Talking with the Captain and Hotel Director of Norwegian Pearl

Continuing on with Norwegian Pearl, this week I have posted interviews with the captain of the Pearl and her hotel director. The idea here is to let the people who run the ship talk about what they are trying to do with the ship and get their inside view about what the ship is like.

Not surprisingly, when one asks Captain Lars Bengtsson and Hotel Director Denis Prguda about the experience on Norwegian Pearl, the first thing they talk about is Freestyle Cruising. It is not surprising because Freestyle is the concept that Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) uses to distinguish itself from the other major cruise lines.

Freestyle is all about letting the guest decide what to do and when. As Captain Bengtsson noted there are limits, one cannot do anything one wants but the NCL ships are designed and operated to give the passengers a variety of choices in deciding what to do.

Although the concept is not limited to dining, that is the context in which Freestyle is most often mentioned. Under the traditional cruise ship system, a guest is assigned a specific time and table in the main dining room for dinner. On Norwegian Pearl and her fleetmates, there are no assigned times and the guest is free to dine in any of the dozen or so different dining venues.

The concept does give the guests greater freedom of choice. There can be problems, however. If everybody arrives at the same dining venue at the same time, there is going to be a wait for tables. However, this seems to work itself out after the first day or so as the passengers get used to the idea that there are a number of places to go and get used to the reservation system.

The Freestyle concept has proven so popular that the other major lines have been incorporating parts of it on their ships. Nearly all now have a flexible dining option under which a guest can decide when to dine in the flexible dining section of the main dining room. Also, the newer ships coming out of the shipyards have more and more alternative specialty restaurants.

Oddly enough, the trend toward incorporating parts of the Freestyle concept at other lines has undermined the traditional dining system. One of the prime virtues of that system is that one sits down at a table full of strangers the first night and within a day or so, it becomes a table full of friends as everyone gets to know each other over the course of several meals. However, with all of the alternatives available now, people do not come to the assigned table every night.

That is not NCL’s problem, however. In fact, under the Freestyle system, one can ask to share a table in the main dining rooms and thus be assured of meeting people each night.

Freestyle is across the board on all NCL ships. Thus, it is not the only thing that makes Norwegian Pearl work so well. Thus Captain Bengtsson and Mr. Prguda also spoke about other aspects of the Norwegian Pearl experience.

My interview with Captain Bengtsson http://www.beyondships.com/NCLPearl-captain.html is at and my interview with Mr. Prguda is at http://www.beyondships.com/NCLPearl-HD.html The photo tour and commentary on Norwegian Pearl begins at http://www.beyondships.com/NCLPearl-Tour-1.html (My apologies for posting the link to the photo tour of Norwegian Jewel last week).

Commenting on some items in the news . . .

Carnival Corp CEO Micky Arison has indicated that the firm will probably not place any more orders for new ships this year beyond the two it recently placed for its Princess Cruises subsidiary. (The two Princess ships will be 139,000 gross tons and carry 3,600 passengers). This indication is not entirely unexpected, the pace with which the major lines were building new ships could not continue forever. There is a lot of capacity out there.

One thing that has resulted from all of the newbuilds over the last decade is the public has come to view cruise ships like new cars. If a ship is a few years old, it starts to lose its attractiveness. People begin to think of it as an old ship and are less likely to sail on it. However, ships are built to last 40 years or so. While they may not have that new car smell, a five or ten year old ship is not an old ship. It will be interesting to see if the public adjusts its perception or whether the industry needs a torrent of new ships in order to keep up the excitement about cruising.

What does one do with ships that are still perfectly good but which the public no longer considers new? The industry’s answer is often to send them to new and growing markets, away from the traditional cruise market. It was recently announced that Sea Princess, which is a very nice mid-sized ship, will be joining fleetmates Dawn Princess and Sun Princess cruising out of Australia next winter. Holland America and Royal Caribbean have also announced recently that they will be sending ships to this market.

The industry also sends older ships in for major overhauls so that they will have more of the features that are found on the ships just coming out of the shipyards. HAL’s Ryndam, for example, just completed a $17 million overhaul in which additions were made to her public spaces and the accommodations re-done.

Photo Tour of Norwegian Pearl and other cruise news

This week the focus is on Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) Norwegian Pearl. The Pearl is a large cruise ship (93,000 tons) that has been in service for a little over three years now. She spends the winter months in the Caribbean and the summer months cruising to Alaska.

By the luck of the draw, my cruise on the Pearl came just after my cruise on Oasis of the Seas, which is a phenomenal ship (more about this in April) and so I thought that the Pearl would suffer by comparison. However, I greatly enjoyed my cruise on Pearl. The reasons are straightforward.

First, there is the ship itself. Built by Meyer Werft, Pearl is well-engineered and nicely designed. She has the ability to do 25 knots and a relatively deep draft that helps to keep her stable. Perhaps more importantly, the public spaces are laid out well so that the ship is easy to get around and has good passenger flow. In addition, NCL has provided the ship with numerous dining and entertainment options that give one a great deal of choice as to what to do during the cruise.

Second, the ship is very well-maintained. The facilities look more like those on a ship just out of the yard than those of a popular ship that sees nearly 2,400 passengers a week. Everything in the cabin worked. I was also impressed by how clean everything was.

Third, there was the friendliness of the crew. Everyone had a hello or a good day. I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes in order to obtain material for my articles and I was impressed by how happy the crew members seemed.

As an NCL ship, Pearl follows the Freestyle style of cruising. This is an unstructured approach that provides the passenger with the building blocks to design their own cruise. The passenger decides whether they want the luxury of a Garden Villa, the economy of an inside cabin or something in between. He or she decides whether to join in organized activities or to utilize the ship’s facilities on their own. Of course, there is the choice of which of the ship’s dining venues to eat in and when to do so.

There are practical limitations. Not everyone can dine in the French specialty restaurant at the same time. Not every venue or facility is open 24 hours. However, there are enough options so that it all works out. This has led the other major lines to introduce elements of the Freestyle approach to their ships.

Beyondships’ profile of Norwegian Pearl is at http://www.beyondships.com/NCLPearl.html and the photo tour and commentary begins at http://www.beyondships.com/NCLPearl-Tour-1.html

Turning to items in the news . . . .

NCL has announced that its new ship Norwegian Epic, due out this summer, will have the largest spa at sea. It will be 31,000 square feet and include amongst other things: 24 treatment rooms, 2 private couples villas, a hydrotherapy and thermal suite, steam rooms, a salon, a fitness center and a barber shop. Along the same lines, NCL revealed that 11 of the 21 dining venues on the Epic will be complimentary.

Sticking with NCL, the line also announced that it will be making $20 million of improvements to its private island Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. Beyondships will be presenting a photo tour and commentary on Great Stirrup Cay in April.

Meanwhile, Princess Cruises has named Copenhagen as its “Port of the Year” for 2009 based upon passenger satisfaction surveys. This is the first time that Princess passengers have so named a port outside of the United States. The cruise port in the Danish capital is located in the heart of the city with most ships tying up at berths that are within walking distance of some of the city’s major attractions including the Little Mermaid statue and the Royal Palace thus making it a good port of call during a cruise.. However, Princess’ award honors the port as a turnaround port - - one where a cruise begins or ends - - and thus recognizes the port’s service and efficiency.

Cruising to Halifax and other cruise news items

With Spring coming and summer not far behind, people are beginning to think about summer cruises. One popular option is a cruise to Eastern Canada and New England. A highlight of most such cruises is a call in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Accordingly, this week we are presenting an illustrated look at Halifax from a cruiser passenger perspective.

Why do people cruise to Halifax? For many, it is a convenient way to escape the summer heat that often grips the United States. In the fall, there is the promise of seeing the color of the changing autumn leaves.

Halifax offers both historic and scenic attractions. The area played an important role in the North American colonial period and in the American War for Independence and the years following. It also has significant ties to the Titanic disaster as the recovery efforts were launched from Halifax. All of these are documented in museums and restorations.

As far as scenery, Halifax itself is a small, clean city that surrounds a pretty harbor. There are both modern and historic buildings. Going outside of town, which many cruise passengers do, one is quickly in an area of forests, lakes and rocky coastlines. In places such as Peggy’s Cove, it looks like an idealized maritime landscape painting.

Halifax is famous for its seafood, in particular, lobster. Not surprisingly, there are quite a few restaurants specializing in lobster.

Beyondships’ illustrated look at Halifax is at http://www.beyondships.com/Ports-Halifax

Turning to some items in the news - -

Last week, Celebrity Eclipse left the shipyard in Pappenburg, Germany where she has been under construction and proceeded down the Ems River to Emshaven in the Netherlands. What is particularly noteworthy about this journey is that at its tightest point, there was only two feet of clearance between the ship and the sides of the river and a few inches of water between her bottom and the riverbed. Thousands of spectators turned out to watch the ship’s progress. After completing her fitting out in Emshaven, Eclipse will proceed to Southampton, England for her inaugural ceremonies in late April. She will be based there for her first season offering cruises to the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, France and Ireland.

Cunard has announced its 2011-12 offerings. Queen Mary 2 will continue to offer transatlantic crossings and cruises from New York to Canada and the Caribbean and from Southampton to the Atlantic isles and Northern Europe. Queen Victoria will offer cruises from Southampton and from Venice Italy before coming to the US for a series of cruises in the late fall/winter. The new Queen Elizabeth will cruise primarily from Southampton. Included in her schedule will be cruises to the Holyland.

Meanwhile, Princess cruises has announced its 2011 European schedule with seven vessels (Ruby, Crown, Grand, Star, Ocean, Pacific and Emerald Princesses) offering 42 itinerary choices, including seven new routes, with calls at more than 135 ports.

Norwegian Cruise Line has commenced a contest to find the “Epic Star.” Winners will perform on the line’s new ship Norwegian Epic during her inaugural ceremonies in July in New York.. It has also announced that in the winter 2011/2012, Norwegian Star will be based in Tampa, Florida, which is a new seasonal homeport for her.

Carnival Glory has returned to service following an extensive refit. The renovation added several new facilities and features, including a Serenity adults-only retreat, a 270-square-foot Seaside Theatre poolside LED screen, and a Circle “C” facility for 12- to 14- year olds. Eighteen new balconies were also incorporated onto existing ocean view staterooms and a new Mongolian wok venue was added to the casual poolside restaurant. Bow-to-stern Wi-Fi access was added, as well.

The Inside Story On Celebrity Mercury

This week we continue our look at Celebrity Mercury by talking to two of the people who play a key role in shaping the vacation experience on the ship - - the hotel director and the cruise director. My goal in presenting this type of interview is to let the people who are actually running the ship explain what they are trying to do. One can learn a lot about ships by reading facts and figures but I don’t think one can get a feel for what a ship is like without hearing from the people who actually sail the ship.

Sheldon Thompson is the Hotel Director on the Mercury.. Since he is in charge of all the services and facilities that immediately impact the guests, he is a particularly good position to talk about the experience that they seek to provide on the Mercury. In addition, Mr. Thompson and has worked on nearly every Celebrity ship since before the line was acquired by Royal Caribbean. Thus, he was also able to explain why a between a Celebrity cruise is different from a Royal Caribbean cruise. My interview with Mr. Thompson appears at: http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Mercury-art-HD.html

Lisa Richard did not follow the usual path to becoming a cruise director. She did not come up through the ranks in the cruise line. In fact, she had only been on one cruise before Celebrity hired her. However, she had been a senior executive with a multi-national corporation and thus had the skills and managerial experience to handle the behind-the-scenes administrative and planning aspects of being a cruise director as well as for supervising an array of employees. In addition, she came with theatrical experience including four years in the cast of the hit musical “Mama Mia.” In addition to discussing her career, I asked Ms. Richard to give her views on why Celebrity Mercury is so popular, particularly with repeat passengers and other experienced cruisers. My interview with her appears at: http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Mercury-art-CD.html

While we are on the topic of Celebrity Mercury, I thought I would mention that I traveled from New York to Baltimore, Maryland where Mercury was beginning the cruise via Amtrak. In fact, I have now done several cruises from Baltimore and each time I have traveled by Amtrak. It only takes a little over two hours to get to Baltimore Penn Station from New York and the price is reasonable, particularly if one books in advance and takes the Northeast Regional train. From the train station, it is only a short taxi ride to the cruise ship terminal. If one is traveling light with one or two bags per person, I have found it to be a viable alternative to driving.