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Wednesday, July 6
From the slow but steady department: Reports indicate that Norway is making steady progress toward its new home in Asia. At the end of last week, about five weeks after it was towed out of Bremerhaven,  the oceangoing tug was reported rounding South Africa enroute to Port Klang. 

Friday, June 24
From the killing the golden goose department: When the internet first came to cruise ships a couple of years ago, on most ships you could either sign up for a specific number of minutes or, if you really planned to spend some time in the internet cafe, you could get an unlimited plan. It seem that none of the ships offer those unlimited plans any longer and we wondered why. One major internet provider to ships told us it wasn't a case of wanting to charge more, although that happens now for really heavy users. Instead they found that one person would sign up and pass the log in around to lots of people on the ship, even strangers, thus costing the internet provider lots of revenue. Those people's generosity then is still costing you money today.

Wednesday, June 22
From the is anyone working department: RCCL found that most passengers visiting their website access it from work rather than home. Now a message from your boss: "Get back to work!"

Tuesday, June 14
From the really connected department: Wi-fi on cruise ships isn't new, but most have it only in a few public areas. But on Pride of America you can work on your laptop just about anyplace you happen to be on the ship. Pride of America has wi-fi available in 90% of the public areas (the places where it isn't are places you wouldn't want to use your laptop anyway), and all the cabins have Ethernet connections. Standard rates will apply, and you can log on with a single account no matter which type of connection you happen to be using at the moment. (Tip: be sure to take a short Ethernet cable with you for in-cabin use.) 

Friday, June 10
From the talk of the ship department: Call it a private joke, but male passengers aboard Pride of America will have something to chuckle about that their female companions won't. In the men's restrooms aboard the new ship, NCLA has installed humorous cartoons above the urinals. Don't look for the feature to disappear since they are inlaid into the tile walls. There are no such cartoons on the inside of the stall doors in the women's rooms. It may be discrimination, but on a recent preview visit to the ship, women were lined up to visit the men's room, but none of them were requesting a similar feature in the ladies' room.

Wednesday, June 1
From the still moving right along department: When Celebrity drydocks Century next year for a major upgrade they expect to add about 200 tons of steel to the ship, yet they expect it to affect cruising speed by only about a tenth of a knot.

Thursday, May 26
From the room to spread out department: Star and NCL confirmed that the classic Norway left Bremerhaven on Monday under tow to its new duties in Asia. Star spokesperson Jane Poh told CND that they don't have a firm date yet when the ship will arrive in Port Klang. As far as the future use of the ship, Poh said, "Star does have a few options in mind but we are still not prepared to make it public yet." Even though Norway isn't sailing under its own power, Poh said it's not deserted; there are 26 crew members aboard.  

Tuesday, May 24
From the what's this all about: Celebrity is preparing a major announcement the middle of next week regarding Century. They say they consider it "very exciting." The line is going to great pains to keep the details under wraps, but the way they are doing it indicates a higher-than-normal profile to the announcement.

Friday, May 20
From the everybody for himself department: Last week a married couple was missing from Carnival Destiny and presumed to have somehow gone overboard. The ship spent more than twelve hours searching the area for them as part of team also comprised of vessels from three countries' coast guards. Because of the time spent searching, the ship could not make its regular call at Aruba and announced to passengers they would substitute a call at St. Maarten the next day. It's hard to believe, but while they were still searching, there were passengers at the purser's desk demanding a full refund of their cruise fare because they weren't going to get to visit Aruba. (They didn't get it.)

Thursday, May 19
From the ready to go department: Lloyd Werft has set everything for a high-profile handover ceremony on Monday, June 6 for Pride of America. After handover, the ship will sail for Dover for a day's worth of inaugural festivities for the UK media before setting sail on its transatlantic crossing, which is being sold in Europe and the UK. The ship will be named in  New York on June 17. 

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