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Monday Mailbag: April 18, 2011

Written by T.I. Cruiser on April 18, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Hello everybody, thanks for stopping by for this weeks addition of the Monday Mailbag. Here I am going to address two questions I recently received that I feel may be helpful not only to the person who asked it but to many others. The first question deals with taking a cruise with someone with a specific special need and how to handle that situation. The second question is discusses how Norwegian Cruise Lines innovative Freestyle Cruising deals with formal nights.

Special Needs Cruising: Oxygen Tanks

We will be taking my Mother and Grandmother on a cruise on Royal Caribbean. My Grandmother uses liquid oxygen. What is the best way to go about ordering extra oxygen to have available during our cruise?

First of all let me say that having the opportunity to take both your Mother and Grandmother on a cruise should be an incredible experience. Its times like this which makes working hard really worth it. While todays cruise ships are able to provide almost anything a passenger could want, medical equipment will always be a different conversation.

Most cruise lines are unable to provide additional oxygen to passengers in need and Royal Caribbean is no exception. Royal Caribbean allows all types of oxygen on board their cruise ships but you will be responsible for bringing it with you. While each ship may have different methods of storing your supplies rest assured that you will allows be allowed to have some in the stateroom at the ready.

If you booked through a travel agent get in contact with them. Royal Caribbean will need to be made aware of the type and amount of oxygen you will be bringing along. If you booked on your own you will need to fill out the Guest Special Needs Form. This will all need to happen no later than 30 days prior to your sailing to give them a chance to make any of the necessary adjustments.

Norwegian Cruise Lines Formal Night

I have cruised once before but never on Norwegian Cruise Lines. I will be cruising on the Norwegian Epic at the end of the month and was wondering which nights are the formal nights?

The short answer would be there aren’t any formal nights on Norwegian Cruise Lines. One of the major draws for Norwegian Cruise Lines is their Freestyle Cruising concept. What this means is you can do things your way, for many that doesn’t include being made to dress up. However, those of us who like the atmosphere cruise ship formal nights provide will miss out on NCL.

Now, there is something onboard NCL ships called “Dress Up or Not” nights. On these nights some passengers will opt to dress up, obviously some will not. While it’s not unusual to see people disregarding the suggested dress of formal night on any of the main stream cruises “Dress Up or Not” night is like that but fully sanctioned.

Usually (but obviously not always) what you will find is a division along age lines. As can be expected the percentage of passengers who choose to dress up tends to increase as the age group of the passengers increases. In other words, of those dressing up there will be a higher percentage of those who fall into the 40-49 age range dressed up than those in the 20-29 range.

Cruise Lines Cutting Back Mexican Riviera Itineraries

Written by T.I. Cruiser on January 20, 2011 · 1 Comment

Earlier this week three cruise lines announced they will either end or cut back trips to Mexico. The reasons for these cutbacks are a combination of lack of interest and escalating violence in Mexico. Although in my opinion a lot of the lack of interest has to do with the extreme violence taking place south of the border. I mean who wants to vacation in a place where they are shooting up nightclubs and finding decapitated bodies in the street. Not exactly my idea of paradise. Honestly, I am surprised it took this long for the cruise lines to make this move.

Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines have all decided to relocate ships from Southern California to other areas of the world.

Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas will be leaving on its final voyage out of Los Angeles this Sunday. In the future the ship will be home-ported in Galveston, Texas where it will sail a seven-night Western Caribbean itinerary.

Carnival Cruises, Carnival Spirit will be relocating from the Port of San Diego to Australia starting in 2012. The Spirit will be providing year-round cruises out of Sydney.

Norwegian Cruise Lines, Norwegian Star will be stopping its Mexican Riviera itinerary sometime in May. In the future the Norwegian Star will be sailing out of Tampa, Florida.

While this is good news for passengers who have been scared off by the escalating violence it is bad for the economy of already cash strapped state. In a normal year over a quarter of a million cruise passengers visit the Port of Los Angeles but that number will be dropping to 600,000 this year. While I don’t have exact numbers, this will mean tens of millions of dollars in lost income for the area.

The good news for Southern California is these moves aren’t expected to be permanent. I fully expect that once the violence dies down the So Cal cruise scene will be revived.

Ever Wanted to Own a Piece of Norwegian Cruise Lines?

Written by T.I. Cruiser on November 2, 2010 · Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever wanted to own a piece of Norwegian Cruise Lines you may soon get your chance. Both the number 1 and number 2 companies in the cruise industry Carnival Cruises and Royal Caribbean are publicly traded companies but up until this point Norwegian has been privately held, soon that will change. Last week NCL announced the filing of an S-1 form indicating the desier to go public with an Initial Public Offering for its stock. This initiall public offering would allow NCL to be listed in the stock market, meaning you can own shares in the company.

The company stated they plan to use the proceeds of the IPO to pay down debt and to fund future expenditures. This announcement amid news that the company will 1.6 billion dollars on two new vessels. These new ships will increase the cruise lines passenger capacity by approximately 30%. The two new ships will be built at Germany’s Meyer Werft shipyard. While not quite as large as the Norwegian Epic (155,873 tons) each will be approximately 143,500 tims and are set to be delivered in 2013 and 2014. Each ship will hold about 4,000 passengers which falls only 100 short of the Epic’s capacity.

In my opinion the most interesting part will be an implementation of a stockholder benefit package. Both of the other companies offer onboard credit for stockholders sailing on-board their ships. Since NCL is in the preliminary stages of this IPO no information is available on whether or not they will implement such a plan but I would imagine they would. Stay tuned for more information on Norwegian Cruise Lines most recent announcement.