Travel&Vacation

I don’t usually report on the godmothers cruise lines choose to christen their ships. The job of a godmother is relatively unimportant from the standpoint of a cruise passenger. The famous women chosen by the cruise lines usually help with advertising and then pull the lever that smashes a bottle of champagne against the ship’s hull during the naming ceremony.

However, Princess’ most recent choice of godmothers was too amusing to pass up. When the Emerald Princess and Royal Princess have a joint naming ceremony over Mother’s Day weekend in May, two pairs of TV mothers and daughters will become the ships’ godmothers. Florence Henderson and Marion Ross (the moms on the
Brady Brunch
and
Happy Days
) will name the bigger
Emerald Princess
, and their television daughters, Susan Olsen
(Read the full post about ‘‘Brady Brunch’ and ‘Happy Days’ stars to christen Princess ships’…)

With cruise passengers losing interest in the Caribbean, the cruise lines need to do something to make the region more alluring. Carnival’s solution? Improve facilities at a relatively new cruise port. The cruise line will build a new cruise terminal on Roatan Island, Honduras, at a cost of $50 million.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2007 and finish by summer 2009. Named Mahogany Bay, Carnival’s new terminal will be able to accommodate two mega-ships and 7,000 passengers a day. Onshore, a welcome center will feature shops, restaurants, and bars, and the complex will also include a 60-foot-high lighthouse, lagoon with waterfalls, and a nature trail. Adjacent to the buildings, a transportation area will provide facilities for taxis, tour buses, and rental cars.

Although Carnival
(Read the full post about ‘Carnival plans to build new cruise terminal in Honduras’…)

Over the past few years, mainstream cruise lines rushed to build more and more new ships, while the luxury lines sat back and watched with a bemused smile. No longer. The upscale lines have finally realized they can fill (and, therefore, make money on) more ships. Seabourn began the trend by announcing two new ships last fall, and this week, Silversea and Oceania jumped on the bandwagon.

Luxury-line Silversea, which boasts four intimate ships, has signed an agreement for one new ship, with the option of a second. Scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2009, the new ship will hold 540 guests and be the first addition to Silversea’s fleet since 1998. It’s interesting to note that this ship will be significantly larger than Silversea’s current ships, which hold between 300 and 400
(Read the full post about ‘Silversea and Oceania announce new ships’…)