People, especially Americans, seem to be genuinely amazed when I told them that I was going to Las Vegas for 6 nights. Amazed because they said there was not enough to do – and the “full on” nature of the city would be too much to bear for more than 2 or maybe 3 days. To view all my zillions of photos: click here I have now been to Las Vegas 3 times and still feel that I have not even begun to do anything other than skim everything that this quit…
…orried about the weather and seas, go in the middle of the European/ North America Summer. It is the most costly time though as a result. You will usually find the best fares are for any winter crossings, such as around Christmas time when the QM2 usually crosses the Atlantic to run a Christmas/ New Year Caribbean cruise before returning to Southampton for the start of the World Cruise in January. This crossing is usually less popular and discount…
…of cruise brands. Carnival also owns cruise brands like Carnival, Holland America, P&O, Princess and many others. Carnival are focused on building the Cunard brand based on its British heritage and luxury image. In 2004 they added the Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship at the time, designed as a liner that could take over the Transatlantic business from the QE2. Later they added the Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth. Cunard focuses on rein…
…ran the service by forming the rather cumbersome titled “British and North America Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company”. From this base, Cunard developed and expanded and for about 30 years offered the fastest way to cross the Atlantic. It became the “Cunard Steamship Company” in 1879, though by then Cunard had lost its edge. It was struggling against lines like the White Star Line (eventual owner of “Titanic”) who had better ships and technology, as…
…d Cruise legs allow you to explore a region of the world, like Asia, South America or Australia / New Zealand that you really want to see in a short space of time. I have many articles and tips about cruising, and so visit the CRUISING tab at the top of the page for many more articles about cruising. If you enjoyed this article, please share it using the social media links below or subscribe for updates to the blog by using the eMail subscriptio…
…e birth of regular and scheduled jet liner travel between Europe and North America obliterated the transatlantic liner business. At times in the 1960s ships like Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth had as little as 100 passengers on it – and well over 1000 crew. Since the 1970s the only regular and scheduled liner crossing the Atlantic was Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2. Today there is only one true ocean liner that has a scheduled transatlantic service. This is…
…g the “Med Experience” to life, and how they do something different to the American and British cruise lines that I am most familiar with. Like many cruisers, I am seeing a more harmonised cruise offering and experience across the American and British cruise brands, no doubt driven by the fact that 2 large corporations (Carnival and Royal Caribbean) own most cruise lines across the world today. MSC Cruises is the only cruise line with a ship-withi…
…nival, which own lines that include Carnival, Cunard, Seabourn and Holland America. The other is Royal Caribbean, and they own lines like Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. There is a lot of similarity of service across these brands on-board and increasingly the back-office and behind-the-scenes activities are being shared. As I believe so passionately in the importance of people behind creating a travel experience, I like to find out what made those…
…USA) and he explains how they have prepared the crew for serving the North American cruise passenger. Finally you will hear me talk to Andre Schlemmer (Cruise Director of MSC Divina). He was especially recruited for the ship’s move to Miami based on his years of experience of running the cruise entertainment for other lines with a large North America passenger base. He gives his insider tips on what you should do and see if planning a trip on the…
…It is very different to more traditional cruise lines like Cunard, Holland America, and P & O which have formal nights, semi-formal nights and smart casual nights. The Norwegian Getaway dress code dress code is “resort casual”, and shorts are allowed in most dining venues, except for the Tropicana Room which is the main dining room, Ocean Blue and Le Bistro after five o’clock. In the evenings you will find a mixture of dress codes around the ship….
…There used to be dozens serving just the traffic between Europe and North America and they soon found people liked seven hour flights to four to five days at sea. Cruising emerged again with the ships as destinations in themselves taking people on long round-the-world grand voyages in the winter and plying the Caribbean and Mediterranean in the summer. Mostly older people with time and money. In recent times we have seen cruising trying to take o…
