The eye of the storm is expected to pass over the Leeward Islands late Sunday night and a hurricane warning is currently in effect for those islands.  Also, a hurricane watch is in effect for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands as well as Puerto Rico. That region is expected to receive rainfall totals anywhere from 4 to 12 inches in some areas.  The good news for those currently in the Caribbean is, instead of turning west-northwest as forecasters expected it is starting to move on a more northern track away from the Caribbean towards the East Coast of the United States.

So far the Carnival Dream, Oasis of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas and Norwegian Epic have all changed their itineraries.

• Carnival Dream – Instead of sailing the Eastern Caribbean itinerary the Dream will be sailing the Western Caribbean itinerary of Cozumel, Belize, Roatan and Costa Maya.
• Oasis of the Seas – Will visit Nassau on Sunday, Costa Maya on Wednesday and Cozumel on Friday.  The rest of the days will be spent at sea.
• Enchantment of the Seas – The Enchantment will visit Samana on Monday, Labadee on Tuesday and then will spend the next 3 days at sea before returning to Baltimore on Saturday.
• Norwegian Epic - The Epic has swapped out St. Maarten and St. Thomas for Cozumel and Roatan.  The ship will also make an extended stop in Nassau on Friday.

Although no one really likes to have their trip altered, hurricane season can be fun if you approach it with an open mind.  There is a certain risk we all take on when booking cruises this time of year. When the announcement of an itinerary change is made, naturally you will feel a bit of anxiety.  Do yourself a favor; order another drink, realize there is nothing you can do about and embrace the added sense of adventure.  Sometimes you end up having even more fun flying by the seat of your pants.

If you are unfamiliar with the new ports of call the best thing to do is ask your waiter or a bartender for recommendations on what to do.  These guys visit these ports every other week and are more in tune with what is going on than almost any guidebook you will ever find.

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You can get the application on Carnival Cruise’s official Facebook fan page (www.facebook.com/carnival).  Once downloaded this application allows you to check out Carnival’s cruise inventory without leaving Facebook; details of the cruise  and even an invitation to book the cruise can then be shared with your friends with the simple press of a button.  On a website where many users post every time they get a drink of water, people will jump at the opportunity to update the world about an upcoming cruise.

This new app is a brilliant move for Carnival as it ties the Carnival Cruise booking engine into the most popular website in the United States; a move that is sure to be followed by the other cruise lines.  By leveraging the power of Facebook applications Carnival has created the industry’s largest sales force; with the best part being (at least for Carnival), this sales force works for free.

Currently Carnival’s Facebook page has about 250,000 fans that upon installing the app will essentially become unpaid affiliates for the cruise line.  The average Facebook user has over 100 friends.  Not all of those fans will be booking a cruise in the immediate future but Carnival is banking on the fact that most will at some point.  When that booking is made, information and invitations will go out to more than 100 people (the size of the average friend’s list).

My Viewpoint on the Carnival Facebook Application

From a business standpoint this is a brilliant move by Carnival Cruises, for cruisers it isn’t so great.  Let’s be honest.  With 250,000 fans potentially inviting 100 friends each on a cruise Carnival’s bottom line should grow tremendously.  I book a cruise and then recommend it to a half dozen friends who I went to college with; thats great business for Carnival, but other than companionship I get nothing out of the deal. It feels like Carnival is taking advantage of me.

The fans that make those recommendations get nothing out of the deal.  What I would like to see is Carnival institute some sort of program where the referrer could earn on-board credit or some other perk for additional bookings make through the invitation system.  This would create a win-win situation for both Carnival and its customers.  In fact, I would be willing to bet that had the cruise line not gotten greedy and instead decided to share the wealth this would be one of the fastest downloaded Facebook applications ever created.

You can bet Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruises will follow Carnival’s lead and if they decide to provide some sort of incentive it may not take long for them to eliminate Carnival’s first mover advantage.

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On August 15th Celebrity Cruises began using the iPad on the Celebrity Solstice to provide information on their extensive art collection.  Celebrity has a custom made app that will allow you to touch a piece of artwork to receive information on its location on the ship, title, fame, description and other information.  This app won’t be available in the iTunes app store and will only be available onboard.

This all rolled out on the Solstice on Sunday the 15th and will be available on the Eclipse and Equinox starting on August 21st.  I love technology about as much as I love cruising and I am really excited about how Celebrity is at the forefront of blending the two together.

Can you think of any other ways the cruise industry can use the iPad to improve your cruising experience?

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Passengers onboard the Epic are reporting that the Captain made an announcement late last night stating that the ship was heading back to Miami due to a medical emergency.  The ship arrived back at the port at 11 p.m. and docked just after midnight.  Supposedly a body was taken off the ship just before 2 a.m. and by 3:30 the ship was headed back to sea.  The F.B.I. is handling the investigation and as of now no further information was made available to the public.

Sunday was scheduled to be a day at sea for the Norwegian Epic with St. Maarten being the first port of call, Monday.  Since the ship was so close to the Port of Miami there should be no change in the itinerary.

Update: CBS4 reports that an FBI spokeswoman told reporters that a passenger “had a fatal allergic reaction at sea and died before it could reach port.”

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• Be a journalist
• Be on a humanitarian mission
• Be visiting an immediate family member
• Be promoting agricultural sale
• Be visiting for religious reasons

Recently the House Agriculture Committee has approved a bill that would loosen financial restrictions with Cuba and also allow United States citizens to freely travel to Cuba.  In an effort to boost agricultural trade many business groups including the United States Chamber of Commerce, National Farmers Union, American Farm Bureau Federation, and Human Rights Watch are supporting the bill.  In fact, there are approximately 140 groups in support of the bill.  Also a letter with the signature of about 70 pro democracy Cuban leaders was also sent along encouraging the passage of the bill.

It is believed that increasing trade and lifting the travel ban will benefit the American farmer by introducing additional markets for their products.  For 50 years we have been trying to keep our dollars out of Cuba in an effort to topple the Castro regime, a move that obviously has not worked.  Since 2000 United States farmers have been Cuba’s largest supplier of agricultural imports but because of U.S. imposed financial restrictions Cuba has recently turned to other cheaper suppliers.  Loosening those restrictions would once again open the gates for American farmers.  By opening up the island for travel, tourism dollars not only increase the need for American goods but provide the necessary funds for purchasing those goods.

What this means for cruisers

Although the main focus of this bill is obviously to increase the viability of the American farmer a byproduct of this is the ability to travel freely to Cuba.  For anyone who has ever dreamt of smoking a Monte Cristo while sipping a mojito in a club in Havana this is great news.

The problem is there is no way Cuba can support a massive influx of visitors.  As it stands Cuba just doesn’t have the infrastructure.  That doesn’t mean it will never happen but improvements would need to be made. The good news is these changes could probably be made in a relatively short time meaning within 5 years.

Although passage of the bill isn’t guaranteed, Cuba has already started preparing for the day when Cuba will be a mainstay port on several sailings out of the United States.  They have begun building world-class resorts on the north side of the island.  Reports state that these resorts will rival those in Cancun and other vacation hotspots.

If all goes according to plan this new legislation will bring more than one million additional visitors to Cuba, this would bring a monumental windfall for both the island and the U.S. economy.

How do you feel about traveling to Cuba?  Is this a port you would like to visit on a future cruise?

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