2011 Cruise news headlines: what to expect

by Chris Owen on

We pulled out the crystal ball and came up with a bunch of predictions for the cruise vacations in 2011. Check back in a year to see how close we came on these possible cruise news headlines.

  1. Higher fuel costs mean higher fares for cruises and airfare too. Airfare will get hit first, cruise lines will be more cautious. An additional fuel surcharge for airlines is no big deal. Add on a charge for pat-downs, magazines in flight or something new, that would be a big deal. Cruise lines don’t want a fuel surcharge but if the price of oil hits and holds above $100 a barrel, they will and this time they won’t have to give it back later.
  2. Spring Break sailings will fill up fast and there will be few last-minute deals on them. If you want to go on a Spring Break cruise, pretty much any time in March or April, book it yesterday. Cruise lines have been warning of a price increase but they do that every year at this time when “wave” season hits and demand is high for cruises. They’ll hold that higher pricing longer this year.
  3. 2011: the Year of Ala Carte Pricing with cruise lines and travel agencies offering more optional choices as they move toward customizing each individuals vacation experience. This is way a good thing. Last year we blew the lid off the notion of a cruise being totally “all-inclusive” and bought into the reality of cruises having an “all-inclusive nature”. More than a subtle difference, look for more dining options, pre and post cruise hotel stays and options that before now, were a good idea but not really pushed all that much.
  4. Social Media blossoms in the cruise business with more lines “getting it” and moving forward with plans to engage us in a conversation about cruise vacations before, during and after sailing. In 2011 Facebook and Google ARE the Internet and those stuck elsewhere will fail. Losers: Faceless Internet Cruise Brokers, cruise lines not engaged in social media. Winners:Travel Agents who “get it”
  5. Multi-generational cruises take huge leap in popularity. An aging population will wake up more this year than in the past and want to travel with the kids and grand-kids. We saw a lot of this in Alaska and the Caribbean last year, look for more this year.
  6. European sailings skyrocket as cruise lines have repositioned ships to the Mediterranean, so goes the booking interest as supply of ships sailing from U.S. ports declines and prices go up. Last year saw some unbelievably good values in the Caribbean, that won’t happen as much this year.
  7. Cruise Lines ramp up security checks. It’s just inevitable that this will happen. Look for TSA-like security procedures and plan on taking a longer time to get on the ship, either upon embarkation or when in port.

Flickr photo by RambergMediaImages

Cruise ship delayed due to illness outbreak

by Chris Owen on

Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas returned to the Port of Tampa today with a ship full of passengers and a little something extra, an outbreak of intestinal flu.

“During Radiance of the Seas’ last sailing, a number of guests experienced some gastrointestinal illness,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement. “In an abundance of caution, we will conduct some enhanced sanitizing on board the ship and within the cruise terminal to help prevent any illness from affecting the next sailing”

The ship is expected to be delayed by about five hours said Doug Parker of CruiseRadio.net who has been in contact with guests preparing to board the ship for it’s next sailing. “Those guests have been told to be at the pier at 5PM for boarding at 6PM, departing at 9:30PM” Parker said.

The cruise line is asking guests who might be sick to reschedule their cruise instead of boarding too. “If you have experienced any gastrointestinal symptoms during the past three days” the company told passengers reports Reuters.2,110-passenger Radiance of the Seas had been on a five-day cruise to Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico and was scheduled to leave Saturday night on the same itinerary

Flickr photo by prayitno

Cruise Scam Watch: The $99 cruise

by Chris Owen on

Is it real or is it a fake? That’s the big question that comes up when we hear of a $99 cruise. Short answer: If it comes directly from a cruise line, yes, it probably is true. You’ll pay port charges, taxes and government fees on top of that but those prices do exist. If it comes from anyone else, beware; this might be a scam.

We’ll get to the real scammers in a minute. First though, let’s look at a real-life example of cruise pricing that may appear to be misleading but really is not. It’s important to know the difference between the two.

Real cheap fares are often last-minute deals and you’ll have to sail in the next 30 to 90 days to get them. Cruise lines do that to fill up ships rather than sail with empty cabins. Other cheap fares like Carnival Cruise Line’s Early Saver Fare, are for sailings far in advance. These have restrictions, much like a discounted airline ticket.

That Early Saver fare is one of the best values around, no scamming involved but can be hard to tie down on our own. For example, right now the line is advertising fares starting at $169 for a 3-day cruise. That’s a great value.

Let’s play along and see what happens when we try to find that $169 price advertised on Carnival’s web site today as that sure catches ones eye.

Going to Carnival.com we look for special pricing and see that $169 price. We click for “details” and find that $169 price is no place to be found and the low price that jumps off the page is now $209. “That’s OK” we say, let’s play along. So we click on View Sailings by that $209 price and get 74 pages of cruises to look through. Our confidence is restored a bit as we see prices less than that $209 and finally find the $169 price.

Cruise lines commonly offer a price that is restricted to one or two sailings out of the hundreds of choices we might find.

There’s really nothing wrong here and Carnival is not trying to take advantage of us, it’s just clever marketing but totally legitimate. They actually did have that $169 fare. Clicking around you’ll run into the same situation on pretty much any major cruise line website.

It’s a rather complicated process that we get used to really fast which opens the door for the crooks to come in.

This would be a good reason to use a travel agent who can help navigate through the maze of choices. Still, Carnival is an honest company, selling an actual product. Not all travel sellers are.

You’re a winner!
The booking scams often come in the form of sweepstakes winners. You’re at a public event that features booths of information and are encouraged to sign up for a chance to win a free cruise. All you have to do is pay a $99 processing fee. You and a friend can go on a fabulous cruise vacation for just that small fee.

There are a lot of different versions of the “Win a Free Cruise” scam and probably always will be as long as cruises are popular. At the very least these are ways companies collect your personal information which you really don’t need everyone having. On the darker side, there is no free cruise for anyone and/or that small processing fee you was the gateway used by crooks to steal your identity. Just say no on this one.

Still, cruise lines do give charitable organizations free cruises to raffle off for fund-raising so if the source of the free cruise is your church, it’s probably safe.

The travel agency went broke
By now you’re probably getting the idea that “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t” which surely applies to some travel sellers. A good case in point is Cruise Value Center, a one-time major player in the online booking world that went broke. In this case, it was believed and entirely possible that passengers who had booked cruises and made final payments might not have actually been confirmed on those sailings and the money they paid not passed along to the cruise lines. Yikes! Unsuspecting and trusting consumers out for that rock-bottom low price at all costs could and did get easily caught up in the whole mess.

The cruise line went broke
Just last September Cruise West, a small line from Seattle best known for Alaska voyages suspended bookings after a long series of financial problems. consumers here were left without much recourse either.

Pyramid Schemes
This scam often involves an “amazing business opportunity” for you that can result in discounted or free travel with very little work on your part. Those targeted here are usually people who have been on a cruise or two already and really liked it.

The idea that fuels this scam is that “everybody knows somebody” who might like to go on a cruise. Who better to buy a cruise from than a trusted friend? Along comes XYZ Travel Company who will teach you all about it for $499. For that fee, they promise to provide good training and set you up with the latest tools for booking cruises. All you really have to do is get your friends to buy from you. In return, you get discounted or free travel.

The problem here, and one that has caused cruise lines to stop accepting bookings from companies like this in the past, is that the “training” is inadequate and your title of “travel agent” is meaningless. Legitimate travel agents go through extensive training and will have verifiable letters after their name like CTC, ACC, MCC, or ECC from real accredited organizations.

How to avoid getting caught up in these cruise scams:

  • Never pay with cash or a check, always pay with a credit or debit card. You are afforded some protection there if things go badly.
  • Buy travel insurance from a third party, not the travel agency or cruise line.
  • Use a trusted travel agent. Don’t have one? Ask a trusted friend, relative or co-worker who does or see our tips on finding one.
  • Always insist that payments be made directly to the cruise line. There is no reason for a travel agency to hold your money. You should see the name of your cruise line, not the travel agency, on your card statement.
  • If you want to be a travel agent selling cruises, start with a professional organization like Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) or the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) who can provide guidance.

Flickr photos by liss_mcbovxla and the Italian voice

Breaking: Jam Fest cruise busted: No high times on high seas

by Chris Owen on

It was supposed to be rock and roll and fun and games on MSC Cruises Poesia this week on it’s Jam Cruise to the Western Caribbean. Instead they got a full dose of US Customs and Border Protection medicine when the ship was raided and passengers busted for illegal drugs and contraband while docked at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Called Jam Cruise 9, the Cloud 9 Adventures event cruise scheduled from January 4th through 9th was to visit Roatan, Honduras and Costa Maya, Mexico.

The January 4Th operation resulted in 15 seizures of Marijuana, LSD, mushrooms, hash oil, Ecstasy, prescription drugs and drug paraphernalia in mostly small quantities, CPB spokeswoman Migdalia Travis told SunSentinel.com

Agents and K-9 officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the U.S.Marshals Service; U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Broward County Florida Sheriff’s Office participated in the raid, Travis said.

Bummer.

Flickr photo by Jemingway

Cruise booze smuggling tips

by Chris Owen on

Cruise lines are cracking down on bringing alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and even bottled water on board at embarkation more and more these days. In the world of booze smuggling, there is no one certain rule to follow that will work every time. You have to kind of go with the flow and be prepared for anything. It’s a stealth operation to be sure but armed with the tools necessary, you can do this.

Dress for success– your college t-shirt, flip-flops and cutoffs screaming “party animal” may make you think you look cool/hot/older/younger. (No) To security personnel they say “Pat me down”. Wear your semi-casual-kinda-formal-night outfit and breeze through checkpoints undisturbed. It would help if you were also not intoxicated boarding the ship. Tailgating before the cruise is really not your best move here. You will need your wits about you to make this work.

Pack for success– There was once a notion that it was smart to take an extra suitcase for soft drinks and other “beverages” to be consumed on board. The idea was that empty space upon consumption gave extra room for souvenirs, towels, pillows, silverware and other items acquired along the way. News flash: a small suitcase that feels conspicuously heavy will get extra attention from security personnel.

A gift for you- I’ve done this a dozen times and it works. Gift wrap a case of Heineken or other premium beverage and just walk right on in with it. Dressed appropriately, it works. If anyone asks, the answer is “It’s a gift for the captain”. No one ever has.

Decoy bottles– Now think about this: Say all of the above did not work. You’re called to a special holding room once on the ship to claim your luggage because it has either an iron (huge fire hazard) or alcohol (huge profit hazard) in it, both things they don’t want on the ship.

In front of security personnel, you open the luggage as instructed and fish out whatever it is you’re not supposed to have. They don’t make you do that to teach you a lesson and humiliate you. That comes later when you’re standing around with a life jacket on a ship that is not sinking. They do that because they discovered your sinister profit-robbing plan via x-rays, voodoo or iron-sniffing dogs.

They don’t know exactly what you have in there, just that there’s something bad. Not bad enough to call the FBI but bad enough to make a big deal about it.

The trick is to place decoy bottles of booze (like the cheapest bargain wine you can find) close in the top or opening of your luggage, pull those out first. Then, briefly fake-rummage through the rest, pretending to dig deep but coming up empty and not finding any more. This may take some practice if you are not a naturally deceptive person.

(Little do they know you have a fine bottle of Scotch or French Champagne down in the bottom of that bag)

Really paranoid people sometimes watch for sales at Victoria’s Secret and add an eye catching lingerie item, in the original packaging, sporting little Miss Perfect Body as a backup distraction that can move things along too.

The point is to make it a quick, painless procedure and move along back to your cabin, contraband in hand. Your mind-set should be “I’m excited to be on this fine ship”. “I can’t wait to get back to the fun I am responsibly having.” “This is a minor inconvenience and no big deal”

Follow those tips and you will be breathing a sigh of relief and headed back to the real fun, strip poker with crew members in their restricted area, in no time.

Oh, one last point: The cruise line can kick you off the ship with no refund and no way home if they catch you doing this. Smuggle at your own risk.

Flickr photo by Ben Husmann