CruiseMates newsletter

1.24.2008
John Heald Blogger's Cruise
by Paul Motter

This is the week that the world's most popular cruise director is holding court on a cruise dedicated just to him aboard Carnival Freedom. We have been getting daily updates from our reporter on board.

On the heels of the success of this John Heald cruise, Carnival just announced yet another "Bloggers Cruise" to sail next year at about this same time. As before, CruiseMates already has cabins, and from what I understand our low rate starting at just $299 per person (for a five day cruise!) will only be good for about the next month. So book it now! For more information, go here: John Heald's Bloggers Cruise 2009

FYI: I have to mention there will be fuel supplement surcharge. You are going to be seeing this in all cruise advertising from here on out so get ysed to it. It is about $5 per person per day on most cruise lines and may go up a little for suites. Usually, only the first two people in each cabin have to pay it.

I also just heard that John will be onboard the sailing of Carnival Imagination next week to blog about the new improvements to the Fantasy-class ships that Carnival is already rolling out. These include amazing new waterparks that will be even better than what is on the Carnival mega-ships. A 300-foot waterslide!

One thing John's Blogger's Cruise points out is how people can come together online and become a community of friends in cyber-space, and then can actually get to know each other in real life. This is the premise that CruiseMates was founded on nine years ago, and the idea grows all the time as more and more cruisers get online.

Our intrepid cruise reporter, Kuki, writes that a nine-year old girl wanted a hug from John Heald on stage last night, and how Kuki remembered meeting this same girl on a CruiseMates group cruise when she was just two years old and had just been adopted from Russia. The concept of cyber-friendships becoming real don't get much more real than that.

To read about Kuki's adventures onboard, go to our Carnival Cruise Lines Message Boards.

If you watched football last weekend you know are having a COLD winter this year in many parts of the country. Many people are booking Caribbean cruises right now, and why not? The bargains are certainly out there.

Voyager in Galveston

Royal Caribbean has relocated its first mega-ship to Galveston, Texas; Voyager of the Seas. What a treat for all the people in the Houston area to be able to catch a ride on a mega-ship any week they want. We already have our first report about the experience from one of our readers - Snoozeman. He points out that the ship is great, but needs a lesson in how Texans like their iced tea. Always with ice (don't let that bucket run out) but just a few cubes at a time, "European-style" as he says.

We are looking forward to getting our first permanent mega-ship on the West Coast as soon as Explorer of the Seas comes to Los Angeles. And by the way, if you have not noticed cruises to Mexico are solid bargains, some of the best deals for cruise out there are going to Mexico.

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