We know the economy is slow, but are there cruise bargains out there, and how much pain are the cruise lines feeling right now?

I just read the British version of Travel weekly offering a story that read, “Oasis of the Seas bookings slow down.” At first I thought, “Ouch, that is bad. This is a major new ship.” Then I read the piece which said that although 30% of the inaugural season is booked, the pace has slowed down.

What? Here is a ship more than a year from being launched 30% booked for the first year and they think the main news is that bookings are slowing down? We are talking about 30% of 2010. That is HUGE news. Naturally the pace has slowed down, it has slowed down for ALL ships since Paulsen told us we need a bailout. Money has tightened up everywhere.

But for that writer to spin the story as if there is a problem with Oasis bookings, when the first year of a ship that doesn’t even exist yet - 2010, is already 30% booked, is to miss the point entirely. When has a ship ever had 30% of its first year booked over a year out before its inaugural day? Anyway - I just wanted to start with that because it is so off-base in my view.

Moving on to today’s cruise economy.

Some people have likened this current economic crisis to the one that followed 9/11.  Back then, cruises became so incredibly cheap that at least two major cruise lines went bankrupt. But 9/11 was different, it was a travel scare in addition to an economic uncertainty. This is purely economic, but people are still excited about cruising.

Not surprisingly, cruising was the first and the strongest travel sector to recover from the 9/11 fallout? Why? Because ships are incredible facile and adaptable to almost any situation, because they are so easy to move. Secondly, cruises are KNOWN for providing great vacation value in any economic climate. You can get on a ship for a song and your entire vacation is prepaid - if you choose not to spend any additional money.

Back in 2001, right ater 9/11 there was a solid month of nothing but cruise cancellations and not a single booking. Seeing the situation they were in, the President of Carnival Cruise Lines at the time, Bob Dickinsen, sought a solution.

“First we appealed to the fear factor,” said Bob. “We put out news releases explaining how safe cruise ships are. We pulled many of them back from Europe so no flying was invloved. That was really the beginning of ‘drive-to’ cruising, a new theme at the time that became so successful beyond our dreams it is still widely in use today.”

“But this proved to be not enough to get people cruising again, so after a couple of weeks we went to phase 2, we tried appealing to our customer’s patriotism. For every cruise booked we donated $100 to the Red Cross in charge of rehabilitating the victim families of the 9/11 disaster. Unfortunately, this was not the answer either. We did not get a significant number of new bookings.”

“Finally, after about 6 weeks of trying this and that we said ‘let’s just cut the prices and see where people come back.’”

Sure enough, Carnival dropped the prices they had been slowly building over the years from about $699 for a 1-week cruise inside stateroom to $399 for the same. Cruisers came back in droves. Problem solved. Naturally all of the other cruise lines followed suit.

This time around there is no prevarication. Prices have already dropped, but not to the extent we saw back in 9/11. What is different? First of all, that was a travel scare. People were especially afraid to fly, but they were also just afraid to be on large passenger vessels of any kind.

Today, people want to cruise, but their checkbook, credit cards or home equity lines of credit are not cooperating. So, prices have dropped just like they did in 2001, but not nearly to the same extent.

Back in 2001, you could look at prices for every cruise for the following year and everything was on sale. Not so now. Today, only the most “close-in” cruises, those sailing in less than two months from today, are on sale. The remainder may be slightly discounted, but for the most part they are not much lower than they were before this economic disaster hit. And it is notable that this disaster also hit almost overnight. If you recall, it was the day Henry Paulsen gave us the news that we had a systemic problem in our economy that needed to be fixed immediately.

This tells us that bookings of cruises so far are still doing fairly well. Cruise agents tell us that many cruises have been cancelled, but not enough that hefty price reductions for next summer have already appeared. They might, but the fact that they have not yet says bundles, the cruise lines would be foolish to wait until the last minute to discount every cruise they had. Their model is built on sailing full ships, and generally a ship never gets a last-minute discount until as many full-price cabins as possible have been sold.

If next summer’ cruises were not selling at all, we would be seeing discounts already, but we are not yet. However, there is a cycle of group space that must be worked through before we really know how much prices will drop. In other words, many travel agents are holding onto group space they must try to sell at a pre-set price. Whatever they cannot sell will be taken back by the cruise lines.

A year ago, whatever was not sold in a group was usually priced higher than the group price, which is how CruiseMates got its excellent prices on Celebrity Solstice a year ago that are significantly cheaper than what you would pay to sail on that ship next week. Even in this current economic mess there are no close-in discounts for Solstice!

But next March, any space that is not sold in a group will likely be taken back by the cruise lines and discounted so they can sell the ship out.

This doesn’t mean you should avoid buying into group space today, however. In most cases, if you pay for group space and the price goes down you should get price protection even if you have made a final payment. In the old days the cruise lines made discounts for “new bookings only,” but that should not continue with the current situation. So go ahead and look into your group space bargains, and ask the agent if you get a price “guarantee” that if the rate drops for your cabin category in the future you will get a rebate or price reduction.

If we are not seeing discounts in next summer’s cruises yet, where are we seeing massive discounts now? Older ships sailing in the next 8 weeks. NCL seems to be giving the heftiest discounts right now, from $249/week. Carnival is offering 7-day Caribbean cruises starting at $329 and $359.  Mostly, these are on the oldest ships.

Newer ships like Ruby Princess, Carnival Splendor and especially Royal Caribbean are seeing small discounts, but nothing like the above. Freedom and Liberty of the Seas are selling for $549 inside in December. We do see Caribbean Princess for $386 and a 7-night Royal Caribbean Mexico cruise still priced at $499. These are not as steep a discount as you might expect.

Oasis of the Seas - the most anticipated ship in history - is not seeing any real discounts yet at all, especially for the early and holiday cruises. If you book in late 2010 you might see an inside cabin going for $799; oceanview $899 and balcony $989, but those cruises are still two years away! No easy discounts on those ships - not yet anyway.

My guess is that we are going to have see an economic depression before you see significant discounts on Oasis or Allure of the Seas, even if they do hold almost 6000 passengers apiece.

How long will this economic slump last? That is up to you. The government is finally starting to respond in ways where even a cynic like myself is surprised. We are hearing about the real problems and some of the proposed solutions already - the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) seem to be dissipating.

If the consumer starts to spend again, and earnings go up for U.S. companies, which will happen if the housing crisis abates and home prices stop falling month after month, which will happen if the banks start lending again by renegotiating mortgages and restoring lines of credit, which will happen if the government get control over the “toxic assets” and gets the uncertainty out of the marketplace - THEN this whole event will seem like a bad dream.

Let’s hope we can stop this “credit spiral” before too many more people get hurt.

1. Pay With a Credit Card - pay both the initial deposit, and your final payments with a credit card.

- paying with a credit card offers protection between the customer and the retailer (in every circumstance)

- be certain your credit card payment is billed directly to the account of the cruise line. You can check this with online access to your credit card account.

2. Assuming you’ve followed Step #1, within 24 hrs. the travel agent should send you your cruise line booking reservation code (either by mail or email).

- you can then verify your booking confirmation on the cruise line’s web site.

The two simple steps above are all that is required to allow you to feel safe, knowing your booking is officially on the cruise line’s books.

For example, if you use a credit card to purchase a home appliance, and while you’re waiting for delivery the retailer closes it’s doors, having paid by credit card, the credit card company protects your purchase price should the retailer be unable to deliver the appliance. The Credit Card Company becomes your advocate and your protection.

And advocacy on your behalf is what I believe is a major component of a good travel agent’s job. Anyone can sell us a cruise. It’s what actions follow that separate the good agents from those who just happen to be working at that job.

The majority of those working for the cruise lines booking centers know very little about their products, having sailed on few, if any, of the line’s products. There’s no minimum training required of them, as there is for those who earn the CLIA designations of Cruise Councillor, or better yet Master Cruise Councillor.

Booking directly with a representative of the cruise line may make you feel more secure in your booking, but the simple fact is they work for the cruise line! So, while booking with them, you’re not only going to be paying the “blue book price”, if something goes wrong during your cruise, you return, with no advocate (other than yourself), to carry your issues to the cruise line.

 

Booking with a less illusive than you think GREAT travel agent, will almost certainly save you money on the cost of the cruise, or at the very least earn you an Onboard Credit (for shipboard spending)… and if the situation arises that warrants advocacy on your part, your travel agent is there to work for you.

But, no matter who you chose to trust to handle your cruise bookings, it’s imperative to follow steps 1. And 2, which I described above, but which are so important I’ll repeat them

2. Assuming you’ve followed Step #1, within 24 hrs. the travel agent should send you your cruise line booking reservation code (either by mail or email), and NOT their own agency confirmation number!!

- you can then verify your booking confirmation on the cruise line’s web site. And you should do so as soon as possible.

For whatever reason there are those people who want to make partial payments against their cruise accounts along the way. Rather than put any of that money at any risk, I highly recommend you make those payments directly into a separate cruise savings account at a bank, where you’ll earn at least some interest. And when your final payments are due, make those payments on your credit card, and withdraw the funds from that cruise savings account and pay off the balance of your credit card.

You may feel better giving it to the cruise lines, knowing you are slowly owing them less, but there’s no benefits (and some dangers) allowing them to earn interest on your monies, rather than collecting it for yourselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carnival Corp. announced fuel supplement rebates if the price of oil is $70 or less for 25 days in a row. It has been 15 days. To be exact, the company said you will get a full refund on your fuel supplement payment if the price of oil is $70 or less for 25 days in a row at the 2:30 p.m. close of business on each of the 25 consecutive trading days ending five trading days prior to the your cruise departure date.

OK, that is complicated, but according to my charts the price of light crude closed below $70 on November 5 and has stayed below that price ever since. This means that 12 trading days have passed with the price below $70/barrel.

Since the price is now at $49.62/barrel, I contacted Carnival to see if they are tracking this and they confirmed that if the price stays below $70 then they will start giving discounts starting with the December 18 cruise sail dates.  By the way, I originally saw that the price closed below 70 on Oct 21, which would have meant the cutoff date was Dec. 1st. But it did close above 70 for ONE DAY on November 4 setting the deadline back by three weeks  - because weekends are not counted.

This is a significant onboard credit, equal to the fuel supplement they charged these customers. The supplement was $10 per person per day. In other words, the onboard credit should equal $140 per couple for every 7-day cruise.

Furthermore, while Carnival has suspended the fuel supplement for cruises departing in 2010, they are still charging it for all cruise sold that sail in 2009. However, based on the current economic situation it appears to me a reasonably safe bet that a cruise you book now for 2009 will very likely qualify for the onboard credit.

In other words, while you will still have to pay the fuel supplement for any 2009 cruise, there is a very good chance you will get it back in the form of an onboard credit on the day you cruise. Remember, the price of oil has dropped below $50/barrel for the first time today, actually trading at $49.62 as I write this. That means it has dropped about 27% since the day it first dipped below $70 barrel. Nothing in this economy has gone UP 27% in the last few months, so it is pretty good bet you will get your rebate.

If you don’t it probably means our economy has improved significantly, and that is also good news. Either way you win. Naturally, the only reason why this shouldn’t remain true for an extended period of time will be if the price of oil creeps back up, or if (Heaven forbid) somekind of cosmic event should push the price of oil up overnight.

This is great news for cruisers - you can effectively take away the fuel supplement from the total cost for any cruise sailing after December 18 st, although you will pay it, you will get it back in the form of an onboard credit.

This will apply to all Carnival Corp cruise lines: Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Cunard, Seabourn and Costa.

Royal Caribbean and NCL have a different approach from Carnival - but surprisingly similar to each other. They are charging no fuel supplements for any cruises departing in 2010. If you book a cruise leaving in 2009, then know that they plan to check the price of oil quarterly to see if fuel surcharges will apply, and whether or not people who pay them will get rebates.

Here is the chart of the date they check the price of oil. If it is below $65 when they check it, then for cruises in the time frames in column number 2 will not be charged when you book, or if you have already booked and paid a fuel surcharge you will recieve a rebate in the form of an onboard credit:

Fuel Price Determination Date        Quarter of Possible Fuel Supplement Refunds
December 18, 2008                        First quarter 2009
March 18, 2009                             Second quarter 2009
June 17, 2009                               Third quarter 2009
September 17, 2009                       Fourth quarter 2009
December 18, 2009                        First quarter 2010
March 18, 2010                              Second quarter 2010
June 17, 2010                                Third quarter 2010
September 17, 2010                        Fourth quarter 2010

As noted, the price of oil is under $50/barrel today, so the chances of it going above $70 or $65 again anytime soon are remote, it COULD happen, however. December 18th is a good day to check in and see what the state of fuel supplements will be - that is the date they will end for Carnival for the first time, and that is the first “check-date” for Royal Caribbean.

UPDATE: Some market people are saying oil is oversold and that the price could come above $70/barrel again in the next two weeks. If it does then Carnival will NOT be offereing the promised discounts. If it is above $65/barrel on December 18 then RCL and NCL will put off their rebates until after the first quartter of 2008, minimum.

We are living in interesting times, and cruising reflects it as well as anything. On the one hand people are filled with “hope” and excited for “change,” yet simultaneously there is palpable fear, uncertainty and doubt. There are two major players in the cruise world, Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean International (with apologies to NCL and all the other independent cruise lines).

These two parent corporations control the vast majority of the cruise market, about 75% when combined, divided almost equally with a slight edge for Carnival Corp. which owns Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess, Cunard, Costa (Europe’s main line) and Seabourn. Royal Caribbean owns Royal Cariibean Line with 22 ships, Celebrity, Azamara and a few European players such as Pullmantur and TUI.

Just like the dichotomy between hope and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), we see two vastly different approaches to the current economic situation. Carnival has circled the wagons, planning to unveil only one new ship, Carnival Dream, in 2009. Royal Caribbean, however, has FIVE new ships to debut between now and 2012 for Celebrity Lines alone. They also have two new ships of the new Oasis-class which will be the biggest cruise ships ever built by 30%, the first set to debut in 2009. All together, Royal is bringing almost 27,000 new passenger berths online within four years. That’s 27,000 additional cruise tickets they need to sell every week.

Both cruise lines have stock prices that are touching on 10-year lows, despite the fact that Royal caribbean reported its best quarter EVER just about a month ago. Such is the FUD, that even without a corresponding confirmation that cruising is suffering as a business, Wall Street has already punished these companies brutally. The fact that both companies suspended their dividends doesn’t help, but when Royal Caribbean announced it after the market closed yesterday their stock price actually blipped higher.

Yes, it’s only paper losses. The last two times Royal Caribbean has hit this price it has come back as a five-bagger within three years, but this time could be different. Something tells me this whole econimic situation is just a bit overblown. Its a gut feeling only, but while I hear the media talking ceaselessly about how horrible things are, in fact most of the people I know are just sitting out the bad times, waiting for them to pass as they have always done.

“But this time it’s different,” - I have news for you, they ALWAYS say that. I only bring this up because I am just in awe of what can happen for almost no reason. Yes, real estate and banks are in trouble, but how does that really affect cruising? With the drop in fuel prices the profit margin has gone up for all cruise lines, and last quarter’s best-ever results for Royal Caribbean were attributable to the extra capacity Royal Caribbean brought online last year. Nothing about the formula has changed, except fuel costs have dropped considerably. It is purely the economy that has changed around the industry.

It will be very interesting to see how this whole situation shakes out; a new President, a Wall Street crisis, auto-makers teetering on the brink, the top selling items in stores right now being safes and guns. If you ran a $2-billion company, where would your money be? I think running a company right now is very similar to gambling - the key is staying in the game and careful money management.

Speaking of money management - we recently heard about a big cruise agency going under. Rumors are out there that they did not forward customer payments to the travel suppliers. To be clear, by LAW a travel agent must forward any money he takes in from a customer to the travel supplier (cruise line, hotel, airline) immediately. They get paid their commissions from the suppliers after the travel is completed.

This is NOT a widespread problem, but it is something to mention. If you book a cruise with any agency (and yes, we still recommend that you use reputable travel agencies to book all cruises) be sure that you receive a booking number from the cruise line within a day of making any deposit or final payment. Do not go along with any agent who tells you that you might get a lower price by letting them hold the money until the last minute, or any such business. It isn’t legal. It has only happened a couple of times since I have been in the business, but I have seen travel agents who are close to going under get desperate and hold onto incoming cash-flow hoping they can make it up later.

Times are tough for cruise agents. People are still cruising, but when the cruise lines drop prices the amount of the cruise price they earn as commission goes down even more. A 7-day cruise is only netting them about 1/2 what it was getting a year ago. This is good news for consumer - not good for the travel agents. Some agents tell me things are fine however, even good. There are a lot of ships that need to be booked every week.

What else is new? Every cruise line out there has now announced the end of fuel supplements. Oil is about $53/barrel now - what is was two years ago. That is amazing.

And…. PIRATES!  They have become brazenly ruthless. They are now going as far out as 450 miles and taking ships the size of a modern cruiser. So far, they stick to cargo vessels because it is easier to hold wheat or oil hostage than hundreds of angry passengers. Their success in getting ransom payments is predicated on playing a long waiting game and picking on governments that do not have the will or military might to put up a good fight.

But they did try to attack a small cruise ship once about four years ago. The ship got away with careful maneuvering and some luck. I doubt they would try to pick on a cruise ship again - too much trouble, but these are not exactly the most rational criminals the world has ever spawned.

The area of danger is Somalia, near what is known as “The Horn” of Africa. To be precise, it is near Yemen at the southern end of the Red Sea. Not many cruise ships go there, and if they do there are areas of patrol they can stay within as the pass the danger zone. In truth, there is not a lot to see in that part of the world and any cruises that go there are generally just relocating from one cruising region to another.

Anyway - this has been something of a downer cruise blog, so let’s cheer ourselves up a little. Hey, its almost the holiday season. My advice? Give a cruise as gift - they’re on sale and they give you something that lasts a lifetime - great memories! Spend some of that money, your mattress is too lumpy with all that cash stowed in it.

Cruise ships are still sailing full, and cruise lines are still optimistic about the future, but naturally the economy is having its effects on the industry, so here is an update on some of the inside stuff happening.

Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) announced its first profitable quarter in two years, actually reporting a $171.2 million profit for the quarter just ended. This is good news, as the company’s parent company, Apollo Management , is the same investment group currently holding going out of business sales at another of their investments, retail stores Linens and Things.

NCL has a new CEO, Kevin Sheehan, upon the departure of the popular Colin Veitch who took over the position some eight years ago. Veitch and Andy Stuart, EVP of almost everything during the same period, ushered in the Free-style era at NCL, practically turning the long-standing concept of how cruises should be conducted on its ear.

Veitch moved over to an advisory role to the board of directors. Stuart has been appointed executive vice president of global sales and passenger services. Kevin Sheehan was NCL’s president and chief financial officer.

Royal Caribbean has a new TV ad campaign called “Why Not?” It shows people on cruise ships having fun and asks them if they are thinking about joiniong them. Indeed, you have to give the cruise industry credit for continuing to advertise actually even more when times get tough. Cruise lines know that when the economy gets tough the value equation of cruises actually becomes more appealing to vacationers. After all, there are incredible bargains out there, and once you get onboard you are in control of how much you spend. If you choose to easy on drinks and tours, you can actually have an incredibly inexpensive vacation.

What kinds of unbelievable bargans are we seeing this week? Some of the ones the press has picked up include an 8-day Caribbean cruise on the POSH Cunard Queen Mary 2 for eight days for $499. Our own newsletter shows a 7-night NCL cruise starting at $249 perp person. That is a jaw-dropping price.7-night Princess cruises to Mexico are currently selling for $375.

On the other end of the scale, Crystal Cruises tells me they couldn’t be feeling any better about how they are weathering what appears to be the worst since 9/11 for many other cruise lines. Mimi Weisband tells me…

“As for Crystal, we feel the luxury market is not immune, but it is more resistant. Luxury travelers are going to rely on brands they can trust, reputation and consistency – which is why the message of 15 years of Conde Nast Traveler awards (and this year with one of our highest margins over large and small ships) and 13 consecutive years of Travel & Leisure awards (also higher than any large or small ship) is a powerful tool.

We are less than 2% down for 2008 and already farther ahead for our 2010 World Cruise than where we were at this time last year for our 2009 World Cruise. 2009 is softer but we’re still confident that we’ll get through it.

With a more discerning customer, Crystal is in a good position.”

Well, I can certainly see her point. First of all, Crystal is West Coast based, and although real estate prices have been hurt there, they do not have nearly the same problems as Wall Street or the factory regions. Crystal is a great cruise line, as are the other luxury lines; Silversea, Regent and Seabourn.

Speaking of 9/11 - is this current crisis in cruise sales anything like that event? The short answer is “no.” That was a travel “scare.” People were actually afraid to fly and felt like targets in airports and even ships. This is purely about money. people are reticent to spend. personally, I am hoping for a good Christmas because in reality very little has changed for most people and there is little reason we could return to normal in a reasonable amount of time.

I’ve spent much of today trying to convince the higher ups I need to spend more time on the ship, in order to do a more thorough evaluation of the ship. Unfortunately it seems my request is being met with some hesitancy; at least I think that’s what “No Way Jose” means. Apparently the budget for flour has been thrown into a state of total disarray because of the enormous quantities of bread I’ve been eating. The breads and rolls on this ship, with the exception of the hot dog and hamburger buns (which seem to be pre-packaged), are the best I’ve tasted at sea. The variety of bread products is most impressive throughout the ship.

I hate SPAM in my e-mail back at home!! I also hate the shipboard version of SPAM, advertising junk mail included with the ship’s Freestyle Daily, when it’s left in the cabin each evening. Without looking, I automatically toss it all in the garbage can. On a cruise ship, where waste and garbage are an unusual burden, I’d certainly like to see them creating less of it themselves, by reducing the SHIP SPAM.

There is one area of weakness that I’ve yet to discuss, that since it’s the last day of the cruise, I can mention… because Julian and Alex won’t have time left to throw me overboard, and that is the furniture in the guest cabins. In standard balcony cabins for example, the lone chair looks like a cheap kitchen chair out of a 60’s diner, and an ottoman style stool. The mini –suites do have a sofa, but the extra chair and ottoman are the same as those in the lower category cabins.

Even our Romance Suite doesn’t have a comfortable chair. Even the chairs at the dining table in the suite are uncomfortable, and should be replaced with upgraded chairs. And rather than one ottoman style stool, there are two in the suite. The one in the separate powder room is fine, but they should put an office style chair with a back at the desk.

Of course these aren’t major issues, but a suggestion from me which I believe would enhance the guest experience without very major expense added.  This “complaint” along with the occasional bad cup of coffee, and the day the iced tea went rogue, are really the only things we could find to take issue with during our 12 night cruise. Those who follow my virtual cruise reports, and read the reviews I’ve done, know my philosophy is to try and offer a balanced report; pointing out the good and the bad. When “the bad” list is as short as it has been on this ship, you know you’ve had an excellent cruise.

When our group boarded the Jewel we had NCL Coupon books, which I looked at, and didn’t really thing would be of that much value to us, other than the coupon for the half priced dinner in any of the surcharge restaurants on the first night. There was also a coupon offering a free 6^th dinner, after you’ve paid for 5 in the specialty restaurant. At the time I would have never imagined we’d get use of that coupon.  But tonight, we’ll be enjoying dinner free in Mama’s, because we’ve enjoyed these restaurants so much.

For those who don’t get the coupon books, just watch the Freestyle Daily for special 2 for 1 offers in the surcharge restaurants. On this itinerary, the 2 for 1 is generally offered on the port days. But that system can change depending on the ship’s itinerary, so just watch “the Daily” to save some money on your alternate restaurant bookings.

Today was “packing day”, as the cruise ends in Miami tomorrow morning. NCL disembarkation process is excellent, in that if you wish you are allowed and welcome to stay in your cabin until the color on your luggage tag is called to disembark. Unlike other cruise lines, who ask you to be out of your cabins by 8 A.M., NCL’s system doesn’t make you feel like you’re getting “the bum’s rush”. It’s a humane way to alleviate the stress and upset we already feel because our vacation is coming to an end, and we’ll soon be facing the more depressing modes of transportation on land; whether you’re flying, driving, or riding the rails home; the luxury of transport by cruise ship is over.

Normally I dread the feeling that the cruise is ending. Because my father remains in hospital at home this time I am anxious to get home and be with him. We’ve enjoyed the cruise so much, so it’s quite a contradiction for me to be happy the cruise is nearly over.

Over the years my father never really understood how much we loved to cruise. Though he acknowledged how fortunate I was to have a “job” that allows me to do so. Then, out of the blue, just prior to us leaving for this cruise, he told me how he’d very much like to be able to bring my mother and go on a cruise with us. That had a real impact on me because when he said it I knew that it would never be possible. We’d just left it too late, and that saddens me deeply.

I think it offers an important lesson; live life to the fullest; don’t put off for later what you may later regret, and most importantly enjoy your life! There’s no way for any of us to know what’s just around the corner, and that’s why we have to take it step by step, and participate in all of the joy life has to offer.

In 2007 I wrote the CruiseMates review of the Jewel. When returning I’ll be updating that review to include the advances made since the inception of Freestyle 2.0, so you can keep an eye out for that.

A final thought before I leave the ship – After all these years I’ve finally figured out why women love cruising so much……. Men have to put the toilet seat down, or risk being flushed away. Women are happy with either result.

-A View From the Kuki Side of Cruising-

As I was about to post this blog tonight, I got a call to our cabin. My son and sister and family are at the hospital with my father, and they called so I could talk to my father, to tell him that I love him. It seems he may not make it through the night. I wasn’t going to post any pictures with tonight’s blog, but these two, taken tonight, are for my father.

We cruised into Cozumel this morning rather than Roatan. As noted in a previous blog entry, the change in our itinerary was made because of civil demonstrations in Roatan. That probably turned out to be a bit of good luck on our side, as a hurricane is now in the area of Honduras.

As the itinerary change was just made in the last 36 hours, I was surprised to see we were docked at the pier in the center of the town San Miguel. For those who are so inclined Carlos and Charlies is close enough to crawl back to the ship, and Margaritaville is only a 5 minute walk away. The walk the length of the length of the pier to town is fairly long, and for those not able to walk long distances, at the gangway they have bicycle rickshaws available to transport you to the end of the pier, and also back to the ship. These are free of charge; a tip is the norm for the fellows peddling the bikes. It’s an excellent service for the elderly who have mobility problems, and for the inebriated who may be directionally challenged trying to return to the ship.

Our initial plans for the day were to spend the morning at Paradise Beach, and the afternoon with a stroll through town, and perhaps lunch and a drink at Margaritaville.  When we met off the gangway, it seemed no one was really interested in the beach, so that part of our plans for the day was discarded in favor of shopping. For those who are looking for a beach day during their Cozumel visit I do recommend Paradise Beach, or Mr. Sancho’s; both have a nice beach, decent food, and clean facilities. Taxis in Cozumel are very cheap, and it’s an easy island to find your way around if you rent a vehicle, so in my view it’s a port that really doesn’t require an organized excursion, unless there’s something particular you want to do.

At one point “the gang” went off to shop in different directions, and we agreed to meet up later at Margaritaville. By the time we arrived shortly after noon, the live band already had the joint rocking. Margaritaville is relatively new here, and has a great patio overlooking the water. There was a balloon artist working the room, and making balloon hats for everyone, and I couldn’t believe how fast she worked. Having everyone in the bar wearing balloon hats certainly added to the festive party atmosphere. She made me a rather unique balloon hat, but I’ll have to let someone else post that picture, and then I’ll have to delete it because it’s a violation of CruiseMates Terms of Service Agreement.

When we were returning to the ship, I took the picture below, of the stern of the ship, showing what everyone refers to as the “aft cabins”. Our cabin is on Deck 10, which in the picture are all the balconies second from the top. I believe you can see that the balconies on this Deck extend out a bit further from the ship than those on the Deck above, or those below. I’m pointing this out for those who may be considering one of these most desirable cabins on this ship, or her sisters, Gem or Pearl.

As good as I’ve made these balconies sound I should also point out the negatives. Being located on the stern, and fairly high on the ship, you will feel the “motion of the ocean” more than cabins located more to the middle of the ship, and on lower Decks. As well, probably because the balcony does extend out from the ship a ways some days you will find there’s sooty material on the balcony floor. I’m guessing this is as a result of when they are washing down the outdoor dining area of the Great Outdoor Café, also on the stern. The cabin stewards should really be aware of this already, and wash down or sweep these balconies more often. We haven’t encountered the best of weather this cruise, and therefore haven’t spent all that much time on the balcony, so I haven’t mentioned it to the stewards myself directly, which I probably should have done. I broke my own “golden rule”… let them know when something is wrong when it happens, so “they” can remedy the issue while you’re onboard.

We returned to Cagney’s for dinner tonight, and had yet another fabulous meal. On this cruise the specialty restaurants have continued to be quite quiet, and I honestly feel bad for those who haven’t tried them, possibly because they are reluctant to pay the surcharges.

After dinner we saw one of the very best production shows at sea; Cirque Bijou. The show features breathtaking acrobatics, flexibility and strength it takes to perform the way this cast does. Particularly amazing because it’s being done on a moving ship (and tonight the movement of the ship was significant).

And now to really exciting news… I have a new girlfriend, Elena 

She works as a hostess in Cagney’s; both at breakfast and lunch for the suite guests, and in the evenings when it’s a steak house. From the minute we first met she’s been cheerful, friendly, and helpful, and always greets us with a beautiful smile. As a bonus, she’s simply lovely. When we learned she has a 9 year old son at home in Romania we were shocked, because I wouldn’t have guessed she was over 21.

Once again I’ve fallen for a new lady, and once again Mrs. Kuki is hoping she will take me off her hands. To be with her I’ve signed on to work on NCL, as you can if you see my new staff name tag in the photo below. The rest of that story will come at a later date.

Throughout these daily blogs I’ve talked about “the cruisemates we’re dining with” or “the gang”. You’ve seen the same people in many of the pictures I’ve posted. They do have names. They are Gaile (Tweety) and Harry, and Linda and Guerry ( Lgriggs). We’ve had a ball together. We’ve become dear lifelong friends, and it’s a direct result of having met on previous CruiseMates group cruises, and they’ve been on many of them with me since the year 2000 (I think). We’re all from different parts of North America, so it’s unlikely we would have met otherwise, yet now they, like many others I’ve been lucky enough to meet on our group cruises, I now count amongst my dearest friends.

This particular group cruise was a rather small one, but we’ve got 100 cruisemates sailing on the Celebrity Solstice at the end of this month (with CruiseMates Editor and Chief, Paul Motter and his wife Lou Anne hosting), then in Feb. we’ve got over 200 Cruisemates already booked for the group cruise with John Heald on the Blog2NOLA cruise. Next fall we’ve got a transatlantic sailing on the Ruby Princess for yet another CruiseMates group cruise, and it’s we’re always adding more, when we find great deals.

I really want to encourage everyone who’s followed these daily blogs from the Jewel to find a CruiseMates group cruise that fits your schedule. I guarantee you’ll have a ball, and won’t regret it. And most likely you too will make lifelong friends with people you’ve never met. I know those I’ve met have become very important parts of my life. With the emotional difficulties I had during this cruise, with news of my father’s hospitalization, it’s been a real blessing to have had them here supporting me, and just being my friends.

This morning we woke to beautiful blue skies, and abundantly warm temperatures, anchored off the coast of Belize. It’s hard to imagine that a Tropical Depression, moving slowly towards Hurricane status, is bubbling not far from this area (closer to Honduras where we were supposed to be heading tomorrow). It’s likely that we went through part of that weather system yesterday.

Tendering to shore is required in Belize as there is no dock. It’s about a 25 minute tender ride, but they seemed to handle it very well; they were already announcing open tenders available before 10 A.M. Mrs. Kuki and I did not go ashore this morning. I wanted to make contact with my family at home again. I got to talk to my father in the hospital this morning, and that eased my fears somewhat. He is getting more stable, and insisted I stay where I am, and enjoy the remaining few days of the cruise. I took his words to heart and began my day with the most delicious chocolate croissants, with my coffee!! I’ll be hunting for those every morning for the next three days!

Feeling much relieved after my morning conversation we got some prime real estate on deck, by the Sapphire Pool, and enjoyed the pleasant sunshine. By mid afternoon some of our CruiseMates friends had returned from their trips ashore, and we decided to go bowling in the Fyzz Lounge. Unlike her newer sister ships (Gem and Pearl) the Jewel does not feature real bowling alleys. We were bowling on the Wii gaming system hooked to the large flat screen TV in the Fyzz Lounge. It was a lot of fun! They also have 3 private rooms available to play Wii, or sing Karaoke privately. We had to end our fun playing Wii a bit early because they were using the big screen in the lounge to show a movie. And because two 141 year old ladies showed up to watch the movie, we ended our game.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit down for a casual visit with Julian Brackenberry, the ship’s Hotel Director. When we’d met earlier in the cruise I recognized his face immediately, but couldn’t recall from where. Julian had previously worked with HAL, Princess, and Carnival.

 At one time he’d also left the cruise industry for positions on land, to see if he preferred to “settle down”. During that time he’d managed the Tarangire Sopa Safari Hotel, and then the Blue Waters Resort in Antigua. However, the lure of the lifestyle of working at sea was much greater than Julian expected, and he returned to the cruise industry. The “lifestyle” of the sea is something that you hear a lot about when talking to any of the long timers on cruise ships. For many outside of the industry it’s perhaps difficult to understand the draw of a career that requires living in the confined space and society of a ship, working seven days a week, for periods of 4 -6 months, and sometimes longer. In Julian’s case he works for 4 months, and then gets 2 months vacation. Each time, he returns to the Jewel, so at the moment the Jewel is considered “his ship” for the next 2 years. It appears that he and his executive officers and department managers are doing an excellent job, because this ship is clearly a “happy ship”; meaning the staff and crew seem pleased to be here, and very friendly towards the passengers. I’ve yet to walk by a crew member who doesn’t make a point of greeting us we pass, and are more than willing to stop and chat. Julian was very pleased to hear my comments because as he put it, when the ship was under “Code Red”, battling to get rid of and prevent outbreaks of Norwalk Virus, it put a great strain on them, because it involved so much extra cleaning work.

As he’d come from cruise lines with more traditional dining room systems we discussed the dramatic differences in regard to the operational systems involved in running the Freestyle Dining system. Julian acknowledged the challenge of the Freestyle system, but also voiced his preferences from a manager’s point of view.

Julian explained that even in the “main” dining rooms, where there’s no surcharge, each evening they accept a certain percentage of reservations, and keep a certain percentage of the available seats open for walk in traffic. In most cases they are able to arrange for a standing reservation if you prefer to dine at the same time, at the same table, each evening. Or, even if you choose to make use of the other restaurants (with surcharges) on occasion, but would like to come back to one of the main dining rooms, to have particular servers service you, they can be arranged in advance.

I inquired about the staffing system in the dining rooms, wanting to know if they move staff around as demand requires in different dining rooms and restaurants. Julian told me the restaurant staffing is set up in teams of 10, and they normally have specific work areas assigned. However, with Freestyle, if it becomes obvious a particular venue is slow, while another is getting slammed with high demand, they will move entire teams to help cover the demand, and keep up service levels.

For the restaurants carrying a surcharge the vast majority of use is by people making advance reservations. As a result they have a very good idea of staffing requirements for those venues in advance. I found it particularly interesting to get a peek and explanation of the systems used to handle the demands of Freestyle dining. I hope you did too, or you’ve wasted your time reading the last 5 or 6 paragraphs.

Last night at our group dinner at Mama’s Italian Kitchen I once again had the chance to poll those in the group for their views of the cruise. As the end of the cruise is drawing nearer I thought their opinions may have changed, but that was not the case. It’s an admittedly small sampling, but everyone seems to have loved this cruise. So, it appears the only people who we’ve run into who have complaints are the “laundry room” crowd. Could it be that doing your own laundry makes you grouchy?

To be honest, we did encounter a major complaint today. Apparently, for some reason, the iced tea served in the self serve dispensers and in the restaurants has changed, and word is it’s now awful. My assignment now is to find out who, what, and why it changed, and have it corrected before there’s mutiny of the iced tea drinking passengers.

Tonight there was a cocktail party held in the Courtyard, normally for the exclusive use of the guests in the Courtyard Villas. All suite guests and VIPS were invited for drinks with the ship’s senior officers, and we were invited to bring along the group of CruiseMates we’ve been dining with most nights. The Courtyard is a beautiful area, with a small pool, whirlpool, gym area, and sauna for the use of those in the Courtyard Villas. There’s also a beautifully furnished sun deck above on Deck 15 for their use.

The area was a very nice spot for a cocktail party, and guests mingled with each other and the ship’s senior staff. The acapella group, The Cat’s Pajama’s performed a few songs for the group as well, before they performed to a packed house later in the evening for all guests in the Crystal Atrium.

During the cocktail party, Julian (the Hotel Director) stopped to visit, and I introduced Julian to “the gang” told him they had a very serious complaint, and I had told them they could address their issue tonight; taking it directly to the top. And they discussed the issue of the change in taste of the iced tea. We were, of course, kidding about it being a serious issue, but Julian couldn’t understand it, and didn’t have an explanation, but said he’d look into it.

Immediately after the cocktail party we went to dinner at La Bistro for our second visit. Whatever had been wrong with the iced tea, it seemed Julian had it dealt with already, because the iced tea drinkers were once again in iced tea heaven.

The meal was once again fabulous!! If you’re sailing the Jewel, have dinner at La Bistro ($20 per person surcharge), order the mushroom soup in a bread bowl, the beef tenderloin entrée, and the chocolate fondue for dessert, and you’ll walk away feeling like you were on a culinary cloud.

I’m sure if you’ve been following the tales in my daily blog, by now you realize we’ve been getting somewhat preferential treatment; 1 – because Mrs. Kuki and I are in suite, and 2- “they” know I am writing daily reports for CruiseMates. The thing is, we’ve also been very busy watching, and taking note of, the service of others around us, and talking to many of them as well… and in reality our service isn’t much different than every guest seems to be getting. At this time the Jewel does seem to be “clicking on all cylinders”, and it’s very difficult to find negatives to write about. I’ve got two days to keep looking though!

Here’s a picture I think is very representative of the cruise most passengers on the Jewel are experiencing.

For most of the day, both yesterday and today, I have been e-mailing and speaking to my family at home about my father’s condition. There’s been a bit of positive improvement in his condition. I normally don’t include the trials and tribulations of my personal life in my writings, or postings on our message boards, but in the event “I disappeared” mid blog I felt a responsibility to explain why.

I feel blessed to still have my parents with me. My father is 91, my mother is 80, but both have been in ill health for some time. My sister, who lives in Arizona flew up to Canada to be with my parents while we were on this cruise. I wish that my mind was as sharp now, at my age, as my father’s is. I tell you all of this so you can better understand… when my sister told my father that I’ve been calling to see how he’s doing, he got upset with her for telling me he was in the hospital; when I spoke to my mother this afternoon, she insisted she and my father did not want me leaving the ship early to come home. Pretty special people, if you think about it!

At any rate, tomorrow our port of call is Belize, and I have found that if necessary I could get a flight out, having to overnight in Houston, and arrive home Friday (instead of our scheduled return Sunday). The day after tomorrow, Thursday we were scheduled to dock in Roatan, Honduras, but it seems for my convenience our itinerary has been changed. The Jewel will not be going to Roatan, but to Cozumel instead. They are doing this for me because the availability of flights to Canada is much greater in Cozumel, as opposed to Roatan. Well, that and the fact there is civil unrest in Roatan; demonstrations apparently meant to voice concerns to the government. From what I understand the demonstrations are not violent, but could impact and delay visiting cruise ship passengers.

The bottom line as far as my travel plans is that we are planning to take things day by day, and at least for the moment I’ll be staying on the ship. And if I’m staying on the ship I’ll continue to blog about the cruise. And I’ll do my best to do so keeping my sense of humor.

So, with that rather long explanation… back to our regular scheduled program, in progress.

Today was a day at sea, and unfortunately the weather was as drab as my mood. Rain was steady, and at times heavy, for most of the day. I’d spent much of the day in the day e-mailing and talking to my family at home. I did spend some time today with Alex Forbes, the Jewel’s extraordinary Concierge, and you’ll learn much more about him and his job in an upcoming feature article on CruiseMates. I also had the opportunity to sit down for a very casual visit with Julian Brackenberry, the Hotel Director. In tomorrow’s blog I’ll share that conversation with you.

We’d pre-arranged a group dinner tonight, for the people in the CruiseMates group who wished to attend, at Mama’s Italian Kitchen ($10 per person surcharge), and enjoyed an Italian meal that was delightful as the company. This is definitely a restaurant I’d like to visit again. That makes too many restaurants I want to go back to, and not enough days left in the cruise. What’s a fat hungry guy to do?

After dinner, the evening was crowded with events. The Cat’s Pajamas, an acapella group performed in the Stardust Theater, followed by a late night comedy/hypnosis act by Nadeen, followed by NCL’s famed Chocolate Buffet, followed by the White Hot Party. It would have been a great night to be out and about, enjoying a tremendous lineup of activities. Quite frankly I didn’t have enough positive energy to get out, participate, and enjoy it. Perhaps with a good night’s rest tonight, I’ll be back and ready to dance on some table tops… which would be interesting because I’ve never been able to dance.

Norwegian Cruise Line has one of the very best ideas in the cruise industry; it’s a small wheeled device on the wall next to the cabin doors to indicate the status of the passengers inside. It probably sounds crazy to you that I think this is the best idea in the industry, but it’s so simple it’s sensational. The passengers turn the wheel to display four different messages; “Welcome”, “Make Up Cabin”, “Turn Down Cabin”, and “Do Not Disturb”. In essence it’s a simple, yet brilliant, system allowing passengers to silently communicate with their stateroom stewards.

We leave the cabin in the morning, we turn it to display the Make Up Cabin sign, and when the stewards are done, they spin it back to Welcome. In the evening, when we leave the cabin to go to dinner, we turn it to Turn Down Cabin, which is particularly effective with Freestyle Dining, where so many people are leaving to dine at different times. We’ve consistently turned the dial to “Turn Down Cabin” when we leave for dinner. So now we just need someone to explain how the system works to our cabin steward. He really should have noticed by now that we use the system as it was designed, but several times already he’s knocked on the door to see if we were gone yet. In fact one night he knocked, and we told him we’d be leaving in about 15 minutes, and then ten minutes later he was back at our door checking again.

We understand now that when we’re in the cabin we must simply turn the dial to Do Not Disturb, as an easy way to end the problem. The entire subject really isn’t a serious issue. If we were doing anything we didn’t ever want anyone to walk in on us to see it might be, but we cut that stuff out long ago when we found out it created Kuki Jrs.

The cruise lines watch each other so closely I must say I’m surprised other cruise lines haven’t followed NCL’s lead, installing these display wheels outside all their cabins. It is, or at least should be, a very effective silent communication between cabin occupants and those who service the cabins.

Today was another sea day. Oh how I love sea days! My schedule consisted of a late breakfast, socializing, laying in the sun, and napping. There may have been a whole bunch of stuff going on, but I was “free to whatever”, and I did! Mrs. Kuki did some laundry today. The machines are free in the self serve launderettes, but if you don’t bring some with, small laundry detergent boxes are available for $1. Many others were using the self serve launderettes as well. From the laundry room conversations some of the cruisemates told me about, it seemed that it was the day for the grouches to do their laundry, and air their laundry.

Most of the complaints seemed to be from people used to sailing traditional cruise lines complaining about all the surcharge restaurants. I think it’s a very understandable reaction from people used to having an assigned time and table for dinner every night, with the same service team. To do an NCL Freestyle Cruise does require a mental adjustment if you’re only used to “the other” system. If you want to give NCL a try, coming from a “traditional cruise line”, you really do have understand and accept the difference, and as I mentioned in an earlier blog, account for some of the dining room expenses, in the Freestyle experience to be able to enjoy it. If you mentally expect more of the same, you’re going to be disappointed. Even if you chose to never dine in any of the restaurants that cost extra, and stick to the free dining rooms, you’ll be disappointed that your waiters are not the same each night… though you can request that, and they’ll try and accommodate you. On the other hand there are those who have no intention of ever using them, who’ll be unhappy that the restaurants carrying a surcharge exist at all. Then there are those people who I have met who are unhappy that I exist at all.

By 4 P.M I’d had enough time in the sun, and decided to try my luck one more at the blackjack tables. I didn’t have much luck, so with my tail between my legs, headed back to the cabin. I caught an elevator on deck 7, and it was empty. Then…, I really couldn’t help myself, and the elevator was empty, so I “let one go”. I thought I was all clear (in the empty elevator, and I was only going to Deck 10), when the elevator stopped on Deck 9 and a man entered “the war zone”. I got to walk off quickly on the next Deck, but this poor guy was going to Deck 12. I’m not sure if he survived the trip.

Arriving back to the cabin I looked out at the wake, and could barely see one. We were socked in to some sort of system and it was raining very hard. A substantial pool of water was forming on the balcony, and then a series of very loud claps of thunder began.

After writing tonight’s blog entry I received an e-mail from my son informing me that my father is unfortunately in the hospital again. I’ve called home to get updated on his status, and will call again later this evening. Tomorrow is a sea day, but I believe I’ll likely be leaving the ship in Belize on Thursday, if I can make an air connection home. Until I know more I’ll suspend writing the blog, as I don’t see how I can keep it interesting and entertaining in my present state of mind. I apologize if I am leaving you hanging.