Celebrity

Bob & Nancy on April 30th, 2012

  It's easy to find a good tour guide when you buy a shore excursion from a cruise line. These are professionals at what they do, and if they didn't do it well they just wouldn't last. Sometimes you just know when you've found one who is special. That was Sandy Cuadrado to us. The [...]

Continue reading about Cruise Tour Guide — This ‘Senor’ is Best

Bob & Nancy on April 12th, 2012

You don't have to be old to like this theme cruise…you just have to like old movies. And if you know who Robert Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz are, you probably qualify. For those who don't, Osborne (prime time) and Mankiewicz (daytime weekends) are the hosts of Turner Classic Movies, the cable channel that caters to [...]

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Bob & Nancy on March 8th, 2012

As consumers — a word not to be confused with connoisseurs — of wine, we are familiar with Vinopolis. In case you aren’t, this is an organization in the heart of London that specializes in wine and food pairings. In the fall, Vinopolis is pairing with Celebrity, the most progressive cruise line anywhere when it [...]

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Bob & Nancy on February 24th, 2012

So much is made of the sizes of cruise ships, isn’t it? Some cruisers think biggest is best. Some think smaller is better because of its intimacy. There is, naturally, no correct answer. In reading about cruise ships, we came across an interesting measurement. Take the size of the ship (measured in “gross tonnage”) and [...]

Continue reading about Space Ships…or Space on Ships

Bob & Nancy on February 15th, 2012

We were having lunch with our friend and colleague Phil Reimer, author of Ports and Bows, yesterday. Somewhere between the  breakfast burrito (yes, some people do have breakfast burritos for lunch but she doesn’t want to advertise it) and the Caesar salad, the subject of the Panama Canal came up (better the Canal than the [...]

Continue reading about New Panamax Ships and the Canal

Bob & Nancy on January 17th, 2012

One of the allegations surfacing about the captain of the Costa Concordia from its horrific accident is that he may not have been on the bridge, driving the ship. At the risk of sounding like we’re defending the captain, who is being blamed with much more than absentia, the possibility that he would not be [...]

Continue reading about Absentia Unfair to Costa Captain

Bob & Nancy on January 9th, 2012

There will be eight new cruise ships launched this year, two of them refurbished ships that have been given new names. As 2012 gets underway, we’re giving you a snapshot of all of them… Launch date: April 24 Capacity: 1,258 Sister ships: Marina Maiden Voyage: Athens Home Ports: Europe, then Miami Ships now in Oceania [...]

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Bob & Nancy on January 6th, 2012

There will be eight new cruise ships launched this year, two of them refurbished ships that have been given new names. As 2012 gets underway, we’re giving you a snapshot of all of them… Launch date: October 12 Capacity: 3,052 Sister ships: Solstice, Equinox, Eclipse, Silhouette Maiden Voyage: Amsterdam Home Ports: Barcelona, Venice and Miami [...]

Continue reading about New Ships: Celebrity Reflection

Bob & Nancy on December 29th, 2011

It was almost nine months ago that we were introduced to Cellar Masters, in a big way, on the Celebrity Eclipse on a cruise across the Atlantic. Still in its embryonic stage, Cellar Masters was a way for passengers to buy wine a glass at a time, and at a time of their choosing…even 3 [...]

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Bob & Nancy on December 9th, 2011

The first All-Alaska Sweepstakes was over 100 years ago. It was a dog race, not to be confused with Alaska’s famous Iditarod. Its home is in Nome, a place you probably don’t want to go at this time of year, on the far reaches of west Alaska. The race has been run only 12 times,  [...]

Continue reading about Alaska Cruise Race Heating Up