02.02.12	It couldn't be any easier to enter!
Cruise Contests Win a Free Cruise? Are you feeling lucky today? Here are direct links to four current "win a free cruise" contests open to everyone. You could win a free seven to 12-day cruise on any of the four different cruise lines listed below.

One thing I want to say about cruise contests - having run a few myself - I believe the chances of winning are better than you expect. The truth is that many people do not enter these cruises contests unless they are very well publicized, and most of these are not. In fact, I would be surprised if some of them get more than a few thousand entries, making your chances for winning a lot better than you probably thought. So, let's take a look:

Norwegian Youth Program Naming Contest
Every major cruise line has a youth program, from "Camp Carnival" to Royal Caribbean's "Adventure Ocean." Now Norwegian is looking for a new title for its youth program in general, plus individual names for each age group - and there are six of them.

If you come up with the winning name for the youth program you win a free seven-day Caribbean cruise for a family of four. They are also giving away an additional seven-day Caribbean cruise, for a family of four, to the person who finds the right name specifically for the teen program.

In addition to the two seven-day cruises for families of four, the contest also has $100 gift cards for the people who come up with the names for any of the select age groups within the kid's program. The tots (6 to 36 months), 3-5 year olds, 6-9 year olds, 10-12 year olds, 13-14 year olds (almost always called 'tweens) and the famously hard to handle 15-17 year olds.

Go here to enter the contest. Entries will be received through February 12. It is simple to enter; all you need to do is fill out an online form. Here is a link to the rules.

The Royal Princess Photo Contest
The Princess Cruise Line contest is looking for 1000 choice photographs to adorn the brand new Royal Princess; scheduled to debut in 2013. The grand prize is a seven to 12-day cruise on Royal Princess on any voyage other than the maiden voyage, with a potential value of up to $8000. Two people plus a guest may take the cruise.

This contest is running through March 31st, 2012. Here are some of the rules...

Photos submitted electronically must be in JPEG format, at least 1200 x 1600 pixels, no more than 5 megabytes, and relevant to the theme. For mail submissions, photos must be at least 4" x 5" and submitted as hard copies, no electronic formats will be accepted by mail. Online submissions must be received by March 31, 2012 at 11:59 pm PT. Mail-in Entries must be postmarked by March 31, 2012 and received no later than April 7, 2012. Submissions become the property of the sponsor and will not be returned.

Here are just a few restrictions on what the photos cannot contain or promote (there are more restrictions in the rules.)

obscene or offensive, endorse any form of hate or hate group

The most important restriction likely to affect you is that any people in your picture must give permission to Princess to use the photograph. I assume they will take this very seriously, so unless it is yourself or your underage kids, I think it is probably best not to send photos with people.

Hidden in the rules pages are the official guidelines for best pictures:

All eligible Photos will be judged between April 2 and April 16, 2012 based on the following judging criteria ("Judging Criteria") to determine the potential prize winner:
1. Best captures the spirit of "escape completely" (0 to 40 points)
2. Creativity/Originality/Style (0 to 30 points)
3. Visual Impression/Photo Quality/Resolution (0 to 30 points).

Celebrity and Royal Caribbean's "Like Us" Contests
These two contest are both very easy to enter - all you have to do it go to the Facebook pages for each of the two cruise lines, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean , and click on the "like" button. In both cases the grand prize is a seven-day cruise for two people. You just have to push a button - what could be easier?

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Lawyers Vow to Defend Costa Victims
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Concordia: Exception that Proves the Rule
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