You Mean I Can Now Do An Alaska Cruisetour Roundtrip from Seattle? Awesome!

Princess Launches Alaska Wilderness Sale on Convenient Cruisetours from Seattle, with Special Pricing Including Travel Between Seattle and Alaska Plus Stateroom Upgrade!

Princess Cruises announced today that it is again offering its popular Alaska Wilderness Sale promotion, but this promo also features a special lineup of cruisetours that offer passengers the extra convenience of roundtrip travel from Seattle. These unique packages make planning an Alaska land/sea vacation easier than ever by including ALL travel once the passenger gets to Seattle. This even includes airfare between Seattle and Alaska! The Alaska Wilderness Sale runs through December 31, 2009, and features 10 Seattle-based cruisetour options. Air travel between Seattle and Alaska, motorcoach transfers between Seattle and Vancouver, and an overnight stay in Seattle are all included in the package. Fares start at $1,899 for an interior stateroom and $2,299 for a balcony stateroom for an 11-night land/sea vacation, which includes a free stateroom category upgrade.

Princess Cruises offers a wide variety of Alaska Cruisetour options, including both northbound and southbound routes, with itineraries ranging from 11 to 15 nights. All passengers will experience Princess’ signature seven-night Voyage of the Glaciers cruise, combined with a variety of Direct to the Wilderness tours, or Explorer tours to the Copper River or Kenai areas. All tours feature Princess’ own riverside wilderness lodges, with at least two nights in the Denali National Park area and luxury train travel on ultra-domed railcars. “These packages make a visit to the heart of Alaska more convenient than ever, so the only other planning needed is travel to and from Seattle. We handle all other arrangements, so visitors can simply enjoy this incredible opportunity to experience Alaska’s top attractions, including Glacier Bay and Denali National Park.”

What sets Princess apart from many other cruise lines' Alaska cruisetours is that all of Princess' cruises feature daylight cruising of both Glacier Bay National Park AND either College Fjord or Hubbard Glacier. These itineraries provide guests with the best opportunities to view fantastic glaciers and wildlife. Another important distinction is that many cruise lines only offer one night in the Denali National Park area, but Princess includes at least two nights in this important area on every cruisetour so guests can maximize their experience there.

I think Princess has done an amazing job in deciding to offer roundtrip cruisetour packages from Seattle and I applaud them wholeheartedly. As a Cruise Specialist, I am very aware of the difficulties that come with booking a one-way cruise or cruisetour. On a northbound itinerary, arrangements often need to be made to get a passenger back to Vancouver or Seattle from Anchorage or Fairbanks; and on a southbound itinerary passengers often need transportation back to Anchorage so they can purchase the often lesser-expensive roundtrip air fares. It can often be very expensive and challenging to make this all work, but now Princess has made it so much easier.

With Princess' roundtrip Seattle cruisetour packages and their new Family Fun Cruisetours which I previously blogged about, there really is no reason now to forgo that trip to Alaska! So come on people and get those bookings done, as the Alaska Wilderness Sale ends December 31!

For more information, contact Sheila McPherson, Your Independent Cruise Specialist, at 630-868-6719, or toll free at 877-823-8597; or visit my website at http://www.serenitycruising.com/.

Holland America to revamp bars on five ships

Centrally located bars and lounges aboard five Holland America Line ships are being upgraded and reconfigured to bring a new concept to the shipboard bar scene, the company says. The highlight is a large, new space located in the heart of the ship, called Mix, that incorporates three specialty theme bars - Martinis, Champagne, and Spirits & Ales. These enhancements are part of a new $200-million Signature of Excellence upgrade to ms Statendam, ms Maasdam, ms Ryndam, ms Veendam and ms Rotterdam."A focus of this latest Signature of Excellence series of enhancements is our entertainment venues, where we've created the ultimate place to both socialize and be entertained," said Richard D. Meadows, CTC, executive vice president, marketing, sales and guest programs. "Our guests are looking for an upscale, trendy spot where they can gather together and be part of this exciting new ambiance."A new entertainment space called Mix is set to become the destination lounge where guests can meet and mingle throughout the day and night. Mix is an open and inviting space anchored by a pianist providing entertainment for three distinctly themed areas. The bubbly will flow at Champagne, which offers a variety of 20 different champagnes and sparkling wines from around the world. The centerpiece of this bar is a cool, ice-filled counter top chilling champagne bottles that invites guests to indulge by the glass or by the bottle served in traditional silver buckets. This venue will offer events such as late champagne breakfast, pre-lunch Mimosa and Bellini hour, champagne tea time and pre-dinner champagne hour with caviar canapés. Champagne will be the ship's premier celebration venue.
Martinis serves up 25 Grey Goose martinis elegantly offered in individual shakers as well as a full range of cocktails. Guests can also enjoy a martini flight made up of several mini martini concoctions. The martini flight includes Holland America Line's signature martini, the Yellow Tulip, a mixture of Grey Goose vodka, lychee juice, pineapple juice, guava juice, coconut cream and fresh lime juice. Other martinis included in the flight are the Peartini, Cosmopolitan, Sunshine Martini, Rum Sundae and High Tide Martini. A house specialty will be a signature Martini for Two with aged Cognac served with a dish of caviar and traditional garnishes.
Spirits & Ales will feature an international selection of beers and premium whiskeys and brandies sure to entice even the most selective connoisseur. Here guests can drop by to enjoy a wide selection of beers on tap while watching sporting events or relax after some shopping in the nearby boutiques.The Ocean Bar will be enhanced to refresh its look. Guests wanting to learn new moves or brush up on their ballroom dancing skills can sign up for lessons given by the Line's experienced staff. Providing tunes from the Great American Songbook, The Neptunes - Holland America Line's resident three-piece music combo - will keep things lively as guests dance the night away and enjoy a cocktail in the luxuriously appointed lounge.
This $200 million phase in the Signature of Excellence commitment brings the latest innovations at sea to Holland America Line's Statendam, Maasdam, Ryndam, Veendam and Rotterdam. The first of the extensive dry dock periods begins with the Veendam in spring 2009 and the last will be completed on the Maasdam in late 2010. While in dry dock, ships will expand the aft deck to create a new resort pool concept, The Retreat. Enhancements will be made to all existing staterooms and additional staterooms will be added to the ships. The ships also will introduce 46 innovative lanai staterooms with direct access to the Lower Promenade Deck. New spa staterooms near the Greenhouse Spa and Salon will offer special in-room spa amenities. Overall, Holland America Line has committed $525 million to its Signature of Excellence program that redefines premium cruising, the company said.

Disney Cruise Ship to Get Fantasia-Themed Splash Pool and LCD TVs!

The Disney Magic cruise ship will get a splash pool themed around the movie "Fantasia," new 22-inch, LCD television sets in cabins and a series of other upgrades during a nearly three-week stay in dry dock later this month. Disney says the 385-square-foot "Mickey's Splash Zone" will be added onto the Mickey Pool on the ship's deck nine. Themed around the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment in Fantasia, it will feature star- and moon-shaped fountains and splash areas (including, Disney says, an area for "children not yet toilet trained and in swim diapers"). The new televisions, meanwhile, will be mounted on swivel arms so they can be watched from different spots in a stateroom.Other upgrades to the 2,700-passenger Magic, according to a release Disney issued earlier this week, will include new waterfalls from a pair of hot tubs in the pool at the adult-oriented "Quiet Cove;" plush new chairs at the nearby "Cove Cafe;" and new registration areas to allow "radio frequency identification" at the kid-focused "Oceaneer Club" and "Oceaneer Lab" that will ultimately allow children to check in and out by tapping a sensor with with tag-embedded wristbands. Disney also plans to apply a new hull coating during the dry dock in Norfolk, Va., that is designed to reduce surface resistance in the water and improve fuel efficiency.