Cruise News May 14, 2017

A very happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there celebrating their special day. Hopefully, some of you are celebrating onboard a cruise ship. If not, perhaps you can round-up the kids next year

Cruise News May 14, 2017

A very happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there celebrating their special day. Hopefully, some of you are celebrating onboard a cruise ship. If not, perhaps you can round-up the kids next year for a short cruise to commemorate the day. Just back from our trip to Cuba, we will be spending the day with our moms here on land. Still, we found some time to keep you updated with all of the major news while we were away. Here is our latest edition of Cruise News May 14, 2017.

Cruise News May 14, 2017

Carnival Adds More Family Activities to Alaskan Cruises

The Alaska cruise season has just kicked-off this month, and the cruise lines are ready for another record-breaking year. To entice families to visit the 49th state, Carnival Cruise Line announced a number of additional family friendly onboard activities to this season’s sailings on Carnival Legend. The additions include a Frontier deck party with activities for family members of all ages, themed trivia contests, game shows, and even bingo for those older family members. All sailings also include a variety of shore excursions, as well as enrichment lectures from an onboard naturalist and Alaskan history expert.

Cruise News May 14, 2017Cruise News May 14, 2017

Royal Caribbean Adds Cuba Sailings

With only a few Cuba cruises under its belt, Royal Caribbean is confident that the demand is there for more trips to the largest island in the Caribbean. While we were exploring Havana for the first time ourselves, the cruise line announced additional sailings to the island through March of 2019. An additional 58 trips will stop in Havana, with close to half of these cruises including overnights on the island. The four and five day cruises on the brand’s Empress of the Seas will offer sailings from different home ports, including Tampa, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. These itineraries also feature stops in other ports in the region including Key West, FL, the Bahamas, and Costa Maya, Mexico.

Changes to Deposit Policy with Royal Caribbean

In other RCI news, the cruise line also announced a change to its deposit policies. Now, guests booking grand suites or higher cabin categories will have to put down a nonrefundable deposit. If passengers make changes to these cabin reservations, they will be assessed a $100 change fee, per passenger. In addition, cruisers can now opt for a nonrefundable deposit program when booking more than 6 months out. This program will ensure that passengers get the lowest fares in addition to extra onboard credit for committing to the ship and sail date. Again, a $100 change fee per passenger will be assessed by Royal Caribbean if you decide to make changes to reservations booked under this new promotion. This program rolls out fleet-wide on July 1st.

Cruise News May 14, 2017Cruise News May 14, 2017

Disney Cruise Line Adds New Ports of Call for 2018

In other updates to scheduling and itineraries, Disney Cruise Line made headlines this week with the announcement of new stops coming to cruises departing from New York City. The Disney Magic will be offering seven night New England and Canada cruises next fall. These trips will mark the first time the company has stopped in Quebec City, along with other inaugural stops in Canada ports of Saguenay and Baie-Comeau. The Magic will also offer several cruises to Bermuda during October of next year. These cruises will include two or three days on the island.

AmaWaterways Designing First Mega River Cruise Ship

While we have conquered some of the largest cruise ships on the ocean, we have not set foot on a river cruise ship…yet. That might change in 2019. It was unveiled a few days ago that AmaWaterways is planning to build the world’s first “mega river ship”. The new AmaMagna will feature some of the largest cabins in the industry with a total of 97 staterooms. Plans include additional room in public areas like the spa, pool decks, as well as al fresco dining options. Much of the changes come by extending the width of the ship with the AmaMagna being twice as wide as most contemporary river cruise ships. The new vessel will be sailing the Danube River with ports of call and itineraries not yet available.

Comments

Are there any other cruise happenings we missed from the previous week? Do you have any additional news to share? Drop us an anchor below with your headlines from the wide world of cruising.

Cruise News May 14, 2017

Don Bucolo, or “DB”, loves everything about cruising- the ocean, the food, and the atmosphere. While he may be obsessed with doing extensive amounts of research on ships and all elements of a cruise, Don enjoys sharing his new found knowledge with fellow cruisers. When he is not sailing the high seas, he does whatever his wife tells him to do-it only took 10 years to realize this.
Don Bucolo
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Cruise News May 14, 2017

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