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Friday, September 17
* From the global village department: In this age, where cruisers
are used to finding an internet cafe aboard ship - and using it - it's
interesting to see that so many hang on to that romantic notion that the
captain of their ship is making all the decisions about their ship and
where it goes and when. With so many weather-related changes to itinerary,
this has been coming to light in postings we see on bulletin boards which
contain phrases like, "The captain decided to take us to..." or,
"The captain had a hard time finding a port..." In reality, the
captain of the ship is just one member of a team that makes these
decisions, the rest of the team being both on the ship and at the line's
headquarters on shore. In a case of foul weather, the team onboard may be
making the decision that they are routing the ship more to the north or
west, but the marine operations department on shore probably has more to
say about at what alternate ports the ship will actually end up calling.
They're the ones actually checking with the port for available berths at
the time the ship would possibly be there. (Once the decision is made,
they will go one step further and advise the line's port agent that the
ship will be coming, so he can alert the tour operators and taxi companies
and so forth.) There are finite numbers of berths at any port; ships don't
just show up and expect to be able to dock. There will be times when space
at the port is limited, and it makes more sense to send a different one of
the line's ships to that port, keeping your ship at sea or sending it to a
less-logical alternate port. At times, it becomes like a giant chess game
that the line is playing with their ships. So the next time you hear that
voice from the bridge telling you that your ship is going somewhere else,
don't assume the captain has made that decision by himself. It may not
even have been his decision.
Thursday, September 16
* From the he's not excited is he department: The Mobile area has
been lobbying for years to get a cruise ship based there, and a few months
ago when Carnival announced they would base Holiday there beginning this
fall, the atmosphere in the city was almost like they had been chosen to
host the Olympics. If only ABC reporter Robin Roberts had known. Yesterday
morning she was doing a serious interview with Mobile Mayor Michael Dow
for Good Morning America about the area's preparations for Hurricane Ivan.
He was talking about how they had changed the lanes on the highways to all
go north out of town, how he had sent his family to safety in another
city, how people were heeding the evacuation orders, how he needs to be
there to direct the cleanup immediately after the storm, etc. Roberts
interjected about how some people are planning to ride out the storm at
home, but most people have left. "This is serious business," she
said. Then the mayor agreed saying, "Yes, this is the real deal
here." Pausing only momentarily he continued, "I wish you guys
were going to be her on October 16. We're cutting the ribbon on
Carnival's new cruise terminal here. I've got that built here, and I've
got carpeting ordered, and we're cutting the ribbon on that on
October 16." Always the professional, despite the look in her
eyes that said, "Huh?" Roberts responded with, "As we said,
it's pretty windy here, and just to the east of us, Bob Woodruff is
standing by in Pensacola, and as you can see the waves are starting to
come in..." It's nice to know the mayor is looking ahead to life
after Ivan. Yes, they are excited about Carnival in Mobile. Do you know
what a plug like that is worth on GMA? Can you guess who will be getting a
free upgrade on his next cruise?
Wednesday, September 15
* From the two different things department: It surprising to me how
many people equate the date their final payment is due for their cruise
and the date that penalties begin for cancellation, as being the same
thing. True, for most cruise lines, they fall on the same date (although
for a few the penalties start before the final payment is due), but
advancing or delaying making your final payment does not change when the
penalties begin if you should cancel. Likewise, if the cruise line grants
you an extension on your final payment date, it doesn't delay when the
penalties begin should you decide to cancel before making the payment.
Tuesday, September 14
* From the how did this get here department: Did you hear about
the British couple who were sailing on Zenith from New York to Bermuda a
couple weeks ago? They planned to attend their daughter's wedding in
Bermuda, and they spent a couple of pre-cruise days in New York. Like many
people, they had their video camera along and were taping the sights in
New York during their stopover. They left their video camera behind in the
back seat of a cab. The next customers into the cab found it and decided
to show the couple the good side of New York. The two guys watched a little of the
tape to find some information about the owners, and learned the couple was staying at a Hilton, and decided to
take it upon themselves to return the camera. Armed with that information
and a receipt they also found in the cab, they called the Hilton trying to
track down the couple. After a couple of calls, they found the right
Hilton, explained the situation, and were told the couple had checked out
and it appeared they were taking a cruise, but the hotel
didn't have any other information. They did a little research on the
internet and figured out they must be sailing on Zenith that afternoon. So
our two friendly New York guys took the camera, got in another cab and raced down to the
cruise terminal. With today's increased security, they needed to do a lot
of explaining to get inside, and the staff was dubious at first, but
checked things out, and eventually accepted the camera and took it aboard. It
eventually got delivered to the couple's stateroom. The British couple
came in, found the camera, which they thought they had lost forever in New
York, and were absolutely amazed. No one aboard had any
explanation how it had come to be aboard the ship. They went on and
enjoyed their daughter's wedding in Bermuda and flew home to Britain. Once
unpacked, a few days later they settled down to watch their vacation video
and relive their daughter's wedding on the tape. Imagine their surprise
when sandwiched between the shots of their New York hotel and the video of
their cruise ship, they saw a video diary that our two New York friends
had left for them of how they had found the camera and the story of how it
had made its way back to them. The two New Yorkers wanted no credit for
their good deed, and didn't even leave their names on the tape. It was a
British TV show that tracked them down and ran the story. It was
picked up by Good Morning America this morning, which also arranged a
meeting via satellite for the couple and the two good Samaritans in New
York. The moral of the story is obviously, if you are going to leave your
camera behind, it's best to do it in New York City.
Friday, September 10
* From the if it's good enough for Staples and American Airlines
and Nextel etc, it's good enough for us department: Celebrity Cruises has
a deal pending with the Golden Gate Bridge District (yes, THAT Golden
Gate) where the line gets a year's advertising on the district's property
in exchange for at least a half million dollars from the line. No, that
doesn't mean that you're going to see a big "X" hanging from the
landmark bridge, but does mean that Celebrity ads could be showing up on
at least 20 buses, in the ferry terminals, and in the transit guides
published by the district. But the deal could mean even more bucks for the
district. That half million would actually be a minimum guaranteed by
Celebrity. Celebrity would solicit their past passengers for donations
which they would in a sense match by giving the donor an equal amount off
on a cruise, up to $100. Estimates say that the $500,000 guarantee could
more likely turn into a million a year. The cost to the district,
apparently for producing the advertising material, would be about $50,000,
which seems like a pretty good deal. The Golden Gate Bridge District
thinks so too and has
approved the deal in principal but wants to consider all the aspects
before giving its final approval, probably in 30 days. This wouldn't just
be extra cash for the district; they have a seismic retrofit project (to
keep the bridge from falling during an earthquake) budgeted for $392
million. So for the time being there will be no big "X" emblazoned
on the familiar orange bridge, but who knows? They may
eventually decide to follow the lead of dozens of ball parks and arenas,
and eventually your ship could be sailing under the Celebrity Cruises
Bridge.
Thursday, September 9
* From the bigger than meets the eye department: Most everyone
knows that Hurricane Frances, which closed all four of Florida's major
cruise ports last weekend, was a monster and the most disruptive that has
been seen in modern cruise history, but most people don't realize its
effects were felt all the way in Australia. Carnival's former Jubilee,
which left the Carnival Cruise Lines' fleet last month, was at the Grand
Bahama Shipyard (near Freeport) being refit for service with another
Carnival brand, P&O Australia. A ship in port during a hurricane risks
serious damage, and it's best to be at sea where it can sail away from the
hurricane. With Frances heading toward Freeport at the middle of last
week, the yard had to stop work on the ship, refloat it, and it went to
sea, only to return safely last Monday after the storm had passed. That,
of course, is delaying the completion of the work and the ship's departure
for Australia. That in turn has caused P&O Australia to have to cancel
the ship's first scheduled cruise as Pacific Sun, adding to Carnival
Corp's overall cost of storm-related expenses of up to $33.78 million
(US), which includes costs from Pacific Sun's canceled cruise. The ship is
now scheduled to arrive in Australia on October 27.
Wednesday, September 8
* From the US Open isn't the only place to find aces in New York
department: Norwegian Dawn aced it health inspection conducted by the CDC
last week with a perfect score of 100. The ship also scored an ace on its
February inspection, and it comes on the heels of the Pride of Aloha's
perfect score by the FDA (which does the inspections on US-registered
ships). If you think you've seen a lot of these recently, it's because you
have. While it's still not exactly easy to get that magic 100, it's not as
difficult as it used to be thanks to the CDC and FDA consulting with the
cruise lines and equipment manufacturers during their design phases. It's
not a matter of the authorities schooling the lines how pass the tests,
but rather helping them design systems and facilities that will be easier
to clean and stay clean and thereby be cleaner when they inspect. Of
course the goal isn't just to get the perfect score but rather to have
cleaner and healthier ships, and these 100%'s say the ships are cleaner
than ever.
Tuesday, September 7
* From the read the fine print department: This is a reminder for
those who traveled to or from Florida in connection with one of the
delayed cruises (delayed either arriving or departing). If you purchased
insurance in conjunction with your cruise, many polices (if not most)
include some coverage for "trip interruption," which will
cover you for that extra hotel room when you couldn't get a flight back,
or you arrived there a day early, or the extra meals, or a taxi for that
mad dash to the ship instead of the transfers you bought, even extra
days parking at the airport at home because you were delayed getting
back. Often people buy the insurance thinking only of coverage in case
of cancellation, but many policies include coverage for quite a few
other things. If you had to put extra money out of your pocket because
of the delays involved with the storm, be sure to check you policy to
see if it includes this type of coverage. A claim of this type is
usually as easy as filling out a short form (often available on the
company's website) and returning it to the insurance company along with
receipts. It's coverage you paid for, so you may as well benefit from
it.
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