Travel still safe to Hawaii and U.S. West coast

by Chris Owen on
Despite fears over effects of the recent Japanese nuclear power plant disaster, authorities pronounced travel still safe to Hawaii and the U.S. west coast. Stories of a giant cloud of nuclear waste on the way to cripple the United States and an e-mail predicting acid rain turned out to be a hoax. It is almost business-as-usual for travelers, with a few exceptions to be aware of.

“We get a lot of calls from people about possible dangers,” Cathy Brooks of CruiseOne told times-georgian.com. “We try to assure them it’s safe to travel.”

The U.S Department of State advised U.S. citizens within 50 miles of the plant in Japan to evacuate the area or to take shelter indoors, if safe evacuation was not practical. The U.S. Government also made available potassium iodide (KI) pills as a precautionary measure for American personnel and dependents residing in Japan at the time of the incident.

Earlier this month the Los Angeles Times reported that a small amount of radiation was headed for California but that health risks were not a concern. To help Americans understand their radiation-related health risks, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), the American Thyroid Association (ATA), The Endocrine Society and the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) issued a joint statement which noted that “current estimates indicate there will not be a hazardous level of radiation reaching the United States from this accident” and added “there is not a radiation emergency in the United States or its territories”.

Indeed, nuclear authorities gave the U.S. West coast and Hawaii a clean bill of health, clearing away the concerns of travelers.

“I want to reassure residents and visitors that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the highest authority on radiation in the nation, has indicated Japan’s nuclear emergency presents no danger to Hawaii.” Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie told the Hawaii Reporter.

That’s not to say everything is operating normally in Hawaii though. Several resorts and tourist destinations were damaged by the tsunami event but most are open.

Two resorts that remain closed are Four Seasons Resort Hualālai, which plans to reopen on April 30, and iconic Kona Village Resort which will remain closed for an extended period of time due to the significant structural and property damage it sustained

Kailua Pier was deemed structurally sound after the event, and all charters are operating as usual. Norwegian Cruise Lines Pride of America, the year-round cruise ship servicing Hawaii, stopped in Kona last week as planned.

King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel is also open, and guest rooms were not damaged. However, the lu’au area, ground floor public areas including the lobby and Kona Beach Restaurant, were flooded by seawater, sand and debris. Cleanup efforts are well underway, and several retail stores have reopened.

“Our state and county monitoring systems have not detected any increase in radiation levels, and based on all available information, state and federal experts do not anticipate any risk of harmful radiation exposure to our islands. We are open for business. Hawai’i continues to be the world’s paradise.” added Governor Abercrombie.

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Flickr photo by Merfarm


Cruise line price scare: real or strategic plan?

by Chris Owen on

Earlier this week, Norwegian Cruise Lines announced that at the end of March prices would go up. Noting high demand for their anything-goes “Freestyle” version of a cruise vacation, the line said it planned to raise prices ten percent. If that announcement has a familiar ring to it, there might be a good reason why says one industry expert. Let’s play along.

First, the line cushion’s the blow of a 10% price increase by extending their current promotional offers until the end of March in a “we’re tough, but we’re fair” sort of way.

“We wanted to give consumers and travel agents the opportunity to take advantage of these offers before the price increase.” said Norwegian Cruise Line CEO and former Undercover Boss Kevin (Sneaky) Sheehan.

“Thanks, we appreciate your kindness and the heads up.” should be the consumer response?

Not so fast says cruise industry expert Stewart Chiron, CEO of CruiseGuy.com “This is NCL’s 2nd Annual April Fool’s Cruise Sale. For some, it’s a message of don’t book NCL after 3/31 because you’ll pay more.”Indeed, cruise lines often promote a call to action for booking in a number of ways that seem to have a bit of strategic ambiguity built in. While accurate, the helpful announcement or glitzy promotion does not exactly match reality.

“NCL made the same comments last year, but (the timing) followed Carnival’s announcement that they were going to raise summer prices.” added Chiron reasoning “They may be trying to generate additional attention for their possible future IPO.”

A price scare tactic is one way to move buyers toward booking. But cruise lines don’t have to mislead the public, they do a great job of that all on their own.

The “cheap cruise” turns out to be much more when taxes and fees are added in. That’s no fault of the cruise lines, they do mention that those extra fees are not included. “Free upgrades” suggest that buying a cheap inside cabin might get you a luxurious balcony stateroom. Again, the fine print lines out the details, but buyers seeing a handsome couple standing on their balcony does suggest that upgrading to one is possible.

Still, most buyers learn quickly to read the fine print even though new strategies still throw them off guard.

Whatever the reason, it’s buyer beware as this year’s busy wave season winds down and the next round of promotions heat up. It might be a good idea to file this information away for later notes Chiron “Stay tuned for next year’s announcement. It might sound quite familiar.”

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Flickr photo by markhillary

Cruise prices on the rise along with popularity

by Chris Owen on

Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line announced this week plans to increase cruise fares by 10% starting April 1st. Not because middle-east unrest might spike oil prices. Not because of cost overruns or shrinking bottom lines. Travelers are buying again.

“We’ve seen exceptional demand spurred by our Wave Season promotion, particularly for the popular summer destinations,” said Norwegian Cruise Line CEO and former Undercover Boss Kevin Sheehan.

Just to make sure there are plenty of great offers to take advantage of before the rise in prices, the line will also extend their current “Upgrades for All” promotion though the end of March.That deal gets up to a four-category upgrade on select sailings and on-board discount coupon books worth up to $400 off on-board products and services

“We wanted to give consumers and travel agents the opportunity to take advantage of these offers before the price increase.” added Sheehan.

Norwegian Cruise Line has 11 Freestyle Cruising ships and plans to build two new 4,000-passenger vessels for delivery in spring 2013 and 2014. The line’s latest ship, Norwegian Epic, debuted last Summer.

Flickr photo by cmerow

More cruise lines cancel calls to Mazatlan after shooting

by Chris Owen on

Carnival Splendor is back after months of repairs after the disabling fire of last November. There will be no call in Mazatlan though as Carnival Cruise Lines, along with Norwegian Cruise Lines canceled calls to Mazatlan last week. The shooting of two men in the parking lot of a hotel is to blame.

The two men shot were not tourists or cruise ship passengers but the hotel is one frequented by tourists on a regular basis and that was good enough reason to divert ships.

Carnival Splendor spent an extra day in Cabo San Lucas on it’s seven-day Mexican Riviera itinerary that returns today. Carnival will decide on future calls after a full assessment of the situation.

Norwegian Cruise Lines decision was much more final, canceling all future calls for the rest of the season.

Right at a month ago, Mazatlan and Mexico government officials were doing all they could to get more cruise lines back after a series of violent acts forced them to cancel calls.

“We highly value our long-standing relationships within the cruise industry, and are dedicated to ensuring that Mazatlan remains among the top cruise destinations on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Mazatlan has hosted nearly 1.5 million cruise passengers since 2008 and is widely regarded as one of the safest destinations in Mexico.” said Julio Birrueta, spokesperson for the Mazatlan Tourism Trust at the time.

On future calls to the area, Carnival said “Until we are able to obtain all of the facts and fully assess the situation, no decision has been made regarding future calls” in a statement.

Flickr photo by ccharmon

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Cruise line adds new cabins, upgrades to older ship

by Chris Owen on

Whenever a cruise line adds new stuff to old ships, it’s a big deal. This time, it will happen during a dry dock maintenance period this coming May. Norwegian Cruise Line will add a total of 58 new cabins to the 2,224-passenger Norwegian Dawn including 28 new suites.

The suites include four 667-square-foot to 732-square-foot owner’s suites and 24 family suites, ranging from 408 square feet to 495 square feet, most of which can sleep six passengers.

Norwegian did a similar addition project adding new cabins on sister-ship Norwegian Star not long ago which worked out well.

“The flow of the ship has improved on the Star with these changes and we think it’s more in line with the way we build ships today,” said Crane Gladding, NCL’s senior vice president of revenue management and passenger services. “We are putting more public spaces together for guest flow to be more smooth around the ship.”

The work will be done at the Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport, Bahamas, from May 1 to 27.

More changes are on the way for the ship also, but the cruise line is keeping those a secret to be revealed later.

Flickr photo by Ken from NY