Cruise weekly articles today

[woodscruise]

Some interesting articles from Cruise Weekly 15 June 2010

 

 

Princess popular with Aussies

An online poll has revealed

Australians’ favourite cruise

lines - and the features they

most dislike.

THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL CRUISE

community website last week asked

Australians to choose their favourite cruise

line, resulting in a close competition

between Princess Cruises and Royal

Caribbean.

At last count, the Cruise Critic poll had

Princess on top with 46% of votes, followed

by Royal Caribbean (36%) and P&O (13%).

Holland America Line and Celebrity

Cruises made a smaller splash, each with

9% of votes.

Voters also used the opportunity to

comment on their least favourite aspects,

such as the age of ships in Australian waters

and the cost of fares compared to discounts

offered to Americans.

Royal Caribbean also came under fire for

its lack of laundry facilities, while Princess

was praised for its cheap laundry and fridges

in each cabin.

However, Princess was attacked for its

restrictions on Australians who try to book

cheaper cruises through US-based travel

agents. (See ‘This Week At Sea’, page 3.)

Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief,

Cruise Critic, told CW that two factors

inspired the decision to conduct the poll.

“One is that it’s very clear that cruise lines

are really intrigued by the Australian market

beyond Australia’s home-grown options,”

she said.

“For the first time, we’re seeing cruise

lines acknowledging that rather than simply

put a ship in your market and hope North

Americans and Europeans will show up that

Australians (and New Zealanders, too) are

really gung-ho about cruising.”

“It’s very clear that cruise lines are

really intrigued by the Australian

market beyond Australia’s homegrown

options”.

R L D ’ S L E A D I N G R I V E R C R U I S E L I N E . . . B Y F A R ®

Spencer Brown noted that P&O, Princess

and RCC had recently committed further

resources to Australia - not to mention

Holland America (see story at right).

“So that’s exciting – that’s a sign that the

market is growing, and when the market

begins to grow, as we are seeing in the UK

and in Europe, cruise lines start to offer the

spiffiest ships rather than hand-me-downs,”

she said.

The second inspiration for the poll was

that Cruise Critic’s Australian members were

“incredibly vocal”, Spencer Brown

explained.

“I love that I get a half dozen emails a

week from Australia-based travellers asking

various questions – and I always answer

___________________________________

Holland America

doubles up down under

YET MORE CRUISE CAPACITY WILL BE DEPLOYED IN

Australasian waters in 2011/12, with

confirmation by Holland America Line this

morning that it will base its ms Zaandam in

Sydney for a series of cruises from Nov 2011.

It will be the first time that Holland

America has had two vessels down under

operating a series of itineraries at the same

time, with Holland America the latest line to

announce local expansion.

Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises will

also be operating additional vessels in

Australasian waters in 2011/12 - not to

mention the major expansion by P&O which

later this year will welcome Pacific Pearl as its

fourth year-round Australasian-based ship.

Holland America said that after crossing

the Pacific from San Diego in November

2011 Zeendam would operate a 14-day

roundtrip Sydney cruise across the Tasman,

followed by a series of South Pacific voyages

calling on New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji.

While Volendam continues its Australian

deployment, Zaandam will offer a series of

14-day Asian sailings out of Singapore,

calling in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai

and Thailand as well as Japan

______________________________________

When Cruise Critic asked Australians

about their favourite cruise line (see story on

page 1) it received many complaints about

unfair pricing and the lack of new ships.

Voters on the website used the opportunity

to vent their feelings about cruising in

Australia.

The first comment posted on the forum,

by Cruise Critic member ‘Eileen’ said: “I

voted for Princess because I do love that

line, however, I will switch soon if they

continue their present stance in regards to

booking overseas.”

This complaint referred to non-US citizens

who try to obtain cheaper cruise fares by

booking through a US-based website.

Australian travel agents are always quick

to warn customers that you may be denied

boarding if you are found to have bought

your cruise online from an American travel

agent, scoring a discount that was valid for

American passengers only.

But many Australians have taken the risk,

saved the cash, and got away with it.

This has long been a contentious topic

among Aussie cruisers – not to mention

travel agents – and I’m curious to hear your

experiences.

Have you booked a discounted cruise with

a US agent and been caught? Or did it

work?

Another Cruise Critic member, ‘David’,

was critical of the value of local lines,

particularly P&O.

He said Australians should “compare the

value of what you are getting [on an

overseas cruise] with what you are charged

locally for the privilege of taking a cruise

with the local product”.

He was quickly shot down, however, by

P&O fans.

‘Australian family’, one of several people

who resented the “old” ships in local waters,

said: “It annoys me that these cruise lines

only send their older ships here. Do we not

deserve the right to have the newer ships

sailing on our waters?”

Age was irrelevant for other passengers

such as ‘Mabel58’ who said “the poor old

Pacific Sun is a bit dated but the crew were

superb on my last cruise” and added that

“some of the new mega ships in Europe

have all the gimmicks but feel soulless to

me.”

It’s all very interesting!

So what’s your favourite cruise line, and

what do you dislike about cruising in

Australia?

 

Regards Michael

[rugbypopsie]

Power to the People...keep on being vocal guys....you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

 

Thanks also to Carolyn for the support of fair play.

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

Power to the People...keep on being vocal guys....you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

 

Thanks also to Carolyn for the support of fair play.

 

 

I'm with you rugbypopsie......surely someone is taking note and listening.

[Kinkacruiser]

You learn something every day here. I didn't know RCCL had no laundry or bar fridges? That would make a longer cruise with them difficult.

It's also good to see we are making news...hope some good will come from it.

Anna:)

[didiaust]

You learn something every day here. I didn't know RCCL had no laundry or bar fridges? That would make a longer cruise with them difficult.

It's also good to see we are making news...hope some good will come from it.

Anna:)

 

I now find that an advantage - I drop my laundry in port - I don't have to hang about a hot busy laundry and guard my undies etc. I pick up my clean folded washing in the arvo and I part with $10 to $20 depending on how many loads

[Australian family]

So what’s your favourite cruise line, and

what do you dislike about cruising in

Australia? I’d love to know!

Email me: louise@cruiseweekly.com.au

[Australian family]

My column last week stirred up a few

people who emailed me about the things they

dislike about cruising.

Eileen – whose comments I quoted from

the Cruise Critic forum – wrote in, and she

had some strong views but asked me not to

publish them!

Peter S had two gripes: “The exorbitant

prices the cruise line charge for everything

onboard that they sell, ranging from icecreams

to drinks.”

This may be true on some ships, but it’s the

same in hotels and restaurants.

I’ve actually found the prices on most

cruises are not too bad – maybe it’s because

I’m used to Sydney prices!

Peter’s second issue was: “When you are

on shore and try to organise your own trips

with a local agent, they will not sell to you if

they know you are off the ship.

“Looks like the cruise has warned all

operators that if they sell in competition

against the cruise line, there will be some sort

of financial punishment meted out.”

Wow, I don’t know if that’s the case! Has

anyone else had this problem?

Max M complained about local ships that

cram too many people into “second grade

accommodation” by converting twin cabins

into quads.

He said: “The fact that we are new to

cruising in big numbers should not mean,

‘pack them in, they don’t know the difference’.”

To be fair, Max also found some ships

overseas were crowded too.

Steve D, from Brisbane, said: “It appears to

be standard practice to send the hand-medowns

here. You only have to look at the

track record of the ships that have been

based here over recent years.

“Very disappointing in both standards and

value.”

This surprises me.

I should now ask the question: what do you

like about cruising? What are some

examples of good service or value on a cruise

(especially one that departed from Australia)?

A few people also admitted they’d booked

cruises through US-based websites and had

no problems.

Steve D said he did it after he continued to

receive such poor service from his local

agent.That’s a real shame.

I still want to know if anyone tried it and

things went horribly wrong!

Or do you personally know someone who

was denied boarding, or lost all their money

when the American agency went out of

business?

Email me: louise@cruiseweekly.com.au

[cazz0069]

My column last week stirred up a few

people who emailed me about the things they

dislike about cruising.

Eileen – whose comments I quoted from

the Cruise Critic forum – wrote in, and she

had some strong views but asked me not to

publish them!

Peter S had two gripes: “The exorbitant

prices the cruise line charge for everything

onboard that they sell, ranging from icecreams

to drinks.”

This may be true on some ships, but it’s the

same in hotels and restaurants.

I’ve actually found the prices on most

cruises are not too bad – maybe it’s because

I’m used to Sydney prices!

Peter’s second issue was: “When you are

on shore and try to organise your own trips

with a local agent, they will not sell to you if

they know you are off the ship.

“Looks like the cruise has warned all

operators that if they sell in competition

against the cruise line, there will be some sort

of financial punishment meted out.”

Wow, I don’t know if that’s the case! Has

anyone else had this problem?

Max M complained about local ships that

cram too many people into “second grade

accommodation” by converting twin cabins

into quads.

He said: “The fact that we are new to

cruising in big numbers should not mean,

‘pack them in, they don’t know the difference’.”

To be fair, Max also found some ships

overseas were crowded too.

Steve D, from Brisbane, said: “It appears to

be standard practice to send the hand-medowns

here. You only have to look at the

track record of the ships that have been

based here over recent years.

“Very disappointing in both standards and

value.”

This surprises me.

I should now ask the question: what do you

like about cruising? What are some

examples of good service or value on a cruise

(especially one that departed from Australia)?

A few people also admitted they’d booked

cruises through US-based websites and had

no problems.

Steve D said he did it after he continued to

receive such poor service from his local

agent.That’s a real shame.

I still want to know if anyone tried it and

things went horribly wrong!

Or do you personally know someone who

was denied boarding, or lost all their money

when the American agency went out of

business?

Email me: louise@cruiseweekly.com.au

 

Pardon my ignorance, is Cruise Weekly a magazine? :)

[Australian family]

Pardon my ignorance, is Cruise Weekly a magazine? :)

 

It is a weekly online cruise newsletter, here is the link to sign up for it for free:

 

http://www.cruiseweekly.com.au/