Want something to do on a sea day?

What do you want to do when you have a sea day on your cruise, sit by the pool, read a book or undertake a more stimulating activity. That's why more and more cruise lines are not only adding enrichment-oriented programs but also expanding those that already exist.

So what are enrichment programs? interactive workshops, lectures from experts, culinary demonstrations and presentations on a variety of topics, all with the intention of making cruising more interesting.
What can you learn onboard? Some programs focus on educational topics, the cosmos, history, art, photography and computers. There's plenty of personal enhancement, with health and wellness programs that focus on everything from medical lectures to stress management. You can also learn to play the piano or speak Spanish, enhance your acting skills or even paint with watercolors.

So just a few words on a few offerings:

Cunard Line, Cunard Insights

The Cunard Insights speaker series and Cunard Book Club literary discussions are offered on all three ships. In addition on QM2 they offer Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) acting workshops, Royal Astronomical Society astronomy and stargazing presentations, and the Juilliard Jazz series. Also offered on Queen Mary 2 since 2010 is a lecture series, dubbed "The Special Relationship," focusing on the close political, diplomatic, cultural and historical ties between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Celebrity Cruises, CelebrityLife

There are multiple options to Celebrity's enrichment programs, which balance educational experiences with others that are just plain fun. "Taste" programs include culinary tours and classes on food- and wine-pairing or molecular mixology. "Revive" seminars may focus on acupuncture, skin renewal or balancing one's metabolism. Activities in the "Learn" category include everything from stargazing sessions to self-guided Rosetta Stone language-learning workshops, dance lessons and hands-on art classes.

Celebrity iLounge staffers lead classes on digital photo enhancement, Web site creation and travel blogging, and environmental programs feature talks on energy generation and recycling by the ship's officers.

Oceania, Bon Appetit Culinary Center and Artist Loft

Oceania's main enrichment focus is on food. Both Riviera and Marina feature a Bon Appetit Culinary Center with convection ovens, two-person cooking stations and themed classes, ranging from basic knife skills to the art of fish cookery and trendsetting world cuisines. The classes are heavily hands-on, with all students participating, though a couple of hour long courses focus on lectures on popular culinary topics like cheese selection and food-and-wine pairings.

If cooking's not your thing, Marina and Riviera offer a hands-on program for budding artists, where artists-in-residence give step-by-step instruction in watercolours, needlepoint, and arts and crafts.

This little list is not exhaustive and of course there are many other options. You must remember that there may well be a cost for these courses, although some are offered free; the rub of course is that the free ones may not really go into any depth.

For me I look at what is on offer to see whether it interests me.

Days lay be the pool are not really my thing, I can get bored very quickly so I am always on the lookout for that different program. I did spend 45 minutes in a presentation on Celebrity Equinox given by a first officer on the environmental programs feature talks on energy generation and recycling, it was really interesting and I could have stayed longer!

So just remember to look at your daily program when on baord and go with the flow.

Expedition Cruises - Silver Galapagos

I have noticed recently that the number of people interested in expedition cruises has grown, with more people looking at Galapagos as an itinerary.

The 3 main reasons people want to visit are:-

1. Unparalleled wildlife viewing
2. It's a year-round destination
3. Unique landscape

So lets have a look at one of the alternatives.

Answers to my quiz at the end of this post.
The Galapagos National Park works to promote sustainable tourism in protedted areas of the Galapagos, ensuring the conservation of ecological integrity and biodiversity of the archipelago, as well as contribute to the local population.

Because of this the vessels which visit these beautiful islands are all very small from small yacts taking say 16 guests to 100 guests of some of the bigger ships, the newest being Silver Galapagos from Silversea taking 100 guests, which will start voyages in late September 2013.

So what are you going to get on this ship, well the expected 6 star Silversea service and hospitality for starters. Then on your 7 day cruise you will get the complimentary excursions and experts to give you all the advice and help that you need.

If you want to see animals like these penguins, then why not give it a go and call me.

Last night watched David Attenborough on Sky 1, all about Galapagos very interesting even more reason to want to go.

Now for the results of my little quiz,

1. Ship 1 - Azamara Journey (thought the blue hull might have confused!)
2. Ship 2 - Silver Explorer
3. Ship 3 - Celebrity Millenium ( Can't wait for my cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore on her in a couple of months!)
4. Ship 4 - MSC Poesia
5. Ship 5 - Norwegian Epic

How did you do?

Picture quiz

It is that time of year and in the papers and on various websites I have seen lots of little quiz's.

So here is my quiz for the year, answers to the usual address, prize the same as usual (so that not a lot, just the satisfaction of getting the answers right!)

5 ships in picture, try and name them. The answers will be given on my next post, to be published on 2nd January - so come back them and see how you have done.

Good luck!

 Ship 1

Ship 2

Ship 3

 Ship 4

Ship 5

Comparison of Luxury Cruise with a Land Resort holiday

I have recently been talking to some customers about the merits of a Luxury cruise against a stay in a Luxury resort.

Of course when you compare a cruise to a resort holiday, you have the benefits of a moving hotel with a different experience and port each day whereas in a land resort you stay for your whole holiday in the same destination.

But what about the other things, like dining or movies or gratuities.  So here's a little comparison between a Silversea cruise and a land resort.

	Silversea	Resort
All open seating a la carte dining.	Yes	Maybe
All on-board gratuities are included, none expected.	Yes	No
Complimentary beverages throughout the vessel including in suite beverage cabinet stocked with your preference of wines and spirits.	Yes	No
Complimentary cocktail receptions (open bar and canapés).	Yes	No
Complimentary use of the on-board venues for meetings and presentations.	Yes	Maybe
Complimentary food and beverage for business breaks.	Yes	No
Complimentary 24 hours room service.	Yes	No
Complimentary in suite movie channels.	Yes	No
Complimentary daily activities and special events.	Yes	No
Complimentary nightly entertainment including stage productions, variety acts and live musicians.	Yes	No
Complimentary twice daily suite service with turndown every evening.	Yes	No
Complimentary personalised stationery in each suite.	Yes	No
Complimentary and personalised Silversea Chronicle – daily news and activities schedule.	Yes	No
Complimentary health and fitness centre, including fitness equipment, aerobics, yoga and more.	Yes	No
Duty free boutiques and shopping.	Yes	Maybe
24 hour, on site medical services (full time Doctor).	Yes	No
24 hour security (access to the vessel is exclusive to documented guests).	Yes	No

So what do you think? As expected, you get far more benefits and service on that Luxury cruise, added to which you get the joys of those new experiences everyday give it a  go.

 

Where does (one) Nautical expression comes from....

Do you wonder where various expressions in common use come from, especially at this time of year when the weather is getting colder?

So we have all heard the phrase, 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' but did you know this has a maritime connection.


Way back in history when ships sailed with cannons for protection, they had to find a way to keep a supply of cannon balls near each cannon without them rolling away. So they developed a storage devise so that the cannon balls could be stored in a pyramid in a safe way, which was a metal pate with indentations to hold the bottom row of cannon balls, called a 'monkey'.

Now for the science, not done that for a long time!, if the monkey was made from iron because of the damp on ship the cannon balls would rust onto it, no good; so the solution was to manufacture the money out of brass.

However, brass will contract when it is cold. So, in colder temperatures the indentations would shrink so much so that the cannon balls would come adrift from the monkey. Hence 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'.

No I am not so sure how true the science is here and how cold it needs to be, but it is an interesting story.

Now for an irrelevant fact, the "brass monkey" is the nickname of the house flag of the Cunard Line, adopted in 1878.