A Profile and Photo Tour of Carnival Valor

One of the interesting things about going aboard a Carnival Cruise ship is discovering the interior. Designer Joe Farcus creates a different décor for each ship. Often they are bold and unrestrained like a theme park. In other places, they are elegant and full of details taken from old master paintings or literature. They are never dull.

The theme of Carnival Valor is “heroes and heroic acts.” This gave Farcus a wide spectrum to draw from as the public rooms celebrate such diverse personalities as George Washington, Josephine Baker and Lou Gehrig. Other rooms are dedicated to characters from the movies, novels or mythology. It is fun just to explore the ship to see the various design interpretations.

Of course, Carnival Valor offers other things to do. She is a megacruise ship and thus can contain a wide array of amenities, entertainment and sports facilities as well as several dining alternatives.

My profile of Carnival Valor appears at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalValor-Profile.html and the photo tour and commentary starts at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalValor-Profile.html

Interview with Celebrity Solstice Hotel Director

When I was on Celebrity Solstice, I had the opportunity to talk with Simon Weir, who is the Hotel Director that brought the ship into service. The hotel director on a ship is one of three senior officers that reports directly to the captain. He is in charge of the ship’s hotel operation - - essentially everything that has to do with the guests including food, accommodations and entertainment.

I was particularly fortunate that Mr. Weir was the one who brought the ship into service because the atmosphere and character of a ship is influenced by its original senior officers long after they have moved on. They establish the way things are done and while that evolves over time, the direction is set by the original officers. Since Solstice is the first ship in a class of five, she will also serve as the model for her later sisters.

Accordingly, I asked Mr. Weir about the thinking underlying Solstice. She is bigger than anything Celebrity Cruises has done before with more space for passengers and for amenities. Weir was clear that the new ship will not simply be a bigger version of what Celebrity has done before.

I also asked Weir about how they brought Solstice into service. As he explained, this is a process that starts when the ship is still in the shipyard and is a lesson in team building.

My interview with Simon Weir is at http://beyondships.com/Celebrity-Solstice-art-weir.html.

For those interested in military ships, I have put together a photo gallery on the Canadian Navy. http://www.beyondships.com/Naval-photo-Canada.html This includes photos of ships that I have come across in recent years and I believe the ships shown represent all the classes of ships now in that navy. Similarly, I have put together a photo gallery that shows some of the frigates in the Royal Dutch Navy.

Norwegian Gem Photo Tour and Commentary

I recently went aboard Norwegian Gem again and as a result, I have taken the Norwegian Gem section of Beyondships in for a refit. I’ve added new photos, including quite a few of the ship underway, and new programs and other material that I obtained onboard. Consequently, the Norwegian Gem profile and photo tour has been updated and expanded.

Norwegian Gem is the newest ship in the NCL fleet. She is 93,000 tons and can carry 2,380 passengers double occupancy. Gem was built in Germany and entered service in 2007. During the winter months, she has been sailing out of New York to the Caribbean. However, she spends her summers in Europe - - this year the Mediterranean.

As the newest ship in the fleet, she has all of the most recent Freestyle Cruising amenities. This includes a multitude of dining venues ranging from a sophisticated French Restaurant to a 24-hour venue that provides hamburgers and light fare. Of course, she has two large main dining rooms but under the Freestyle system, guests only have to make use of them if they want to.

In addition to an array of dining venues, Gem has quite a variety of accommodations. These range from the ultra-luxurious Garden Villas to rather utilitarian interior cabins. The top suites also have access not just to a concierge lounge but to an entire exclusive area on the ship.

When I last was aboard Gem, she had just entered service. I was pleased to see that the intervening time has treated her well. She still looks like a new ship. The only difference that I noticed was that the original Claude Monet masterpiece that was behind the Reception Desk has now been replaced by an original Marc Chagal.

The Norwegian Gem Profile Page, which includes the photos of the ship underway, is at http://www.beyondships.com/NCLGem-Profile.html. The expanded photo tour begins at http://www.beyondships.com/NCLGem-Tour-1.html

Independence of the Seas Photo Tour and Commentary

I found Independence of the Seas to be an exciting ship. She is packed with things to do and the entertainment and activities are non-stop. Thus, even for a person like me who is not particular oriented toward sports and physical activity, I found that there was a lot to do.

Independence is Royal Caribbean’s newest ship. Royal Caribbean likes to build them big and reap the benefits of economies of scale. For the moment, Independence is the world’s largest cruise ship, a title she will hold along with her two sister ships until Royal Caribbean brings out Oasis of the Seas later this year.

Although she is big and carries a lot of people, I never felt over crowded. Yes, there are parts of the ship that can get busy - - the buffet, for example - - but there are also parts where one can be by oneself. This is probably due to the fact that there are so many amenities on the ship that the passengers are well-distributed. It is also a credit to management for planning the activities with good passenger flow in mind.

Independence is based most of the year in Southampton, England although she spends the colder months in the Caribbean. As a result, for most of the year, most of her passengers are British. While the overall experience remains the American-style cruise that Royal Caribbean is famous for, there have been a few alterations to the menu and to the entertainment to make the British guests feel more at home.

In the final analysis, the reason Independence appeals to different cultures is because it provides an entertaining cruise experience. With rock climbing walls, a skating rink and an indoor shopping/dining/entertainment boulevard (complete with a parked car), it is not a traditional cruise experience. However, it is fun.

My profile of Independence is at http://beyondships.com/RCI-IOS-Profile.html and the photo tour and commentary starts at http://beyondships.com/RCI-IOS-tour.html.

Cruise ship specialty restaurants

During my various cruises, I have tired a number of the various specialty restaurants aboard the ships. These are venues that offer an alternative, usually luxury, dining experience for a cover charge above the price of the cruise.

Since they are becoming increasing popular, the cruise lines are putting more of these alternative restaurants on the ships. As such, they are an important part of the cruise experience the various lines are trying to present. Consequently, the topic of specialty restaurants often comes up in the interviews that I do with the ship’s officers.

This week, I thought I would put together an article that focuses on the specialty restaurants and which talks about why the cruise lines have incorporated them into their cruise program. To this end, I have drawn upon my interviews and have included comments by various officers. In addition, I thought I would go a step further and talk about some of the specialty restaurants that I have tried and liked during the last year. These include restaurants on Ruby Princess, Emerald Princess, Queen Mary 2, Carnival Splendor and Celebrity Solstice.

I also thought it would be an idea to have links in the article to the menus of these restaurants. That way, if a restaurant sounds interesting the reader can click and see what that restaurant actually offers.My article on cruise ship specialty restaurants appears at http://beyondships.com/Cruise-articles-specialty-restaurants.html

Photo tour and guide to Celebrity Solstice

In the days of the great ocean liners, new ships were as eagerly awaited for their interior design as they were for their technological innovations. Celebrity Solstice revives this tradition. Her interior design is nothing short of spectacular. Not in the Las Vegas or shock and awe meaning of the term but rather in the sense that everywhere one looks one is impressed by what one sees.
The overall design is contemporary. In fact, it reminded me of the most recent Manhattan hotels. Lighting is used to great effect to create mood and visual beauty. For the most part, the lines of the rooms are clean and unbroken, punctuated occasionally with an elegant chandelier or a multi-story vista. There is a $6 million art collection spread unobtrusively around the ship. It is the overall effect that is intriguing, not any particular piece.

Solstice is also technologically interesting. Her 2 Azipods combined with a hydrodynamic hull can drive her at more than 25 knots through the water. That is not bad for a cruise ship, especially one of 122,000 gross tons.

My profile of Celebrity Solstice is at http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Solstice-Profile.html and the photo tour and commentary begins at http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Solstice-Tour-1.html.

In the near future, I will be supplementing the Solstice section of the site with interviews with Solstice’s Hotel Director Simon Weir and with Cruise Director Dru Pavlov. For the moment, however, I have included some thoughts from them in the Solstice Photo Tour and Commentary.

Captains Interviews: Carnival Splendor and Explorer of the Seas

The primary objective of Beyondships is to give people a feel for the various ships profiled on the site. To do this, I like to present the views of the people who actually run those ships in addition to the photo tour, menus, daily programs and other information presented on the site. I think it helps give more of the human element of the experience. This week we present conversations with the senior officers of two popular ships: Carnival Splendor and Explorer of the Seas.

I met with Captain Giorgio Pagano, Master of the Carnival Splendor, and seven of his senior officers in the ship’s Robusto Bar. It was a free-flowing exchange with the various officers supplementing what each other was saying. Since Splendor is a new ship, the conversation focused on the construction of the ship and how she was brought into service. On a ship that reportedly cost half a billion dollars, it was a much more involved process than simply turning up at the shipyard on the delivery date and taking the keys.

The second item is based on a conversation that I had with Captain Erik Standal (top photo above) when he was Captain of Explorer of the Seas. (He has since gone on to command Explorer’s sister ship Navigator of the Seas). Captain Erik is a great source of information and there is already interview with him on the site about Explorer and some of his comments are included in the photo tour of Navigator.

Explorer sails year-round from New York harbor (Bayonne, New Jersey) and in this conversation we discussed Explorer’s ability to handle the winter weather in the northeast. We also talked about his approach to actually driving one of the world’s largest ships. Finally, we discussed emergency rescues at sea.

My conversation with the officers of Splendor is at http://beyondships.com/CarnivalSplendor-interview.html. While the article about Explorer is at http://beyondships.com/Explorer-Standal-2.html.