cruise

Yachts of Seabourn Launches Sojourn Yacht

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

Legendary British model Twiggy was on hand as Yachts of Seabourn launched the new yacht Seabourn Sojourn on the River Thames Friday, June 4. The 225-suite yacht was built by the T. Mariotti shipyard in Genoa, Italy and is the second of three new luxury cruising vessels joining Seabourn's fleet in three years. The ship puts a premium on personalized service and has a nearly one-to-one staff/guest ratio.

Most of the ocean-view suites have private verandas. The Grand Wintergarden Suites, offer over 1400 square feet of indoor and outdoor space that includes two bedrooms and bathrooms, a private, glass-enclosed solarium with tub and daybed. two bars and three flat-screen televisions.

Tags: cruise, london, seaborn sojourn, twiggy, yacht, yachts of seabourn

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The Zein Nile Chateau

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

There are some who believe that the only truly elegant way to see Egypt is by dahabieh, or private boat. Even in this highly exclusive niche, a few vessels stand heads and shoulders above the rest, like The Zein Nile Chateau -- the first dahabieh built to international luxury standards, complete with air conditioning, expansive windows and graceful, enchanting decor inspired by Egyptian history.

The Zein Nile Chateau consists of four rooms and two suites and can accommodate up to 12 guests for trips up and down the Nile, docking virtually anywhere. "With a dahabieh serving as a floating hotel, it is possible to go beyond Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, continuing past some of the most beautiful scenery along the river. The Temple of Horemheb is cut into the riverside rocks at Gebel Silsila; the pre-Dynastic capital of Upper Egypt, El-Kab, has tombs and temples dedicated to the vulture goddess, Nekhbet," says a statement from Abercrombie & Kent about the advantages of traveling this way.

Gallery: The Zein Nile Chateau

Tags: abercrombie and kent, books, cruise, dahabieh, egypt, luxury travel, nile, travel

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Silversea's New Gourmet Cruises

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Silversea Cruises has four luxury ships prowling the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Baltic Seas on tours of seven to 12 days to 60 different ports. To offer cruise-goers a little more to do on shore, Silversea has assembled international culinary excursions that include learning how to make pesto at Zeffirino's in Portofino whip up tapas in Barcelona and croissants in Cannes, and learning the delicate secrets of olive oil and winemaking in Portoferraio and Elba Island. And those are only a few of the bewildering array of shore excursions at the 300 ports that Silversea serves. If you can't choose one, perhaps opt for Silvesea's 119-day Spirit of Discovery world cruise instead and do them all...

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Tags: adriatic sea, baltic sea, black sea, cruise, euripe, europe, mediterranean, silversea, silversea cruises

Art Auctions to End on Royal Caribbean?

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Auctions, Art

Adam Goldstein, the top dog over at Royal Caribbean, wrote on his blog this week that the cruise line is not renewing its contract with Park West Art Services. It looks as though the future of art auctions on the ships is uncertain, given that the president and CEO says the company is evaluating alternatives.

Writes Goldstein:

"[O]ur contract with Park West Art Services has expired and we have decided not to renew it. There is a wind down period in effect and the art auctioneers will finish on different ships at different times over the next few months. We are evaluating what if any art-related programming we may offer in the fleet in the future beyond Oasis of the Seas where Art Actually is our provider of art tours and art for purchase onboard."

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Tags: art auction, art auctions, cruise, cruise ship, CruiseLines, cruises, royal caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruises

A Visit Onboard Cunard's Majestic Queen Mary 2

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

A side view of Cunard's Queen Mary 2 ship while it was docked at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal on April 29, 2010.

Yesterday, Cunard hosted a group of bloggers to tour the magnificent Queen Mary 2 while it was briefly docked at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. The 1,132 feet long ship had arrived that same morning and was scheduled to leave for England at 5:00 pm. For those of us who were fortunate enough to experience this incredible vessal, it was both breathtaking and awesome--in terms of scope and scale. Cunard is the Luxist Awards' Readers' Choice Award winner for Best Caribbean Cruise Line.

We started off our visit with cocktails and appetizers with Commodore Bernard Warner, who joined Cunard in 2005. Commodore Warner's 43-year-long career began with the British Merchant Navy. He spends a total of seven months a year at sea on the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria. When asked what his most memorable experience has been to date, he explained it was watching the total eclipse of the sun in 2007 off Aruba. "It was raining and cloudy that day, but we were able to find a gap in the clouds, so we had a clear view," he said, pointing out that astronomers from all over the world had booked the cruise specifically to witness the event. "The totality lasted 3 1/2 minutes," he added.

Gallery: Cunard's Queen Mary 2

Tags: american museum of natural history, awards-main, Brooklyn, cruise, cunard, Cunard Cruise Line, CunardCruiseLine, Jean-Marie Zimmermann, luxist-awards, Queen Mary 2, Todd English, transatlantic

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Cruise French Polynesia for Less

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

A few weeks ago, I told you about a fantastic way to explore French Polynesia -- aboard the small, luxey Paul Gauguin cruise ship.

Pacific Beachcomber has just released the ship's 2011 sailing schedule, offering between two and four cruises each month of seven to fourteen nights. You can learn about them in a new interactive preview catalog. (If you find that format as annoying as I do, you can also find the info on the company's website.)

When I first wrote about this ship, some readers...oh let's just say, reacted... to my confession that I dislike large cruise ships, which apparently came across as snobbiness, since since large cruise ships tend to be less expensive than ships along the lines of the Paul Gauguin. I contend that a certain amount of snobbiness is sort of my job description, but nevertheless, allow me to redeem myself by discussing a four-letter word: sale.

Paul Gauguin is offering free airfare from Los Angeles (which is a big part of the expense of the entire trip) and two-for-one cruise fares for all 2011 sailings. If the reach of your inner travel snob exceeds the grasp of your particular financial situation, this is good news indeed.

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Tags: bargains, BargainTravel, cruise, cruise ship, FrenchPolynesia

Suri Cruise Has Her Own $850 Handbag

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Handbags, Celebrity Shopping

Suri Cruise is getting started early on her designer handbag collection, and (no surprise) so far she has the very same taste as her mother Katie Holmes. Suri was spotted carrying a tiny metallic Salvatore Ferragamo "Sophia" bag (not the bag shown here) recently as she was carried aboard a helicopter in Jamaica by dad Tom. Mom, bringing up the rear, was toting her own larger version of the same "Sophia" design. Color and all.

Yes she's a cutie, and no we don't know the whole story, but is it really necessary to give a little girl a purse worth almost a $1000 when everybody's traveling and in jeans and t-shirts? Maybe if she's going to the Oscars.

Via LuxuryLaunches

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Tags: celebrities, cruise, handbag, handbags, katie holmes, KatieHolmes, Salvatore Ferragamo, SalvatoreFerragamo, suri cruise, SuriCruise, tom cruise, TomCruise

Sail French Polynesia with Paul Gauguin Cruises

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

I hold large cruise ships in a certain amount of disdain -- floating shopping malls, the all-inclusive resorts of the sea, which seem to me to feature at their heart everything I dislike about vacation activities, the forced gaiety fueled by buckets of alcohol, the faux celebrity of being stalked by cruise photographer and videographer, food more about quantity than quality, casinos.

On these pages, I have speculated that I would likely enjoy myself more on a smaller ship and so I put it to the test a few weeks ago, joining a sailing of the m/s Paul Gauguin in French Polynesia. I found ever so much more pleasant, so much so that I would even go out of my way to repeat the experience. The ship has a maximum capacity of 332 passengers, and one crew member for every 1.5 guests. I'll refrain from a joke about the half-guests, and instead more usefully say that while I was thoughtfully catered to, I never felt hassled, as is possible when there's a profusion of help available. I also found an amazing amount of solitude on the ship's public areas, which I think is absolutely necessary for proper contemplation of French Polynesia, for example, the mountains of Moorea, which were once worshiped by the ancient Tahitians, and seem to be worth the worship.

I also had the agreeable sense that the ship was miniaturized from a larger cruise vessel -- there were three restaurants aboard, although smaller, there was a bar with a teeny tiny dance floor and even the embarrass yourself -- karaoke night provided the opportunity -- and even a small, easily-avoided casino for people that require that.

I think this ship is aimed at an older demographic although I am at the precise mid-point of my 30s, I do consider myself prematurely old, and so enjoyed the Elderhostel-esque programming, a top-notch anthropologist provided fascinating lectures and also the opportunity for a hike in Moorea, nightly entertainment to be taken or left as you prefer, a small boutique that had all the essentials, including kamani oil, a local treatment for sunburn which I really needed after a snorkel with the sharks and stingrays excursion that despite the burn ranks among my favorite experiences ever. The only part of the ship that I found dissatisfying was the fitness center, which could use better ventilation -- although I don't really mind getting a good look at the lifeboats while I'm running on the treadmill.

Paul Gauguin was until recently owned by Regent Seven Seas Cruises and is now owned by Pacific Beachcomber, the largest luxury hotel and cruise operator in the country, and the same group that owns InterContinentals throughout French Polynesia. In fact, I was on the first sail under the new management.

Gallery: Aboard the Paul Gauguin

Tags: cruise, cruise ship, cruises, CruiseShip, french polynesia, FrenchPolynesia

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Tips for Tipping on Cruise Ships

by Sabah Karimi (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Tips. Gratuities. Service Charges. It's the cost of getting great service, but how much do you tip the waiter, butler and housekeeping personnel each day of your cruise vacation?

When it comes to tipping on a cruise ship, the recommendations and requirements vary only slightly by cruise line. Norwegian cruise lines points out that guests are "not obliged to offer a gratuity for good service", but they do recommend tipping a service provider that's gone above and beyond the call of duty to meet your needs. Celebrity Cruise Lines takes a different approach to the cruise tipping process, automatically adding gratuities to all restaurant and stateroom services and encourages guests to add extra if they feel they received exceptional service.

Most cruise lines encourage passengers to tip for services per person, per day, but tips can be rolled into the service charge or fee you pay as part of your cruise package.

If you need a general idea of how much to tip each individual who serves you, here's a breakdown based on recommendations per person, per day from Celebrity Cruise Lines, Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean International:

Suite Attendant: keeps your room clean and orderly, orders supplies and amenities, provides you with towels and fresh linens as needed, works with housekeeping staff and handles laundry and room service deliveries
Recommended tip: $5.75

Tags: Carnival Cruise Lines, CarnivalCruiseLines, Celebrity cruise lines, CelebrityCruiseLines, cruise, cruisetipping, luxist-awards, main-pedia, norwegian cruise line, NorwegianCruiseLine, Royal Caribbean Cruises, RoyalCaribbeanCruises, tipping, travel, traveltips, wintertravel-pedia

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First Class: Legendary Ocean Liner Voyages Around the World

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing, Books

I sometimes think that the ideas we all have about the "romance" of leisure travel date back to the days when travel wasn't quite so widespread, when it was the exclusive province of the elite. Say, the late 19th or early 20th century. When we're suffused with this nostalgia, we don't think very often of the fact that we would most likely not be elites ourselves, and even if we were, we'd have far less time lord it over everyone since life expectancy was just shy of 50 -- because in all romantic fantasies, the heroes are always wealthy, beautiful and very lucky.

While I'm not sure it's worth trading a few decades of life expectancy for it, it still seems a real shame that it's no longer possible to book first class passage on those amazing ocean vessels that could take you almost anywhere worth going. The era, the experience and the lifestyle is vividly described in a lavishly illustrated new book, First Class: Legendary Ocean Liner Voyages Around the World, published by Vendome Press. It's a book that makes a terrific holiday gift for anyone who loves boats, cruises, history, and it comes in a slipcase meant to resemble a steamer trunk.

Author Gérard Piouffre provides the historical context needed to understand the era of the ocean liner, which stretches from the time steam ships took over from boats that travel under sail and ends in the late 1950s, when air travel surpassed travel by water. The construction of these ships would take a workforce of 10,000 to 15,000, in order to create settings that were almost embarrassingly ostentatious, meant to resemble floating palaces or châteaus. That, of course, was in first class, but second class wasn't too terrible -- less luxurious, but still including "immense drawing rooms, libraries, smoking rooms," write Piouffre. It was meant to resemble an "impressively appointed country house." (Of third class, he says, the look was more dormitory.)

Beyond interior décor, First Class paints a picture of life aboard ship, reproducing menus, activities schedules and impromptu amusements. (On the long and boring trip from San Francisco to Hawaii, a game was organized in which two passengers were blindfolded and armed with rubber truncheons. Liability laws sure have changed.)

The book is organized into the old sea routes -- there's the transatlantic and transpacific crossings, the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, the South Atlantic and the Caribbean, Routes of Ice and Gold (Alaska, and Iceland/Norway) for instance. Between the photos, drawings, ephemera and quotes from everyone from ordinary passengers to luminaries like Mark Twain, you feel like you're following right along in a great ship's wake. The most hypnotic chapter to me was the one that dealt with the route that went through the Suez Canal to the Far East, starting perhaps in Marseille, and calling on Alexandria, Mumbai, Calcutta, Rangoon, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Shanghai and ultimately Yokohama, Japan. Really, I can't think of a voyage, in any time, that sounds more romantic than that.

Gallery: Images from First Class: Legendary Ocean Liner Voyages Around the World

First Class Passengers on Royal Mail Steam Packet's Orca, 1925

Barber Shop Aboard Messageries Maritime's Champoillion

Messageries Maritimes' Felix Roussel, Renown for its Music Room

Braving the Promenade During a Cold Part of the Trip to Honolulu

Tags: boats, books, cruise, gifts, history

Introducing Silversea's New Boat: Silver Spirit

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

I've been known to rant a bit about the experience of traveling on a large cruise ship -- basically, they strike me as floating shopping malls/theme parks, neither of which I'd ever choose to spend time on.

Even if I'm surrounded by open ocean, which I happen to adore.

But I put smaller ships in a different category, more like a communal yacht, so I was pleased to learn that Silversea, the small ship cruise ship line, plans to launch a new vessel on December 23rd. I was even more pleased when I found out that the new ship, the Silver Spirit, sports a fabulous Art Deco design, and, among its six restaurants, includes one that offers a slow food concept. Check out the gallery for some interior views.

The boat is all-suite, the suites are larger than any the line has offered to date, including two flatscreen televisions, a pillow menu, Carrera marble bathrooms, and a butler assigned to each suite. The maiden crossing from Lisbon to Fort Lauderdale is sold out, but consider signing on for the 91-day inaugural cruise around the Americas departing January 21, 2010, which includes the Christening party and VIP tickets to Rio's Carnival.

Gallery: Silversea's New Boat: Silver Spirit

Tags: cru, cruise, cruise line, cruise ship, CruiseLine, cruises, CruiseShip, silversea, winter-travel-main

Conde Nast Traveler's "Gold List"

by Lisa Palladino (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Condé Nast Traveler has released its list of reader-selected best places to stay in the world on Concierge.com.

The magazine's 15th annual "Gold List" is "is your ultimate annotated guide to the world's finest properties and cruise lines, as elected by more than 32,000 Condé Nast Traveler readers."

You can browse by destination, type of award (e.g., service, food, location, cruise lines) or alphabetically, where you can see all on the list. Wondering how they were picked? Here's the methodology.

Tags: awards, conde nast, conde nast traveler, CondeNast, CondeNastTraveler, cruise, cruise lines, cruise ship, CruiseLines, CruiseShip, gold list, GoldList, hotel, hotels, travel

Silversea Silver Spirit's South American Adventure

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Yachts & Sailing

Silversea Cruises is already seeking passengers for their newest ship, the Silver Spirit which will launch in December. The luxury cruise company is offering a 91-day voyage around South America that starts in Fort Lauderdale, stops in to Rio de Janiero and Buenos Aires and then goes up past Lima and slips through the Panama Canal. The adventure begins on January 21, 2010 and costs $39,187 per person, double occupancy. Before that voyage the ship will offer an inaugural cruise from Barcelona to Lisbon followed by the maiden Atlantic crossing from Lisbon to the Caribbean. The ship includes a 8,300 square-foot spa, a fitness center, pool deck, library, internet cafe, boutiques, and a full schedule of enrichment programs.

[via USA Today]

Gallery: Silversea Silver Spirit

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Tags: cruise, silver spirit, silversea, SilverSpirit

Movie Screens on Cruise Lines, Good Idea Or Not?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

USA Today's Cruise Blog recently reported on the fact that Princess Cruises is adding 300-square-foot screens on the top decks of seven more of its Princess ships over the next three years (it already has the screens on the top decks of seven ships already). The giant LED screens can show movies day and night as well as broadcasting sporting events such as the Super Bowl and concerts and plans to broadcast an exclusive-to-the-cruise-industry concert by top-selling recording artist Josh Groban. Personally I'm no fan of the giant screens but some of the hard-core cruisers seem to really like them. Other lines including MSC Cruises and Carnival Cruises offer movie screens on deck on some of their ships.

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Tags: cruise, cruising, entertainment-awards, ship

Pricey Cruise To Peep At Penguins

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Think 'luxury cruise' and visions of hot sun and warm blue water probably come to mind, but that couldn't be farther from reality on the latest cruise from Quark Expeditions called "Emperors & Kings: Snow Hill and South Georgia." Leave the sun hat at home and instead grab your ice cleats and arctic gear to sail to Snow Hill Island and South Georgia to see two of the largest and most elusive penguin species, the Emperor Penguins and King Penguins, living in the wild.

The cruise ship, complete with on-board helicopter for shuttling guests to and from the penguin rookery sites, sets sail in November of next year. Prices start at $21,890.

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Tags: cruise, cruises, penguin, penguins, quark, quark expeditions, QuarkExpeditions

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