Monday, February 27, 2012

SpongeBob Boards the Norwegian Gem

Welcome to the newest crew members that recently boarded the Norwegian Gem; SpongeBob, Patrick, and Dora the Explorer!  The Gem is now the third ship in the fleet to offer little cruisers and their families the Nickelodeon experience.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s CEO, Kevin Sheehan, stated, “We’ve had tremendous success with the Nickelodeon-themed entertainment and programming to date on Norwegian Epic and Norwegian Jewel. Families are flocking to these ships for the unique experience available to them through Nickelodeon.  Based on this success, we wanted to give more families the opportunity to experience sailing with their favorite Nickelodeon characters, so we are pleased to roll out this programming on Norwegian Gem.”

Lots of Nick family fun has been scheduled into the Gem’s 7-night itinerary! The all new “Pajama Jam Character Breakfast” encourages guests to show up in their jammies for a morning meal full of laughs and surprises. Each cruise features a live Nickelodeon-themed interactive show in the main theater and “Nick Live Poolside” activities and games. “Dora’s Dance Party”, where children, ages six and younger have the chance to sing and dance to their favorite songs with Dora the Explorer and Team Nick is a cruise highlight. Families can also look forward to Nickelodeon Character Meet and Greets, Nick Jr. Story Time, and Nickelodeon arts and crafts.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Introducing the NEW DirectLineCruises.com

Have you been on the Direct Line Cruises website lately?  There’s a lot of new and exciting additions that we think you’re going to like! We’ve created comprehensive travel center dedicated solely to cruising! Let me tell you about some of its exciting new features!

One of the things we’re most excited about is the newly created customer service center! You’ve told us you wanted access to your booking 24/7 with the ability to make modifications without having to call us.  I think we’ve achieved that! For those of you already booked, take some time to log in to your reservation and mosey around a bit. Name corrections, dining changes, credit card changes, adding loyalty numbers, requesting rate adjustment and prepaying gratuities can all be done in a few keystrokes. Then we’ve added links that lead you effortlessly through the mandatory guest registration process as well as the printing of electronic boarding passes. Did you notice how you can conveniently pull up driving directions that are integrated with Google maps! Now there’s no way you can get lost driving to the pier!   And my favorite addition, an animated cruise line purser that is there to advise you on every page!

We added an extensive collection of indispensable travel information tailored specifically to cruising, making the website a resourceful way for you to research your cruise vacation.  There’s practical info regarding embarkation ports, parking fees, transfer options and even some ideas on how to spend the day pre or post cruise! Direct Line Cruises’ ongoing effort to enhance the quality and availability of relevant information includes all-inclusive overviews of cruise lines and cruise destinations as well as ship reviews!  Be sure to check out our photo galleries and exciting video tours. Our travel partners Azamara Club Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line are all well represented.  In addition, we’ve created a database of your most frequently asked questions, cruise line specific, where you can go to as a reliable source of cruise line policy and amenities. I’m so excited about our new cruise forum! It’s my hope we’ll be able to chat and share tips about our favorite past time, cruising!