Recommend December 2012 - (Page 17)

debuts Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.com) cites positive passenger feedback on innovations of this year—among them the newsy Studio accommodations designed and priced for solo travelers—as stimulus for adding guest favorites to Pride of America when it enters dry dock in March for a $30 million enhancement. After a June debut this year, the 3,690-passenger Carnival Breeze (carnival.com) made a series of Mediterranean journeys from Barcelona. Following a transatlantic crossing, Breeze kicked off year-round 6- and 8-day Caribbean cruises from Miami beginning Nov. 24, 2012. New concepts aboard Breeze include Carnival’s ﬁrst Thrill Theater, with interactive special effects that make viewers part of the movie, and the line’s ﬁrst full-service sushi restaurant. In another ﬁrst, Carnival Glory operated a series of jaunts from Boston—roundtrip 4-day (St. John) and 5-day (Halifax) eastern Canada cruises from June 10 to July 26, 2012. The popular program—“long weekends,” Carnival calls it—is slated for a rerun in 2013. In 2012, Disney Cruise Line (disneycruise.com) launched Disney Fantasy as the fourth ship in the ﬂeet—and took aim at “making it easier than ever for families to enjoy a Disney Cruise Line vacation by offering cruises from a variety of regional homeports,” says DCL president Karl Holz. “In 2013, we are excited to add even more variety to our offering of itineraries from the Port of Galveston,” Holz adds. “The addition of shorter getaway cruises and voyages that call on our most popular port of call, Disney’s Castaway Cay, rounds out an impressive array of itinerary options from Galveston.” Rates for 4-night cruises departing from Galveston start at $400 pp dbl. We were able to join in on the Disney Fantasy festivities earlier this year, remarking, as writer Taylor Harker wrote in her onsite (September 2012), that, “Any parent seeking some R&R during their vacation might not immediately opt for a Disney cruise, concerned that it’s going to be long days with thousands of screaming, crying, and badly behaved children. Well, we can say from ﬁrst-hand experience, that just doesn’t happen on the Disney Fantasy, so tell parents it’ll be a vacation for them, too.” Celebrity Cruises (celebritycruises.com), meanwhile, debuted Celebrity Reﬂection in the latter part of 2012, and began sailing the Caribbean this month. Celebrity Reﬂection boasts a number of industry ﬁrsts, including AquaClass Suites, Signature Suites and the ultra-luxurious Reﬂection Suite, the ﬁrst to include a glass shower extending out over the edge of the ship. on the way in 2013. Which means, in a span of two years, the company has increased passenger count on its most popular European itineraries by over 100 percent. Several new itineraries will set sail in 2013 along with a new 3-day land tour extension taking in England’s Oxford and Highclere Castle (billed as the real “Downton Abbey”). Rates start at $1,656 pp for an 8-day cruise on European rivers. According to Rick Shively, who attended the Viking Longship christening in March 2012 in Amsterdam and wrote an onsite for the May 2012 issue, Viking Longships Invade European Waters, “One thing that hasn’t changed on the longships is Viking’s welldeserved reputation for service. Room service is impeccable and even with many new cruise staff, dining service was excellent. Embarkation and debarkation was seamless, with friendly and knowledgeable staff throughout.” The latest to make a splash on the river cruising front: A-ROSA River Cruises (arosacruises.com), which has operated cruises on the Rhone/Saone, Rhine/Mosel/Main and Danube rivers since 2000. For the ﬁrst time next year, three of the brand’s ships will be devoted exclusively to the North American market for 7- to 14-night sailings, with David Morris International managing the product launch. Says Judy Parker, senior v.p. of marketing for David Morris International, “In 2012 it was difﬁcult to open a magazine or read an industry news brief without the mention of the phenomenal popularity of river boat cruising as the newest consumer hotticket choice for vacations. Both electronic and print publications announced cruise manuals, feature articles and award nominations speciﬁcally for this new darling of the travel scene.” Taking note of the sold-out sailings, Parker says, and seeing “the perfect storm of events to step across the pond,” in 2012 “Markus Zoepke, COO, and Lars Clasen, CFO, moved forward with the plan to dedicate three of their 10 ships to the U.S. and Canadian markets for the inaugural 2013 season.” Rates for a 7-night itinerary start at $4,952 pp, including air, transfers, shore excursions, gratuities, and alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, and wine with lunch and dinner. Closer to home, InnerSea Discoveries and American Safari Cruises (innerseadiscoveries.com) staged a newsmaking 2012, joining forces and unveiling new branding christened Un-Cruise Adventures. In May 2012, the line’s 86-passenger Safari Endeavour and 76-passenger Wilderness Explorer emerged from extensive renovation projects to ply a summer schedule in Alaska (rates start at $1,895 pp dbl), bringing the ﬂeet total to three expedition vessels and three yachts sailing in Southeast Alaska, Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, the Hawaiian Islands, Columbia and Snake rivers, and Coastal Washington and British Columbia. “With additional boats added to our ﬂeet, we’ve been able to diversify our offerings,” says Tim Jacox, executive v.p. of sales and marketing. “We now have three different adventure styles— Luxury, Active and Heritage —but as Un-Cruise Adventures, december 2012 17 river cruising Clients in search of smaller, more intimate vessels found a grand abundance in 2012, thanks to the exploding presence of river cruising. Viking River Cruises (vikingrivercruises.com), a major player in the explosion, is staying on course with six new ships—the 190-passenger Viking Longships—in 2012, and eight more http://www.ncl.com http://www.carnival.com http://www.arosacruises.com http://www.disneycruise.com http://www.celebritycruises.com http://www.innerseadiscoveries.com http://www.vikingrivercruises.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend December 2012

Editor's Notes
Hotel Desk: Indie Boutique Hotels & Resorts
Tour Talk: Apple Vacations
16th Annual Recommend Readers' Choice Awards Winners
Cruising 2012
North American Splendor
Tantalizing Tallahassee
New Beginnings
Hard Rock Hotel Cancun
For Asia and the South Pacific, 2012 was a Vintage Year
Europe Always Astounds
Six 2012 Trends That are Here to Stay
Africa Rising
Checking-in to Latin America

Recommend December 2012