The Navigator Cruise Blog

Costa Pacifica and Luminosa Dual Inaugural Tonight

2009-06-05T14:21:00.003-04:00

Costa Cruises welcomes its two newest ships to the fleet during inaugural festivities in Genoa, Italy, tonight at 10 pm local time (4pm US eastern time). In fact, Costa reports that the dual christening, of Costa Luminosa and Costa Pacifica, represents a Guinness World Record. You might even be...

Royal Caribbean goes hip-hop; guests star in onboard Gotta Dance show

2009-06-04T19:48:00.001-04:00

Putting guests in a hip-hop dance show!? We have to give Royal Caribbean credit. Ever since introducing their "Get Out There" tag line years ago, the cruise line has lived and breathed that brand essence, enabling adventurous guests to immerse themselves in out-of-the-box experiences during their...

Swine Flu hysteria ebbs; cruise lines returning to Mexico

2009-06-03T11:25:00.004-04:00

As reason has gradually displaced the initial irrational hysteria about Swine Flu (yes, we know we're supposed to call it H1N1 Flu now, but choose not to), the cruise lines that had canceled their Mexico ports of call are now trickling back. To be fair to the cruise lines, they really had no...

New Norwegian Epic breaks sales records

2009-06-02T19:20:00.003-04:00

Norwegian Cruise Line cheerfully announced that opening-week sales for its new Norwegian Epic--which sets sail mid-2010--broke all its previous records including those of its last two ships, Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Gem. Epic represents a new class of ship for NCL, purpose-built with cool...

New passport rules now in effect to enter the US via land or sea

2009-06-02T17:53:00.006-04:00

Finally! June 1st, 2009, marks the day when the final, much-delayed, phase of the new US passport requirements became effective. The short story is that US citizens traveling out of the country should now have a passport for re-admittance to the US from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean,...

Fuel surcharge intrigue continues

2008-03-21T11:15:00.006-04:00

Back in November when Carnival Corporation announced the retroactive addition of fuel surcharges to existing bookings, we knew, first, that the rest of the industry would follow, and second, that there would be eventual pushback from customers or regulators. Nobody likes making a reservation,...

Carnival singer makes top 20 in America's Got Talent

2007-07-25T13:55:00.000-04:00

The sometimes-maligned corps of professional cruise-ship entertainers got a boost from the success of Carnival vocalist Jason Pritchett at cracking the top twenty on hit TV show America's Got Talent. Pritchett, of Kansas City, Mo., performs lead male vocals during two production shows each week on...

Norwegian Majesty crew clean up Bermuda

2007-07-23T13:38:00.001-04:00

Kudos to the crew of Norwegian Majesty, who were reported by the Bermuda Sun as having invested a day in picking up trash around the ship's port in St. George's, and planning to do so again regularly. Bermuda has a well-earned reputation for being immaculate, so no doubt this effort on the crew's...

Liberty of the Seas first look report: surf's up!

2007-05-18T23:25:00.000-04:00

We had the chance to sail onboard Royal Caribbean's brand-new Liberty of the Seas recently from the line's artfully named Cape Liberty Port in Bayonne, New Jersey. Like sister ship Freedom of the Seas, Liberty is a home run for the target "active adventure cruiser" market. Take a look at our...

More details trickle out on Empress of the North grounding in Alaska

2007-05-18T20:10:00.000-04:00

The NTSB has released a few more details about the May 14 grounding incident involving sternwheeler Empress of the North, a riverboat operated by Majestic America Line. The crew was apparently trying to complete a turn, and failed, when the boat "raked across a rocky shoal" although still no word...

NCL decision to move Pride of Hawaii to Europe justified by larger Q1 loss

2007-05-16T19:38:00.000-04:00

Norwegian Cruise Line just announced a wider first-quarter loss, $60.8 million versus $28.8 million a year earlier, that completes the picture surrounding the line's April decision to move Pride of Hawaii away from the islands and to the Mediterranean. At that time, NCL acknowledged the cause to be...

Celebrity gives birth to Azamara, a new "deluxe" cruise line

2007-05-15T18:11:00.000-04:00

It's rare for an existing cruise line to split itself in two, but that's exactly what Celebrity Cruises has done with its introduction of "deluxe" cruise line Azamara Cruises. "Azamara" is word invented for the occasion, from Romance language roots blue ("aza"), and the sea ("mar"). The new...

Silversea offers MiG-31 flights in Russia

2007-05-14T14:38:00.000-04:00

Every guy dreams of piloting a fighter jet at one time or another. Well, that dream plus $29,815 will have you taking the controls of a MiG-31 Foxhound, Russia's most advanced interceptor, as part of a wild shore excursion announced by Silversea on select Baltic cruises this summer. Silversea...

New Carnival beverage policy prohbits bringing onboard... a bottle of water?

2007-04-04T11:28:00.000-04:00

Carnival has updated its policy, that till now had reasonably restricted bringing outside booze onboard, to oddly prevent bringing any non-alcoholic beverages onboard. A Carnival spokesperson declined to elaborate to us on the rationale behind the change, beyond saying that "there were some abuses...

Wii comes onboard Norwegian in new partnership with Nintendo

2007-04-01T11:43:00.000-04:00

Have you heard about the video game consoles where players get so involved and active that cracked TVs have resulted? Well, Norwegian Cruise Line announced that shortly all of its vessels will feature these addictive Nintendo Wii (pronounced "whee") games, displayed on huge screens in public areas,...

How to fall overboard from a cruise ship

2007-03-31T11:36:00.000-04:00

Mainstream media has been agog the past few weeks about two bizarre man-overboard incidents, with some breathless coverage insinuating that taking a wrong turn on the way to dinner could land you in the drink. But in fact, getting over high cruise-ship railings takes work, frequently in combination...

Bogus bomb threat delays departure of Carnival's Sensation

2007-03-30T11:26:00.000-04:00

Demonstrating that idiots don't only target phony bomb threats against airlines, Carnival's Sensation delayed its departure Thursday from Port Canaveral, Florida, after a threatening call was received by the Coast Guard during passenger boarding. The nearly 3,000 passengers and crew were taken off...

New ship orders from Oceania, Silversea

2007-03-27T10:34:00.000-04:00

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri continues to score new ship orders. The latest are two 1,260-passenger vessels for near-luxury brand Oceania Cruises, and one 540-guest ship for ultra-luxury Silversea. Oceania's announcement comes right on the heels of the cash infusion it received recently when it...

Travel light with Princess luggage valet

2007-03-26T10:19:00.000-04:00

Any service reducing the hassle-factor of air travel is a welcome one, so we're happy to hear about Princess Cruises' new luggage valet service where you can ship your bags from your home to your stateroom aboard ship. No more schlepping your stuff through long airport and customs lines. And no...

Missing person? No, accidental tourist

2007-03-10T14:24:00.000-05:00

A cruise passenger reported missing in St. Maarten had merely missed her ship, then checked into a hotel for several days on the island, according to the St. Maarten Daily Herald, after Carnival Valor sailed without New Jersey resident Kathleen Feeney on March 1. Meanwhile, while she was...

Norwegian Dawn engine problems cause skipped ports

2007-03-10T11:25:00.000-05:00

Norwegian Cruise Line let us know that tomorrow's sailing of Norwegian Dawn, cruising from New York, will be skipping two ports and adding one due to "unexpected necessary engine repair work." While the problem persists, the ship's speed is reduced, necessitating the itinerary changes. The Ocho...

Cunard adds new planetarium shows onboard Queen Mary 2

2007-03-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

The only planetarium at sea features two new shows, courtesy of Cunard's partnership with the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium. The new productions, "Cosmic Collisions" and "Passport to the Universe," join existing program "The Search for Life: Are We Alone?" in the Queen...

Exchange rate makes European cruising the best value

2007-03-07T13:03:00.000-05:00

Holland America, looking to promote its European itineraries, made a great point to us recently: the weak dollar means that buying a Mediterranean cruise in dollars can save those from the US a bundle versus paying Euros for a land vacation. One US dollar buys you only .76 Euros at the moment,...

Royal Caribbean putting Freedom-class megaship in Europe

2007-03-04T19:39:00.000-05:00

Royal Caribbean's third 160,000-ton Freedom-class ship will cruise from Southampton, England, for its inaugural season in May 2008, the cruise line has announced. Independence of the Seas will share world's-largest-ship honors with sisters Freedom of the Seas, already sailing from Miami, and...

Share the wealth: our new rewards program for cruise customer referrals

2007-03-02T22:43:00.000-05:00

You like having on-board credits on your cruises, right? Your friends like on-board credits on their cruises. After all, what's not to like? On-board credit might mean a free spa treatment, bottle of wine, some fun gambling, or an exhilarating shore excursion. And since we most certainly like it...