Carnival to feature brew pub on new Carnival Magic

by Ralph Grizzle on

Long known for its piano bars, wine bars, sports bars and wildly themed lounges, Carnival Cruise Lines will feature its first pub at sea on Carnival Magic, which is set to debut in May 2011.

In addition to a bunch of Caribbean beers, the Caribbean-themed RedFrog Pub will have its own micro-brewed draft beer, Thirsty Frog Red, and a menu that includes conch salad, spicy chicken wings and other bar food favorites as well as an array of the region’s finest rums for those whose taste runs more toward spirits than brews.

To, er, gin up interest in RedFrog Pub, Carnival is holding an online contest where barstool poets can enter their own creative slogan for the pub’s coasters. Running through Sept. 7, the contest is for those 21 and older.

Ten finalists will be chosen – nine by Carnival and one wild card entry selected by votes – and visitors to the site will vote to determine three winning slogans. The winners will receive a commemorative version of their winning slogan, a digital camera, RedFrog bar paraphernalia and, of course, eternal bar bragging rights.

For details or to enter your own clever coaster catchphrase, visit the Carnival Magic contest website.

Hey Superstar, Get rockin’ on a Carnival karaoke cruise

by Ralph Grizzle on

Get ready for the spotlight cruisers. Carnival Cruise Lines has introduced Superstar Live Karaoke, where Carnival cruisers can live out their rock-star fantasies on stage.

This isn’t a one-time cruise but rather a new program on board Carnival ships. Combining live music with vocal accompaniment by backup singers, Superstar Live Karaoke encourages cruise passengers to channel their inner rock stars, pop idols, Motown legends and country crooners.

While nearly all cruise ships offer karaoke of some sort – or at least, the opportunity to perform in front of your audience – Carnival has amped up its version of Superstar karaoke by including the band and the backup singers.

Choose from more than 100 song tiles, ranging from ABBA to the Zac Brown Band. The program, which recently debuted aboard Carnival Conquest and Carnival Valor, premieres on the Carnival Pride this week.

By year’s end, Superstar Live Karaoke will be rolled out to Carnival’s 12 “Fun Ships” that operate itineraries of seven days or longer.

Cruise ship hits whale off Alaska

by Kraig Becker on

For the third time in the past decade a Princess Cruises luxury ship has struck and killed a whale in the waters off the coast of Alaska. That latest incident occurred last Tuesday evening just south of Juneau, where the ship the Sapphire Princess apparently hit the creature, whose corpse was discovered attached to the hull on Wednesday morning. Last year, the same ship arrived in Vancouver following a routine voyage, with a fin whale stuck to its hull.

This current whale was an adult female humpback that measured more than 43 feet in length. Humpbacks are found in waters all over the world, but in the summer months they tend to feed in colder, polar waters. The species is an endangered one and the giant mammals are protected under U.S. law, with stiff fines levied against those who do them harm. It is unclear at this time whether or not Carnival Corp., the parent company of Princess Cruises, will face any fines for this latest incident. They paid out a settlement of $750,000 for a similar incident that occurred in 2001.

On Friday, investigators were still studying the whale’s carcass to determine the exact cause of death. They have not ruled out the possibility that the beast was already dead when the ship struck it, and that the Sapphire Princess played no role in killing it.

[Photo credit: D. Gordon E. Robertson via WikiMedia Commons]

Carnival says “no way” to cougar cruises

by Scott Carmichael on

Back in September, Tom wrote about the first “cougar cruise”. For those out of the loop – Tom describes a cougar as “an older women who happens to enjoy the … ummmm … “company” of younger men.”

The cruise was on board the Carnival Elation and obviously the story made quite a bit of news. So much news in fact, that Carnival has now told the organizers behind the cruise that they are no longer welcome on their ships.

Someone from Carnival issued the following statement: “This theme group was not sponsored nor organised by Carnival but rather by a travel agent and the cruise line will not be allowing any future groups to be booked and marketed under this theme.”

I find this statement to be pretty dangerous – what grounds does the cruise line have to ban this “theme”. What is next? A ban on gay single groups? Older men and women? I’m not entirely sure why older women seeking a “cub” (the name given to the younger men) would force the cruise line to tell them to go elsewhere. The cruise was described as a huge success, so I can only assume Carnival either hates its guests having a good time, or they are making so much money, that they feel they can decide what kind of guests are welcome on their ships.

Still, the organizers has no problems finding other cruise lines who had no problem with the concept, and the second and third cruises have already been scheduled (on Royal Caribbean and NCL).

Carnival to remove automatic tips from Australian cruises

by Katie Hammel on

In many countries around the world, tipping isn’t practiced to the extent it is in the US. Here, anything less than 15% for a restaurant server is considered an insult. We tip hotel housekeepers, valets, even the people who make our coffee. We’re used to the system of tipping to supplement a worker’s wages, but in other countries, the average tip is much lower.

American cruise lines are having some trouble reconciling the American way of tipping with attitudes and customs around gratuities in other countries. It seems that Carnival‘s Australian branch, P&O Cruises Australia, had received complaints from passengers in response to the automatic tipping policy the cruise line previously had in place, so they’ve announced that they will be removing the automatic gratuity charge added to all accounts.

Other US-based cruise lines that operate in certain countries may follow suit in reevaluating their policies to accommodate foreign customs in tipping. Royal Caribbean, which does not currently add the automatic charge, said it is working on changes to its own policy because the British who cruise on its line out of Southampton don’t tip.

[via USA Today]