Princess Cruises celebrates 50th anniversary

Regal Princess during her sea trials

Princess Cruises is celebrating 50 years of service with a selection of offers and a competition.

The cruise line is offering 50 prizes in a prize draw open to those who book a cruise with the line, order a brochure or sign up to receive their email newsletters before 28 February 2015. The grand prize is a 14-night Mediterranean cruise on-board Caribbean Princess with the following vouchers as runner-up prizes for use on-board a future Princess cruise:

• 20 Chocolate and wine pairings vouchers
• Ten spa credit vouchers of $50
• Ten fine dining for two vouchers worth $50
• Five on-board credit vouchers of $150
• Four on-board credit vouchers of $200

Their 50th anniversary offers include a reduced deposit of £50 per person together with free on-board credit worth up to $50 per couple per day. These offers are available for new cruise bookings made before 28 February.

Full terms and conditions can be found on the Princess Cruises website.

(Photo credit to Princess Cruises)

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A round-up of the cruise line January offers

The month of January is synonymous with sales and discounts, and the cruise industry is no different. Here is a round-up of the best cruise line offers.

Royal Caribbean is offering an all-inclusive drinks package on selected itineraries during 2015. They are also offering a buy-one-get-one-half-price offer on selected Caribbean itineraries whereby the rate for the second passenger is half that of the first. On top of this, they have reduced their deposit to £50 per person. These offers expire on 31 January.

Princess Cruises are celebrating their 50th anniversary with their Golden Deals offer. They too are offering a reduced deposit of £50 per person. They are also offering up to $50 per stateroom per day in on-board credit and up to 50% discount on third and fourth passengers sharing a cabin. These offers expire on 28 February.

Celebrity Cruises are running their 123Go! promotion. Book a concierge stateroom or above on selected 2015/16 itineraries and receive a free all-inclusive drinks package, free gratuities and up to $300 in on-board credit per cabin. Third and fourth guests booked into the same cabin will also receive a free soft drinks package and a 40 minute internet package  Book an ocean-view or balcony cabin on selected worldwide itineraries and choose from either the drinks package, free gratuities or on-board credit. Book an ocean-view or balcony cabin on selected European itineraries and choose two of these extras. These offers expire on 28 February and they require a specific promo code which can be found on their website.

Cunard Line is celebrating its 175th anniversary and is offering $500 per person in on-board credit on selected May to November 2015 sailings when you book the Cunard Fare. This offer expires on 28 February.

P&O Cruises are offering up to £1,580 per cabin in on-board credit on Select Price bookings to coincide with their ‘This is the Life’ promotion. This offer expires on 28 February.

Norwegian Cruise Line is offering up to $1,000 in on-board credit per stateroom in a short running offer. The amount offered depends on the duration of the cruise and the grade of cabin booked. This offer expires on 7 January.

MSC Cruises are offering up to £600 discount per cabin based on the brochure price together with free British Airways return flights from London on selected 2015 voyages. They are also offering a free drinks package on-board selected MSC Fantasia & MSC Magnifica sailings too. These offers expire on 5 March.

Carnival Cruise Line is running its “The Real Deal” promotion which offers up to two-category cabin upgrades and up to $100 in on-board credit per cabin based on the duration of the cruise on selected itineraries. These offers expire on 31 January.

Terms and conditions apply to all of these offers and these can be found on the respective cruise line websites. Offers may be subject to availability, apply to selected travel dates or itineraries and may not be combinable.

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Cruise Critic 2015 predictions

Cruise Critic, a TripAdvisor brand, has revealed its predictions for the cruise industry for the forthcoming year, both globally and for the UK market.

CC is expecting a rise in supplementary offers, particularly for dining, spa and educational experiences. While full-board cruise tickets will still remain the industry standard, a greater emphasis will likely be placed on passengers spending more money on optional extras to upgrade their cruise holiday experience.

Cruise Critic also predicts an increase in special offers on new bookings, with value-added extras like free parking, on-board credit and cabin upgrades likely to be offered in key promotions throughout the year.

On-board entertainment is likely to go from strength to strength with cruise lines trying to offer the very best possible, such as award-winning artist performances, Broadway and Cirque-style shows, and comedy options geared toward more mature audiences.

As more cruise lines try to attract an increasing number of tech-savvy millennials Cruise Critic look forward to faster and more reliable internet services to be offered on-board. Expect more cruise ship related smartphone apps too.

Solo travellers are being targeted by cruise lines too, which should lead to more solo-specific cabins being offered or other improvements to reduce or eliminate the “single supplement” according to Cruise Critic. Expect more cruise lines to offer specific cruise entertainment programming for solo travellers too.

In terms of the British cruise market, Cruise Critic UK forecasts more choice when it comes to sailing from the UK thanks to P&O Cruises’ Britannia, Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas and Princess Cruises’ Royal Princess all being home-ported in Southampton for the summer season next year.

They are also predicting a strong emphasis being placed on celebrity chefs, with Royal Caribbean showcasing Jamie Oliver’s restaurant on-board Anthem of the Seas and P&O Cruises presenting Marco Pierre White, Atul Kochar, Olly Smith, Eric Lanlard and James Martin on-board Britannia.

Family Vacation Critic, another TripAdvisor brand, predicts more child-friendly programs on cruise ships. It believes more children’s facilities will be upgraded during the year, together with the strengthening of branded partnerships including Carnival Cruise Line and Dr. Seuss, Princess Cruises and Discovery Channel, Norwegian Cruise Line and Nickelodeon, MSC Cruises and LEGO, as well as Royal Caribbean and DreamWorks. Family Vacation Critic also believes family suites will become more prevalent and travel in general will become more family-friendly over the course of the year.

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The best of the cruise offers this Christmas

Regal Princess at sea

Princess Cruises is running a “Christmas Cracker” promotion which offers both reduced fares and complimentary speciality dining on selected voyages. The offer is available on nearly 50 cruises, sailing between February and August 2015 to destinations including the Mediterranean, Alaska and Asia. The offer is applicable to qualifying itineraries booked between before 17 December . One speciality dining meal, up to the equivalent of up to $50 per couple, is available per stateroom in this promotion.

Meanwhile P&O Cruises is running a “Christmas has come early” promotion offering savings of up to £400 per cabin on selected itineraries. The savings apply to new P&O Cruises Select Price, Early Saver and Saver bookings made between 1 December - 14 December 2014 on selected departures between 6 February and 22 July 2015.

Celebrity Cruises is offering £100 of House of Fraser e-vouchers on new bookings made before 31 December 2014 for selected Caribbean sailings between January and April 2015. Alternatively, their “123 Go” offer runs until 28 February 2015 and offers guests staying in a Concierge grade stateroom or above on selected itineraries a choice of benefits including free drinks, free gratuities or free on-board credit. Book a Concierge Stateroom or above on selected cruise sailings between April 2015 and November 2016 and receive all three benefits. Alternatively book an Ocean-view cabin or above on selected cruise sailings and choose two of these benefits for selected European itineraries or one benefit for selected worldwide itineraries. Voucher codes are required for the 123 Go offer and can be found here and here.

Sister cruise line Royal Caribbean is offering all-inclusive drinks packages on selected sailings during 2015. Alternatively, their “Buy on get one half price” offer on selected Caribbean itineraries might be more tempting. Applicable to new bookings for 2015 Caribbean sailings of six or more nights, the second guest sharing a cabin pays half the cruise-only fare when the first guest pays full price. Both offers run until 31 January 2015.

Terms and conditions apply to all of these offers, and exclusions may also apply. A copy of the applicable terms and conditions for each offer is available on each of the websites linked above.

(Photo credit to Princess Cruises)

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All change as cruise ships move between fleets

Last month was busy in terms of cruise ship transitions as Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Princess Cruises all sold off a cruise ship each.

A couple of weeks ago Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd announced it was selling Royal Caribbean International’s Majesty of the Seas to its Pullmantur brand in 2016. This was the final Sovereign class that Royal Caribbean International was operating, having previously sold-off Sovereign of the Seas and Monarch of the Seas to the Pullmantur brand in 2008 and 2013 respectively.

Pullmantur's Sovereign cruise ship

"Majesty of the Seas has created wonderful memories for millions of guests, and we expect this record of success to continue as she transitions to Pullmantur," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

This sale shows how much confidence Royal Caribbean International have in its larger vessels, such as the world’s biggest cruise ship, Allure of the Seas, and technologically advanced Quantum of the Seas, fulfilling and sustaining demand for the cruise line.

Majesty of the Seas will bid farewell to the Royal Caribbean International fleet in April 2016.

Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd also announced that they are to form a strategic partnership through SkySea Cruises with Ctrip.com designed to serve the Chinese cruise market.

Speaking of Ctrip, Exquisite Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of Ctrip International Ltd, has entered into an agreement to acquire Celebrity Century from Celebrity Cruises.

Cruising demand is booming in China right now and this move is designed to supply extra capacity to the market where it is needed.

Celebrity Century will bid farewell to the Celebrity Cruises fleet on 5th April 2015. She will be redeployed to Asia via a sailing from Dubai to Singapore.

Lastly, as John Honeywell reported last week, Princess Cruises has sold Ocean Princess to Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which will be joining the Oceania Cruises fleet. The ship will undergo a 35-day refurbishment at a cost of $40 million (£25 million) transforming the vessel ready for fare-paying passengers in late April 2016.

This announcement from Oceania Cruises has fuelled speculation that Azamara Club Cruises is likely to make an announcement shortly about its fleet. Rumour has it that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd may opt for a new build rather than buying a second-hand vessel.

(Photo credit to Pullmantur)

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Love Boat stars reunite to christen Regal Princess

It was a night of love, or possibly L-U-R-V-E, as the stars of TV comedy The Love Boat gathered for the christening of cruise ship Regal Princess this week.

Six actors from the original cast acted as godparents and a host of performers who made guest appearances had walk-on parts in the lavish ceremony in Port Everglades, Florida.

Two Princess ships were used as locations for filming the series which ran for 10 seasons in the late 70s and early 80s.

Gavin MacLeod, who played Captain Stubing, was joined in the naming by Fred Grandy (Gopher, the chief purser), Ted Lange (Isaac, the bartender), Bernie Kopell (Doc, the ship’s doctor), Lauren Tewes (Julie, cruise director) and Jill Whelan (Vicki, the Captain’s daughter). Together, they pulled a ship’s telegraph to send 50 bottles of Champagne crashing against the ship’s hull - marking the start of celebrations of Princess’s 50th anniversary next year - and a final bottle by the ship’s pool.

The galaxy of stars also included Don Most, who played Ralph Malph on Happy Days; Jamie Farr, the cross-dressing Corporal Klinger from M*A*S*H; Florence Henderson, the mother in The Brady Bunch; singer Jack Jones;  Golden Globe and BAFTA winner Diane Ladd; Falcon Crest star Lorenzo Lamas; Doris Roberts, the mother-in-law in Everybody Loves Raymond; Marion Ross, Mrs Cunningham in Happy Days; Frank Sinatra Jr; Dallas actress Charlene Tilton; Knots Landing’s Joan Van Ark; and Adrian Zmed from T.J.Hooker, among many others.

Star of the show, though, was singer-comedienne Charo, who appeared in eight episodes of the Love Boat and was a regular on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. She brought the house down with a flamboyant flamenco guitar performance.

A video tribute to the company’s history included reminiscences from founder Stan McDonald, now 94 and enjoying retirement in Seattle, and glimpses of the Duchess of Cambridge launching sister ship Royal Princess in Southampton last year, and Princess Diana christening an earlier ship of the same name.

Princess Cruises’ president Jan Swartz said the event was not just about love, but about passion - “50 years of passion and a passionate founder who believed travellers could be drawn to the seas.”

The £460 million Regal Princess carries 3,560 passengers and has its own TV studio and one of the biggest spas at sea. The almost identical sister ship Royal Princess will be sailing from Southampton throughout next summer, in competition with P&O’s Britannia - being built to a similar design - and Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas.

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How Princess Cruises made themselves the consummate hosts

DAY THREE of our guest blog from CruiseMiss Danielle Fear, from her recent Canary Islands cruise from Southampton, aboard Emerald Princess (above)

One thing I noticed on Emerald Princess was how fast the crew managed to get passengers off the ship in port. Rather than sit at a stationary computer, the security staff had portable scanners that were clearly pin-point accurate as not once did I see them having to call a passenger back.

A huge queue that wrapped itself around the atrium several times was dispersed within mere minutes. It was a breath of fresh air given the size of the vessel and the number of passengers  on board.

Boarding again after a day ashore was not quite as fast, which is to be expected because of security checks, but at least getting off in the first place was far from a stressful experience. I was very impressed.

My time with Princess Cruises was certainly something special and I would recommend you give one of the Princesses a try for your next cruise – they were indeed the consummate host.

My cabin steward on Emerald Princess was the best I have ever had on any cruise ship in more than 20 sailings. Nothing was too much trouble for him and several times he really did go above and beyond, and without me or my travelling companion having to utter a word. Now that is what you call good service.

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Pizzas the size of a small country and the best steaks ever - all together on board Emerald Princess

Steak selection in the Crown Grill on Emerald Princess

Day Two of our guest blog by CruiseMiss Danielle Fear. Today she turns her attention to the food on board Emerald Princess

Food is a big deal with Princess Cruises, that was evident within just a few minutes of stepping aboard and wandering through the buffet, and I visited the Pizzeria several times during the cruise. The Pepperoni was by far my favourite and the slices were HUGE, but I did make the mistake on day one of asking for a “Margarita pizza” and wondered why the chef looked at me oddly, I then leaned over the counter and realised that an entire pizza was in fact the size of a small country – his reaction was truly warranted! 

I can also highly recommend the Crown Grill and Sabatini’s, both of which incur an additional charge of $25 per person, but they are worth every single cent! 

The Crown Grill was superb and the choice of meat and seafood was second to none – the lobster looked delicious, although in the end I opted for a 12-ounce New York strip steak. It was cooked perfectly and was incredibly juicy; the vegetables to accompany it were also very good (I could have easily eaten more of the creamed spinach) and dessert was a filling affair. 

Sabatini’s offers a wonderful selection of Italian dishes and during my visit I tried calamari for the first time and I finally got my lobster, which was cooked three ways. I have to say that although both restaurants were very good indeed, Crown Grill was my favourite and I wish now that I had visited more than once.

TOMORROW: Coming and going the Princess way.

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It's the little touches that make a big difference on CruiseMiss's Emerald Princess voyage to the Canaries

Sunset seen from Emerald Princess's top deck

Enjoy the first part of a guest blog from World of Cruising contributor Danielle Fear, aka CruiseMiss, who has just cruised from Southampton to the Canaries on board Emerald Princess

I embarked my first voyage with Princess Cruises aboard the stunning Emerald Princess. Our itinerary lined us up for 12 days sailing from Southampton to Madeira, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and finally, Vigo. It was a great excuse to head off for some last minute sunshine, although we did get our fair share of torrential rain too.

My first impressions of Emerald Princess were very good. Her atrium was absolutely stunning and led off in numerous directions, calling at several different public spaces including the International Café, Wine and Tapas Bar, Crooner’s Lounge, Boutiques, Reception and a pretty impressive Casino and Cigar Lounge.

The outer decks were ideal, lots of space and lots of sun loungers. I particularly liked the fact that for every pair of sun loungers there was a table, so you would have two beds, then a table, then two beds and so on. Perfect use of the space in my opinion and it was echoed across the entire ship.

Other public areas included Skywalkers, Lotus Spa and The Sanctuary, Wheelhouse Pub, Crown Grill, Sabatini’s, Explorer’s Lounge and of course a whole aft deck on which you could leave the kids! Music to every parent’s ears, I am sure!

I am a big fan of the small touches and Princess Cruises are full of them. Every passenger received a lightweight branded Princess bag – ideal for the beach - and I also had added benefits of being an Elite member of the Princess Cruises Captain’s Circle (my points were transferred across from P&O Cruises). Having experienced the Elite benefits first hand, I have to say Princess Cruises offer one of the BEST loyalty programmes at sea! Complimentary internet minutes, complimentary laundry services, canapés on formal evenings, complimentary wine tasting, and one free mini-bar set up, priority embarkation and a dedicated lounge for disembarkation - these were just some of the benefits available to me!

To extend on my mention of small touches, I also liked the free popcorn which was available even to passengers not watching the movie on the big screen over the pool. The sandwiches and cakes in the International Café on deck 5 were all free of charge as were the tapas plates in the Wine Bar – both being features many other cruise lines charge for.

The drinks measures were also larger than they are on some other cruise ships (had to squeeze the important bit in there!) and I was NEVER charged extra for a “splash” of Diet Coke with my Southern Comfort. As I said, the little things can often make the biggest difference and in this case, they certainly did.

TOMORROW: Danielle turns her attention to the food on board Emerald Princess

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