I came across a survey that focuses on Americans summer vacation plans and the results aren’t terribly surprising given the state of the economy:
Public opinion polling firm StrategyOne recently surveyed more than 1,000 Americans about a range of topics and found that less than 3 in 10 Americans (28%) plan to take a summer vacation [...]

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While we think violence, political strife and terrorism in countries thousands of miles away don’t affect us personally, it’s not always true.    Especially those booked booked on a luxury Eastern Mediterranean cruise this year.
ISRAEL: Princess Cruises canceled the Pacific Princess‘ scheduled port call in Haifa, Israel today after an international incident erupted this week.  [...]

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According to Reuters, a planned strike in the port of Piraeus, Greece, this Monday  threatens to cause major problems a half dozen vessels scheduled to call in the port.   Piraeus is the main port for Athens and the point of embarkation and disembarkation for many ships sailing in Turkey and the Greek Isles.
If the seamen [...]

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According to the Environmental Protection Agency,  proposed cruise ship emission controls would save up to 8,300 U.S. and Canadian lives by reducing sulfur oxides, nitrogen  oxides and particulate matter by cleaning the air around port cities.    And, it’s their aim  to create a zone  to extend 200 nautical miles from shore.
The cruise industry is revving [...]

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Celebrity Cruises has announced plans to resume New York/Bermuda cruises in 2010 when Celebrity Summitrepositions from San Juan to Cape Liberty (Bayonne), NJ.  Beginning April 17, 2010, the ship will sail on seven day cruises from New York docking in King’s Wharf where passengers board water taxis to visit Hamilton and other popular destinations in [...]

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Carnival Cruise Lines is pulling Carnival Liberty from Europe where the ship was schedule to sail on 2009 cruises.  The ship instead will sail year-round from Miami on seven-day voyages beginning April, 2009.   In addition, Carnival Pride, currently based in Long Beach, Calif., and originally scheduled to shift to Miami for a five-month Caribbean deployment [...]

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The pace of cruise lines’ increasing “Homeland Cruising” options intensifies with Celebrity Cruises’ announcement of revised itineraries for Millennium and Mercury that include departures from Baltimore and Charleston. At the same time, Celebrity has cancelled late-2009 and 2010 Australia and New Zealand itineraries on Millennium
CELEBRITY MILLENNIUM TAKES ON CELEBRITY MERCURY’S ROUTE

The 2,038-passenger Millennium will cap [...]

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*** Carnival Corporation, which operates the Grand Turk Cruise Center, announced that the port facilities will reopen Oct. 8, 2008.   Due to damage during Hurricane Ike,  passenger ships will be unable to use the facility until repairs take place.  Carnival Destiny will return to the island Oct. 8.
– Cruise West, which operates a fleet of [...]

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Even I get the chills when almost daily headlines proclaim increasingly dire forecasts for the airline industry.  The cruise industry is heavily dependent on air traffic and even before the fuel increase, had a hard time getting seats for all the passengers who fly to a ship’s home port to take a cruise.
In USA Today [...]

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While the summer is typically a slow time for cruise industry news, I’ve managed to come up with a few intriuging tid bits.
__ While most cruise passengers have tried cruise ships’ alternative restaurant, where a more tony dining experience comes with a small surcharge of up to $20, Crystal Cruises has upped the ante quite a bit.  [...]

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