Celebrity Cruises' newest, the 126,000-ton, 3,046-passenger Celebrity Reflection, was transferred from Germany's Meyer Werft shipyard to the line on October 8 and has been sailing in Europe ever since, but now U.S. guests are about to get a crack at the new hotness. On Saturday, Reflection will sail her first cruise from U.S. shores, a short media/travel industry preview, and I'll be aboard to send back the skinny. Expect some live blogging during the event, plus a wrap-ups and a full photo slideshow starting next week.

For those who haven't been following the shipbuilding thread, Reflection is the fifth and last of Celebrity's extremely successful Solstice class, following Celebrity Solstice (2008), Celebrity Equinox (2009), Celebrity Eclipse (2010), and Celebrity Silhouette (2011). Rather than being an exact copy, though, Reflection is a larger version, with a whole extra deck and a greater width that allows for a greater feeling of space in the public rooms. The new deck allows the addition of 72 new accommodations, including 32 large AquaClass Suites that come with complimentary access to some spa services and to the specialty spa restaurant Blu.

Other aspects of Reflection largely follow the mold of older sister Silhouette, which last year debuted fantastic innovations like an indoor/outdoor restaurant where guests can grill their own meats and get tips from the chefs; a retooled Michael's Club lounge, which has been transformed into a high-end beer bar; a hideout called the Hideaway, which is probably the most stylish and artistically designed reading room at sea; and a new arrangement at the outdoor Lawn Club, which sports better dining and lounging options than aboard the older three Solstice ships. For Reflection, expect similar, and more, including a transformation of one of the most traditionally frumpy rooms on any cruise ship: the card room. Rather than being a place where excitement goes to die, Reflection's card room, called "Game On," is designed more like a video arcade, with six card-table-shaped touchscreen display tables that offer eight different digital games for multiple players.

Mo' details when I'm aboard. See you then.

There's no such thing as a free lunch — or free air, for that matter. Still, if you're planning to go to the Galapagos anyway, and want to do so on a high-end, super-educational ship, Lindblad Expeditions is sweetening the deal on five winter 2013 departures, throwing in round-trip airfare between Miami and the Galapagos by way of Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The deal is good for new bookings made by December 31, 2012, on five 10-night sailings aboard Lindblad's 96-passenger National Geographic Endeavour, departing on January 11, January 25, February 22, March 15, and April 5. As with all Lindblad cruises, Endeavour will sail with a large staff of naturalists and experts in ornithology, geology, photography, marine life, and other disciplines. These experts lead off-vessel hikes and small-boat excursions and conduct enrichment lectures and discussions on board.

As for that free lunch, Lindblad's Galapagos sailings sell for a cool $4,990 per person, double occupancy, so the concept of your airfare being "free" is straining the meaning of the word a bit. Still, airfare's included on these sailings and not on others, so if you're going, you might as well save a dime — or 8,000 of them. (Galapagos airfare from Miami is currently running upward from about $800 per person.)

More info here.

Totems: The world is full of  'em. If you're a doctor, you wear a stethoscope. If you're a banker, you wear a suit. If you're a steakhouse, you have big knives and heavy furniture. And if you're a Mississippi riverboat, you have a steam calliope. Got to, just got to: 'Cause it's what people expect.

Thus, this: Today, small-ship operator American Cruise Lines announced that it has acquired a 132-year-old Nichol steam calliope (a.k.a. steam organ) to adorn its recently launched paddlewheel riverboat Queen of the Mississippi.

The instrument was originally a fixture of the Washington, a paddlewheel steamboat that operated on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers from 1880 to 1938. It's currently being restored, from its keyboard to its original brass whistles and valves, and when complete will be placed aboard Queen of the Mississippi to provide a historically accurate soundtrack to the ship's history-soaked voyages.

Queen of the Mississippi launched this past August, joining American Queen Steamboat Company's American Queen in a competitive relaunch of Mississippi River cruising, which had ceased to exist in 2008 following the collapse of river operator Majestic America Line. Majestic America had earlier swallowed up the fabled Delta Queen Steamboat Company. Delta Queen's ships all had calliopes, including American Queen, which was once part of its fleet. Delta Queen also had an extremely loyal following, and those folks liked them their calliope music — and still do. And thus, Queen of the Mississippi's new calliope.

Like I said: totems.

Queen of the Mississippi sails weekly 7-night voyages on the Mississippi River system, from ports such as New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, St. Paul, Cincinnati, and Nashville.

With Thanksgiving only hours away, it’d be nice to talk about a new cruise restaurant themed on turkey, apple pie, and mom, but we’ll have to settle instead for gourmet French cuisine. Poor us.

Here’s the deal: This week, Windstar Cruises announced that the alternative restaurant on its flagship vessel Wind Surf will be transformed during this month’s renovation, changing from a Mediterranean bistro called “Degrees” into “Stella Bistro,” a contemporary dining room with “a French twist.”

Debuting in early December, the 86-seat Stella Bistro will serve entrees such as Coquille St. Jacques Provençale (a seared, skewered scallops dish served on pappardelle and tossed with artichoke hearts, spinach, and capers in a light white wine sauce) and roasted Magret of duck (duck breast and duck confit on cherry sauce paired with parisienne potatoes and French beans); starters such as escargots bourguignon, cream of wild mushroom soup, and goat cheese soufflé; and desserts such as apple aumoniere (a combination of apples, marzipan, and honey baked into a filo pastry and served in vanilla custard) and chocolate Napoleon (a pastry with layers of creamy chocolate and praline).

Dining at Stella Bistro will come at no extra charge, though diners have the option of choosing extra-cost wine-pairings, featuring three selections chosen by the executive chef. The restaurant itself will be adorned with antique mirrors and vintage photographs, accenting an interior that's been completely updated with new furniture, wine displays, and lighting.

Following what Carnival is describing as “an extensive, multi-million dollar renovation,” Carnival’s 2003-vintage Carnival Glory returned to service this week, outfitted with eight new dining/drinking/entertainment venues and other aspects of the Fun Ship line’s new “Fun Ship 2.0” initiative, a quiet but distinct quasi-rebranding of Carnival for modern times and tastes. New venues on board include:

• Guy’s Burger Joint, a complimentary poolside venue offering burgers, fries. toppings, and condiments created by Food Network personality and chef Guy Fieri, whose midtown Manhattan restaurant was recently the subject of a New York Times review so mind-bogglingly scathing that it went viral almost immediately. As for Guy’s aboard Carnival’s ships, my experience wasn’t quite as bad, though I did vastly prefer . . .
• The BlueIguana Cantina, a free-of-charge Mexican cantina where you can get made-to-order tacos and burritos featuring a wide range of ingredients, with a salsa and toppings bar so you can top things off just the way you like 'em.
• Alchemy Bar, a cocktail “pharmacy” where mixologists create custom cocktails “prescribed” for what ails ya.
• EA SPORTS Bar, an interactive sports bar with big TVs, EA SPORTS video games, and a 24/7 sports ticker.
• RedFrog Rum Bar, a poolside Caribbean-themed watering hole offering a variety of regional rums and beers, the latter available both in normal sizes and in a yard-long tower that sweats appealingly on hot days.
• BlueIguana Tequila Bar, a friendly, across-the-deck rival to the RedFrog Rum Bar, specializing in frozen cocktails and Mexican beers.
• The Punchliner Comedy Club Presented by George Lopez, with comedians selected by TV personality Lopez. Those same comedians also appear at the Punchliner Comedy Brunch, offered on sea days. It’s free, and the menu is pretty interesting (cereal-crusted French toast, anybody?), but the comedians only do five-minute teaser sets, on the hour.
• Cherry On Top, a fun but pricey candy shop selling sweets from bulk bins, including nostalgic favorites for the 40- and 50-something sets.
• New entertainment will also be added over the next few weeks. Hasbro, The Game Show will allow passengers to participate in game shows adapted from Hasbro’s classic board games. Meanwhile, Carnival’s stage shows will be retooled to mix live performance with synched video and special effects.

Carnival Glory cranks up her winter schedule beginning November 18, sailing weekly 7-night Caribbean voyages. Next June, the ship will reposition to Boston for a series of 4- and 5-night Canada voyages, then head to New York for 4- to 7-night Canada/New England departures through October.

As anybody who's tried to surf the web or send e-mail aboard ship knows, connectivity at sea can be slooooooooooow. (And let's not even talk about trying to update your cruise blog from ship: You spend half your cruise trying to connect and the other half cursing.) Now, though, MTN Satellite communications, the company that provides satellite internet service for many of the world's cruise fleets, is set to roll out MTN Nexus, a next-generation technology that it says will "deliver connectivity and communications to a degree never realized before at sea and in port."

“There is no communication network like MTN Nexus in the world,” said Errol Olivier, CEO and president of MTN, in a press release. “For 30 years, we have innovated new ways to deliver connectivity and content where no terrestrial wireless or wireline networks could connect vessels far out at sea. But passengers and crew no longer accept limitations — they want to stream video, post their updates on Facebook and share vacation images with friends . . . or even family members sailing with them on the same ship."

A hybrid combining a satellite and land-based wireless network, MTN Nexus will rely on new satellites that will beam enhanced bandwidth direct to areas of the Caribbean and Mediterranean that typically see high cruise traffic. MTN is also building new ship-to-shore wireless systems in major ports in the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, and elsewhere: Ships approaching these ports will switch from satellite to land-based signals seamlessly, allowing even higher connection speeds. Meanwhile, the company will be outfitting ships with more advanced systems able to cache large data files (such as steamed Netflix videos) and reuse them within the ship's closed data system, rather than having to beam them in again the next time a passenger wants to view them.

MTN's new satellites are reportedly due to launch in 2015 and 2016, so don't expect the speedy internet future to arrive quite yet. But someday, someday . . .

In the latest round of self-imposed safety upgrades flowing from last January’s Costa Concordia disaster, cruise industry trade groups Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the European Cruise Council (ECC), which together represent most of the world's large cruise fleets, have just promulgated three new safety policies.

• The "Location of Lifejacket Stowage" policy builds on an existing policy whereby oceangoing cruise lines of CLIA and the ECC carry substantially more adult lifejackets than required for the number of passengers and crew onboard. Under the new policy, lifejackets equal to or greater than the number required by international regulations and the ship's flag state are to be stowed in close proximity to either muster stations or lifeboat embarkations points on newly-constructed ships.
• The "Securing Heavy Objects" policy provides that oceangoing member lines of CLIA and the ECC have procedures to secure heavy objects (pianos, treadmills, TVs, laundry equipment, and the like) either permanently, when not in use, or during severe weather.
• The "Harmonization of Bridge Procedures" policy aims to achieve consistency in operating procedures within individual companies and among brands within a commonly owned and operated fleet (for instance, Costa, HAL, Princess, and Carnival within the Carnival Corporation fleet). This new policy is designed to improve communication among officers, who often rotate among different ships.

The new policies are part of an industry-wide Operational Safety Review begun in response to the Concordia disaster. Commenting on the policy, ECC Chairman Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio said in a media statement, "The broad range of these three new policies is representative of the truly holistic nature of the operational safety review and demonstrates that safety improvements are being made wherever there is scope to do so. Furthermore, these policies again highlight our Members' commitment to harmonising safety practices across the industry and are reflective of the cruise lines' willingness to adopt and share best practice wherever possible."

Full versions of the three new policies are available here, here, and here.

So, there's this movie coming out, The Hobbit, a little thing about a little guy who does big things. It's based, of course, on J.R.R. Tolkien's cult classic, and is a prequel follow-up to Peter Jackson's blockbuster Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The expectation is that the new film will do quite well, and lift a lot of other boats in the process — including a little business venture in which the "Hobbiton" set from the films is being preserved as a tourist attraction.

Located on a private sheep and beef farm near Matamata on New Zealand's North Island, Hobbiton — the little village in the Shire that Rings and Hobbit characters Bilbo and Frodo Baggins call home — will be a shore excursion opportunity for guests of Crystal Cruises' New Zealand/Australia cruises this December and January. Participating guests from Crystal Symphony's December 20 and January 29 voyages from Auckland will get a private, after-hours, guided tour of the village movie set and then dig into a New Zealand barbecue on the grounds of the Green Dragon Inn, with local beer and wine on the menu and waitstaff dressed in their Lord of the Rings finest.

"We are always looking for unique, boutique ways for our guests to immerse themselves in a world different from their own," said John Stoll, Crystal's VP of Land & Port Operations, in a press release. "With The Hobbit opening mid-December, this is an extraordinarily timely opportunity."

The Hobbiton dinner and village excursion costs $265 per person. The December 20 holiday voyage overnights in Auckland before sailing through Tauranga, Napier, Christchurch, Dunedin, Sydney (double overnight), Melbourne (overnight), and Dusky, Doubtful, and Milford Sounds. Fares for the 16-night cruise start at $8,505 per person, and include a New Year's Eve extravaganza in Sydney Harbor. The January 29 voyage also begins with an Auckland overnight, then overnights in Tauranga before visiting Napier, Wellington, Picton, Christchurch, Dunedin, and the Sounds, before concluding with an overnight in Sydney. Fares for the 13-night sailing start from $4,480 per person.

And if the Hobbit business doesn't draw you to the excursion, maybe this will: At the farm, you can also apparently cuddle and bottle feed the lambs. Baaaaaaa!

Claiming "strong demand" for its Hawaii cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line has announced that fares for new Hawaii bookings will increase beginning January 1, 2013. Assuming it's true, this represents something of a turnaround for NCL, which bet big on Hawaiian riches in the early 2000s by positioning three ships in the market full-time. When the expected crowds failed to materialize (and when problems appeared instead, such as the difficulty of maintaining the American crews required to sail entirely within U.S. waters), the line was forced to scale back its operation in the 50th state. For the past five years, Pride of America has been the only NCL ship operating there — and that, according to NCL, did the trick.

“Because she is US-flagged and crewed, Pride of America is in the unique position of being the only cruise ship that can sail to the four islands of Hawai`i from Honolulu without visiting a foreign port,” said NCL CEO Kevin Sheehan. “As a result of this unique offering, there is strong, ongoing demand for the ship, propelled by record-breaking guest satisfaction scores. This is a spectacular one-of-a-kind itinerary and the cruise delivers an incredible value for the money compared to the high cost of land-based vacations in Hawai`i.”

So, they want more money from people wanting to sail it. According to reports, the new fares will be approximately 10 percent higher than the old. On the other hand, guests will get a little more bang for their buck, since NCL will also be renovating Pride of America beginning in March, adding shipwide wifi, new flat screen TVs in all staterooms, an upgraded fitness center, updated decor and new carpeting throughout, new directional signage, and more. There will also be a newly added "Moderno Churrascaria" Brazilian-style steakhouse, but that'll cost extra.

In honor of Veteran's Day, Princess Cruises has announced a special, first-ever cruise designed to raise money for veterans' causes, with $500,000 of the monies collected for passenger fares being matched by a further $500,000 direct from Princess's coffers. The money will be shared equally by two groups, Operation Homefront, which provides emergency financial and other assistance to families of military service members and wounded veterans, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), which promotes healing and education about the impacts of the Vietnam War, and is building an education center at Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, DC.

"We are humbled by such a generous gift and grateful to our friends at Princess Cruises, and we're looking forward to the voyage," said Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the VVMF. "We thank the company for honoring America's military members, past and present, and for supporting our efforts to ensure their sacrifices and stories will always be remembered."

Sailing round-trip from Galveston aboard Caribbean Princess, November 5–9, 2013, the four-night cruise will visit Progreso, Mexico, and include guest lecturers, special topic panels, a Stars and Stripes Sailaway, service branch get-togethers, a film festival, and other activities themed on the U.S. military, its veterans, and its active-duty personnel.

Cruise fares range from $604 to $1,704 per person, double occupancy. More information on the cruise is here.