Because today is Friday, I have to get all this cruise news out of my system, even though I’ll be working on the weekend.
It has been a while since a major line returned to Mazatlan. Holland America is first back with the Veendam, which ported there on Tuesday this week.
Following local improvements that include the addition of bilingual police officers and a reduced crime rate, Norwegian Cruise Line and Azamara Club Cruises have also scheduled Mazatlan calls.
Norwegian’s Star and the Azamara Quest are due to visit on Christmas Day and again on February 1, and more than 18,000 passengers are expected to visit Mazatlan during the 2013-2014 season.
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After spending many millions to get it, Houston now has a regular schedule of cruises home porting out of the Bayport Cruise Terminal.
The Caribbean Princess is there now and will be joined by Norwegian’s Jewel next fall. Before Houston sweetened the cruise port cruise pot, Galveston was the port of preference in Texas…and still is for lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean.
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MSC Cruises is now finalizing details for its year-round home in South Florida — Miami — and is looking ahead to the 2014-15 season.
In addition to its already popular itineraries, which include stops in the beautiful locations of Philipsburg (St. Maarten), San Juan (Puerto Rico), the private island of Great Stirrup Cay (Bahamas), George Town
MSC Divina, cruising the Caribbean out of Miami
(Cayman Islands), Cozumel and Nassau during winter 2014-15, MSC’s Divina will be featuring several new ports of call: Cartagena (Colombia), Cristobal (Panama) and Puerto Limon (Costa Rica) on November 12, and Costa Maya on November 22 and January 31.
Kids under 11 sail free as long as they are in the same stateroom as two adults.
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This year’s inaugural American Cruise Lines visits to the north Olympic Peninsula were so popular that more stops have been scheduled for spring and fall 2014, says Don Johnson, West Coast operations manager for the cruise line.
If you check out the website, you’ll find 22 trips have been scheduled on the 8-day Puget Sound tour, which includes stops in Port Angeles and Port Townsend.
This year, there were 10 on the schedule, and bookings have already started for next year.
The cruises, beginning and ending in Seattle, also stop in Anacortes, Friday Harbor and Poulsbo.
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And since I’m writing about the North-West, Hurtigruten is going to open a North American office in Seattle. Based in Norway, this niche line has not had a physical presence in North America, and is now doing so by hooking up with the Global Voyages Group to promote and sell the product.
“This is a very strategic market where we have a small share,” says Daniel Skjeldam, Hurtigruten’s CEO. “American travel and lifestyle trends are confirming a growing interest for nature-, activity- and
This is what a Hurtigruten cruise ship looks like — for people seeking a nature cruise experience
experiential-based holiday experiences. A Hurtigruten voyage is positioned perfectly in that regard as it offers authentic experiences close to the Norwegian coastal culture and majestic natural scenery as well as the remote regions of the Arctic and Antarctica.”
Back tomorrow with many changes coming to Venice and if you’re sailing to this UNESCO city you could find yourself bussing into the city — note the word could — but you will want to read this column.
All for now.
Today at cruisingdoneright.com: A new Daily Deal