Serenade of the Seas

In November, I'll get to sail on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas for the first time. The cruise will visit 4 islands I've never been to - Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Croix. The cruise will also stop at Philipsburg, St. Maarten. Philipsburg is where I went on my notorious deep sea fishing trip during my first cruise. The fishing trip was a fiasco as between the 6 of us on the boat, we caught just 1 fish and, the captain of the boat left us stranded at the pier. We had to make our own way back to our ship the Adventure of the Seas. I told my travel friend Harvey we won't try that again when we make port in Philipsburg though I would like to go deep sea fishing again on the cruise. We'll see what the other ports offer in that way.

Internet wise, I found out from surfing the web that the Serenade offers the same kind of WiFi that Navigator of the Seas offered i.e. various hotspots throughout the ship as pay as you go or pre-pay. Depending on much you think you'll use the Internet, the pre-pay plans could save you some money. I know I'll use it a lot so I'll be buying their maximum plan which is 500 minutes for $150. Hopefully, my Crown and Anchor coupon booklet will have a discount coupon for the Internet so I'll be able to save some money like I did on the Navigator of the Seas.

The Serenade of the Seas is a Radiance class ship. I'll get to find out what those are like in less than 2 weeks when I do my previously mentioned Alaska cruise on the Radiance of the Seas. The class is smaller than the Voyager class that I've cruised on before. I'm curious to see what their like. The cruise on the Radiance will give me an idea of what it'll be like on the Serenade. One unique item the Radiance class has that no other ship has is automatically self leveling pool tables! They must have built in gyroscopes which is kind of wild for a pool table to have. I can't wait to try them out and see how well they work.

That's all for this post. Stay tuned for upcoming travel posts. The time is almost here where I'll get to play the world traveller again. I can't wait. It seems like ages since I took Globus's Legacy of the Incas tour. Cheers all!

Cruise Ship Article

Recently, I bought the 15th Anniversary issue of Porthole, a magazine the covers cruising. The magazine has an interesting article on why cruise ships are getting so big. The article is written by Robert McGarvey. It makes some valid points like one reason being "economy of scale." The more passengers you have, the cheaper it is per passenger for docking fees and for staff on board the ship. Another valid reason they give is that passengers are wanting more features on the ships. They want there to be more to do on the ship vice just eating, seeing a show and exercising. Lastly, Jenny Reed, a cruise specialist mentions in the article that the ship is itself becoming the main draw and not the ports.

This is where I differ with the article. While I suspect Miss Reed is right on some cruises, on a number of others, I think the ports very much matter. For example, I don't believe anyone is going on an Alaska cruise to spend time on the cruise ship. People go on the Alaska cruise to see the stunning scenery and visit some of the ports in Alaska where they can experience some of the things that are unique to that state. For example, seeing a logging show where you see lumberjacks practice skills they use in their trade. Another example would be attending a native dance performance where you can learn about some of the indian groups in the area. Lastly, you can learn and even try your luck at finding gold in the areas where it was found in Alaska at one time.

Another item the article doesn't mention but which I think influences the size of the ships is increased profit potential. A bigger ship can hold more shops and restaurants where people on the cruise can spend their money. An example would be the refit that is being done right now on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas. When the refit is done, the ship will have a new Brazilian steakhouse, a Mexican restaurant and a new Italian restaurant. All these restaurants should increase the ship's profit from its cruises. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines are allegedly the most profitable and, I suspect part of the reason is because they have such large ships and thereby, their ships have greater profit potential as they can offer more shops, restaurants and other services such as massages and body wraps.

For me personally, the ports will be the deciding factor on what cruise I do. I want the ship to be clean, modern and comfortable but, I don't go on a cruise to spend time on the boat. I go on a cruise because it is the best way to see certain areas like the Caribbean islands or the Greek islands. It would be a major hassle to island hop between those islands using ferries or airplanes. A cruise makes it considerably easier to visit those islands. You only have to unpack once and, your food, lodging and transportation are pretty much taken care of. Stay tuned for future posts on my upcoming Alaska cruise. Good travels to you all.

Royal Caribbean Alaska Cruise

As any readers I have can see, I'm playing catch up on my blogging today. I've been meaning to post some stuff but, I just didn't give off my procrastinating butt and post. This post concerns my upcoming 7 day Alaska cruise with Royal Caribbean.

I think it was last winter that I started trying to figure out what I wanted to do travel wise for this summer. I wanted to return to Iceland and finish all the sightseeing I'd like to do there but, it turned out I didn't see any reasonably affordable package deals I liked. My friend Harvey was interested in doing an Alaska cruise. My travel agent Joel raved about it saying the sights were stunning. I decided to look into it and to my surprise, I found a nice deal with Royal Caribbean for a cruise in late May. I subsequently booked it then, Royal Caribbean decided to put the ship in dry dock for some renovations during the month of May. They offered me a deal where they would give me a $400 ship board credit, a more expensive date in June 2011 and pay the fee to change my airplane tickets. I readily agreed to the offer. So, next month, I'll fly out to Vancouver, Canada and board the Radiance of the Seas for a 7 day Alaska cruise.

The cruise will stop in Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Skagway. I should get to do a number of Alaska type things like salmon fishing, see a glacier and hopefully see some whales. The ship itself will be a new one to me as I've never cruised on a Radiance class ship before. The ship is smaller than the Adventure or Navigator of the Seas. It holds a max of 2,500 passengers. Still, it should be a nice ship and, I look forward to exploring it when I board for my cruise. This will be my third cruise with Royal Caribbean. This time, I should definitely know all the ropes with them. I've already got my boarding paperwork done and my cruise luggage tags are en-route to my home. They should arrive in plenty of time so I'll be able to attach them to my 1 bag. Also, I've booked in advance all my shore excursions and prepaid for their unlimited soda refills. I know I have to drink a lot of soda to make that worth-whiled but, I prefer that to Royal Caribbean charging $2 to my ship account for every soda I drink. Another nice thing about prepaying on the sodas is that the icon they put on your ship pass is made into the pass vice them attaching a sticker to it. Stickers can come off and, I prefer the icon being part of my ship pass.

I plan to use Royal Caribbean's WiFi again. I was impressed with it last time. One nice difference Internet wise on this cruise is I should be able to post stuff while at the various ports in Alaska. My Sprint USB modem should work in those towns. We'll see on that.

That's all for now. Stay tune for some interesting travel posts coming in the future. Soon, I'll get to play the world traveler again. I can't wait. It seems like ages since I traveled to Peru. Good travels to you all.

Coke Rewards

In my opinion, one of the smartest promotions Coca Cola has come out with is Coke rewards. The promotion rewards people who drink the various Coca Cola products such as Coke, Sprite, Fanta and Barq's root beer. The rewards range from impressive drawings such as a trip to Hawaii to t-shirts, gift cards and small appliances. The reward points you get depends on what package of the sodas you buy. For example, you get more points if you buy a 12 pack vice buying a 10 ounce bottle of their soda. One thing that is strange is that you get the same amount of points for buying a 12 ounce bottle of their soda as you do for buying a 2 LITER bottle. Figure that one out. Overall, it's a pretty smart program and, Coke makes it very easy to participate in the promotion. I think it definitely succeeds in encouraging people to drink their products. I know it's had that effect with me. I specifically look for their products at the store whereas before, I looked for whatever was cheapest. If you drink Coke products, you should check out their MyCoke rewards website at http://www.mycokerewards.com/home.do. Cheers all!

Latest Riordan Book Out

Rick Riordan's latest book came out May 3rd in hardbound. It's the second book in the Kane Chronicles. It's called Throne of Fire and tells of the adventures of the Kane kids as they try to find the Egyptian sun god Ra. I haven't read the book yet so I can't tell if you if I think it's any good. Still, I can't imagine it being a poor read. I confess that the book is more a tide me over till Son of Neptune comes out in October. That's the one I'm really interested in. I'm very curious to find out what has happened to Percy Jackson from the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. I'll post another entry on what I think of the latest Kane book once I've read it. Good reading all.