Passengers aboard Allure of the Seas are getting a sneak peek with their cruise this week at the new "Puss in Boots," an animated 3-D movie from DreamWorks that stars the voices of Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek. Royal Caribbean has an early copy of the movie that debuts nationally on Oct. 28 and will…
One item from the Norwegian Dawn renovation of 2011 caught me by surprise. It’s a machine on the pool deck that dispenses suntan lotion from a spray nozzle. You get a minute’s worth of sunscreen for $1. The best part of this new cruise toy, called the Sunscreen Spray Station, is that you won’t have…
This week is an inaugural, of sorts, for the Norwegian Dawn, which currently is dodging winds from Hurricane Katia on its return to Boston Friday morning from Bermuda. The 2,224-passenger ship debuted in 2002. In a spring renovation in drydock, the Spinnaker Lounge and some other public rooms were moved from Deck 12 at the…
When chunks of parmesan grace the buffet lines in bowls the size of washtubs. When dining room tables each burn a red candle for the evening meal. When a multi-cultural group of cabin attendants greets you in the morning with a chorus of “Buon giorno.” Then, you know you are cruising on a Costa ship.…
With bargain rates on many cruise ships at $100-$150 a day or less per person, why would a couple on vacation spend $500- $1,000 a day, each, for a cruise? A man is his 50s asked me that question recently at a party. He was concerned also that his wife was about to book him…
If you cruise on the new Carnival Magic, what you will see is: Carnival’s first Italian restaurant, first Caribbean pub, first draught beer labeled just for Carnival, first ropes course, a host of family deck games, and three flashy production shows. New interior designs make the ship brighter and more cheerful than its sister Carnival…
As the new Carnival Magic cruises in the Mediterranean, you can be pretty sure that for the rest of the summer there will be plenty of Thirsty Frog Red. That’s the new draught beer with a Carnival Cruise Lines label, poured from a keg in Carnival’s first Caribbean pub. The 3,690-passenger Magic debuted earlier this…
Tai chi for Nieuw Amsterdam passengers at Half Moon Cay On a recent one-week voyage on Holland America’s newest ship, the Nieuw Amsterdam, one policy I especially appreciated was the effort to get me onto the vessel as soon as possible on getaway day and not to rush me off the ship at the end…