woodscruise Posted June 15, 2010 #1 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Some interesting articles from Cruise Weekly 15 June 2010 Princess popular with Aussies An online poll has revealed Australians’ favourite cruiselines - and the features theymost dislike. THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL CRUISE community website last week asked Australians to choose their favourite cruiseline, resulting in a close competitionbetween Princess Cruises and RoyalCaribbean.At last count, the Cruise Critic poll hadPrincess on top with 46% of votes, followedby Royal Caribbean (36%) and P&O (13%).Holland America Line and CelebrityCruises made a smaller splash, each with9% of votes.Voters also used the opportunity tocomment on their least favourite aspects,such as the age of ships in Australian watersand the cost of fares compared to discountsoffered to Americans.Royal Caribbean also came under fire forits lack of laundry facilities, while Princesswas praised for its cheap laundry and fridgesin each cabin.However, Princess was attacked for itsrestrictions on Australians who try to bookcheaper cruises through US-based travelagents. (See ‘This Week At Sea’, page 3.)Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief,Cruise Critic, told CW that two factorsinspired the decision to conduct the poll.“One is that it’s very clear that cruise linesare really intrigued by the Australian marketbeyond Australia’s home-grown options,”she said.“For the first time, we’re seeing cruiselines acknowledging that rather than simplyput a ship in your market and hope NorthAmericans and Europeans will show up thatAustralians (and New Zealanders, too) arereally gung-ho about cruising.” “It’s very clear that cruise lines are really intrigued by the Australianmarket beyond Australia’s homegrownoptions”. R L D ’ S L E A D I N G R I V E R C R U I S E L I N E . . . B Y F A R ® Spencer Brown noted that P&O, Princess and RCC had recently committed furtherresources to Australia - not to mentionHolland America (see story at right).“So that’s exciting – that’s a sign that themarket is growing, and when the marketbegins to grow, as we are seeing in the UKand in Europe, cruise lines start to offer thespiffiest ships rather than hand-me-downs,”she said.The second inspiration for the poll wasthat Cruise Critic’s Australian members were“incredibly vocal”, Spencer Brownexplained.“I love that I get a half dozen emails aweek from Australia-based travellers asking various questions – and I always answer ___________________________________ Holland America doubles up down under YET MORE CRUISE CAPACITY WILL BE DEPLOYED IN Australasian waters in 2011/12, with confirmation by Holland America Line thismorning that it will base its ms Zaandam inSydney for a series of cruises from Nov 2011.It will be the first time that HollandAmerica has had two vessels down underoperating a series of itineraries at the sametime, with Holland America the latest line toannounce local expansion.Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises willalso be operating additional vessels inAustralasian waters in 2011/12 - not tomention the major expansion by P&O whichlater this year will welcome Pacific Pearl as itsfourth year-round Australasian-based ship.Holland America said that after crossingthe Pacific from San Diego in November2011 Zeendam would operate a 14-dayroundtrip Sydney cruise across the Tasman,followed by a series of South Pacific voyagescalling on New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji.While Volendam continues its Australiandeployment, Zaandam will offer a series of14-day Asian sailings out of Singapore,calling in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Thailand as well as Japan ______________________________________ When Cruise Critic asked Australians about their favourite cruise line (see story onpage 1) it received many complaints aboutunfair pricing and the lack of new ships.Voters on the website used the opportunityto vent their feelings about cruising inAustralia.The first comment posted on the forum,by Cruise Critic member ‘Eileen’ said: “Ivoted for Princess because I do love thatline, however, I will switch soon if theycontinue their present stance in regards tobooking overseas.”This complaint referred to non-US citizenswho try to obtain cheaper cruise fares bybooking through a US-based website.Australian travel agents are always quickto warn customers that you may be deniedboarding if you are found to have boughtyour cruise online from an American travelagent, scoring a discount that was valid forAmerican passengers only.But many Australians have taken the risk,saved the cash, and got away with it.This has long been a contentious topicamong Aussie cruisers – not to mentiontravel agents – and I’m curious to hear yourexperiences.Have you booked a discounted cruise witha US agent and been caught? Or did itwork?Another Cruise Critic member, ‘David’,was critical of the value of local lines,particularly P&O.He said Australians should “compare thevalue of what you are getting [on anoverseas cruise] with what you are chargedlocally for the privilege of taking a cruisewith the local product”.He was quickly shot down, however, byP&O fans.‘Australian family’, one of several peoplewho resented the “old” ships in local waters,said: “It annoys me that these cruise linesonly send their older ships here. Do we notdeserve the right to have the newer shipssailing on our waters?”Age was irrelevant for other passengerssuch as ‘Mabel58’ who said “the poor old Pacific Sun is a bit dated but the crew were superb on my last cruise” and added that“some of the new mega ships in Europehave all the gimmicks but feel soulless tome.”It’s all very interesting!So what’s your favourite cruise line, andwhat do you dislike about cruising inAustralia? Regards Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rugbypopsie Posted June 15, 2010 #2 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Power to the People...keep on being vocal guys....you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Thanks also to Carolyn for the support of fair play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gold Coast Cruisers Posted June 15, 2010 #3 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Power to the People...keep on being vocal guys....you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Thanks also to Carolyn for the support of fair play. I'm with you rugbypopsie......surely someone is taking note and listening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Kinkacruiser Posted June 15, 2010 #4 Share Posted June 15, 2010 You learn something every day here. I didn't know RCCL had no laundry or bar fridges? That would make a longer cruise with them difficult. It's also good to see we are making news...hope some good will come from it. Anna:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
didiaust Posted June 16, 2010 #5 Share Posted June 16, 2010 You learn something every day here. I didn't know RCCL had no laundry or bar fridges? That would make a longer cruise with them difficult.It's also good to see we are making news...hope some good will come from it. Anna:) I now find that an advantage - I drop my laundry in port - I don't have to hang about a hot busy laundry and guard my undies etc. I pick up my clean folded washing in the arvo and I part with $10 to $20 depending on how many loads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Australian family Posted June 16, 2010 #6 Share Posted June 16, 2010 So what’s your favourite cruise line, and what do you dislike about cruising in Australia? I’d love to know! Email me: louise@cruiseweekly.com.au Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Australian family Posted June 22, 2010 #7 Share Posted June 22, 2010 My column last week stirred up a few people who emailed me about the things theydislike about cruising.Eileen – whose comments I quoted fromthe Cruise Critic forum – wrote in, and shehad some strong views but asked me not topublish them!Peter S had two gripes: “The exorbitantprices the cruise line charge for everythingonboard that they sell, ranging from icecreamsto drinks.”This may be true on some ships, but it’s thesame in hotels and restaurants.I’ve actually found the prices on mostcruises are not too bad – maybe it’s becauseI’m used to Sydney prices!Peter’s second issue was: “When you areon shore and try to organise your own tripswith a local agent, they will not sell to you ifthey know you are off the ship.“Looks like the cruise has warned alloperators that if they sell in competitionagainst the cruise line, there will be some sortof financial punishment meted out.”Wow, I don’t know if that’s the case! Hasanyone else had this problem?Max M complained about local ships thatcram too many people into “second gradeaccommodation” by converting twin cabinsinto quads.He said: “The fact that we are new tocruising in big numbers should not mean,‘pack them in, they don’t know the difference’.”To be fair, Max also found some shipsoverseas were crowded too.Steve D, from Brisbane, said: “It appears tobe standard practice to send the hand-medownshere. You only have to look at thetrack record of the ships that have beenbased here over recent years.“Very disappointing in both standards andvalue.”This surprises me.I should now ask the question: what do youlike about cruising? What are someexamples of good service or value on a cruise(especially one that departed from Australia)?A few people also admitted they’d bookedcruises through US-based websites and hadno problems.Steve D said he did it after he continued toreceive such poor service from his localagent.That’s a real shame.I still want to know if anyone tried it andthings went horribly wrong!Or do you personally know someone whowas denied boarding, or lost all their moneywhen the American agency went out ofbusiness? Email me: louise@cruiseweekly.com.au Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cazz0069 Posted June 22, 2010 #8 Share Posted June 22, 2010 My column last week stirred up a few people who emailed me about the things they dislike about cruising.Eileen – whose comments I quoted fromthe Cruise Critic forum – wrote in, and shehad some strong views but asked me not topublish them!Peter S had two gripes: “The exorbitantprices the cruise line charge for everythingonboard that they sell, ranging from icecreamsto drinks.”This may be true on some ships, but it’s thesame in hotels and restaurants.I’ve actually found the prices on mostcruises are not too bad – maybe it’s becauseI’m used to Sydney prices!Peter’s second issue was: “When you areon shore and try to organise your own tripswith a local agent, they will not sell to you ifthey know you are off the ship.“Looks like the cruise has warned alloperators that if they sell in competitionagainst the cruise line, there will be some sortof financial punishment meted out.”Wow, I don’t know if that’s the case! Hasanyone else had this problem?Max M complained about local ships thatcram too many people into “second gradeaccommodation” by converting twin cabinsinto quads.He said: “The fact that we are new tocruising in big numbers should not mean,‘pack them in, they don’t know the difference’.”To be fair, Max also found some shipsoverseas were crowded too.Steve D, from Brisbane, said: “It appears tobe standard practice to send the hand-medownshere. You only have to look at thetrack record of the ships that have beenbased here over recent years.“Very disappointing in both standards andvalue.”This surprises me.I should now ask the question: what do youlike about cruising? What are someexamples of good service or value on a cruise(especially one that departed from Australia)?A few people also admitted they’d bookedcruises through US-based websites and hadno problems.Steve D said he did it after he continued toreceive such poor service from his localagent.That’s a real shame.I still want to know if anyone tried it andthings went horribly wrong!Or do you personally know someone whowas denied boarding, or lost all their moneywhen the American agency went out ofbusiness? Email me: louise@cruiseweekly.com.au Pardon my ignorance, is Cruise Weekly a magazine? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Australian family Posted June 22, 2010 #9 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Pardon my ignorance, is Cruise Weekly a magazine? :) It is a weekly online cruise newsletter, here is the link to sign up for it for free: http://www.cruiseweekly.com.au/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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