Travel With Giulio

14/04/2020

"Carnival Cruises is incorporated in Panama, Norwegian in Bermuda, and Royal Caribbean in Liberia. Now these "incorporations of convenience" threaten their survival. Their revenue has been cut to zero. The US Government is offering no assistance because they're foreign companies ... Industry analysts say the big cruise operators have enough reserves to last six months. After that, if they don't secure funding, they face going out of business."

The industry's image of cruise ships as a perfect balance between fun and security now looks sunk.

12/02/2020

If the virus continues to spread, it will be interesting to see if other destinations go down this path.

Three cruise ships were denied entry to Nuku'alofa today Crystal Cruises' Crystal Serenity, CMV's Columbus and Transocean Kreuzfahrten's Astor upon

22/04/2019

Ever since I saw Oasis of the Seas for the first time, I KNEW it was a ship I had to cruise on ... and now I'm doing it!! Only 384 more sleeps to go 🙂
Just found out our cruise will be the first Oasis of the Seas sailing from New Jersey i.e. New York City 😊.

11/04/2019

Carnival Cruise Line has launched its ‘Pizza Anywhere’ feature on the Carnival Cruise Line Hub App in Australia, so guests can have their favourite pizza delivered

Guests can order a fresh, hand-tossed pizza on their smartphone and have it delivered whenever and wherever they are on the ship. Five pizza varieties are available: Margherita, Funghi, Pepperoni, Quattro Formaggi and Hawaiian. Bellissimo!

To place an order, guests simply tap on the Pizza Delivery icon on the app and select their location on the ship. Guests even have the option of taking a selfie, so the waiter can easily identify them! Each pizza costs $7 and is automatically charged to guests’ Sail & Sign shipboard accounts upon order.

Carnival is also working to expand deliveries to include beverages, all to make life even easier for cruisers.

(The Carnival Cruise Line Hub App has been downloaded more than 5.1 million times)

28/03/2019

A star-studded line-up will perform onboard P&O's Pacific Explorer for its second annual 'The Big Laugh' comedy festival at sea.

Thirteen big-name comedians, including Tom Gleeson, Dave Hughes, Dave Thornton and Mel Buttle will perform 32 shows and a combined 1,500 minutes of jokes during the jam-packed three-night cruise departing Sydney on June 8, 2019.

Following the success of the inaugural 'The Big Laugh' cruise in 2018, another stellar line-up of comedians will perform a mixture of big marquee performances and intimate gigs in the numerous bars and lounges onboard Pacific Explorer.

A selection of leading comedy acts will also headline additional comedy cruises throughout 2019, with a mix of two, three and four-night Short Breaks departing Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Auckland.

Fares start from $399* per person twin share.

21/03/2019

In big 'Down Under' cruise news, Royal Caribbean has announced that, from 2020, Serenade of the Seas will be cruising from Sydney and Queenslanders will have their own ship, Radiance of the Seas (my first cruise ... which got me hooked on cruising), home ported from Brisbane’s International Cruise Terminal at Luggage Point.

Serenade of the Seas – the younger sister to Radiance of the Seas – will sail from Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal for the first time from October 2020 to April 2021. The 2400-guest megaliner offers 18 dining venues, bars and lounges, as well as a rock-climbing wall, 9-hole mini golf course and three pools, as well as lounges and bars not seen previously in Australian waters, including the Safari Club, Congo Bar and Zanzibar Lounge.

The 2400-guest Radiance of the Seas will offer Queenslanders their first taste of the airy and light-filled cruise ship from November 2020 to April 2021, soon after it has had a multi-million makeover following a drydock in 2020 (more details to be announced).

Further to this, Voyager of the Seas (4,000 passenger capacity) returns to Sydney in October 2020 and Australia’s largest and most technologically advanced cruise ship, Ovation of the Seas, returns for her fifth season down under in what looks to be a bumper year for Aussie cruising (and cruisers!).



Photo - Radiance of the Seas moored of Bora Bora (photo by Giulio)

21/03/2019

Princess Cruises has revealed plans to operate a massive 20 cruises to and from Adelaide, South Australia, over the 2020-21 summer season, in a move that will inject an estimated $20 million into the state economy.

The 2020-21 program will include six roundtrip cruises from Adelaide on its popular 2000-guest Sea Princess and 2670-guest Sapphire Princess, as well as a further 14 one-way itineraries on Sea Princess, Sapphire Princess and the 3560-guest Majestic Princess.

The program is double the cruise line’s 2019-20 Adelaide season, released in March 2018, which saw bookings for the 2019-20 (South Australian) season exceed expectations.

The cruise line’s focus on Adelaide reflected the surging demand for cruise holidays among South Australians, as well as the growing popularity of ports along the southern Australian coastline, including Adelaide and Kangaroo Island.

This new Adelaide season is a highlight of Princess Cruises’ Australian program, which offers holidaymakers a choice of almost 100 cruises across five Princess ships sailing from five homeports around the country between October 2020 and May 2021.



Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises

07/03/2019

Princess Cruises has announced that MedallionNet – The Best Wi-Fi at Sea - will be available onboard Golden Princess from December 20, 2019 during the line’s 2019/2020 Australian summer season.

Cruising out of Melbourne, guests onboard Golden Princess will be the first to enjoy the benefits of fast, reliable, and unlimited internet service locally as they sail on itineraries to New Zealand, South Australia and the South Pacific.

Guests will be able enjoy access to the internet at speeds that equal or exceed what they experience on land, making it exceptionally easy for everyone to share photos, videos and messages during their holiday.

This year, over half the Princess fleet will be MedallionNet enabled, expanding to a further five ships; Coral Princess (April 5), Island Princess (May 15), Crown Princess (June 30), Emerald Princess (August 3) and Sky Princess (October 12). MedallionNet is also currently available on Caribbean Princess and Royal Princess.

Photo courtesy Princess Cruises

19/01/2019

Interesting ...

The line is already in the process of acquiring land for additional Perfect Day private islands, president Michael Bayley reportedly revealed this

01/01/2019

This is me in a few weeks. 😃
It's my first time cruising with Princess and is a 3-night cruise to nowhere, but am looking forward to it, as it's been over a year since my last cruise and I'm getting severe withdrawals!!

Experience a large ship with small-ship intimacy when you take a Sea Princess voyage! Whether you're cutting into a juicy steak cooked to order in the dining...

24/10/2018

P&O Cruises Australia has announced its flagship Pacific Explorer will make Brisbane her new homeport from October 2020.
Not surprising, really ... since 2012 more than one million Queenslanders have cruised with P&O – and almost three quarters of them have sailed from Brisbane.
Pacific Explorer replaces Pacific Dawn which has been sailing from Brisbane since December 2009.