05/06/08 Silversea Features Guest Speakers in Northern Europe

 www.zanza.com

Silversea Cruises this summer offers 19 itineraries of six to 15 days throughout Northern Europe and the Baltic by the 296-passenger Silver Cloud and Silver Wind. The Northern Europe voyages showcase nearly 60 destinations with more than 245 optional shore excursions designed to appeal to a variety of interests. For example, from St. Petersburg, passengers can elect to take a journey to Star City outside of Moscow to be a “Cosmonaut for a Day” at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. There they will get hands-on training with the rendezvous and docking simulator for the Soyuz-TM space vehicle. A more leisurely tour is also available that omits simulator training. From Helsingborg, guests can take cooking lessons from Swedish chef Tina Nordström in her TV studio kitchen. Her name is a household word in Sweden due to her TV series. And she is well known to a U.S. audience through her program, “New Scandinavian Cooking,” on PBS.

From London, passengers can gain after-hours access to two rare exhibitions at the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace — “Amazing Rare Things,” a collection of scientific drawings and watercolors of nature and “Treasures from the Royal Collection,” shaped by the personal tastes of kings and queens over more than 500 years. These voyages will also showcase an enrichment program of scholars, writers, and other experts selected from a variety of fields. Richard Tallboys, former British ambassador twice decorated by Queen Elizabeth, will be onboard the Silver Wind’s 10-day May 22 voyage from London to Stockholm; cruise fares start at $5,277 per person. Lawrence Herson, an Ohio State University professor emeritus and former election analyst for CBS, will sail on the Silver Wind 12-day July 2 voyage roundtrip from Stockholm. In 1995 Mikhail Gorbachev invited Herson to deliver a series of lectures in Russia on the American democratic experience. His presentations on Silver Wind will cover Scandinavian history and culture, touching on the role of the Vikings as well as traders, crusaders and war in the Baltic lands. Silver Sailing cruise fares start at $6,777 per person

If you would like to try our services visit www.zanza.com  or email Travel@zanza.com. 

Started by crew members for cruise travelers, we’re changing the way you cruise! 

 

05/06/08 Princess’ Repeat Passengers Receive New Discounts

www.zanza.com

Princess Cruises is offering repeat passengers extra savings when they book cruises early with the new Princess Captain’s Circle Launch Savings benefit. This new discount offers Circle Members up to $300 off when they make their cruise reservations shortly after new cruise schedules are announced. The offer can be combined with other promotional fares. Debuting with summer 2009 itineraries, the savings vary by destination and apply to all cabin categories. The program is offered to Circle Members at all membership levels. For 2009-10 departures, Europe and Alaska cruises must be booked by Sept. 30, and all other destinations must be booked by Dec. 31.

Once booked, Launch Savings remain in effect, and can be applied to most other subsequent promotions, allowing past passengers to always have the best fares for which they qualify. The savings can be combined with Escape Fares, group rates, regional promotions, and other past passenger discounts. The Princess Captain’s Circle offers benefits such as a free mini-bar set-up, free Internet packages, free laundry services, priority tender embarkation, complimentary wine tasting, a boutiques discount, and preferred embarkation and disembarkation

If you would like to try our services visit www.zanza.com  or email Travel@zanza.com. 

Started by crew members for cruise travelers, we’re changing the way you cruise! 

 

05/06/08 Crystal Expands Jewish Heritage Program

 

 
 www.zanza.com
 

Crystal Cruises this summer has expanded its Jewish Heritage programs in Northern Europe. The luxury line has set five excursions, including a new tour in Berlin that goes to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Orianenburg, which served as a prototype for all the camps that followed. These excursions are also available in Dublin, St. Petersburg and Stockholm aboard virtually all of Crystal Symphony’s Northern Europe itineraries from June through August. The tours also feature in-depth visits to Jewish Old Towns, museums, synagogues and Jewish families. From the port of Warnemunde, passengers can choose the new “Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp & Berlin Highlights” tour, which visits the camp that housed political prisoners and dissidents beginning in the 1930s, where thousands of prisoners perished from starvation. “Echoes of the Past: Berlin’s Jewish History” visits the Jewish Old Quarter and the New Synagogue, whose stone was laid in 1988, exactly 50 years after the “Night of Broken Glass.”

“The Jewish Highlights of St. Petersburg” travels to the Great Choral Synagogue, the second largest in Europe, and includes a concert performed by the synagogue’s cantor. Passengers also visit a local family active in the Jewish community. “Jewish Stockholm” passes through the walls of the 19th-century, 1,000-seat Great Synagogue, which has a memorial wall to 8,500 victims of Jewish relatives residing in Sweden, and continues on to one of the few the Jewish museums in Scandinavia. “Historic Jewish Dublin” includes a visit to the Irish Jewish Museum, formerly an old synagogue, which was officially opened by President Chaim Herzog of Israel, who was raised in Dublin. The excursion also visits Herzog’s former home and site of the first Jewish Day School. The Jewish Heritage Crystal Adventures are priced from $75 to $421 per person and are available aboard Crystal Symphony’s seven Northern Europe itineraries, with fares starting at $3,395.

If you would like to try our services visit www.zanza.com  or email Travel@zanza.com. 

Started by crew members for cruise travelers, we’re changing the way you cruise! 

 

05/02/08 Record Four Million Europeans Take Cruises

 
 www.zanza.com
 
A record 4 million Europeans took cruise holidays last year, according to the latest statistics unveiled Thursday by the European Cruise Council (ECC) in Brussels. The ECC 2007 “Markets Report” shows how rapidly cruise holidays are growing in popularity for European travelers. Five years ago, 2.6 million Europeans took a cruise holiday. By 2006, that number had grown to 3.4 million, and 17 percent growth in 2007 increased the figure to a record high of 4 million. Sixty percent of Europeans chose to travel in the Mediterranean and Atlantic islands, 24 percent cruised in the Caribbean and other parts of the world, and 16 percent cruised in Northern Europe. “The popularity of cruising for European holidaymakers is growing faster than anyone in the industry envisaged,” said David Dingle, chairman of the ECC and CEO of Carnival UK. “The ECC had predicted that we’d hit 4 million cruise passengers from Europe by 2010. We’ve beaten that target two years early with impressive growth across the region-Spain has seen cruising grow by a third and Italian cruise passengers have increased by a quarter. There is no doubt that Europe is the new center of gravity for the cruise industry,and we’re seeing increasing numbers of cruise lines basing ships in the region, which will encourage even more Europeans to cruise in future.” The top five source markets for cruise passengers in Europe in 2007 are the U.K. with 1.3 million passengers for 11 percent growth; Germany with 763,000 passengers and 8 percent growth; Italy, 640,000 passengers, 24 percent growth; Spain, 518,000 passengers, 32 percent growth; and France, 280,000 passengers, 16 percent growth. Cruise companies, shipyards and cruise passengers account for more than €10.6 billion of direct expenditures in Europe

If you would like to try our services visit www.zanza.com  or email Travel@zanza.com. 

Started by crew members for cruise travelers, we’re changing the way you cruise! 

 

05/02/08 Carnival Suggests Cruises for Mother’s Day

 
 www.zanza.com
Carnival Cruise Lines is suggesting families consider taking a cruise over Mother’s Day on May 11. Although the holiday is less than two weeks away, Carnival says there is still room for a “Fun Ship” getaway. The company has six departures ranging from three to five days available over the Mother’s Day holiday to Mexico, the Bahamas or the Caribbean.

 ”An estimated 82 million mothers reside in the U.S., according to the latest U.S. Census numbers, and Carnival, as the number-one cruise line catering to families, is poised to provide mothers with a special and memorable day,” said Lynn C. Torrent, Carnival’s senior vice president of sales and guest services.

Carnival’s three- to five-day cruises departing over Mother’s Day weekend include Carnival Fantasy departing on a four-day cruise from New Orleans to Cozumel on May 8; Carnival Paradise, three-day cruise from Long Beach, Calif., to Ensenada departing May 9; Carnival Fascination, three-day cruise from Miami to Nassau departing May 9; Carnival Imagination, five-day cruise from Miami to Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios departing May 10; Carnival Inspiration, five-day cruise from Tampa to Grand Cayman and Cozumel Saturday, May 10; and Carnival Sensation, four-day cruise from Port Canaveral to Freeport and Nassau, May 11. Cruise-only rates begin at $349 per person for three-day cruises, $399 per person for four-day cruises, and $449 per person for five-day cruises, based on double occupancy

If you would like to try our services visit www.zanza.com  or email Travel@zanza.com. 

Started by crew members for cruise travelers, we’re changing the way you cruise! 

 

05/01/08 Azamara Journey to Sail Caribbean-Panama Canal

 www.zanza.com
Azamara Cruises’ 694-guest Azamara Journey will operate Caribbean and Panama Canal cruises in late 2009 and early 2010. The Journey, which underwent a $19 million makeover before its 2007 launch, will sail through the Caribbean and Panama Canal from December 2009 through mid-April 2010, visiting 23 ports in 15 countries. First-time calls will be made at Castries, St. Lucia; Willemstad, Curacao; and San Diego, Calif. The Journey also will anchor off of the island of Bequia. San Diego, instead of Los Angeles, will be the turnaround port for two 16-night Panama Canal sailings, one westbound from Miami departing on Dec. 18, 2009, and one eastbound to Miami departing on Jan. 3, 2010. Between the two Panama Canal sailings, Azamara Journey will call at Port Antonio, Jamaica; Cartagena, Colombia; Puntarenas, Costa Rica; San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua; Willemstad; and Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas and Huatulco, Mexico. A new 10-night Easter voyage sailing roundtrip from Miami on April 1, 2010, will call at St. John, St. Martin, Dominica, St. Kitts and Virgin Gorda. Three 12-night Caribbean itineraries will be operated out of Miami from January through March 2010, featuring calls at Bequia, Castries, Dominica, St. Croix, Antigua, Martinique, St. Barts Guadeloupe and more.

If you would like to try our services visit www.zanza.com  or email Travel@zanza.com. 

Started by crew members for cruise travelers, we’re changing the way you cruise! 

 

Two Princess Ships to Get New Signature Features – Cruise Vacation News

Princess Cruise Lines

 
Princess Cruises will remodel two ships to give them new amenities. The Star Princess and Caribbean Princess will get a piazza-style street café in the Deck 5 atrium, an adults-only Sanctuary and the Crown Grill steak and seafood restaurant. The project will also add a more centrally located casino and seven new suites.

Star Princess will receive these new features during its September dry-dock in San Francisco; Caribbean Princess will follow in January 2009. The ships’ updated atriums will feature the International Café, which serves specialty coffee, fresh baked goods, paninis and tapas.

The new atriums will also introduce an expanded Vines wine bar concept, which will now include vintage wines, a selection of artisan meats and cheeses, and a wine shop.

The Sanctuary, an adults-only retreat, features plush padded lounge chairs and the services of Serenity Stewards. The ships will also replace their current steakhouses with the Crown Grill restaurant, which features an open show kitchen where chefs prepare chops, steaks and seafood, including live lobsters.

As part of the renovation, each vessel will also receive seven new suites with ocean-view windows on Deck 6, and the casino will be relocated one deck higher to Deck 7, bringing it into the central entertainment area.

To make room for the new features, some areas will be relocated. In addition to the casino, the sports court, Internet Café and wedding chapel will be moved in the renovation process

.This post brought to you by Cruise Zanza Blue which was started by crew members for cruise travelers – For more information go to www.zanza.com

Cruise Deals
Zanza Blue presents you with the best cruise deals without compromising the level of service you should expect www.zanza.com

Cruise Lines
Zanza Blue presents an overview of nearly 20 cruise lines, to discover what each cruise line has to offer, checkout the Cruise Line Section. www.zanza.com

Concierges
Zanza Blue presents several concierge profiles; you can choose your own concierge by cruise line, itinerary or even personality, checkout the Concierge Section. www.zanza.com

Videos – Podcasts
Zanza Blue presents helpful video/podcasts, checkout the Podcast Section.  www.zanza.com

 

MSC Cruises Set to Base Three Ships in Venice

 

MSC Cruise Line

MSC Cruises and the Council of Venice have reinforced their partnership. As a result, MSC Cruises will operate three ships from the port of Venice in 2009. Each week from April to October, three ships — MSC Poesia, MSC Musica and MSC Armonia — will depart on seven-night cruises to the Eastern Mediterranean.

They will dock at 89 ports of call (a 30 percent increase over 2008) and carry an estimated 410,000 passengers (an approximately 80 percent increase). This message was delivered at a July 26 meeting onboard MSC Poesia between Massimo Cacciari, the mayor of Venice, and Pierfrancesco Vago, CEO of MSC Cruises. This year, MSC Poesia and sister ship MSC Musica will remain in the lagoon until November.

MSC Cruises ships will dock at 68 ports of call, carrying 230,000 passengers. It is estimated that an average of 107 euros will be spent by each MSC Cruises guest in the city of Venice. MSC Cruises is a voluntary promoter of the “Venice Blue Flag” campaign, which limits ships’ emissions on the lagoon. MSC Cruises’ fleet is equipped with technology for aluminum recycling, energy saving, and waste water recycling.

“Venice is a treasure of humankind and as such must be protected,” Vago said. “Our commitment goes much further than only carrying guests to and from this port. Since the beginning, we have been closely monitoring the environmental impact of cruise ships in the lagoon. Our fleet – the most modern in the world – is equipped with the latest technology to limit to any possible impact.”

New to Cruising? Checkout these informative podcasts (Video’s) about cruising.
click here www.zanza.com/podcast.aspx

 

Cruise Zanza Blue presents nearly 20 cruise lines in simple view form, no bells and whistles, just an overview of info of what each line offers. If you are looking for a website where you can compare cruise lines in a simple “No frills” viewing checkout the cruise line section at www.zanza.com/CLmain.aspx

If you would like to book a cruise visit www.zanza.com

07/31/08 Fred Olsen Sets Savings on November Cruise

 www.zanza.com
 
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines is offering a deeply discounted fare for Category B cabins on its Nov. 5 Barbados-Miami sailing aboard the Braemar. A limited number of deluxe outside double cabins are offered at a cost of $576 per person, or $72 per person per night, according to Robert Swan, president of Borton Overseas, which is the U.S. general sales agent for the British cruise line. The fares include all taxes and port charges but will also have a $96 fuel surcharge. The eight-night sailing will depart Barbados and call at Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Tortola and Nassau. Passengers will disembark when the ship makes its maiden call at Miami on Nov. 13. The ship will depart that day on the first cruise of a Caribbean season from Miami through April.

If you would like to try our services visit www.zanza.com  or email Travel@zanza.com. 

Started by crew members for cruise travelers, we’re changing the way you cruise! 

 

08/01/08 SeaDream Launches Buy the Deck Program

 www.zanza.com
 
 
SeaDream Yacht Club has introduced a Buy the Deck program whereby all 21 staterooms on Deck 3 of its SeaDream I or II vessels can be sold as a unit, and the purchaser receives the Owner’s Suite free. The program is available for select 2009 voyages. It is not combinable with other SeaDream promotions and is subject to change.

If you would like to try our services visit www.zanza.com  or email Travel@zanza.com. 

Started by crew members for cruise travelers, we’re changing the way you cruise!