Details about the Cunard ship the Queen Elizabeth

by Jamie Rhein on

The maiden voyage of the Queen Elizabeth, Cunard’s latest cruise ship endeavor, won’t be until October 12, 2010 when it sets sail from England for the Canary Islands. Details about what the ship will feature have begun to be revealed.

It sounds fancy–more than fancy. Polished wood, marble, artwork that depicts the royal palaces, and special dining rooms for people who have paid more money add to the luxury of ocean travel. The ship’s design incorporates aspects of the QE2 and the original Queen Elizabeth.

In this USA Today article about the ship, one line made me laugh a bit. The senior executive for Cunard said that the ship would make passengers feel “‘right at home.'”

Yes, I know he means that people will feel comfortable despite the ship’s wow factor, but whenever I’m around marble and polished wood, I’m reminded about how it doesn’t seem like my home at all. For me, that’s one reason to take a cruise. The photo is of the Garden Lounge that was designed to evoke an image of Kew Gardens’ conservatory.

You can start booking tickets on the Queen Elizabeth on April 2nd. Here’s the booking link.

QE2 to be cut in half in Dubai

by Jamie Rhein on

We’ve written about QE2 before. The last post was Jeffrey’s report that the ship had made it to Dubai with great fanfare.

When I read yesterday that the QE2 was to be cut in half, I pictured two halves of this magnificent ocean liner floating around its palm shaped, manmade island. Did Dubai World, the state-run conglomerate who bought the ocean liner want a hotel for each side of the island, I wondered. Something like bookends?

That’s not it. Turning a ship into a hotel doesn’t mean just docking it as is. At least, not in this case. Although, The Queen’s Room, The Captain’s Quarters and The Bridge will stay in their original state, according to this msnbc article from last November, there are changes to be made to make the ship hotel worthy.

Apparently, that’s where cutting it in half comes in. When it’s cut in half, a 100-foot extension will be added into the middle. What will be done with the middle, I’m not sure. This Daily Record.co.uk article doesn’t say. What it does say is that some folks are miffed–spitting mad with the idea of the alteration. Disgusted. Not in those words exactly, but the sentiments are about right. For maritime buffs, cutting the QE2 in half is worse than turning it into scrap metal. To these folks, cutting the QE2 in half is an indication that the company that bought the ship has no idea what a treasure it has.

I’ve heard that getting a ring resized by cutting the band at the back in order to add an extension is a bad idea. It makes the ring lose its value. Perhaps the same holds true with a luxury liner.

Australian cruise ship mistakes tuna fishermen for pirates

by Josh Lew on

Everyone was on edge aboard the MV Athena as it passed through the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday night, local time. The gulf has become a hot spot for pirate activity. Earlier in the week a large cruise ship on its way from Rome to Singapore, outran pirates after they opened fire from their skiffs. So when a group of boats surrounded the Athena, the captain ordered passengers off the deck as crew members prepared for the worst. The captain reported to the relevant authorities that 30 boats had surrounded his vessel.

However, no shots were fired and no attempts to board were made. That’s probably because the “pirates” were actually not pirates at all. They were fishermen in search of tuna. A spokesperson from Classic International Cruises Australia, the company that owns the Athena, explained the situation.

“The captain followed all security measures as far as readiness on board for any eventuality by placing fire hoses around the decks and continually liaised with all authorities. It has been confirmed that the approaching small ships were a tuna fishing fleet.”

Fuel surcharges on cruise ships make unhappy consumers

by Jamie Rhein on

When some cruise lines began adding fuel charges to their price tag the beginning of February, passengers have begun cry foul. The basic idea is that you have to give people fair warning of increases and there needs to be rules in place for how increases are added. It can’t seem willy nilly, otherwise people get their rankles up. Also if there aren’t regulations on how prices are doled out, who is protecting the consumer from a surcharge filled life?

Since the Florida attorney general has noticed the 150 (plus by now) complaints he received from customers, he is looking into the matter. Because Florida is a cruise ship hot spot, his findings are important to the industry. No one is arguing that costs to cruise ships have risen because of fuel costs, but how to get the money fairly is a question. The concern is that people are told one price on a brochure and then find a hefty fee added under a line item called “fuel surcharge.”

From my understanding of the issue, is that people bought their tickets prior to the February 1 date and the surcharge was added after the purchase. The question is, can you charge people retroactively? Cruise lines are saying yes because the passengers were told in advance of their purchase so that they could cancel. I wonder how big the print was on that piece of information? Why wouldn’t prices of cruises be higher? The fuel surcharge is on average $5 per person per day. Why not just say as of February 1 a five-day cruise costs $25 more.

The customers are saying, no way, no how. You can’t switch ponies. (Animals are not really involved. I’m using this as a metaphor.) Ed Perkins, a writer on consumer travel issue with Tribune Media Services outlines the argument here.

It seems to me that if fuel surcharges are to be allowed they should only be charged to people who bought the tickets from February on. Can you imagine what would happen if cars had a fuel surcharge that was retroactive? Let’s say you bought your gas at 2:45 on a Wednesday afternoon and by 3:00 the gas went up by a quarter because of sudden increased prices and those who bought gas earlier should have paid more. Therefore, if you got 10 gallons of gas, you would have a retroactive fuel charge of $2.50. The gas station companies could send you a bill in the mail.

Another question I have is why isn’t their fuel surcharges on food in the grocery store? Each item could have a few cents added to its cost under the guise of fuel surcharge. The idea of surcharges seem fishy to me. Just tell me the price and let’s be done with it so I can enjoy my Mai Tai on a tropical beach without feeling like I’ve been fleeced.

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Towel animals: Carnival Cruise creations you can make at home

by Jamie Rhein on

When I was a waitress at a sort of fancy restaurant while I was in college, I learned how to fold a linen napkin so it could stand up like a hat. I was so proud of my folding accomplishments. Turns out, turning a napkin into a hat is small potatoes. Carnival “Fun Ship” Cruises, for the past few years, has taken folding cloth into shapes several steps further. The stewards fold towels into animals.

Passengers find these towel animals in their cabins. Folding towel animals is not easy, as you might imagine. For this reason, there is 10 hours of towel folding training involved for people learning how to be stewards.

Because the animals are so popular, there is a book for sale so guests can fold their own cloth towels into animals at home. Even after a job ends, I can see how this would be a skill to have if you want to really wow household guests. I tend to just show people where we keep the towels and say “Help yourself” or might plop a neatly folded towel on the end of their bed if I’ve planned a head. But, a towel animal. That would be something.

If you want to order the book, you do need to find a passenger traveling on a Carnival Cruise ship and buy it through them. There’s an on-line ordering system, but you need to know the cabin number and name of the person traveling. Here’s a link to Linda Garrison’s photos of towel animals to give you a better idea of what they look like. Maybe you can figure out how to make one by looking at it.