For nearly three years, I have been wondering about the loss of a favorite cruise vessel, the Spirit of '98. In August, she will be back. Spirit of '98 is now Un-Cruise's Legacy Cruise West, the company that owned Spirit, ended its touring days in 2010, and I feared that the ship, which needed some…
When you pay extra to cruise a bit upscale, you get roominess, unlimited lobster tails, sushi, lamb chops Relaxing on Oceania's Riviera (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com) Cruise ships have a reputation for encouraging a measure of gluttony. On nearly every modern ship, you may start eating before the sun comes up and maintain…
Cruise lines normally shy away from mentioning “rocks” when talking about their ships and where they are sailing. Five water slides on Norwegian Breakaway (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com) But Norwegian, perhaps the most innovative of all the modern cruise companies, is not shy. And neither is the world’s newest cruise ship, the 4,028-passenger…
“Our passions here are food and shopping,” said my Singapore guide, Naseem. “I could eat all the time. We eat, eat, eat,” usually about five small meals a day, she said. I agreed to try. We began a morning with Ya Kun Kaya Toast, a traditional breakfast of grilled brown bread with a slab of…
Cruise passengers will love Singapore as a home port for ships. It’s a great location for getting over jetlag before your cruise. Infinity pool on the 57th floor atop the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com) Singapore, which began as a British trading post, is one of the world’s…
Singapore Good news for travelers: Singapore, a gateway to vacations in Southeast Asia, and one of my favorite home ports for boarding cruise ships, is anticipating an expanded fleet of big, modern vessels. They will be based at new and enhanced marinas, built here at a cost of half a billion dollars. Cargo ships anchored…
The cruise industry image is floundering again, with more bad news and big pictures about ships losing power (and the subsequent much-feared inability to flush toilets). If history is any guide, cruise lines will fight back by throwing money at the image problem, lowering their prices until customers start buying again. So if you are…
Cruise lines from mass-market to luxury increasingly are designing shorter voyages, both to introduce their ships to vacationers who have not been to sea and to provide getaways for busy world travelers who may have only a few leisure days to spare. Tea time in Palm Court on Crystal Serenity (Picture from Crystal Cruises)…
Cruise line executives and industry leaders meet annually in March at Cruise Shipping Miami. This week, for the second year in a row, their conference and trade show, designed to talk about past profits and show off innovative products, was marred by a recent international black eye. In January 2012, the Costa Concordia rollover at…
Some intriguing new cruise ships are on the way, including Norwegian Breakaway, which will breakout with a major party in New York in May. Peter Max painted the hull for Norwegian Breakaway, which will be sailing out of New York In England in June, Royal Princess is due to debut with a long-awaited new design…