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Thursday, August 19
* From the bonus for winners department: If a gold medal isn't
enough for an athlete to win at the Olympics, German athletes have a
special incentive for bringing home the gold. German cruise line Aida
(and one of the lesser-known members of the Carnival family to North
American readers) is awarding a free cruise next summer to any German
athlete who wins a gold medal at the Athens games. Germany already has
six gold medallists, with lots of time in the games for more to qualify.
And Aida won't be unfamiliar to them. AIDAura is one of the ships
chartered to house Olympic visitors at Piraeus, and is the official
meeting point for the German Olympic family. All that US gold medallists
get is a zillion dollar contract to endorse shoes.
Wednesday, August 18
* From the no wonder I was always thirsty in Hawaii department: I
was talking with someone today involved with Independence, which used to
sail for American Hawaii Cruises and is now owned (but temporarily
mothballed) by NCL America. We were talking about how unique the ship
is, and he happened to mention that the ship was designed by the same
person who designed the Coca Cola bottle.
Tuesday, August 17
* From the we remember Andrew department: Even though it was more
than a dozen years ago that Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida,
people there haven't forgotten it and the kindness shown to them by
others who sent them help when they needed it. With that in mind, the
employees at NCL's Miami headquarters have been collecting supplies for
their neighbors across the state who lost their homes last week in
Hurricane Charley. They know the things needed first-hand. NCL has
rented a truck, packed it up with the donated supplies and it will be
dropping the supplies off in Southwest Florida communities on Wednesday.
Monday, August 16
* From the it's better that you don't see him department: We had
to chuckle when we saw a discussion online about whether to tip the
Maitre d'. Most people seemed to say they don't tip the maitre d' unless
he actually does something for them personally. Last year I had seen
similar discussions which progressed into questioning what the maitre d'
actually does on the ship besides change dining assignments and stand at
the door of the dining room or walk among the tables and greet
passengers. I knew he must do more, but I didn't know exactly what, so
on the next trip, I made that a point to research, and spent a couple of
full days with the maitre d' for an article in Cruise News Daily that
turned out to be kind of a "day-in-the-life-of" type of story.
It really opened a lot of readers' eyes to what was going on that they
never saw, but was essential to that dining room experience they enjoy.
On that trip, the man just about worked me to death in those two days.
We were in constant motion.
Most passengers never see the Hotel Manager, yet he (or
she) is the one making everything run right in the ship's hotel
operation. But if there's a problem, that's the person to see. Like the
Hotel Manager, the Maitre d' is the person to see if there is a problem
or concern with dining or food anywhere on the ship (not just the main
restaurant). So unless they see him (or her) in passing, most passengers
never really see the Maitre d' unless they have a problem. The person
they probably assume is the maitre d' is one of his assistants. The
maitre d' (or restaurant manager is a new title being used on many
ships) is the person responsible for all the service of food everywhere
on the ship. Anytime there is food being served, he or (most likely) one
of his assistants, is there. Meanwhile the maitre d' is involved in a
zillion administrative duties, such as scheduling staff both in the
dining rooms and the myriad of special functions all over the ship that
need food served, handling special requests from passengers, dealing
with personnel issues as dozens of crew members sign off and on the ship
each week, daily/weekly training sessions with waiters, and organizing
the service for special events which ships are known for - along with
hundreds of other details that come up each day.
Out in front of the passengers, the assistants are watching
everything that goes on and anticipating needs. From the time the
waiters show up for their assignment, they are inspecting the waiters'
appearance ("You need to polish your shoes before you come back
this evening."), watching how the service is being performed,
making sure everyone looks like they are enjoying themselves, and
stepping in with an extra touch or direction where it's going to make
things go better or head off a problem they see developing.
So to those passengers who say the maitre d' never spent
any time with them or did anything for them personally, we have to tell
them that's probably a good thing. Even though they didn't see him, the
assistant maitre d' probably saw a lot of them, and knew everything that
was going on at their table (as far as the service). If he didn't spend
time talking with them, it probably meant he was dealing with concerns
elsewhere. And if he had spent a lot of time hovering near their table,
it probably meant he was anticipating maybe a more junior waiter needing
some supervision. So the bottom line is that if you can say you never
saw the maitre d', it's a sign he has done his job well and everything
was working like clockwork - and probably one of the highest compliments
you could have paid him (or her).
Friday, August 13
There was no Cruiseblogger entry on Friday, since we were right
in the projected path of Hurricane Charley. We had no time to write let
alone listen for anything interesting. As it turned out, the storm made
a last-second turn and missed us, but destroyed the communities just a
few miles south of our office.
Thursday, August 12
* From the which bus do I get on department: When we were in
Alaska a couple of weeks ago, we noticed a lot of Princess buses pulling
up to the Holland America ships that were in port, and even a few
Holland America/Westours buses at the Princess dock. Some people were
confused and didn't want to get on the other line's bus. We wondered if
that meant programs were one in the same, or if both operators - now
owned by Carnival Corp - were headed toward merger. Charlie Ball,
president of Princess Tours, who just happened to be on the trip with
me, told me they have no plans to merge the two tour companies. What is
happening is that they are keeping their business within the Carnival
family. He said that both companies need to charter buses for additional
capacity some days. In the past, Princess Tours, for example, never
would have chartered from rival Holland America, but instead they would
have gone to another local company. Now since both have the same
ownership, it only makes sense to go to sister company Holland America
first for a charter rather than an outside company. Holland America
likewise goes to Princess first when they need to charter an additional
bus. Charlie said that they can't always accommodate each other, and
then they are both still chartering locally. He said that each company
has its own style, so it doesn't make sense to merge the companies,
especially since both operate at capacity, but arrangements like this
where they can keep business in the Carnival family do make sense - even
if they do occasionally confuse a passenger or two.
Wednesday, August 11
* Here's an interesting deal we came across for those of you
sailing out of Royal Caribbean's Cape Liberty Cruise Port at Bayonne
(NJ) . The Crown Plaza at Secaucus (NJ) has a package rate for those who
want to drive in a day in advance so they are can start their cruise
fresh. The hotel has a rate of $169 (per room, single or double - $189
per room, triple or quad) that includes the room for one night, parking
at the hotel for the whole time you are on your cruise and round trip
transfers from the hotel to the port. Information about the hotel is
available on their website.
Reservations for the package must be confirmed by calling the hotel
directly at 201-348-6900. (It doesn't necessarily show up on the website
or by calling Crown Plaza's central reservation office.)
There are a couple of things we considered before we posted
this here. The hotel does have vastly lower rates (in the $80's and low
$100's) especially with an advance booking and prepayment. Those rates
don't include the transfer to the port, which with the service the hotel
uses run about $25 per person. Yes, the hotel offers free parking on the
other rates, but only for the nights you are staying at the hotel; the
package includes the parking while you are gone (so the security service
won't tow your car away). The parking, especially is what makes the
package rate attractive because if, for example, you are going on
Voyager's 9-night Caribbean cruise, that means even at the port's
relative bargain rate of $12/day, parking at the port is going to cost
you $108. Take that off the $169 rate, and it means the room is only
costing you $61, and it's certainly worth that to drive in and stay the
night before the cruise. The hotel is also near the Designer Outlets, so
it even gives you something to do on sailing day before your ship
boards.
Tuesday, August 10
* From the I got mine before you got yours department: A couple
of months ago Cruise News Daily ran a story about Princess taking over
the operation of the spas on two of their ships, and in part of it Jeff
Kohl, Princess' Director of Spas Operations, mentioned that the line
would be selling Princess' unique line of products both on the ships and
on their website. Later after a cruise on Princess, I related an
interesting story about how good I found the shampoo in my cabin, and I
mentioned it to one of the people in the spas. This wasn't one of the
Princess-operated spas, and the gentleman told me that a lot of their
customers rave about that shampoo, but since it's a Princess product,
they didn't have it in their spa, and they had never really seen it
since it isn't supplied in the crew cabins. The next time I talked with
Jeff, I found out that project about selling the products was a lot
farther from realization than I understood, and apparently it's going to
be some time before I can order shampoo on the Princess website. I wrote
another story about Princess' eucalyptus-scented shampoo saying I apparently
wasn't alone in my regard for it, but for those who were also awaiting
it on the Princess website, the wait was going to be lengthier than I
originally led them to believe.
Several weeks passed, and I had forgotten about the story.
One day as I was about ready to leave for lunch, a delivery man brought
me a large cardboard box. I hadn't ordered anything from anywhere, so I
was a little surprised and immediately checked to see if it was ticking
or smelled like explosives (I don't have a dog), but it did have a
strangely familiar smell. I noticed it was from Princess Cruises, so I
decided to throw caution to the wind and open it. I had lived a rich and
full life. Imagine my surprise when I found Julie Benson, Princess'
Public Relations Director, had read the article and sent me a couple
hundred little packages of the Lotus Spa shampoo - just like on the ship
- to tide me over until it is sold on the website. So in the mean time
the rest of you Lotus Spa shampoo fans will just have to go on another
Princess cruise to go on a Princess cruise to get your eucalyptus fix.
I've got mine, and I think of Julie every morning in the shower while
I'm pretending I'm on a cruise.
Monday, August 9
* Last week when Carnival (followed the next day by Royal
Caribbean) put restrictions on travel agents advertising discounted
prices below the official Carnival-authorized rates, it set off quite a
bit of discussion on the bulletin boards. Unfortunately there are two
misconceptions.
One is that this means higher prices and is some sort of
"price-fixing." Untrue. The two companies didn't put any
restriction on discounting their prices, just on the advertising of the
resulting lower rates. It's just going to make it more trouble for the
consumer to find the discounted rates since they will actually have to
contact each agency to ask what their current rate is.
The other is that this restriction applies to all the
Carnival Corp brands. That's not true either. It applies only to
Carnival Cruise Lines. The other Carnival brands are free to do whatever
they want. Carnival lets all their brands operate independently when it
comes to policies, pricing and marketing; they actually compete with
each other. That's not to say that some of the other Carnival brands
won't see benefit in the policy and adopt it, but they don't all march
in lockstep with each other. When Royal Caribbean announced a similar
policy the next day, they applied it to both the Royal Caribbean and
Celebrity brands.
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