Who is This Man?

He is standing in the Badaling Hills, contemplating his next move. He succeeded his father, the Emperor of the Qin state at the age of 13. He lived in an age when warfare flourished, as did books like Sun Tzu's The Art of War.  By the age of 20, he has already achieved one of his main goals—conquering the kingdom of Chou and ending the period of the Warring States. His cavalry has proved victorious. But still there are marauders, nomadic raiders (including the ancestors of Atilla the Hun), who threaten his northern holdings. How will he defend the Northern borders? To keep these hordes at bay, he pulls together the existing patchwork of defenses, uniting the ramparts in a single, huge defense system, built largely using slaves and criminals. This "great wall" will stretch some 1,400 miles along his northern and northwestern frontier. Thus, his empire will be well defended. Will his life's work survive? As is customary, he starts his funeral preparations in good time—in fact, he allows some 40 years for the work, assigning over 700,000 slaves and artisans to the task. Such an important ruler must be protected for the afterlife. Tradition has it many of his servants will be buried with him. But ever the maverick, he instead creats a massive army of terra cotta soldiers. Armed with chariots and cavalry, molded in exquisite detail, accurate down to rank, insignia and individual facial features, they are ready to defend him when the time comes... Who is he? Photo Courtesy of Viking River Cruises He is Emperor Qin Shi Huang, known as the "First Autocratic Emperor" of China. His army still stands, long buried near China's city of Xian. Yes, the Terra Cotta Warriors are some 8,000 strong. And indeed, even his ramparts remain—one of the most famous landmarks of all time, the Great Wall of China.   What else did he old Qin Shi do (like the above wasn't enough)? The emperor simplified the written Chinese script, standardized weights and measures, and minted new copper coins.  Qin Shi Huang longed for longevity, so he sent his ministers to go on quests seeking for an elixir of immortality. However, death claimed him before he could find success on that matter. Seems like everyone's been looking for that elixir for quite awhile. If you'd like to get to know more about Qin Shi Huang, and much more of the fascinating history and traditions of China check out some of the wonderful river cruises offered in 2013.  Book early to get 2-for-1 cruise fares and up to 2-for-1 airfares too!

Carnival Testing New Drinks Package

Carnival may be jumping aboard the "more inclusive" band wagon with their testing of the "My Awesome Bar" program.  Quietly unrolled aboard the Carnival Victory at the beginning of August, the package is $42.95 per person per day, plus a 15 percent gratuity. Purchasers can partake of a wide variety of wine, beer and spirits, as well as sodas, bottled water and non-alcoholic frozen cocktails throughout their cruise. (Specialty coffee is not part of the program.) 

Two caveats: 1) all included beverages, including wines by the glass, beers and individual cocktails, must be less than $10 to qualify for inclusion and 2) if one passenger wants to purchase the beverage package, then all passengers ages 21 years and up in the same cabin must also purchase the package.  

Some fear that this will increase the number of "drunks" on board, others consider that concern to be unfounded.  People do have strong opinions about alcohol, what do you think? 

Bermuda 2013

Got plans to cruise to Bermuda?  Thought about cruising to Bermuda, but keep putting it off or waiting for the pricing to go down?

The outlook for cruises to Bermuda in 2013 is "not cheap".  The cruise lines have been pulling out of this destination, and focusing on itineraries that have more ports for passengers to visit.  At least four major cruise lines have reduced Bermuda cruises in the past two years.

Princess, which called in Bermuda 10 times in 2011, scheduled just two Bermuda cruises in 2012.  Holland America Line will not return to Bermuda on regularly scheduled cruises after the 2012 summer season. The Veendam currently sails to Bermuda from New York.  Carnival ships visited Bermuda 16 times in 2011, but just once this year.

And now Royal Caribbean has announced that they are reducing the Grandeur of the Seas sailings from Baltimore to Bermuda by 50% in 2013.  The ship will alternate visits to Bermuda with sailings to the Bahamas next summer. 

Bottom line ... don't expect great deals to Bermuda in 2013, inventory is limited and those who wait to book may well be left on the dock.

Cruise Line Loyalty Programs

Allow me to be a curmudgeon.  I don't want to take all the fun out of it, but for the most part I am, how should I put it - maybe "unimpressed" would be kind - by the cruise lines' passenger loyalty programs. 

While I could fill pages on this topic, this week Carnival epitomized the underwhelming nature of many of these platforms by the release of their "new" loyalty program.  If you are accustomed to the phrase "new and improved", don't look for it here. 

In additional to complicating their previous design by changing it from two levels  to five levels (Royal Caribbean did something similar in 2011), Carnival will no longer offer the complimentary cocktail party to all repeat passengers.  Ostensibly this is because "the sheer size of the event had made it neither particularly fun nor memorable".  

Replacing the repeat passenger cocktail party for those enjoying their second cruise  - and up until they have completed 24 days on board - will be one free drink at the Punchliner Comedy Club.  This club exists only on a few ships in the fleet, on the remaining ships loyal passengers will be entitled to a free drink at breakfast or lunch in the main dining room. I can probably count (without taking off my sneakers) the number of people who actually go to the main dining room for breakfast or lunch, but who am I to speak?  It's all about the bottom line.

Having brought up the bottom line, I decided to take a look at it to see how much, on average, cruise lines profit from a passenger sailing.  That amount is said to be about $179 per passenger, per sailing.*  That's profit before taxes, but wait ... isn't there a big fuss going on in Congress right now about the cruise lines paying NO TAXES?!  But I digress.

Some of the exciting features of the loyalty program for those who have sailed less than 25 days include:

• members-only offers (oooh, aaaahhh)
• member e-newsletter (wowie - kazaam)

After 24 days sailed and up through 74 days sailed (calculated as from $626 to $1,892 of profit) passengers also receive:

• the cocktail party that they used to get from sailing #2 and onwards (value about $2.50).
• a "Gold VIFP Pin".  I put that in quotations because with gold at about $1620 an ounce, I am reluctant to believe that the afore-mentioned pin is anything other than gold in color (value about 15¢).

I hate to sound cynical.  It's just that I am. 
 

At least Carnival has finally recognized that they do have a loyalty program by giving it a name (other than Carnival Past Passenger).  It's now officially dubbed the VIFP (Very Important Fun Person) Club.  Cue the fireworks.


If you're not already frothing at the mouth for that next Carnival cruise and want to know exactly what you'll get from all those past Carnival sailings the complete list of benefits can be found here.


And if you're still not convinced of all the terrific benefits, here's a look at the propaganda video: 

I'm not saying that Carnival does not have a good product, they do.  They have just the right product for their market.  But trying to convince me that their passengers are "VERY IMPORTANT" for the first several sailings of their Carnival "careers" is simply a stretch.  If you're going to have a loyalty program, make it worthwhile to be loyal, otherwise save the sales pitch.




*Sources: Cruise Market Watch’s proprietary Cruise Pulse™ and Port Pulse™ databases, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., Carnival Corporation and plc, NCL Corporation Ltd., Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) and DVB Bank.

Beat the cost of staying connected on a cruise

Although I'm a fan of ditching technology in favor of zipping through the jungle, romping in the ocean, climbing a temple or just quality relaxing when cruising, sometimes there's just no avoiding the need to check in with the office or the family.  That said, this article gives some worthwhile tips on saving money when staying connected.

 Beat the cost of staying connected on a cruise

But really, try to keep the sun tan lotion off the keyboard!

Elderly Couple Forced Off Seabourn Ship

This from Travel Weekly: 

Seabourn is standing by its decision to force an elderly couple to disembark the Seabourn Sojourn on May 12, after the wife missed the ship’s mandatory passenger safety drill before departure from Lisbon.

The California couple had booked a 20-day, three-leg cruise from Rome to Hamburg, and had participated in the drill when the ship left Rome on May 4. At the start of the second leg from Lisbon, another drill was announced and held, per industry policy.

But the 84-year-old woman wasn’t feeling well, and since she had participated in the drill before leaving Rome, she decided to skip it. Her 90-year-old husband attended both drills.

Within an hour of the Lisbon drill, the two found themselves standing with their luggage on the pier as the Sojourn sailed off. 

Whoa ... wait a minute.  There has to be more to the story.  Lets not rush into judgement until we hear Seabourn's side.  This is a company renowned for its outstanding service and attention to detail.  It's the kind of cruise where they can't do enough for you and don't allow tipping.  Seabourn - please pitch in.  The story above is so "un-Seabourn-like" that it doesn't go down easily.

Emergency Airlift, Fun By the Pool, Winning in the Casino and So Much More

A day at sea can be relaxing, calming, serene and peaceful … or you could be with this group.  In that case a day at sea would be wild, funny, at times loud and certainly festive.  With several guests having barely recovered from the wedding, the Bloody Mary’s started to flow at about 8:00 AM.  The day dawned clear and sunny and everything was going as it should, happy campers, great time – rock on.

About 10 AM there was an announcement from the Captain that an emergency evacuation would necessitate turning the ship around so that the Coast Guard  could airlift a passenger for medical treatment.  Not something I see every time I cruise!  Most of the happy campers stayed put and kept doing what they were doing. Not moi, I’ve never seen this; I grabbed my video camera and went for the money shots.  The ones I could sell to the news at eleven guys.  I guess we were out of helicopter range, so the ship made a U-turn and piled on speed for an hour and a half while the crew prepared the aft deck for a helicopter landing.   

It never occurred to me how much work this entailed.  Security and crew members piled up over 200 lounges and tied them down so the rotor wash wouldn’t blow them around, they pulled down the lights strung from the funnel to the stern, roped off sections of about four decks to keep the decks clear, and kept back the curious (guilty as charged – I’m a cruise specialist, I need to know these things).  

First a reconnaissance or escort C-130 plane came over the ship, then the chopper circled the ship once (making sure the landing area was clear – I guess?) before they came in a second time and landed.  The escort C-130 circled the ship throughout the operation, which took about half an hour. It was fascinating to see these guys helping us out.  What professionalism!  It made every person on the ship proud of our Coast Guard, they really are there when you need them. Videos when I get back to land, they're not exciting enough - I didn't get the money shots - to spend half an hour uploading them.  Internet connection on ships is VERY slow, and expensive.

The excitement over, it was back to the pool and the party.  From what I understand some of our crowd closed the disco at about 3:00 AM.  I wouldn’t know, after the Captain’s night dinner of lobster and prime rib I wandered around the casino a bit (so far my crew has won over $850 between them), took in part of the comedy show, and called it a night at about 10:00.  Oh to be young and bullet proof again!

Carnival is known in the industry for its towel animals.  Here’s the towel animal of the day:

Cozumel up next and while some of the group will go off swimming with dolphins, a good number are heading for Carlos & Charlie’s.  Party on dudes!

Wedding on a Cruise Ship - Day 1

Day 1 – A Lovely Bride

Actually, I should start this at Day minus one and counting when the bride’s family had a terrific  luau/barbecue in their screened in lanai with pool, waterfall , tiki bar, coconut cups, and lots of good people to meet.  Having met only the immediate family and groom, I knew everyone by name (heck I know their dates of birth, phone numbers, past passenger numbers … you name it), but I didn’t know THEM.  I heard so many  “Oh – YOU’RE Dorothy” exclamations – the Cruise Planners t-shirt made it kind of obvious.

You know how when you speak to people on the phone several times you get a mental image of them?  Well, how nice was it when someone told me that I was younger and thinner than they had  imagined me?  I LIKE this crowd!

Day of the wedding found the whole house up d congregating around the coffee maker at  about 4:30 AM .  Hair and makeup artist was arriving at 5:30 to work on bride and groom’s mothers and I think an aunt or two, luggage had to be in the driveway by 7:30, beds turned back into sofas, the usual pre-wedding stuff.   

 Then on the bus, pick up the rest of the wedding party at their hotel and to the port.  

 Carnival had us in a holding pattern at the port for a good long time (the old “get there by 10:00 AM or you won’t be able to board, but once we’ve gotten you here you can go have a seat – for an hour and a half”).  No photos in the terminal – Homeland Security and all that.

During the holding pattern I got to meet some of the wedding party that hadn’t been  at the luau.  Even “Aunt Helen” who at 89 years old has more energy than half the people I know and boogied with us on the dance floor later.  

The ship is about what I remember from other Carnival ships.  Big, showy, okay maybe a little cheesy here and there, but clean and bright and everyone had big smiles to greet us.  All the guests were invited to have lunch while the wedding rehearsal took place, and the food was arguably good.  The wedding was held in the main showroom  because we had about 100 guests – too many for the little chapel on board.  I'm trying to upload a video of the bride coming down the aisle.  Taken with my phone, and it looks it, but they internet Gods are not currently with me and I'm getting error messages.

Lots of hot and cold hors’ de oeuvres at the reception including delicious fresh raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries (there’s something that I just love about eating berries when they’re not yet in season – it seems so luxurious).  Carnival did a nice job.  The wedding coordinator got things moving along very smoothly, the bouquet was thrown, the non-sailing guests ushered off, and we were on our way to sea with the new Mr. and Mrs. Parker, plus 44 of their closest friends!  And what a group it is.  This crowd could have fun on a garbage scow so being on a nice ship just make it all the better. 

My feet still hurt from the 4” heels, the dancing and just once heck of a long day, including a 5:30 AM jog (never again), but I’d do it again in a heartbeat – and the sailing has just started.  

Hope you’ll join me in wishing all the very best to this special couple – there will be stories to tell in the coming days!

Wedding Party at Sea

Although I've booked a lot of honeymoons and even a few weddings at sea, what I truly love is getting involved with an entire group of wedding guests who are attending the wedding AND sailing off with the honeymoon couple.  I've enjoyed planning special events for years; among the events I've planned are dinners for the Prime Minister of Turkey, ship inaugural events, catered dinners for VIPs on the rooftop of the American Express building , yachting parties for VIPs (i.e. CEO of Macy's, Head of the Senate Banking Committee, President of MTV, etc.) during the America's Cup Races, mayoral campaigns, sales meetings around the world ... well you get the idea.

Planning a group cruise with a wedding lets me take all that special event experience and put it to use for my own business.  I've seen a number of "Wedding on Board" parties that end with the reception.  Then the guests go off to enjoy their cruise, and maybe they plan a couple of get-togethers on their own.  Blah... boring, conventional, vanilla.  This wedding is going to be MEMORABLE (as every wedding should be).  The bride is gorgeous, the family is a bunch of fun, and the friends are live wires.  Now this is an opportunity!


We have an itinerary of activities just for the wedding guests including a cocktail party (natch), private group shore excursions, adventure hunt on board, a wrap party on the last day at sea and gift bags (this is where I'm going all out with travel-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, hand sanitizer & mouthwash personalized with labels in the wedding theme color and with the Bride & Groom's names - as well as a few subtitles). The group is big enough that I decided to travel with them ... I'll be their private cruise director so the wedding couple and families have no worries, just ask Dorothy.

I think it's nice to welcome the guests aboard with a gift they can use during the cruise, and who doesn't need a toiletry kit, water bottle, sunscreen, sewing kit, document holder, coupon for FREE semiprecious necklace and earrings, etc.?  Did I mention that the company name and toll free phone number will be on each of these items?  Well, I AM trying to promote myself!  Thank goodness for my background in marketing & advertising, although in the past when I did this it was with Other People's Money.  I love OPM.  This time it's my money - that really changes the equation.

I've also come up with a plan for the bride & groom to get free drinks - I can't give it away just now, but the B&G are all over it!

The reason for all this?  When others on board see how much fun we're having, maybe they'll ask who is the genius behind all this fun.  Maybe the guests will have such a memorable time that they'll tell all their friends about me.  Most importantly, however, is that the bride and groom - and their families - will have the most special cruise I can dream up for them.  That's satisfaction in itself.

I'm going to try to do similar for all large groups (25 cabins or more) in the future - it's worth it to make sure they have the time of their lives!

We sail on April 29th and I'll be blogging every day if possible.  Between all the activities, the shore excursions, the ports of call I haven't seen before and the mandatory gym time I always commit to on a cruise I could miss a day here or there.  But there WILL be blogs, there will be fun, there will be weird souvenirs of the day, and there will be pictures.

Oh, and I've started my diet.  Figured that if I went public with it I'd have to stick to it. I've got 66 days.  Would love to drop 15 lbs.  - that would be 1/4 of a pound a day, 1.59 per week.  20 would be even better (swimsuit wise) but that would be 1/3 of a lb. a day 2.12 a week. I've watched The Biggest Loser for years, but can't spend four hours a day in the gym.   Help me along!

I'm so excited ... can't wait until the 29th of April!

The Disaster Could Have Been Avoided

Great Article from CruiseMates .... and what I want to know is: What about all the other ship's officers?  Chief Officer?  Second Officer? Safety Officer?  Chief Engineer?   I know the Captain is God on a ship, but really ... weren't any of the disciples there?

What the Media is Missing in Concordia The Concordia incident is the worst tragedy in modern cruise industry history. But most of the focus has been on the actions of the captain abandoning a sinking ship, as well as a chaotic situation due to an uninformed crew. What has been completely overlooked is the sequence of events before the grounding of the ship.

Is this enough to sink a ship?

Everyone on that ship should have been saved, with all of their possessions. The biggest mistakes (yes, plural) the captain made happened long before he ran away.

Costa Concordia is structurally identical to the Carnival Splendor - the ship that went dead in the water off the coast of Mexico two years ago. But in that case the captain sent up a Mayday immediately and Carnival rightly chose to keep everyone onboard and tow the ship to safe harbor. Those people were inconvenienced, but they didn't suffer, and they survived in whole. I now fully understand the SOLAS "ship as a lifeboat" concept.

Had this captain called Costa when he first hit the rocks this entire event would have gone entirely differently.

The first obvious mistake Schettino made was not checking the charts for the route he took near Giglio. We know the ship made a similar sail-by last August. Reports say he was given the coordinates by a colleague, but he reportedly went off that course, and did not check the local charts.

Next mistake: there are usually several people on the bridge; a navigator, a watchman and the person steering the ship - not always the captain. All of them had to have known when they hit the rocks. At that point the ship should have been stopped to check the hull integrity.

We know the ship was sound for at least 40 more minutes. Was the ship going to sink from the damage that was done? It is unlikely because of the fully watertight sections. If the ship had been stopped slowly it could have been towed upright to safe harbor and everyone evacuated. This is the "ship as the lifeboat" SOLAS protocol adopted in July 2010.

But the ship continued on at full speed for 40 minutes before Schettino took action. It is said he stopped the ship, dropped the anchors to stabilize her, turned her around and then headed to shore. With an already damaged hull these are aggravating measures. Once again, he should have stopped the ship and raised a Mayday.
The captain turned the ship to the left to return to Giglio, but unlike cars which lean in on turns, ships lean out. The meant the ship was listing to the right, towards the shore. As it came in closer the current pushed the keel out and the ship tipped into the rocks. Had he turned the ship the other way the outcome might have been different.

But the ship appears to have been further damaged when it keeled over - making it take on water even faster, and once the water breached the open decks it filled very quickly until it stabilized. It is actually surprising, but a testament to the bouyancy of the ship, that it has not already sunk to the great deep.
This already indentifies three points were it is likely Schettino made bad decisions and violated statutory procedure. And while the media is focused on Schettino abandoning ship, in fact his most egregious acts - leading to loss of life - happened long before left the ship.

Was the Crew Uninformed?
No, they were abandoned. I am a former crewmember who knows that every crewmember is assigned a duty for boat drill and given instructions for that duty only; solely to make sure passenger lifejackets are fastened correctly and lined up in neat rows to board the lifeboats.
Crews are trained by a staff of safety officers whose sole job is to handle emergencies. A ship this size should have between six and 12 safety officers. Training is predicated on the presence of these officers to run the lifeboats. It also assumes the ship will be upright, according to SOLAS standards, so all lifeboats are available.

Where were the safety officers at this point?

Why wasn't the ship left in an upright position for evacuation?

Why is no one asking these questions?
The answer is that the safety officers were likely on the bridge - checking the ship's stability and waiting for the captain to take action. Do you think the captain told them he was going down to get on a lifeboat and escape the ship? Or did he say "Wait here, I am going to investigate the situation,"? How could he get away if they had not been left on the bridge?
Next - the media is not reporting Costa is a multilingual cruise line. All ship operations (including safety drills) are conducted in Italian, German, French, Spanish and English in that order. In addition there were natives of Brazil, Korea, India and more.
Plus, this ship picked up passengers in four ports on this itinerary (this does not happen on U.S.-based cruises) and with a 24 hour window to hold a boat drill, the ship had decided to delay the drill for 696 people just boarded in Civitavecchia until after even more people were scheduled to board in Savona.

Is Costa to Blame?
No. Any ship's captain has full discretion over routing decisions. They are the ruling class in the open sea. This captain chose to sail by Giglio without telling Costa. He chose to continue at full steam for 40 minutes. He then chose to turn the hobbled ship and head back to Giglio without sending a mayday. Reports say he didn't call the "home office" until the ship was already crashed on the shore. The captain also failed to give the abandon ship signal. There are a lot more details to be revealed here - and what amazes me the most is what the media is not asking about the events leading up to the grounding, like "Was this a sinking ship?"

Are Cruise Prices Going Lower?
I read a report this morning that a certain web site owner says "Cruise Prices Headed Way Down." While I don't disagree this will happen short term, experience has shown that experienced cruisers are fully aware of the industry's safety record, which is far better than flying or driving. People do not stop flying after air or car accidents. Therefore, any discount in prices will be short-lived and mostly confined to Costa. Operations at other cruise lines remain as safe as ever.

So, if there are bargains to be had - grab them while you have the opportunity.