carnival Breeze won her spot in the UK survey and not the US one. In the US, Disney managed to score as many wins as all Carnival brands combined.

Norwegian Cruise Line and Crystal each achieved three places, but Azamara’s two ukltra-premium ships taking eight places to only three for Crystal’s two ultra-luxury ships is an interesting surprise.

The Growth of Cruising – A Twenty-Five Year Comparison

by Kevin Griffin writing for cybercruises.com

Twenty-five years ago, in 1988, the main cruise lines were Carnival, Cunard, Holland America, Norwegian America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Royal Viking Line.

Royal Viking Sun

Of these seven, only two, Norwegian America and Royal Viking Line, have fallen away, consolidated into Cunard. But half a dozen new lines have arisen.

In 1988, Seabourn had introduced its first ship, the 212-berth Seabourn Pride, and four more lines follow over the years with Crystal Cruises, Regent and Silversea, all ultra-luxury, and more recently Oceania and Azamara in the ultra-premium sector. The former Chandris Cruises, meanwhile, evolved into Celebrity Cruises, which was taken over by Royal Caribbean in 1997.

Of the lines we have chosen, it might be surprising to some that in 1988 the fleet numbered only 39 ships with 37,157 berths (42 and 40,566 berths if we include Cunard), especially as in 2013 the top eight ultra-luxury and ultra-premium lines together operate 25 ships with 21,480 berths. In this context, to-day’s ultra-luxury and ultra-premium fleet is more than half the size of the entire main line and luxury fleet of twenty-five years ago.

The biggest difference, however, is in the size of the ships. Although the 1988 average was below 1,000 berths per ship this was the beginning of a period of growth, not only in number of berths (Princess Cruises’ 62,500-ton Star Princess, which seemed big then, had only 1,470 berths), but ships started to grow in tonnage as well.

Ultra-Luxury & Ultra-Premium Fleet comparison table: 1988 – 2013

The average ship size for the main-market lines grew from about 950 berths to 2,335 berths, or almost two-and-a-half times per ship. And the size of ultra-luxury and ultra-premium ships has risen from 212 in  Seabourn Pride to about 670 to-day if we do not include Cunard, or more than three times the size.

And the main market lines have also been taking advantage of economies of scale. Although Norwegian Cruise Line had introduced the 70,202-ton 1,850-berth Norway in 1980, it was 1988 before Royal Caribbean introduced the 73,192-ton 2,292-berth Sovereign of the Seas. But another eight years saw the introduction of the 101,353-ton 2,642-berth Carnival Destiny. The result has been that traditional lines’ fleets and berth capacities have grow exponentially:

Main Line & Luxury Cruise Fleet comparison table: 1988 – 2013

Other lines such as Costa Cruises and Chandris Cruises, with six ships each, the 10-ship Epirotiki Lines and a single-ship (at the time) P&O Cruises have not been included in this analysis, but obviously Costa and P&O have both benefitted in terms of fleet expansion from being taken over by Carnival Corp, now Carnival Corp & plc.

All in all, despite wars, terrorism, disease and economic dislocations, the industry as a whole is surviving and seems to be surviving well if we can judge by cruise line stocks as well as fleet size .

Celebrity Cruises Gift Certificate Programme

One of the best ways to tap into hidden potential is with an Incentive Programme that works for you all through the year.

It’s no wonder the Individual Incentive has never been as popular as it is to-day. Cruises are tailor-made for the individual market because they are all-encompassing. And, Celebrity Cruises is the cruise line that does it very well. It combines state-of-the-art hardware on the seas with varied destinations and provide a range of rewards that can accommodate a variety of qualifying levels.

Celebrity Cruises’ Individual Incentive Travel Certificates are easy to purchase and simple to use. They are designed for companies who wish to develop a reward structure that is:

Flexible • Cost-effective • Easy to Implement • Luxurious

Individual Incentive Travel can be used to motivate and reward as many recipients as necessary. It gives the recipient the option of choosing the time, ship, and itinerary that fits their needs.

Here are some great examples of how organizations can use Celebrity Cruises’ Individual Incentive Travel Gift Certificates to reward employees, customers, and business partners:

• Recognition for achievement of targeted sales goals.

• Loyalty programmes, in-store promotions, contests, traffic builders and multi-level sweepstakes.

• Sales contests for distributors, manufacturers, wholesalers and independent representatives.

• Charitable raffles, silent auctions and other means to stimulate donations.

• Closing tool for a new mortgage for home buyers or car dealer rewards.

• Casino promotions to generate play or reward top clients.

• Motivation for non-sales goals such as productivity, safety, attendance, or customer service objectives.

 

Call us to see how as Individual Incentive Travel Gift Certificates can work for you.  We can be reached at 1-800-961-5536 or cruise@thecruisepeople.ca

CELEBRITY REFLECTION Delivered

Celebrity Cruises rounds out five-ship Solstice Class fleet with delivery of Celebrity Reflection.

Celebrity Reflection officially became part of Celebrity Cruises’ modern luxury fleet. Celebrity Cruises President & CEO Michael Bayley and Richard D. Fain, Chairman & CEO of parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., joined Bernard Meyer of shipbuilder Meyer Werft in a celebratory handover ceremony onboard the ship.

The ship sets sail on a series of Mediterranean sailings before crossing the Atlantic to begin her first Caribbean season. Celebrity Reflection will be named December 1 in Miami, with four Godmothers – all of them employees of the company whose lives have been touched by breast cancer – presiding over the ceremony.

 

More information on Celebrity Reflection

 

del.icio.us Tags: Celebrity Relection

How Cruise Sales Differ Across the Atlantic

Image of the house flag of Carnival Cruise Line. This flag is also used within the corporate logo of Carnival Corporation & PLC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Kevin Griffin – The Cruise People, Ltd writing in cybercruises.com

Cruise selling policies differ on both sides of the Atlantic, the most obvious contrast being that in North America deposits remain fully refundable up to final payment date, while in Europe’s largest cruise market, the UK, one forfeits their deposit if they cancel. But even in Europe practices differ.

In Germany, for example, Europe’s second largest cruise market (and soon to be largest), deposits are usually refundable up until just a month before sailing. But in the meantime, a couple of other notable differences have sprung up in recent times, first on who can buy a cruise where and second on agents remuneration.

On the first subject, P&O has long been known for prohibiting cross-border cruise sales. Three decades ago, the author was quoted a fare by P&O Los Angeles on a cruise from Sydney that was 33% higher than the same cruise quoted in Australia. A similar complaint was made to UK cruise magazine “World of Cruising” in more recent times when Swiss clients were told they had to book a Princess cruise through Swiss agent Kuoni at a higher fare than offered in Florida.

Through its association with P&O, this restriction has now also spread to Cunard, which no longer allows cross-border bookings and whose Transatlantic sailings can be as much as 25% more expensive in the UK. But even here there is no consistency, as sometimes UK fares for the same sailing are lower than the North American fares.

Meanwhile, this prohibition has spread beyond P&O. To cite an example, Vacations to Go, a US agent with a UK phone number, states on its web site that “the following cruise lines now prohibit all US travel agencies from selling cruises to citizens of countries other than the US and Canada, unless they have a residence in the US or Canada.
This is not a Vacations To Go policy or a US government policy, it is a corporate policy instituted by each of these cruise lines.”

It then goes on to name “Holland America, Oceania Cruises, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Star Clippers.”

More recently, appointed as US agent for P&O Cruises, its site adds for good order that “residents of the UK may not book P&O Cruises through Vacations To Go.” Missing from the list is one line that used to be there, namely Costa.

In an age of globalisation this practice of cruise lines prohibiting cross-border sales is in effect a restraint of trade and we wonder how legal it is. Apple once tried something similar with its iTunes pricing within Europe, restricting buyers to making purchases in their own country, and thus forcing some to pay higher prices. In 2004 the UK Office of Fair Trading referred Apple to the European Commission for violation of EU free-trade legislation and in 2007 Apple was threatened with a £330 million fine.

In the end Apple had to agree to offering common pricing throughout Europe. In a single market such as Europe customers should be free to purchase goods and services from any member state, but this still appears to be not the case with many cruise lines.

On another subject, P&O, Princess and Cunard last year announced that they would cut agents’ commissions in the UK to 5% in an attempt to try to stop them from rebating, a process whereby agents would pass on part of their commission to the client in order to “buy” their business.

Meanwhile agents selling the same Princess and Cunard cruises in North America (and elsewhere) are still paid on a scale of 10-15%. One of the reasons P&O, Princess and Cunard UK did this was apparently a fear of being accused of resale price maintenance. This is a practice whereby a manufacturer and its distributors agree on pricing, a practice that is outlawed in the UK. But whether a service is a manufactured good and an agent is a distributor are moot points.

Meanwhile, this spring, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ adopted a different approach, which is to offer 10% agency commission and threatening to stop sell agents who rebate from their commission. Those who did not rebate would be rewarded by a 5% bonus at the end of the year.

This in effect would punish agents who rebate, as opposed to punishing those who do not rebate by cutting their income, which was the case with P&O, Princess and Cunard UK. The Fred. Olsen approach shows strength and is a refreshing change and it will be interesting to see where this all goes. Clearly at 5%, P&O, Princess and Cunard UK are well below the usual cruise sales norm of 10%.

Back in North America, on August 1 Carnival Cruise Lines will further toughen its own anti-rebating stance. From that date, agents may only offer clients non-cash value-add-ons equivalent to a maximum of $25 per person.

Non-cash equivalents means bags, hats, beach towels, memory books, sunglasses or Carnival favours delivered on board, and on-board credits will no longer be allowed. Carnival first introduced level pricing in 2003, then an advertised price policy in 2005.

Last week, Carnival president Gerry Cahill visited London in anticipation of the Carnival Magic sailing from Dover next year. Illustrating the dichotomy on commiassion policies within the Carnival group, Cahill told the UK’s Travel Trade Gazette “we have our own commission structures, ranging from 10-15%. We want to make sure that we’re different to our sister brands as sensitively as we can. Each brand makes its own decisions.”

P&O’s commission cuts seem to have had some effect, however. Cahill’s ultimate boss, Carnival Corp & PLC ceo Micky Arison seemed to be supporting P&O’s stance when he told the UK’s Travel Weekly last week that “The reality is that the ones who were the biggest screamers were the biggest discounters. They lost their competitive advantage as they could no longer give their commission away and found they couldn’t make a living.”
Meanwhile, there was a lot of collateral damage among agents who were not rebating.

Royal Caribbean has also been tough on North American agents who rebate and at one stage even put a stop-sell on Vancouver-based CruiseShipCenters, now Expedia CruiseShipCenters. But Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises also continue to offer normal commission levels in the UK market, leaving P&O, Princess and Cunard somewhat isolated.

Indeed, it was Royal Caribbean Cruises’ ceo Richard Fain that told a London audience in April that the agency distribution system “is not broken” and that Royal Caribbean would take “no precipitate action” on commission levels.

How different things are on the two sides of the Atlantic!

Miami Lands Yet Another Cruise Line

by Kevin Griffin of The Cruise People writing in cybercruises.com

MSC Cruises will change its Florida seasonal base port from Fort Lauderdale to Miami for the cruise season starting in late 2013. The Italian-based line will operate its newest ship, the 3,500-berth MSC Divina, from Miami between November 2013 and May 2014, although MSC Poesia will still sail from Port Everglades in 2012-13.

In announcing the move last week, MSC Cruises’ US president Rick Sasso also intimated that another MSC ship could well follow and that having a year-round MSC ship in North America was not entirely out of the question.  MSC Divina will become the largest ship in the MSC Cruises fleet when she delivers in Marseilles on May 26, featuring a separate 69-suite first-class zone called The Yacht Club, with exclusive forward views from its lounge atop the bridge.

This is the second such announcement in two weeks as earlier this month Norwegian Cruise Line revealed that it would be basing its own new 4,000-berth Norwegian Getaway at Miami year-round from her introduction in 2014. When she arrived, the 144,000-ton ship will become the largest ship to use Miami as her home port. Sister ship Norwegian Breakaway will be based at New York year-round from spring 2013.

Since losing Oasis and Allure of the Seas to Fort Lauderdale in 2009, Miami has been striving hard to make up for the loss of the world’s largest cruise ships. Even so, it has handled more than four million passengers for four years in a row now, a number that is expected to reach four and a half million by 2014.

Royal Caribbean’s choice of Fort Lauderdale as base port for its Oasis and Allure of the Seas ended the decades-old rule that Miami, with its 3-, 4- and 7-day cruises, was mass market while Fort Lauderdale, with its Round-the-World and Transatlantic liners, was upmarket. And the recent changes have only served to change this even more.

Three brand-new ships are set to start sailing from Miami later this year – the 3,030-berth Celebrity Reflection and 3,690-berth Carnival Breeze, operated by lines that are indicated in their names (echoing the days when tankers were all called Esso this or Texaco that), as well as Oceania Cruises’ new 1,259-berth Riviera. All three will sail from Miami this winter, and with Carnival Breeze becoming the largest ship to be based in Miami, at least until Norwegian Getaway arrives in 2014.

Also new to Miami will be Regent Seven Seas, which will bring two ships to the port next winter. Regent previously sailed from Port Everglades, but they will now share a dedicated Miami terminal with stable mates Oceania Cruises. Disney Cruise Line will also base its 1,750-berth Disney Wonder in Miami for the first time from December through May 2013, operating on 4- and 5-night itineraries. And Crystal and Cunard made the move to Miami some time ago now.

One thing going in Miami’s favour of course is that all of Carnival Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises are based there, as are Prestige Cruises’ Oceania and Regent brands.

LiveJournal Tags: Oasis of The Seas,Allure of The Seas,Carnival Breeze,Disney Wonder,Riviera,Celebrity Reflection,Norwegian Getaway,MSC Divina,MSC Poseia

A Spate of Mid-Life Refits

by Kevin Griffin og our London office writing in cybercruises.com

We reported that Rhapsody of the Seas was at Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore for a $54 million mid-life refit, and that Minerva and Costa neoRomantica had re-emerged from theirs. In the case of Costa neoRomantica, which also received major structural modifications, the bill came to €90 million (about $118 million).

These refits usually involve tens of millions in investment per ship and many weeks in drydock to achieve them. Sometimes there are external signs of the changes, as when balconies and new decks are added, sometimes all the changes are internal as in the “Solsticization” projects at Celebrity.

Recently came news of an even more ambitious plan from Carnival Cruise Lines. Carnival Destiny, which was the first 100,000-tonner when she was launched at Venice in 1996, will be going to Fincantieri for an even bigger mid-life refit, out of which she will emerge in April 2013 with a new name – Carnival Sunshine. (Is Carnival trying to steal some thunder from Royal Caribbean’s “Project Sunshine” ships on order at Meyer Werft for delivery in 2014 and 2015?)

Costing $155 million, somewhat like Costa neoRomantica, Carnival Sunshine will get an extra deck and two new deck extensions as well as new staterooms (182 compared to neoRomantica’s 111), but unlike the neoRomantica she will not need saddlebag balconies as the Destiny class have their lifeboats installed at a lower level.

This month, the “new” 3.006-berth Carnival Sunshine will enter cruise service in the Mediterranean, departing in October for a new base at New Orleans, where she will replace the 2,974-berth Carnival Conquest. The Conquest was the first ship to be built with the extra deck that Carnival Sunshine will now have and Costa’s Costa Concordia class are sister ships. This investment is part of the $500 million FunShip 2.0 programme, which also includes more modest updates to  Carnival Liberty last year and Carnival Glory and Conquest later this year.

Features found on the line’s newest ships, including Guy’s Burger Joint, the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar, Fahrenheit 555 extra-tariff steak house, Italian Cucina del Capitano, Red Frog Pub, EA Sports Bar and Hasbro Game Show will be incorporated into the new design, as will a casual dining option in the Lido restaurant, a coffee bar, the Havana Bar Cuban lounge with Latin music and a Sunshine Bar in the atrium. Interiors will be by PartnerShip Design.

The best-known recent example of this type of work is the $140 million “Solsticization” of Celebrity Cruises’ four Millennium class ships, with the first upgrade completed on the Celebrity Constellation in 2010. Averaging $35 million per ship, Celebrity Infinity completed Solsticization in December 2011, Celebrity Summit last month, and Celebrity Millennium will complete the project when she emerges from the Grand Bahamas Shipyard in May.

The Summit, redelivered last month, received Aqua Class veranda staterooms with access to a new Mediterranean-themed restaurant, Blu. Also added was Qsine, the specialty restaurant that debuted on Celebrity Eclipse.

Also new to Summit is the Celebrity iLounge, where passengers can buy the latest Apple products, and the line’s famous Martini Bar, complete with frosted countertop, plus Cellar Masters wine bar where patrons can buy wines by the glass.

Cafe al Bacio and Gelateria have been added, along with a creperie, Bistro on Five. Suites have gained verandas, new furniture and more sumptuous appointments. Extra ocean-view and inside staterooms have also been added, and all accommodations have been outfitted with fresh carpet, upholstery and bedding, as well as flat-screen televisions.

Finally, we mentioned the Rhapsody of the Seas going to Sembawang for a $54 million makeover (see last week for the actual updates) as part of Royal Caribbean’s $300 million Royal Advantage program. Radiance and Splendour of the Seas were completed last year and after Rhapsody, they will be joined by the Grandeur and Serenade of the Seas this May and November.

And it’s not just the mainstream lines. Crystal Cruises has spent well in excess of $50 million recently on upgrading its soon-to-be-all-inclusive Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony.
Indeed, while new orders for cruise ships may have slowed down since the onset of the recession there is a very good market for shipyards to be updating cruise ships that are now ten and fifteen years old in order to bring them into line with their newer fleetmates.

LiveJournal Tags: Rhapsody of the Seas,Minerva,Costa neoRomantica,Carnival Destiny,Carnival Sunshine,Carnival Conquest,Carnival Liberty,canival Glory,Celebrity Constellation,Celebrity Infinity,Celebrity Summit,Celebrity Millennium,celebrity Eclipse,Splendour of the Seas,Crystal Serenity,Crystal Symphony

Old Time Service with Modern Technology

Image via Wikipedia

The Cruise People, Ltd. now has a wonderful research tool.  Whether you are thinking about cruising for the first time or you are an experienced cruiser, we can help you find that perfect cruise.  Fun, sun, beaches, adventure, culture or sights – there is a cruise here for you.

We have over 20,000 ocean and river cruises to show you including detailed itineraries, port descriptions and useful information about your cruise ship.

You can use the Quick Search to start or choose one of the offers or other links on this page.

LiveJournal Tags: cruise research,research ships,search itineraries,search ships,search ports

Cruise Line Tag Lines Over The Years

Image via Wikipedia

by Kevin Griffin of our London office writing in cybercruises.com

In the words of a press release from Royal Caribbean International last week, “Royal Caribbean International to-day launched a new brand campaign that embodies the most inspirational element at the very core of the global cruise line’s offering … the sea!”
And what is this wonderful tag line? Why, it’s “The Sea is Calling. Answer it Royally.”

Royal Caribbean says the new slogan is aimed at “reawakening consumers to the sights and sounds of the sea.”

This is very interesting when in recent years the line has been emphasising its rock climbing walls, ice-skating rinks and various and sundry other onboard attractions, more recently even including Shrek on some of its ships! Now, someone has woken up and noticed that cruise ships sail on the sea. Not only that, but it took not just one, but two advertising agencies to recognise this! But such is progress.

So this week we have a look at some of the slogans that have been used over the years since cruising started its four-decades-long boom. Perhaps the best ever was Cunard Line’s in the 1950s and 1960s –“Getting There is Half the Fun” really said it all. Later this line metamorphosised into “Ships Have Been Boring Long Enough” but with the former accentuating the positive and the latter the negative we know which wins!

Here are a few more that come to mind:

“The Fun Ships” – in the Miami-based context, this little slogan was first used by Yarmouth Cruise Lines, operating a decrepit pair of 38-year old ex-coastal liners between Miami and the Bahamas – one of which, Yarmouth Castle, was lost to fire in November 1965 with the loss of 87 lives.

Nonetheless, it was enough years later that Bob Dickinson of Carnival Cruise Lines revived “The Fun Ships” in 1973 to replace “The Golden Fleet” that no one remembered the tragedy and the tag line is Carnival’s to this day.
Anyway, the “Golden Fleet” in 1973 had only one ship, Mardi Gras.

Over the years, Carnival has also played with other tag lines, one being “The Most Popular Cruise Line in the World.” Carnival have also used music in its television commercials, as it did in 2005 with Bobby Darrin’s “Somewhere Beyond the Sea,” but why beyond the sea and not on it?

The lyrics begin well however:

Somewhere beyond the sea,
Somewhere, waiting for me,
My lover stands on golden sands
And watches the ships that go sailing

Speaking of love, “The Love Boat” was the name of a well-known American television programme that ran from 1977 to 1986, but it was also used for many years by Princess Cruises as its own tag line. After all, its Los Angeles-based Pacific Princess was used as the backdrop for this series.

It’s now a quarter century since the show was last made, but one thing it stood out for was false hilarity – it was one of the first hour-long American comedy series to use a laugh track. Somewhere along the way it seems that cruises might have started to get boring, however, because Princess for a while ran with the tag line “It’s more than a cruise, it’s the Love Boat.”

To-day, Princess uses the tag line “Escape Completely,” but I must say, like “Get Out There,” this one sounds rather American footballish and reminds me more of trying to escape Alcatraz rather than anything in the least bit romantic.

“Get Out There” – now who did we say wanted to connect with the sea?
This preposterous line – get out where? – was used by Royal Caribbean in North America only and it meant absolutely nothing if not read in context. It might have been the Romans telling the Christians to go and meet the lions. Far too macho, so perhaps “The Sea is Calling. Answer it Royally” will work.

It should catch the female ear better than “Get Out There.”

Royal Caribbean’s new advertising company maintains that the new tag line will cross cultures and be useable internationally – at least it sounds more like an instruction than an admonishment like “Get Out There.”

One tag line that Royal Caribbean used in the 1990s, however, was“The Grand Resorts of the Seven Seas” and one wonders why it dropped it, replacing it for a while with “You’ve Got Some Royal Caribbean Coming.”

“Let Us Exceed Your Expectations” was an early tag line for Celebrity Cruises and one that was befitting of its target, which was an upper premium audience. It reflected the whole reason for having formed Celebrity Cruises in the first place, getting away from the old name of Chandris, one that dated back to Australian emigration days from Europe.

Unfortunately, it’s gone. For a while it was replaced by “A True Departure” (a bit insipid don’t you think?) and now it’s “Designed For You” (sounds a bit like an Audi, but why not?) What was the matter with exceeding expectations? Could it no longer be done? It was a good tag line.

“Cruise Like a Norwegian” – Norwegian Caribbean Lines started as “The White Fleet” but over the years has also tried other slogans, most notably from 1990 with “Freestyle Cruising.”

Okay we all know that Norwegian’s new advertising company would like us to call it Norwegian instead of NCL, but just how does one cruise like a Norwegian? It sounds like a lazy adman’s copy of dance like an Egyptian, and no one really knew what that meant either..

“Signature of Excellence” is the tag line that Holland America uses to-day. Since both words can be translated as “mark” one wonders what the point is when in the early 1990s the same line used “A Tradition of Excellence.” The latter actually sounded more profound and it certainly beat their 1960s slogan “It’s Good to be on a Well-Run Ship.”

One of my favourites, however (tongue in cheek here), is the line Windstar Cruises used for many years, “A Holland America Line company.” Well, at least it wasn’t too vague.

Do you get my drift? Does it really matter?

Why do the cruise lines pay millions for these not so impressive sayings that are only replaced after a few years by paying someone else to come up with another one. They are just clutter and end up like bell-bottomed trousers, paisley ties, mini skirts and lacy blouses – very dated after a while.

But naughtiest of all is Quark Expeditions, who have just scooped up“Up Close and Personal” word for word from the now defunct Cruise West. I suppose they can’t be sued for infringement by a bankrupt company but it sounds awfully risky to me, sort of like tempting the fates.

What is most interesting however is that the more upmarket lines do better – Oceania’s “Your World, Your Way” puts the control with you and Azamara Club Cruises “You’ll Love Where We Take You” not only sounds like good English, but also revives the word love in a different way. Even SeaDream’s “It’s Yachting, not Cruising,” while unfortunately using a negative, has a ring to it that is true.

Berlitz Guide to Cruising 2012

by Kevin Griffin of The Cruise People writing in cybercruises.com

The latest edition of the “Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships” by Douglas Ward has just arrived. A mammoth tome, as usual since the huge growth of cruising has taken place, it has still managed to slim itself down this year, from 722 pages to 690.
Now in its 27th year of publication, one of the more interesting points about this issue is that Oceania Cruises’ new Marina has joined the top ten mid-size cruise ships (600-1600 berths) in terms of points, with her score score of 1701 being exceeded only by Crystal Serenity at 1717 and tied by Crystal Symphony, all of which have been awarded five stars.

This means that Marina has also joined Hapag-Loyd’s Europa, scoring 1852 and alone in the five-stars-plus category and top of the tops since she was first introduced, and a small number of other ships at the top of the league, rating a very creditable number 18 out of the 285 ships scored this year. In the small ship category (200-600 guests) all ten top ships scored above 1750 and in the boutique category (50-200) five out of ten scored above 1701. In the large ship category, only Queen Mary 2 achieved five stars for its Grill Class, at 1702.

At 1701, Marina has even outscored Regent’s Seven Seas Voyager (1654) and Seven Seas Mariner (1651), which ironically puts those all-inclusive ships into the four-stars-plus category while the extra tariff Marina receives a full five stars. Her 1651 compares well with 1611-12 scored by Celebrity’s four “Solstice” class ships. Indeed, the Marina outscores the Seven Seas Voyager in every category except entertainment, where she falls just one point short of the Voyager.

One peculiarity brought out by the guide is how fully fifteen of the eighteen best luxury ships according to Ward, or more than 80%, have names that begin with the letter “S” – is there something a psychologist is not telling us here? The only ships in this category that don’t begin with “S” are  Europa and the two Crystal ships.

In the “Daily Telegraph’s” Saturday Travel Section this weekend, Ward named his personal favourite top ten as Europa, SeaDream I and SeaDream II, Seabourn Quest, Odyssey and Sojourn, Silver Spirit, Hanseatic, Sea Cloud and Marina. There she is again. Indeed, in his article in The Telegraph, Ward says about Marina: “Larger than all the other ships at the top of the charts, Marina is a ship with some splendid design features and some of the largest suites at sea, with ‘country house’ décor that could easily feature in a glossy magazine. A stunning wrought-iron and Lalique horseshoe-shaped staircase is the focal point of the ship’s finely outfitted interior, while only the very best linens and fabrics have been provided.”

Back to the Berlitz Guide, also new this year is Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, whose Grill Class scored her 1690, for four-stars-plus, exceeding slightly Queen Victoria’s 1671. And new to the top ten boutique ships this year is Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Bremen, scoring 1553, well up from 1461 last year.  Bremen went up in points in all categories, but particularly in cruise experience, where she was up 14%, and food, where she gained 5%. By comparison her five-star fleetmate Hanseatic scored 1746, for five stars.

Also new this year, in big ships, Celebrity Silhouette at 1612 and Disney Dream at 1555, both at four-stars-plus, Mein Schiff 2 at 1548, Allure of the Seas at 1528, Queen Elizabeth (Britannia Class), at 1493, AidaSol at 1490 and Costa Favolosa at 1447, all at four-stars. In the mid-size category, there was notable improvement in the scores of Azamara Quest (1562 as against 1466) and Azamara Journey (1561, up from 1465), which took both ships from four stars into four-stars-plus since they were rebranded as Azamara Club Cruises.

Newly rated Adonia came close at 1540, but scored just four stars. In small ships, Seabourn Quest came in with a score of 1787 for a solid five-star rating. while French twins L’Austral and Le Boréal came in at 1543 each, for four-star status, and Aegean Odyssey scored 1341 for a three-stars-plus.

One surprise, however, is that a ship called Hamburg that is not sailing yet scored 1398 points for three-stars-plus. That ship is still sailing today as  Columbus for Hapag-Lloyd and will have a complete change of crew when new operators Plantours take her over in six months time, so we fail to see how Berlitz managed to score her in advance. Perhaps more deserving of a “Not Yet Rated” score we should think. In the same way, two other ships, Spirit of Oceanus, now trading as Sea Spirit, and Clelia II, now trading as Orion II, seem to have come through their changes of identity with identical scores of 1222 and 1402, respectively, after a change of ownership and areas of operation.

All in all, however, the “Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships” is well worth the money and answers many of the questions the cruise lines, or even some cruise agents, won’t answer.