September 23, 2004 -- In the latest news roundup, cruise lines get shipshape after the hurricane season, Wynonna Judd sings, Katie Couric becomes a godmother, Cruise West smartens up, Clipper Cruise Lines tunes up and HAL tunes in.
Cruise Lines Bounce Back from Hurricane Month, Islands Fare Less Well
Though officials at both Carnival and Royal Caribbean called Hurricane Frances the most disruptive in their companies' histories, and though Hurricane Ivan was among the most powerful on record, the cruise industry weathered this month's back-to-back storms with little difficulty, its damages limited to several cancelled sailings and a number of ships rerouted.
Some Florida ports and Caribbean islands didn't have it so easy. Port Canaveral, on the central Florida coast, was shut down for several days when sand churned up by Frances made its sea lanes impassable. The port is now up and running again, with all ships operating on normal schedules and all restaurants and charter businesses reopened.
Hurricane Ivan inflicted heavy damage on several Caribbean islands. On Grenada, in the Southern Caribbean, some 90% of the country's homes were damaged, making more than 60,000 people homeless. The storm passed just west of Jamaica last Saturday, killing at least 15 people and damaging roofs and roads. The Bahamas fared better than anticipated, but still sustained damage to its leading tourist islands of Nassau/Paradise Island, as well as to several of the cruise lines' private islands. In the Cayman Islands, heavy rain and winds up to 165 mph flooded many parts of the low-lying islands, destroying many homes and businesses on Grand Cayman and severely damaging power and sewage networks. The islands' tourism sector is effectively shut down while cleanup continues.
At least one cruise line, NCL, has begun donating goods, water, and food to assist the islands in the relief and recovery efforts.
"NCL and the people of the Caribbean have been partners for over 35 years. It goes without saying that we, and the rest of our industry, would step in to help in such a terrible situation," said the line's president and CEO, Colin Veitch.
The British Red Cross has launched an appeal to aid victims of the storms. Details can be found at www.redcross.org.uk/Campaign.asp?ID=37857
Small Ship Clipper Odyssey Recovers from Accident, Resumes Schedule
Recovering from a late-July accident in remote Alaska, Clipper Cruise Lines (800/325-0010; www.clippercruise.com) is reporting that its 128-passenger Clipper Odyssey is alive and well and heading for Tahiti.
We should all be so lucky after an accident.
On Saturday, July 31, Odyssey ran aground on an uncharted rock at the northeast corner of Unalga Island in the Aleutian Islands chain, puncturing her #1 port fuel tank and a gray-water tank and forcing passengers to abandon ship. No injuries were reported and, according to the State of Alaska's Division of Spill Prevention and Response, initial estimates of fuel spilled into the ocean were overstated.
Odyssey is currently en route to Papeete for the October 1 departure of her "From French Polynesia to Easter Island" cruise, which includes visits to Pitcairn Island (home to descendents of the H.M.S. Bounty mutineers) and to the giant stone moai statues on Easter Island. Further South Pacific voyages fill out the ship's 2004 schedule, with stops including Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and New Zealand.
Built in 1989 and acquired by Clipper in 1999, Clipper Odyssey sails year-round in the Pacific, from Australia and New Zealand to Vietnam, Korea, Japan, and the Russian Far East. As for next year's Alaska itineraries, what's a little grounding between friends? "While we were disappointed in canceling a few of our popular Alaskan cruises due to this unfortunate situation," says Clipper CEO David Drier, "we are grateful that no one was injured, and we look forward to returning to this beautiful area during our Alaskan schedule next year."
Lesbian-Oriented Cruise to Feature Performance by Wynonna Judd
Olivia Cruises (800/631-6277; www.olivia.com), which offers full-ship charters targeted specifically to the lesbian community, is known for bringing aboard high-visibility performers such as k.d. lang and The Indigo Girls. The latest on that list is country music superstar Wynonna Judd, who will play an intimate all-acoustic performance aboard Olivia's four-night Caribbean cruise scheduled for January 29, 2005.
"We're thrilled to have Wynonna on board," Olivia CEO Amy Errett says. "She's much-loved and requested by our guests. And an acoustic performance? It's going to be incredible."
In addition to the five-time Grammy winning singer, entertainment on the cruise will include comedians Elvira Kurt and Lisa Koch as well as troubadour musician Zoe Lewis and the acoustic duo Halcyon.
Departing from Cape Canaveral, FL, aboard Holland America's 1,440-passenger Zaandam, the Olivia cruises visits Freeport, Bahamas, and Holland America's private island, Half Moon Cay, with one day at sea. Early-bird rates (good until September 15, 2004) start at $599 per person, double occupancy.
Today Show's Katie Couric Named Godmother of Carnival's New Valor
Katie Couric, longtime co-host of NBC's morning Today show, has been named godmother of Carnival Cruise Lines' Carnival Valor, currently getting its finishing touches at Italy's Fincantieri shipyards in preparation for a December debut.
The TV personality with the crooked smile will break the traditional bottle of champagne across Valor's hull at a Miami naming ceremony on December 17.
"In addition to being one of the most popular and respected television personalities in America, Katie Couric has distinguished herself through her public service both as a reporter and an advocate," said Carnival's president and CEO, Bob Dickinson. "In recognition of her many professional achievements and her efforts in support of colon cancer research and education, it is our honor to have her serve as godmother of Carnival Valor," As part of Couric's agreement with Carnival, the line will make a donation in her name to the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA), which supports education, new research, and regular medical screenings in the fight against colon cancer. Couric cofounded NCCRA in March 2000 along with anti-cancer activist Lilly Tartikoff and the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
Carnival Valor will be the third sister-ship in Carnival's 110,000-ton, 2,974-passenger Conquest-class. Following an inaugural two-day cruise to Nassau, Bahamas, the vessel will take up a regular year-round schedule of alternating 7-night eastern and western Caribbean cruises from Miami on December 19. Eastern Caribbean cruises will call at Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. Western Caribbean cruises will visit Belize City (Belize), Isla Roatan (Honduras), Grand Cayman, and Cozumel (Mexico).
Carnival: 800-CARNIVAL; www.carnival.com
Cruise West Mixes Science and Literature on Baja Sailing
The Baja Peninsula, stretching some 800 miles from the U.S. border to Cabo San Lucas, is almost like a sunbaked version of Southeast Alaska, a long, thin strip of mainland and islands, sparsely inhabited in places and often breathtakingly gorgeous. So, it's no wonder some of the same small-ship lines that sail Alaska in the summer move their ships south to offer cruises on the Sea of Cortez side of the peninsula, concentrating on nature, whale-watching, and visits to the region's historic ports.
Cruise West (800-888-9378; www.cruisewest.com) is one of those lines, and in March it's offering a special 7-night "Whales & Wildlife" sailing that views the peninsula through the lens of Nobel prize winner John Steinbeck, the American author best known for his novels The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men.
A marine biologist as well as novelist, Steinbeck traveled extensively in Baja during the 1940s with his friend Ed "Doc" Ricketts, the biologist later immortalized in the novelist's Cannery Row. Steinbeck later produced a book on their travels, and used a folk tale he heard in La Paz as the inspiration for The Pearl, one of his most famous short stories.
Departing March 12, 2005, round-trip from Cabo San Lucas, Cruise West's 102-passenger Spirit of Endeavor will carry onboard lecturers expert in both sides of Steinbeck's world: Stanford marine biologist Dr. William Gilly; Dr. Susan Shillinglaw, director of San Jose State's Center for Steinbeck Studies; and Steinbeck fellow and Ricketts scholar Katharine Rodger.
Dr. Gilly served as chief scientist on the 2004 "Sea of Cortez Expedition and Education Project," which retraced Steinbeck's and Ricketts' historic biological survey. He has also done extensive research on the giant squid that inhabit the Sea of Cortez. Dr. Shillinglaw has written several books on Steinbeck and edits the award-winning journal Steinbeck Studies, while Rodger compiled and edited The Life and Letters of Edward F. Ricketts, a collection of 125 previously unpublished letters. All three experts will present evening lectures and provide insight throughout the voyage.
"Whales & Wildlife" departs every Saturday between January 15 and March 12, the height of the whale migration season, and visits several of the locales mentioned in Steinbeck and Rickett's Log from the Sea of Cortez, including the colonial-era city of La Paz, the wildlife sanctuary Isla Espirit? Santo, and Los Islotes, a steep seamount where blue-footed boobies reside on cliffs and a colony of sea lions live on rocks below. Guests wishing to get deeper into the experience can go on guided hikes through the region's desert terrain, swim or snorkel in its waters, or go tidepooling along its rocky shoreline.
Published per-person rates for the weeklong sailing start at $2,249, double-occupancy.
Holland America Offers More Reasons Not to Leave Your Cabin . . . Huh?
This week, Holland America Line (877-SAIL-HAL; www.hollandamerica.com) announced that the next step in its $225 million "Signature of Excellence" initiative would be an expansion of in-cabin TV options to include more sports and learning-oriented programming.
The extended service that will debut this month includes one channel showing ESPN, another featuring Discovery Channel programs, another showing recent and classic TV shows, and a documentary channel with programming that varies based on the ship's itinerary. For example, passengers on Alaska cruises can view the documentary, "Alaska's Natural Wonders" without leaving their cabin. Which begs the question, why wouldn't they just step out on deck and look at those wonders in the flesh?
Other programming available aboard HAL's ships include CNN, CNNfn, Boomerang, and TNT.
Royal Caribbean Divorces Norway, Begins Affair with Bahamas
Anyone who has looked at the rear end of a cruise ship will have seen a lot of unusual names there: Liberia, Panama, the Netherlands Antilles, etc. Those are the countries in which the ships are registered, a tactic many cruise lines use to avoid labor regulations and taxes of their home countries.
Royal Caribbean (800/398-9819; www.royalcaribbean.com) was founded in 1969 by a consortium of Norwegian ship owners, and since that date many of its vessels have maintained Norwegian registry. This week, though, the line announced plans to transfer the registry of six of its vessels -- Enchantment, Splendour, Majesty, Monarch, Rhapsody and Sovereign of the Seas -- from Norway to the Bahamas by early 2005. Royal Caribbean's other thirteen ships are already registered in the Bahamas, as are the nine ships of sister company Celebrity Cruises.
The move will affect about 400 Royal Caribbean shipboard employees covered by collective bargaining agreements required by the Norwegian International Ship Registry. The company plans to keep compensation levels for those employees at or above their current levels during a two-year transition period set to end in January 2007.