Send As SMS

CRUISE LINKS (with Gary Bembridge)

Monday, November 06, 2006

Gay cruises sailing into mainstream

 
Next Memorial Day weekend, Cunard's behemoth liner the Queen Mary 2 will depart for a routine six- day Atlantic crossing from New York to Southampton, England, with the usual white-glove service, decadent cuisine and formal evening wear after sundown. The difference this time: Practically all the guests aboard the 2,592-passenger cruise will be gay.
 
It's a first for Cunard. The line signed a deal earlier this year with RSVP Vacations, a gay travel company that has chartered the ship. The agreement is one sign among many of gay cruises' progression into the mainstream of cruise travel.
 
Most gay-cruise operators run charter businesses, paying cruise lines to use their ships and crews. In the early days of gay cruises, about 20 years ago, that often meant working with little-known lines or securing second-tier ships.
 
Itineraries often included just a handful of gay-friendly destinations. But as the overall rate in the growth of passengers and spending has slowed in recent years, the cruise industry has become keenly aware of the gay travel market, estimated at $55 billion and growing.
 
Big spenders
Gay travelers tend to take trips more often, stay longer and spend more than other travelers, according to a survey by Community Marketing Inc., a research firm specializing in the gay travel market. Gay travelers took a median of five overnight trips in the last 12 months ended in August 2006, compared with four trips for Americans in general, and spent a median of $6,273 in travel expenses, compared with roughly $3,000 for all travelers.
 
To get a piece of that lucrative market, cruise companies that "really hadn't thought much about the gay and lesbian market" are now "actively recruiting and soliciting our business," said Jeff Soukup, chief executive of RSVP Vacations.
 
It's now common for all-gay cruises to sail to the same ports popular with most cruisers, often on the same popular ships. For the coming season, RSVP (which was acquired in March by PlanetOut Inc., a media and entertainment company that caters to gay audiences) has chartered major cruise companies' flagship vessels, including the Amsterdam of the Holland America Line and the Caribbean Princess of Princess Cruises, as well as the Queen Mary 2.
 
Atlantis Events, which operates tours for gay travelers, has charted Royal Caribbean's newest vessel, Freedom of the Seas - at a capacity of 3,634 passengers it is even bigger than the Queen Mary 2 - for a week-long Caribbean sailing in January; it is already sold out. And Olivia, a lesbian travel company, is offering cruise itineraries this winter to a range of destinations, both common and exotic, including the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, Tahiti, Alaska and Amsterdam.
 
All of this means more options for travelers. Pat Funk, 53, a real estate broker from Cannon Beach, Ore., has been going on Olivia cruises ever since she met her partner, Dale Shafer, on one 10 years ago. Back then, she said, the ships were older and there weren't as many offerings, but each year since, "they do more exotic or upscale trips." This season, the couple plans to go the Galapagos, Antarctica and Amsterdam.
 
Gay travelers are interested in the same destinations as any others, said Amy Errett, the chief executive of Olivia, but they want to see those places "in community and in sort of a safe environment." Olivia inspects each ship and itinerary, sending staff members to visit ports and try out land excursions before booking any charter. It briefs crews on what to expect of a ship full of women - they tend to use lots of towels, for instance - and often takes aboard entertainers who appeal to lesbian audiences. This March, Melissa Etheridge will join Olivia's week-long Caribbean sailing.
 
Entertainment budget
Extra onboard parties and entertainers tend to push the price of all-gay cruises slightly above other cruise prices. For example, starting prices for indoor cabins on Princess Cruises' week-long October Mexican Riviera cruise recently were listed from $649 on princess.com. RSVP Vacations was offering a similar October Mexican Riviera cruise on the same ship, but with a host of singers, DJs and comedians, starting at $795 for early bookers.
 
There are still destinations that gay cruises avoid; one is Jamaica, where two gay-rights activists have been murdered in the past two years. But other destinations are becoming more welcoming.
 
In 2004, Sandals Resorts rescinded its ban on gay couples at its all-inclusive properties. And while a gay cruise charted by Atlantis Events was turned away from the Cayman Islands in 1997, this year 3,200 passengers on a similar cruise by the same company were greeted in the Caymans with rainbow-patterned welcome signs in some shop windows.
 
A larger, more open presence of gay passengers is also showing itself on cruises not pitched to gay travelers. The New York-based Pied Piper Travel, which caters to gay groups, booked about 430 gay passengers to the Caribbean the week after Thanksgiving last year - the company's most popular trip. This year, 600 gay travelers have already signed up for the same cruise, filling nearly a quarter of the ship, Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas.
 
And conventional cruise lines have begun to offer welcome parties for gay travelers, dubbed Friends of Dorothy - a slang term used among some gays to describe themselves.
 
Fellow passengers aren't always as friendly. Online postings in the Gay and Lesbian Cruisers forum at Cruise critic.com describe experiences ranging from easy mixing with other passengers to homophobic incidents. A Seabourn passenger using the screen name "inthesurf" said in a February 2006 posting that at an on-deck barbecue, a passenger hurled anti-gay slurs and a glass of water at her and her partner. "We were horrified, and reduced to tears in front of Seabourn staff and passengers," she wrote.
 
Cruise lines and gay travelers alike, however, say incidents like this are rare. And as gay cruises continue to join the mainstream, more mixing leads to even more openness.
 
In fact, gay cruises have become so popular that a reverse phenomenon is starting to emerge. "We're finding a lot of gay travelers have straight friends who want to be a part of this," said Tom de Rose, owner of Friends of Dorothy Travel in San Francisco.

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

posted by Gary B at 11/06/2006 07:54:17 AM  

Berlitz Announces Top Five-Star Cruise Ships In Complete Guide To Cruising & Cruise Ships 2007

 
LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- For the seventh consecutive year, Europa, the luxury Hapag-Lloyd Cruises flagship, attained the highest scores in the most categories to top the list in Berlitz Publishing's annual cruising guide: Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2007, due in bookstores this month.
 
Europa earned 1,858 points this year out of 2,000 to match last year's total. The winning ship is so high-scoring in all areas that author Douglas Ward, renowned authority on cruise ships, created a new class for the ship in an earlier edition: Five Stars Plus.
 
Seventeen luxury ships in addition to Europa scored high enough for the prestigious Five Stars Club. Membership remains unchanged from last year; only a few ships received varying scores from 2006. In numerical order, this year's Five Stars Club members are:
1. Europa 10. Silver Cloud 2. SeaDream II 11. Silver Wind 3. SeaDream I 12. Queen Mary 2 (Grill Class) 4. Seabourn Legend 13. Sea Cloud II 5. Seabourn Pride 14. Sea Cloud 6. Seabourn Spirit 15. Crystal Serenity 7. Silver Shadow 16. Crystal Symphony 8. Silver Whisper 17. Seven Seas Mariner 9. Hanseatic 18. Seven Seas Voyager
 
"Even though a cruise ship may claim to be a luxury vessel, most of the time it actually isn't. Cruise goers should realize the differences between luxury cruises and other ships," Ward says. "On true luxury sailings, passengers are provided with the finest services by a staff that knows each guest by name. Menus typically contain items like caviar and foie gras; bathrooms are constructed of elegant marble; and crowds in common areas like the pool deck are virtually nonexistent."
In each edition of Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships, Ward emphasizes that there is no best cruise line; different lines are appropriate for different people depending on what they are looking for in a vacation: luxury, romance, adventure, teen fun, etc.
 
Ward urges readers to not only look at star ratings but to also consider ship's numbers, which are exceptionally precise. He prides himself on his highly objective rating system, which he has used for the past 22 years. "These numbers reflect my evaluations in the most unbiased way."
Berlitz Publishing

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

posted by Gary B at 11/06/2006 07:52:01 AM  

Sunday, November 05, 2006

The QE2's still sailing into the sunset -- every day

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/travel/15908428.htm

 

The QE2's still sailing into the sunset -- every day

With the Queen Mary 2 in the spotlight, and the Queen Victoria on the horizon, some wonder about the Queen Elizabeth 2's future.

BY MIM SWARTZ
Special to The Miami Herald
 
PATRICK FARRELL/MIAMI HERALD FILE
ROYAL VISAGE: Wilhelmina and George Glanville of New York walk up a stairwell on the QE2 with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth behind them.
In 2004, the dowager liner of the ocean, Queen Elizabeth 2, was dethroned by her ingenue sister, Queen Mary 2, which took over regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings between England and New York and became Cunard Line's flagship. What ever happened to the QE2? (Please answer true or false.)
1. The QE2 was sold to the Japanese.
2. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum bought the QE2 to become a floating hotel in Dubai.
3. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II requisitioned the QE2 as the British royal yacht.
4. Steve Wynn purchased the QE2 and floated it up the Colorado River to Las Vegas, where it will become his latest eye-popping casino resort.
5. None of the above.
If you chose No. 5, you are correct.
Although the 1,791-passenger QE2 has remained in the shadows of the glitzier 2,620-passenger cruise ship QM2 -- at least in the U.S. cruise market -- the legendary luxury liner still sails the seven seas, calling this year at 96 ports.
The last great British-built ocean liner, the QE2 has garnered a following of passengers who love the classy ship for what she represents: the nostalgic, glamorous golden age of travel when a ship was used as transportation, the only way to cross the ocean between Europe and America.
On a crossing, passengers can relish six days at sea without stopping. The ship itself is the destination. During nearly four decades of sailing, the QE2 has almost 800 trans-Atlantic crossings under her hull.
But when the $800 million QM2 jumped into the sea more than two years ago, making a bigger splash than a pod of breaching whales, the QE2 sailed out of the spotlight.
The ornate silver Boston Cup was transferred with a lot of hoopla from the QE2 to the QM2. Presented by the residents of Boston in 1840 to company founder Samuel Cunard, the cup commemorates the maiden trans-Atlantic crossing from Liverpool to Boston by Cunard's first ship, the Britannia. It traditionally sails in a glass showcase of honor on Cunard Line's flagship.
The QE2's nearly two dozen scheduled trans- Atlantic crossings annually were taken over by the QM2, and the QE2 went to Southampton, England, to cruise in Europe for a mostly British market, in addition to her annual three-month world cruise. This may account for obscurity among a multitude of Americans because they no longer see the QE2 regularly at her trans-Atlantic berth in New York and think she no longer is operating.
RECAPTURING THE SHIP
''Locals (the Brits) have recaptured the ship from the rest of the world,'' says Diane Porter of Brooklyn, N.Y., who was on the QE2's Iceland and Norway cruise in July, when the passenger list included 1,198 from the United Kingdom and only 189 from the United States.
More U.S. residents seem to sail on the QE2's annual world cruise. Of 825 passengers who did this year's entire world cruise -- passengers can opt to take one of five shorter segments, from six to 31 days -- 517 were North Americans.
The 2007 world cruise -- 108 days on five continents beginning Jan. 8 -- will mark the QE2's 25th anniversary world cruise.
''She is doing extremely well on the world cruise,'' says Carol Marlow, Cunard Line president and managing director, based in Southampton. ``For the last two years there have been a record-breaking number of passengers going on the entire world cruise. For 2007 it looks like we will beat that again.''
The QE2, which has traveled more than 5 million nautical miles and has carried some 2 million passengers, will celebrate another anniversary in September 2007 -- 40 years since Queen Elizabeth II launched the $69.8 million liner on Sept. 20, 1967, at the John Brown and Co. Shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland, near Glasgow. An eight-day England/Scotland cruise Sept. 15 will include special receptions, dining menus and entertainment, plus military bands, fireworks and flotillas.
BRITISH ICON
''She is a real icon of British history and heritage,'' Marlow boasts of the old grand dame of the sea.
But with Cunard's new 2,000-passenger Queen Victoria making a grand entrance in December 2007, everyone is wondering about the QE2.
In addition, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea has adopted certain fire-protection requirements, to go into effect in 2010, which ban the use of combustible materials in cruise ships. This could mean costly renovations, if not the graveyard, for many older ships, but Marlow said the requirements shouldn't prove a major problem for the QE2.
``She doesn't have that much wood. There's wood, and then there's wood paneling. We don't think it will be too onerous.''
As for the Queen Victoria, Marlow believes the new ship will enable Cunard to broaden its worldwide itineraries. ``It gives our guests more choice.''
So, what is the future of the QE2, on which Cunard has spent more than $675 million throughout the years for refits and refurbishments?
''At the point in time where our guests no longer want to sail on her and pay a sensible price, or whenever we can't maintain her from a cost-effective standpoint, then we will say goodbye,'' Marlow says. ``Neither is the case now. She is doing extremely well. There is no other ship like her.''
Porter agrees. She has sailed on the QE2 more than 30 times since the 1980s.
What is it about the ship for her?
``It's the warmth of the staff. You take it for the history and the bar staff and the maitre d's. They recognize me. That keeps you coming back. It's not the management. They have done things to discourage Americans. The UK gets different pricing and brochures. It is quite frustrating. I get a brochure a week for the Queen Mary 2. Nothing on the QE2.''
Porter, 64, was on the QM2's inaugural trans-Atlantic sailing in January 2004. ''It's improving, in my eyes, but it's not this,'' she says. ``You never have a sense you're on a ship. It's a hotel.''
Lisa Campbell, 53, of Palm Beach Gardens, also sails frequently on the QE2. She first went with her father in 1975 and, after his death in 1994, waited five years to sail on the ship again. ''It was something that Dad and I did. I was afraid it would be too emotional. But there was only one way to find out,'' she says.
Campbell notices subtle differences on the QE2 since Carnival Corp. bought Cunard Line in 1998, such as salt and pepper packets instead of shakers in the Lido informal buffet dining room. ''That's not Cunard. That's Carnival,'' she says.
And although the QE2 has one of the dressiest dress codes of any cruise ship -- even ''informal'' nights mean coat and tie for men and cocktail dress or suit for women -- Campbell notices passengers aren't dressing as elegantly as they used to.
''It's come down a peg or two. But it's still a wonderful ship or I wouldn't keep coming back,'' she says.
FASTEST SHIP AFLOAT
Constructed for the unpredictable North Atlantic weather conditions with a sturdier hull and sleeker bow to break through the waves, the QE2 is still the fastest passenger ship afloat -- 28.5 knots average, 32.5 knots maximum. She was the first ship built specifically for both cruising and trans-Atlantic service.
The QE2 is different from the latest mega-ships seeking to appeal to younger, more active vacationers. It has no five-story atrium with glass elevators and blinking neon, and its staterooms have no balconies, except for a handful. It has no ice-skating rink, no climbing wall, no surfing pool, no miniature golf course.
The QE2, however, has two things not found on many ships -- an honest-to-goodness movie theater, where first-run flicks are shown, and a synagogue.
Michael Leonard of McAllen, Texas, and his wife, Renee, both 50, are younger than most QE2 passengers. And while they enjoy a mix of ages, they would prefer to be with more people their own age.
''I'll say this,'' Michael Leonard says. ``Unlike other ships that I've been on, people continue to keep going on this one over and over again.''
''There's some kind of attachment to this ship itself,'' Renee adds. Michael interjects: ``I'm not real sure what the attachment is.''
Renee jumps back quickly: ``It's a historical ship. Down the road we're going to be really glad we can look back on this and say we did the QE2.''

The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider.

posted by Gary B at 11/05/2006 09:33:20 PM  

Saturday, November 04, 2006

World's most expensive cruise accomodations

 
World's most expensive cruise accomodations
World's most expensive cruise accomodations
By Heidi Sarna
Forbes Traveler.com
Updated: 3:54 p.m. ET Nov. 3, 2006
Cruising without a butler and a private hot tub is like flying first class without Dom Perignon and a flat-bed seat. Sure, you can snag a cruise to the islands for a song — try $100 a day or less for a basic cabin on the Vegas-style mega ships — but the best rooms go for a whole lot more. The most expensive penthouse suites at sea routinely go north of $1,000 per person per day, and often more than twice that.
The QM2, lavishly christened by the Queen herself in 2004, has a pair of 2,249-square-foot Grand Duplex Suites that include exclusive access to a private sundeck, restaurant and lounge. The price for the royal treatment? Try $3,900 per person per day for a six-night transatlantic crossing.
Since cruise ships may have hundreds and often thousands of cabins, but only a handful of penthouse suites, it's not surprising the top digs get snapped up first.
"We book from top to bottom, with penthouse accommodations being the first to go," says Bill Smith, Crystal Cruises' senior vice president of sales and marketing.
And don't expect a discount at the top of the food chain.
"The best suites sell and are not normally subject to the pricing carnage seen in lower category accommodations, or at least the extent is less," says Charlie Funk, co-owner of Just Cruisin Plus in Nashville, Tenn.
They sell fast, because they're luxurious and because of where they go. The most expensive penthouse fares tend to be for the more exotic locations. On the Crystal Serenity and Seabourn Pride, it's an 18-night cruise around Cape Horn to Antarctica, while the top on the Silver Shadow is a week sailing between Stockholm and Copenhagen.
"Penthouse prices are going up in the Mediterranean and Alaska," says Michael Driscoll, editor of industry bible Cruise Week, adding "but like everything else in the Caribbean, penthouse rates are flat or down in that market due to overcapacity."
Who can't overlook a been-there-done-that Caribbean itinerary when there's 5,750 square feet of living space to explore? That's the size of the pricey three-bedroom Garden Villas on the new Norwegian Pearl, which run $2,000-plus per person per day.
For some, size is all that matters.
"Our clients want the space, and in most cases also want the two bathrooms that the largest suites can provide," says Mary Jean Tully, Chairman and CEO of Toronto-based Cruise Professionals.
Of course, "big" is a relative term. The owner's suite aboard the SeaDream I is just 450 square feet, but on a yacht-like vessel that only carries 110 passengers, this is exceedingly generous.
Size aside, luxury is all about the right amenities. Walk-in closets, stocked mini bars, Internet access and flat-screen televisions with CD/DVD players are penthouse basics. The top cabins on Mariner of the Seas, for instance, have an iPod player with Bose or Logitech speakers. Like the best hotels, fuzzy robes, pillow menus and 24-hour room service, including ordering off the restaurant menus during meal times, are the norm at the high end.
So are the services of a butler and concierge who have chilled champagne ready when you arrive, deliver canapés before dinner, unpack suitcases and make spa or shore excursion reservations.
For some, the hook is a bit more esoteric. To the tune $1,295 per person per day, the amenities in the huge Penthouse Suite on Celebrity's 1,950-passenger Millennium include a baby grand piano.
"Our suites are on par with the best accommodations and amenities of the luxury lines, but Celebrity ships also have the additional space to offer guests that much more variety in venues, dining options, entertainment options and more," says Dan Hanrahan, president of Celebrity Cruises.
Big ship or small, cruise fares always include three-plus meals a day, along with entertainment and a variety of activities. Smaller, more luxurious ships are typically more inclusive, with open bar and gratuities also built into the price.
"If you compare our cruises fares to the cost of a comparable luxury hotel and resort vacation, our prices are still very competitive and in many cases probably the best value for the money spent," says Mark Conroy, president of Regent.
To come up with our list of most expensive cruise ship penthouses, we looked at worldwide itineraries without regard to high or low season, which varies depending in different parts of the world (summer in Europe, winter in the Caribbean and so forth). For the penthouses listed, count on even the least expensive itineraries still running at least $1,000 per person per night. We did not include condo cruise ships like Residensea or yachts geared only to full charters, since they are not cruise ships in the traditional sense. All rates are per person per day and based on double occupancy.

The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider.

posted by Gary B at 11/04/2006 06:25:22 PM