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Princess Continues to Give Behind-the-Scenes Peak at Ship Refurbishment with

Sea Princess Drydock Journal

                               Latest Ship Remodel Chronicled with Daily Online Updates

 SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (September 14, 2009) – The enthusiastic following for Princess Cruises’ recent online drydock journals for Golden Princess and Dawn Princess, has prompted yet another installment for Sea Princess’ current drydock.  Visitors to www.princess.com can follow along through September 25 as the ship receives new interior furnishings and finishes, fresh hull paint and exterior refurbishment, plus the addition of the line’s adults-only Sanctuary.

The Sea Princess Drydock Journal features regular updates of the work in progress at BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair at Pier 70 in San Francisco.  The journal can be found on the Sea Princess page in the website’s “Ships” section, and it will be regularly updated throughout the ship’s two-week drydock.  The photos will also be posted to Princess’ Twitter feed, Facebook page and Flickr photostream.

“We’ve received great feedback from passengers who have enjoyed following along with these drydock journals, and have gained a new appreciation for the work that goes into maintaining our vessels,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president.  “Viewers love watching how quickly ships are transformed when in drydock.”

When Sea Princess emerges from the drydock, the ship will feature the opportunity to get away from it all in the tranquility of The Sanctuary, Princess’ signature adults-only retreat featuring plush padded lounge chairs and the services of dedicated Serenity Stewards.  Visitors to this exclusive space can enjoy refreshing beverages and light snacks or listen to a relaxing playlist of music.

Other changes viewers will see throughout the drydock include a remodeled photo gallery area, the installation of new carpet and upholstery, plus a rare view of the bottom of the ship’s hull as it receives several new coats of silicone paint.

Once out of drydock, Sea Princess will transit the Panama Canal on her way to the Caribbean to begin a series of 14-day cruises from Barbados.

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Island Princess Inaugurates New Canada Place Facility to Reduce Air Emissions

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (August 31, 2009) – Today Island Princess helped inaugurate the Port of Vancouver’s new shore power facility by turning off its engines and instead “plugging in” to clean hydroelectric power from shore.

The new shore power technology at the Canada Place cruise ship terminal enables Princess Cruises’ ships, and other equipped vessels, to use power from the city’s grid instead of the onboard diesel-powered engines, reducing emissions when docking in Vancouver.

The port becomes the third in the world where Princess Cruises’ ships can take advantage of this innovative technology. The new shore power installation is the very first use of this technology in Canada and is the result of a $9 million cooperative partnership among Port Metro Vancouver, Transport Canada, Western Economic Diversification Canada, British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, British Columbia Hydro, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises.

"We’ve been committed to shore power for many years, so we’re pleased we can now ‘plug in’ our ships at Port Metro Vancouver," said Charlie Ball, president of Princess Tours. "We know that local air quality issues are important to the community, and we’re proud to join with all those involved in realizing this important environmental initiative."

Princess’ shore power program made history when it debuted in Juneau, Alaska in the summer of 2001. It expanded to Seattle in summer 2005 and is planned to roll out in other ports that have made commitments to the technology, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. Currently nine of the line’s ships are outfitted with the capability to "plug in" to a shoreside power source.

Four Princess ships will use shore power in Vancouver during the remainder of the 2009 Alaska season. The vessels – Coral Princess, Diamond Princess, Island Princess and Sapphire Princess – sail on seven-day Gulf of Alaska cruises.

To create this unique power system, Princess has outfitted its ships with custom-built connection cabinets that connect the ship’s electrical network to the local electrical system ashore. Since 2001, Princess has invested nearly $7 million in equipment alone to enable its vessels to connect to shore power. The ships currently equipped with this technology include:

• Coral Princess
• Dawn Princess
• Diamond Princess
• Golden Princess
• Island Princess
• Sapphire Princess
• Sea Princess
• Star Princess
• Sun Princess

Also known as "cold ironing," shore power uses electrical power transmitted from a landside transformer to the vessel via four 3½-inch diameter flexible electrical cables. The actual cable connection on a vessel is a traditional, though quite large, plug and socket. The length of time needed to connect a ship to shore power and shut down the vessel’s diesel generator is approximately 40 minutes. Once connected, the ship’s engines are powered down and, simultaneously, the necessary amount of power, provided by BC Hydro, will be used to run the ship’s services while in port.

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Disney Cruise Line celebrated the keel-laying of the Disney Dream, the first of two new ships. “Since our inception, families have come to know and love Disney Cruise Line, and they are looking for additional ways to enjoy all that we have to offer,” Disney Cruise Line President Karl Holz said during the Aug. 26 ceremony at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. “Our fleet expansion will allow us to satisfy demand on both the East and West coasts of the United States while also giving us the flexibility to explore additional global destinations for our guests.”

The Disney Dream is scheduled to join the fleet in 2011, followed by Disney’s second new ship, the Disney Fantasy in 2012. The new liners will more than double the capacity of Disney Cruise Line, each having 1,250 staterooms and a tonnage of 128,000. Both will call Port Canaveral their home, where expansion efforts are underway to accommodate the larger ships and additional guests. In addition to an extension of the dock and enlargements to the Disney terminal building, a new multi-level parking structure will be built. Disney Cruise Line also recently announced that the Disney Wonder will operate from the Port of Los Angeles starting in 2011.

Disney Cruise Line plans to once again sail the Mediterranean region aboard the Disney Magic during summer 2010. In addition to the ports in Spain, Italy and France, the ship will visit Tunis in Northern Africa, the island nation of Malta and Corsica. Disney Magic will also visit the Northern Europe for the first time calling on Warnemunde, Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; and the Scandinavian ports of Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Holz said the company will begin to announce some itineraries for 2011 in September during the D23 EXPO at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

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Ruby Princess Swimming Pool Becomes Latest Canvas for Famed Marine Life Artist Wyland

Ruby Princess approached Venice this afternoon, passengers aboard the Princess Cruises ship were treated to a special live art event as famed marine life artist Wyland painted an unusual canvas – the bottom of the ship’s Neptune Pool.

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Networking socially.

It’s funny. Networking has always been a social activity: happy hours, cocktail parties and business networking events. But those were in-person, up-close and dressed-to-impress types of events. These days we’re online. A lot. And being online is more prevalent than ever. (You’re reading this online, aren’t you?) Now we have a term for this ongoing conversation, and if you haven’t heard already, it’s called social networking. And there’s a lot of it out there in the world.

Want to jump in and join the conversation? Don’t know where to begin? Well, travel lover, good news. Go to www.cruisitude.com. It’s a community created for cruise enthusiasts like you. It’s a place where you can upload your travel photos and videos, or post your thoughts. Invite your friends or make some new friends. It’s all about travel, cruising and you. What’s your cruisitude? Go. Click. Join.

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Are photos of your spouse modeling a fashionable orange life jacket in your cabin a thing of the past? In a recent blog entry, Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO Richard Fain revealed that when Oasis of the Seas debuts this winter, life jackets will be stowed solely at muster stations rather than in passenger staterooms. Fain says that the line has already tested this out on a few other ships in the fleet to positive response.

On most mainstream ships, life jackets are stored in individual cabins -- usually in the closet, though sometimes under the bed (additional life jackets are kept at muster stations in case you are unable to reach your cabin in a real emergency). When the alarm sounds to signal the start of the safety drill (required by law), passengers have to grab their gear from their cabins and haul it (and themselves) to a designated muster station, where crewmembers explain procedures and conduct a head count. Afterward, passengers are responsible for bringing their jackets back to their cabins before they can go about their cruise business.

As Fain puts it on his blog, "it is a royal pain in the ass -- an important pain, but a pain nonetheless."

So why hasn't anyone done this sooner? After all, there are no regulations as to where life jackets must be kept -- a spokesperson for the International Maritime Organization tells us that they just need to be readily accessible and their position plainly indicated. The vests-in-cabins plan could simply be a holdover from the days when ships were smaller and deck areas couldn't accommodate the jackets.

Fain writes, "We have the space ... the advantages are so overwhelming that you have to wonder why we haven't done this before. The only answer we have come up with is that we never looked at this process as carefully before Oasis." Fain indicates on his blog that that the idea came out of a brainstorming session for Oasis. The line has also developed a digital system for real time accounting of passengers at their muster stations -- no more clipboard confusion

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Pass the Ketchup

Dining options on Carnival Dream, debuting in September, range from a two-level casual eatery featuring a new Italian pasta station and a burrito bar to Ocean Plaza, an indoor/outdoor café and live music venue.

In outlining the ship’s food selection, Carnival Cruise Lines emphasized that most choices are included in the fare. Exceptions are the reservations-recommended steak house and specialty coffees and select patisserie items.

The two-level buffet restaurant’s new pasta bar gives a choice of noodles, sauce and ingredients, and the burrito bar will let diners create an oversized wrap with a choice of chicken, beef, shrimp, salsa and other accompaniments. The venue, The Gathering, also houses a 24-hour pizzeria with seven kinds of pies, a Mongolian wok for custom-made stir-fries, a tandoori oven, a New York-style deli, a different featured international cuisine daily and a 35-item salad bar.

An expanded 24-hour room service menu, free of charge, includes new choices such as medium rare roast beef and brie on French baguette and grilled fresh mozzarella and portobello mushroom on focaccia. A complimentary sushi bar is found on the Promenade Deck.

Ocean Plaza, the new café and entertainment venue, will offer WiFi access and a dozen kiosks to access FunHub, the recently announced intranet portal and on-board social network. The centerpiece is Plaza Café, a patisserie serving specialty coffees, milkshakes and baked-on-board cakes, pies and cookies.

The Chef’s Art Steakhouse is a 139-seat venue with prime dry-aged USDA beef selections ranging from a nine-ounce filet to a 24-ounce porterhouse, along with lobster tail, lamb chops and other choices. The service charge is $30.

Carnival Dream’s two-level Scarlet and Crimson main dining rooms will present six appetizers and soups, two salads and six entrees each night. Always-available ‘Carnival Classics’ include char-broiled steak with a signature rub, grilled chicken and pasta dishes and what Carnival calls the cruise industry’s most popular dessert, warm chocolate melting cake, as part of a six-choice dessert menu.

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http://www.oasisoftheseas.com/chairmans-blog/ 

Here are some comments on the photos  from the cruise industry trade group Seatrade Insider Newsletter:

From bird’s-eye views of Central Park to a dizzying look down on the AquaTheater’s diving platform, astonishing images of Oasis of the Seas are posted on the blog. The AquaTheater pool sports more equipment than the space shuttle, Fain quips. And the air conditioning components ‘look more like artwork.’

Shots of the Rising Tide Bar show the feature that will continuously move between the atrium and Central Park. The area where the zipline will fly, a Crown Loft and many other elements of the world’s largest cruise ship are on view for the first time.

The massive propulsion pods and a gigantic bow thruster are among the technical components depicted. Fain notes the four thrusters together can provide more power to move the ship sideways than most ships have for total propulsion power.

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Wow, summer is here and it seems a lot of people are putting off making their travel plans.  Well, sometimes it pays to wait and this might be one of those times.  Cruise Planners has just announced its biggest sale of the year.  We asked the cruise lines to sharpen up their pencils and give us their best deals.  And they came through with the hottest offers of the summer.  There over 15 major cruise lines plus land and tour companies participating in this sale and more offers than we’ve ever seen.  Ship board spending credits range from $50 to $400.  There are a bunch of 2 for 1 fares and free airfare specials.  Family vacation?  We even have a Kids Sail Free program.  And one cruise line is even offering unlimited free shore excursions.  The good news is that these offers are available on a huge variety of cruise lines and ships from short to long and from economy to ultra-luxury.  And departures are available throughout the rest of the year and into 2010. The not-so-good news is that like summer, these specials must come to an end.  So, put away the lawnmower and pick up the phone because it’s time to get some Cruisitude.

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Wow, summer is here and it seems a lot of people are putting off making their cruise travel plans.  Well, sometimes it pays to wait and this might be one of those times.  Cruise Planners has just announced its biggest sale of the year.  We asked the cruise lines to sharpen up their pencils and give us their best deals.  And they came through with the hottest offers of the summer.  There over 15 major cruise lines participating in this sale and more offers than we’ve ever seen.  Ship board spending credits range from $50 to $400.  There are a bunch of 2 for 1 fares and free airfare specials.  Family vacation?  We even have a Kids Sail Free program.  And one cruise line is even offering unlimited free shore excursions.  The good news is that these offers are available on a huge variety of cruise lines and ships from short to long and from economy to ultra-luxury.  And departures are available throughout the rest of the year and into 2010. The not-so-good news is that like summer, these specials must come to an end.  So, put away the lawnmower and pick up the phone because it’s time to get some Cruisitude.

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