The Carnival Ecstasy Gets Dining Upgrades

After a two-week dry dock that took place earlier this month, the Carnival Ecstasy has returned Charleston, South Carolina refitted with some of the dining and beverage venues that are so popular on the cruise line’s other ships.  Here’s the rundown:

Guy’s Burger Joint: Name sound familiar?  This is a free-of-charge poolside spot developed in partnership with Food Network personality Guy Fieri. Known for its hand-crafted burgers and fresh-cut fries, this is “the place” for the best burger at sea!

Norwegian Cruise Line’s Upgrade Advantage

What cruiser wouldn’t love the opportunity of upgrading their cabin at a reasonable price! Maybe that means moving out of an inside cabin into a light-filled ocean view cabin or gaining that extra outdoor space by moving up to a balcony cabin. Or perhaps you are already booked in a balcony cabin but would welcome the opportunity of stepping up to a mini-suite or even a full suite!

Beginning in February many Norwegian Cruise Line guests will get that chance when the cruise line begins to roll out its new program, Upgrade Advantage! Upgrade Advantage offers guests the opportunity to bid a nominal amount to be upgraded to a higher category stateroom. Guests are selected and sent a pre-cruise email inviting them to bid based on a variety of criteria including, but not limited to what they already paid and the type of staterooms available on their specific sailing.

Disney’s Star Wars Theme Cruises

Attention Star Wars fans! Disney Cruise Line's popular Star Wars themed cruises will return from January through April of 2018, and now is the best time to book! 

Remember, the newest Star Wars movie is due to come out in December of this year so you know it will be showing onboard during these themed sailings. In addition, all the classic and modern films and television shows, including the newly released “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Star Wars Rebels,” will be screened.

What is Princess Medallion Class?

What was the CEO of Carnival Corporation, Arnold Donald, doing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week?  Talking about new technology to debut on Princess Cruises in the near future! A quarter-size smart “medallion” that can be worn as a bracelet (makes me think of a Fit Bit) and paired with the corresponding app called Ocean Compass will have the capability change the way we cruise!

Now you’re probably thinking that this is nothing new.  After all, Royal Caribbean has its RFID WOW Bands and Disney has Magic Bands.  However, per Mr. Donald, the Medallion has much more capability and features. The Ocean Medallion enables a new level of personalization that delivers an enhanced guest experience previously not available in the global vacation industry.

New Cruise Ships Debuting in 2017

Lets take a look at the new ships entering service in 2017.

·      

            Winter 2017: The 48,000 ton Viking Sky will 

      be the third of six ships in the Viking 

      Ocean Cruises fleet.

·         Spring 2017: After its debut, the 143,000 ton Majestic Princess will be based in China year-round.

·         Spring 2017:  The 163,000 ton Norwegian Joy is the second in NCL's Breakaway-Plus Class 

      (the first was the Norwegian Escape). Norwegian Joy will be custom-built for the Chinese 

      market, and it will be deployed full time to Asia, catering to Chinese passengers.