Category — Blog Posts

By The Cruise Web, Inc.

If you’re a die-hard cruiser, you are probably well aware of all the growth in the industry and all the new ships that are rolling out. If you are a casual cruiser, you are in for a shock because cruise lines are now adding many more ships to their fleets, and these ships are jam-packed with interesting and innovative features.

We’ve compiled a handy overview of all the newest ships, including their key features and an exciting itinerary.

Royal Princess
Christening Date: June 13, 2013
Godmother: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge (a.k.a. Kate Middleton)
It’s been five years since Princess  introduced a new ship. With such a long wait, they are making sure to get every detail right on the Royal Princess, which is their largest ship to date with 1,780 passenger cabins and room for 3,600 passengers. The Regal Princess, the Royal Princess’ future sister ship, will have many of the same features and will debut in June 2014.

Key Features:

• SeaWalk, a glass bottom walkway where you will hover 128 feet above the ocean
• Four water and music shows with dancing fountains, movie screens and live performers
• A tea tower and tea sommelier to help you make your own personal blend of tea

Featured Itinerary: Grand Mediterranean – Barcelona to Venice (12 days)

[Read more →]

By Erica Kritt, Social Media Coordinator, The Cruise Web, Inc.

The Norwegian Breakaway was packed with great fun features, but my colleagues and I discovered a lot of intricacies that you just may not know about until you experience the Breakaway in all her glory. Here’s a list of helpful tips to use when you are onboard.

Electricity
I stepped into my cabin and I tried to turn the light on to go to the bathroom, then I tried to turn the TV on, nothing. I called up the front desk to let them know our cabin didn’t have any electricity. They told me all I had to do was put my room key into the silver apparatus by the door (pictured to the right) and all the cabin’s electricity would work. This is a handy little trick that a lot of cruise lines are now utilizing to help save energy. Remember, if you leave any cameras or phones charging, once you take the key out there will be no electricity going through your outlets. [Read more →]

By Seth Woodward, Assistant Marketing Manager, The Cruise Web, Inc.

Last April, I had a chance to experience Bermuda on a 7-night Carnival cruise aboard the Carnival Splendor. I had an amazing time and experienced a bunch of ‘firsts’ along the way, but let’s begin with an overview of my itinerary: our cruise departed from New York City on a Tuesday with a direct course for Bermuda. We arrived at King’s Wharf in the Royal Naval Dockyard on Thursday morning and spent a total of three days in Bermuda before returning to New York, and reality.

This was my first cruise aboard Carnival Cruise Lines so the two sea days in the beginning of my trip were perfect because they gave me plenty of time to explore the ship. I was pleasantly surprised by just about every aspect of the experience, including the food in the main dining room. I’m not a picky eater so I’m pretty easy to please, but even my friend and the other guests at our dining table enjoyed the various meal options. And Carnival certainly lived up to its reputation for having “Fun” ships with a youthful atmosphere where no one takes themselves too seriously.  But as fun as the ship was, I was itching to explore Bermuda when we made port Thursday morning. [Read more →]

A compilation by The Cruise Web employees.

With only two days to explore an 18-deck ship with 27 dining options, a handful of different performances and a full on water park, you better believe we at The Cruise Web were a little overwhelmed while on the Norwegian Breakaway. After the initial shock of just how beautiful and new this ship is, we all  made as many reservations for specialty dining and performances as possible and set out to discover all that we could.

Now that we’ve returned and can fully process the experience, we asked everyone on our staff that was aboard the ship to fill in the blanks to this sentence:

“________________ was my most favorite part of the brand new Norwegian Breakaway because ______________________ .”

Read along to find out what our staff of expert cruise consultants and cruise support staff thought were the best aspects of the ship!

Karolina S.
I’ve been on several ships and have seen some pretty cool things on cruises, but I have to say the coolest part of the Breakaway is the free-fall water slide.  There’s just nothing quite like having the floor drop out from underneath you, sending you shooting down a water slide that actually sends you upwards at one point! This is by far my favorite part of the Breakaway. [Read more →]

By The Cruise Web, Inc.

This summer we are “taking a chance” on Sweden with a Northern European cruise.  What better place to spend a few days this summer than in a country where the sun seemingly never sets? Sweden is known as the Land of the Midnight Sun during the summer months, because in some parts of the country the sun literally never sets. During June in Stockholm the sunrise is at approximately 3:47 a.m. and it doesn’t set until 9:44 p.m. – that’s 18 hours of daylight.

On top of the amazing natural surroundings, Sweden has a few big events planned this summer that we really don’t want to miss out on. [Read more →]

By The Cruise Web, Inc.

There is nothing quite as rustic as a Canadian cruise in the fall. The crisp air is still mild enough to snuggle under a blanket on the top deck and gaze up at the stars. Before the sunsets you will get spectacular views of the bright trees as they transition from green to yellow, orange and even purple, and don’t forget the picturesque lighthouses that line the coast of Maine, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. But a cruise to Canada is not just about taking in the scenery, there are amazing things to learn and experience in this rugged country. Here are our top five experiences to have on a cruise to Canada.

1. Relive a piece of your childhood at the house that was the inspiration and setting for the beloved children’s books about Anne of Green Gables. The Green Gables Homestead was built in 1872 by the aunt and uncle of the series’ author, Lucy Maud Montgomery. A visit to the house will also include a stop to the Anne of Green Gables Museum. [Read more →]

By Karolina Shenton, Manager of Marketing and Sales Operations, The Cruise Web, Inc.

Summer is coming and the kids will soon be out of school. It’s time to plan that epic vacation for your family; the one you’ve always dreamed of doing. You’re excited as you daydream of all the possibilities. But then something mysterious happens. You start to remember all those impossibly long family road trips and hotel stays when you were a kid. If you have a sibling, you recall hours of back seat bickering with your brother or sister and staring out the window watching the world go by, asking “are we there yet?” All of a sudden, you’re motivation starts to wither away. No matter how much of a super-parent you consider yourself, the challenges of family travel are enough to dissuade the most super of parents. There is, however, a better way: family cruises.

[Read more →]

A compilation by The Cruise Web employees.

We at The Cruise Web are super excited for Norwegian’s latest ship, the Breakaway, to debut next month because many of us will be onboard for a couple of days to test out the digs and report back to you on all the exciting features, delicious food and comfortable accommodations.

The Norwegian Breakaway will have a lot of interesting features, including 28 places to eat, a boardwalk, a water park and fireworks with every sailing. We asked our staff what they were most looking forward to and we got back a variety of results.

Check out the diversity of features that are getting our cruise experts excited:

Sammie K.
I am most excited to indulge in some delicious treats as well as learn some cake decorating tips from Carlo’s Bake Shop on the Norwegian Breakaway! Carlo’s Bake Shop is an addition of Buddy Valastro’s bakeshop featured on TLC’s hit show The Cake Boss. [Read more →]

By The Cruise Web, Inc.

As new ships prepare to take passengers all over the world underneath a sky full of stars, the cruise lines are looking to the stars of Hollywood to shine a spotlight on their brand new ships. This week, southern star Andie MacDowell will christen Uniworld’s newest ship, Queen Isabel, in Porto, Portugal.

MacDowell, who starred in hit movies like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Groundhog Day and Multiplicity, is just the most recent famous face to be chosen to serve as godmother to a superb ship. In February, Royal Caribbean announced via a commercial during the Oscars that Kristin Chenoweth, the Tony Award winning actress with a big voice in a tiny body (she’s only 4’ 11”), would be the godmother to their latest ship, the Quantum of the Seas, which won’t hit the water until the fall of 2014. [Read more →]