Celebrity Cruises Eclipse Opening for Sale

On March 3rd, the third of Celebrity Cruises revolutionary Solstice class ships will open for sale exclusively to Captain Club members. The highly anticipated Celebrity Eclipse will be open for sale to JUST Captain Club members from March 3rd through March 9th, 2009. The Eclipse opens for sale to the general public on March 10, 2009.

The Celebrity Eclipse will offer Caribbean and European Cruise itineraries in 2010. European Cruise itineraries include 4-Night Cork Ireland Cruises, 11-Night Canary Island, 13-Night West Transatlantic, 14-Night Scandinavia & Russia, 14-Night Spanish Mediterranean & 16-Night West Mediterranean & Adriatic Coast. The Celebrity Eclipse Caribbean itineraries have not been revealed yet. They are set to be announced on April 30th, 2009. For more information, feel free to call us directly at 1-800-352-8088.

FYI - The photo above shows the spectacular "Lawn Club" featured onboard all Celebrity Solstice ships, including the Eclipse.

NCL F3 Cruise Ship Named "Norwegian Epic"

Norwegian Cruise Line revealed the name of their highly anticipated F3 class cruise ship. The newest NCL cruise ship will be called the “Norwegian Epic”. The Norwegian Epic will offer revolutionary curved style staterooms along with other innovative “Freestyle” amenities.

The Norwegian Epic is scheduled to begin sailing from Miami, Florida in the Spring of 2010. The Norwegian Epic will offer 7-Night Eastern & Western Caribbean cruise itineraries. The Eastern Caribbean itinerary will include the ports of St. Maarten, St. Thomas & Nassau, Bahamas. The Western Caribbean itinerary will include the ports of Cost Maya, Mexico; Cozumel, Mexico & Roatan, Honduras.

For more information on the Norwegian Epic, please view our previous two blog postings:

http://www.directlinecruises.com/2008/04/new-wave-staterooms-on-norwegian-f3.html

http://www.directlinecruises.com/2008/06/norwegian-cruise-line-f3-nightife-comes.html

Direct Line Cruises Goes On Network TV

Direct Line Cruises, Inc. ran its first-ever television commercials over a 13-week period from November 23, 2008 through February 21, 2009. The commercials aired four times each week during the Eyewitness News Brief segment of WABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” program, hosted by Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts, Sam Champion and Chris Cuomo. The commercial also ran on several other WABC-TV programs, including the top-rated prime time Barbara Walters special with actor Patrick Swayze. In addition, it aired on several cruise-related programs that were broadcast on Cablevision’s “Travel Channel”, including “Samantha Brown’s First Cruise”, “ResidenSea: The Floating City”, “Great Cruises: Freedom of the Seas with Samantha Brown”, “Queen Mary 2: Birth of a Legend” and “Samantha Brown’s Great Cruise Weekend”.

The 30-second commercial, which was co-sponsored by Royal Caribbean International and Direct Line Cruises, Inc., was produced by Filmworks, Inc., an award-winning production company located in New York City. Through the combined use of animation, hi-resolution still photos and synchronized voice-overs, the “Hate To Fly” commercial promoted Royal Caribbean cruises to Bermuda, the Caribbean and Canada / New England, round-trip from the Cape Liberty (Bayonne) New Jersey cruise terminal.

When asked about the commercials, Tom Coiro, VP and co-founder of Direct Line Cruises said, “When my wife and I started Direct Line Cruises back in 1995, I never dreamed that the business would grow to this point”. “However”, Tom continued, “despite the recent downturn in the economy, the cruise industry is still expanding rapidly and we’re just glad to be a part of all the excitement”.

As a follow-up to their first successful television commercial, Direct Line Cruises is now in the early planning stages of a much more extensive national campaign on the Travel Channel, WABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” and several other network TV programs. According to Tom, “the new campaign will actually comprise several different commercials that are co-sponsored by DLC and one or more of our cruise line partners. It’s still much too early to discuss details, but I can tell you that one of the planned national commercials will feature Royal Caribbean’s incredible new mega-ship ‘Oasis of the Seas’ which will be the largest ship ever built when it’s launched in November.” Talk about excitement!

See our brand new commercial below:

Royal Caribbean Teams Up With Direct Line Cruises at National Travel Show

On February 7th and 8th of 2009, representatives of Royal Caribbean International and Direct Line Cruises teamed up for a marathon weekend at the New York Times Travel Show, which was held at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. The show, which is the largest of its kind in the U.S., attracted countless thousands of people and families eager to plan their next vacation.

As expected, the Royal Caribbean / Direct Line Cruises booths (hosted by Cindy Cobb and Louise Habrack of Royal Caribbean and Greg Coiro, Cathy Henderson and Andrea Taverna of Direct Line Cruises) were among the most popular at the show. In addition to offering free brochures and personal cruise consultations, visitors were given a chance to win one of two inaugural cruises in November on Royal Caribbean’s new “Oasis of the Seas” (the largest cruise ship in the world). The activity at the booths was non-stop as attendees reviewed the exciting variety of cruise itineraries offered by Royal Caribbean including Alaska, Bermuda, Europe, the Mediterranean and, oh yes, the Caribbean. Some attendees were so enthusiastic that they booked their cruises right “on-the-spot” (through online terminals that were installed for the show).

The show also featured special stage presentations, including a joint presentation by Direct Line Cruises and Royal Caribbean as well as seminars by some well-known world travelers, like Samantha Brown of TV’s Travel Channel.

Exhausting as it was (staff members from Royal Caribbean and Direct Line Cruises were literally “on their feet” from morning ‘til night), all agreed that the show was a huge success.

Two Norwegian Cruise Ships Sail Round-Trip from New York City

Did you hear the news? For 2010 & 2011, Norwegian Cruise Line will have two ships sailing round-trip from New York City. The Norwegian Gem & Jewel will both offer 7-Night Bahamas & 10-Night Caribbean cruises from the great port of NYC.

The Norwegian Gem, which was built in 2007 will visit the ports of Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas; Nassau, Bahamas & Orlando, Florida during its 7-Night Bahamas itinerary. For the NCL Gem’s 10-Night Caribbean itinerary, guests will visit the ports of San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Maarten & Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

The Norwegian Jewel, which was build in 2005 will visit the ports of Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas; Nassau, Bahamas & Port Canaveral, Florida during its 7-Night Bahamas itinerary. For the Jewel’s 10-Night Caribbean itinerary, guests will visit the ports of San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Maarten & Tortola, British, Virgin Islands.

For more information on cruises from New York City, click here.