http://www.cruisemates.com/blog Blogging the cruising world Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:34:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is one of Norwegian Cruise Line’s new advertising tag lines meant to promote the soon to debut new Norwegian Epic. Rather than increase my eager anticipation of this new ship (which by the way, I’m very excited to see), this advertising tag stirs some concerns within me. Just a few ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200911041157/world-class-resort-likes-travel/ Let’s face it; for the next month or two all the “news” is about, or going to be about, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. I have to admit it’s for a good reason; with the upcoming debut of the largest ship yet, and the largest by 50%. For months ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200910271163/oasis-whats-cruise-blogger/ Over the past decade at CruiseMates I’ve been asked all sorts of questions about cruising, both via message board posts, and private emails. Do you know what the most difficult question to answer is? No, it’s not how much are hookers in Paris?…. Though I really don’t know the answer to ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200910201155/difficult-cruise-question-answer/ Though there have been a few hiccups along the way, since Sept. 11/01 the price of cruises have quite consistently floated near historic lows; the latest drops beginning this past year as the world economies battled recession. Along with the declining prices we’ve seen more complaints about the decline in quality ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200910131153/declining-prices-led-declining-civility-onboard/ The FTC ruled yesterday that bloggers who accept free gifts from product suppliers must disclose their relationship to the supplier if they write a review of the product. I am sure many of you remember certain travel web sites having people in their message boards and reader-submitted reviews who appeared to ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200910061143/bloggers-give-full-disclosure/ For the past 10 years we at CruiseMates have offered from 3 to 5 group cruises a year to help facilitate members of our community cruising together; getting to meet and make great memories together. Amongst our largest and most popular cruises in our group cruise program have been those which ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200909291140/leid-five0/ There’s all variety of packing lists available on the Internet, including on the CruiseMates web site. So, this is not a packing list. Rather it’s a conglomeration of things everyone should take with them, along with their packing lists. 1.- A Good Attitude is the absolutely most important thing one needs ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200909221135/important-cruise/ Two weeks ago I wrote a blog stating cruiser’s needed to take more responsibility for themselves… particularly in regard to purchasing travel insurance to cover unforeseen problems. This week’s blog entry is somewhat the opposite of that; that’s the cruise lines taking responsibility for their actions as well. We do occasionally ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200909151129/tuning-customer-service/ I may be the only writer in the cruise industry who isn’t salivating, in anticipation of the arrival or Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. I have little doubt that the excitement of the debut of the Oasis will receive unprecedented media coverage; filled with glowing adjectives about the never before seen innovations, ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200909081122/oasis-seas-ruin-cruise-industry/ What is is that attracts you to a specific cruise ship? Is it the itinerary, the decor, the crew, the memories? Is it an emotional bond on a deep and personal level. Or is it an intellectual decision based on researching different options and narrowing down your choices? For that matter, ... http://www.cruisemates.com/blog/200909051083/cruise-ship/