Norwegian Cruise Line Profile

For the latest issue of The Log, the official journal of the Navy League of the United States, New York Council, I wrote an article profiling Norwegian Cruise Lines (“NCL”) with a focus on its operations in New York. A copy of that article is posted at http://beyondships.com/NCL-Freestyle.html

In the article I looked at NCL’s history, which grew out of a partnership between Ted Arison, who would go on to found Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian marine businessman Knut Kloster. The venture proved a success but the personalities apparently did not mix and the two went their separate ways in a not very amicable split.

Kloster kept NCL and for a time, it was the top cruise line. One of its most innovative moves was refurbishing the majestic ocean liner, the SS France, into the largest cruise ship seen up to that point, the SS Norway. This step not only vastly increased NCL’s passenger capacity but paved the way for the mega-cruise ships that we see today.

By the turn of the millennium, however, NCL had lost its former position in the industry and appeared to be headed downwards. A new owner, Star Cruises, was able to inject fresh capital into the line and also new management ideas. The line realized that in order to compete, it could not simply follow the model that all of the other cruise lines used. Accordingly, it abandoned the traditional model and introduced Freestyle Cruising, which is best known for replacing the traditional assigned time and place dining system with a system that allows guests to decide when and where to eat. It has been so successful that the other lines have or are introducing similar systems.

Another innovation was homeporting its ships in ports outside of the traditional Florida cruise ports. One such port is New York, which had been all but abandoned by the cruise lines in the winter months until NCL deployed a ship there on a year-round basis. Once again, it proved a success and other lines have followed suit.

My article also describes the three ships that NCL has been using in New York recently, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Spirit and Norwegian Dawn. Each of these ships is profiled on the site complete with photo tours. The profiles can be accessed from my NCL page http://www.beyondships.com/NCL.html

Adventure of the Seas Profile

Adventure of the Seas is one of five Voyager-class cruise ships. These ships are not only some of the largest ships in service today but are recognized as being innovative. Their large space houses a wide variety of facilities and amenities including: the Royal Promenade, an indoor mall with shops, cafes, and bars that runs the center of the ship; the trademark rock climbing wall; an ice rink that is also used as an arena for concerts and activities; as well as more familiar attractions such as pools, a spa, a theater, lounges, an Intenet cafe, library, and a movie screening room.

When a series of ships is built based upon the same design, how can you differentiate one ship from the others? On the one hand, there is the question of do you want to have them be distinct? When people like the experience that they have on one ship in a cruise line’s fleet, they might be disappointed if they try another ship and it does not have the same facilities as their prior ship. In other words, if a ship is sailing under the Royal Caribbean brand, it should have the features that passengers associate with a Royal Caribbean ship. Accordingly, the Voyager ships have the same layout and with no major exceptions, the same facilities and amenities.

But Royal Caribbean has recognized that ships are not like buses or airplanes and that they inevitably develop their own character. This is particularly well known in naval circles where identical ships have their own personalities. Accordingly, there are subtle differences in the décor of the various Voyagers.

The art work on Adventure of the Seas is modern and upbeat. The paintings are abstract with bright colors. There are also quite a few life-like statues of people engaged in various activities around the ship. The passenger hallways are warm and attractive.

Another things that struck me about the ship was that she looked crisp and new. Since the ship entered service in 2001, I can only put this down to good maintenance.

When I was on board, Adventure was on a cruise out of San Juan Puerto Rico and there was also something of a Latin flavor. The crew members I encountered seemed to be able to speak both English and Spanish and the Cruise Compasses were printed in those languages as well as French and German.

I have added a new profile section to my website on Adventure of the Seas. http://beyondships.com/AOS-Profile.htm The photo tour and commentary begins at: http://beyondships.com/AOS-tour.html

Caribbean Princess Passenger Services Director James Deering

James Deering has a vast experience in the cruise industry coming from having worked for a series of major names in cruise industry including NCL, Star Cruises, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Renaissance Cruises, and now Princess Cruises. He also has a keen intelligence and is quite articulate. Consequently, each time I have interview James, I have walked away with large amounts of material. Indeed, there was so much material this time, that there is too much for just one article.

Most recently, I encountered James on Caribbean Princess where he was the Passenger Services Director, which is equivalent to the hotel manager or hotel director on the other major lines. The ship was on a Caribbean cruise out of New York.

It is a time of transition for Caribbean Princess, one of the mega-cruise ships of the Grand (Princess) class. Caribbean Princess is taking over the itineraries previously done by her younger sister Crown Princess. In addition, in January, she will undergo an extensive refit which will give her all of the amenities and facilities that are on the more recent Grand class ships.

While it may seem a no-brainer to add features that have been successful on other ships, there is risk in change. The service, the food and the activities on Caribbean Princess were all working well on this cruise. In addition, there were numerous repeat passengers on this voyage, many of whom had come because they liked Caribbean Princess the best of all of the Grand class ships. If things are working well, why change?

James agreed that each ship develops its own character and that leads to a ship having its own following. However, based upon his experience on the Crown Princess and the Emerald Princess, he felt that the features planned for Caribbean Princess would enhance the Caribbean Princess experience without changing the ship’s basic character.

My most recent interview with James Deering is at: http://beyondships.com/Princess-CB-Deering.html

Captain Standal of Explorer of the Seas

During my recent voyage on Explorer of the Seas, I was invited up to the bridge as the ship was leaving Bermuda. Explorer is a big ship, 138,000 tons, and thus cannot dock in Hamilton or St. George’s in Bermuda. Consequently, we were at the King’s Warf pier at the former Royal Navy dockyard.

Seemingly, one could just pull away from the pier from Kings Warf and head directly out to sea towards New York. Once you are clear of the dockyard area, there is just water extending to the horizon. However, hidden just below the surface are numerous rock outcroppings that surround the island. Consequently, cruise ships have to follow a narrow channel and make a circuit around the island before heading off in their desired direction.

At one point not all that far from the pier, the channel narrows down so that it is not much larger than Explorer’s 155-foot width. Because of the narrowness of the channel, any sideways drift would lead to disaster. Therefore, the ship would have to put on a burst of speed in order to pop straight through the opening.

Just beyond the opening, the Costa Fortuna sat waiting for Explorer to pass. The new second pier at King’s Warf was still under construction and so the Costa ship had to wait until Explorer vacated her berth.

The rocks on either side of the opening just below the turquoise water were clearly visible from the bridge. Captain Erik Standal and the Bermuda pilot stood at the center console while the Staff Captain was over by the port side bridge wing so that he could observe how closely the side of the ship was to the rocks. Explorer accelerated, not to her full speed, but to a speed much faster than the normal lazy pace that cruise ships follow going in and out of port. With seemingly only a few feet to spare, Explorer shot through the opening. The water was pushed back from the rock outcroppings and then surged back, swirling in Explorer’s wake.

Once the ship was out into open waters, I sat down with the Captain for an interview. Explorer’s glass enclosed bridge runs the width of the ship and extends out over the water on either side. The computerized technology used to navigate Explorer does not take up much of this vast space so there is room for an informal conference area with comfortable chairs and a sofa. As a result, the Captain was able to keep an eye on what was going on on the bridge as we spoke.

Captain Erik, as he calls himself in his daily announcements to the guests, is a quiet but approachable person. His youthful appearance gives no clue as to his substantial sea experience. Similarly, his easy, informal manner gives no clue as to the perseverance needed to go from working on ventilation systems shoreside in Norway to commanding one of the world’s largest ships.

I spoke with Captain Erik about his career, commanding Explorer and his thoughts about cruising in general. The interview is posted at http://beyondships.com/Explorer-Standal.html

It is time to repeal the Passenger Vessel Services Act

Have you ever wondered why the major cruise lines don’t offer cruises that go directly from California to Hawaii, or voyages from New York to Miami that call at the popular tourist cities along the East Coast? The reason is a law enacted in the 1880s called the Passenger Vessel Services Act, which prohibits foreign flag ships from doing itineraries that are composed entirely of U.S. ports.

The reason for this law and for its counterpart, the Jones Act (the Merchant Marine Act of 1920) which applies to cargo, was to protect the United States merchant marine, promote U.S. shipbuilding and to secure jobs for U.S. mariners. Today, of course, the number of U.S. ocean-going passenger ships is insignificant, no cruise ships to speak of are built in the United States and few Americans are interested in being waiters and cabin stewards on cruise ships - - the majority of the jobs on a modern cruise ship.

Meanwhile, the largest of the major cruise lines, Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean, are headquartered in the United States and publicly-trade on the New York Stock Exchange.* Thus, the businesses being excluded from doing American itineraries by the Passenger Vessel Services Act are for practical purposes American businesses.

In addition, coastal cities in Europe, the Caribbean, and even in the U.S. have found that having cruise ships stop in their harbors is a great enhancement to the local economy. Evidence of this can be seen by all of the cruise ship piers and cruise ship terminals that have been built in the last decade all around the world. By precluding cruise ships from doing exclusively American itineraries at least a portion of the money that would be spent by cruise ships stopping in American ports is by definition going outside the country.

Why then is the law still in effect? To a large extent it is because talk of repealing the Passenger Vessel Services Act becomes entangled with talk of repealing the Jones Act. There still are American-flagged ships involved in the transport of cargo and there are legitimate strategic reasons for protecting what remains of that industry. Consequently, when packaged with repeal or the Jones Act, there appear to be reasons not to repeal the Passenger Vessel Services Act. While the two laws operate in a similar fashion and were originally designed to serve the same purpose, times have changed and thus repeal of the two laws should be evaluated independently.

From time to time, various schemes emerge to revive the U.S.-flagged passenger fleet and appear to provide a reason for continuing the law. In the most ambitious of these, Norwegian Cruise Line, which was then 100 percent owned by Singapore-based Star Cruises, formed a subsidiary NCL America for the purpose of providing cruises around the Hawaiian Islands. Various exceptions to the Passenger Vessel Services Act were passed by Congress in order to facilitate this scheme and NCL was able to place American flags on three of its vessels. However, by so doing, Congress essentially stood the law on its head - - it was now protecting a foreign-owned business which was operating ships that had not been built in the United States. Moreover, even with these concessions, the venture has not been a success and NCL has withdrawn two of the ships.**

Another reason the law remains on the books is because there is no large constituency demanding its repeal. The cruise lines do not vote. Perhaps as more communities realize that their local economies would be boasted by having more ships stop in their ports, there will be more support for repeal.

* Due to its merger with P&O in 2003, Carnival also has a headquarters in London and also trades on the London Stock Exchange.

** Viewing NCL’s failure as the result of competition from other cruise lines that include a brief stop in Mexico or at Fanning Island in their Hawaii cruise itineraries, the Maritime Administration has proposed a re-interpretation of the Passenger Vessel Services Act which would require foreign-flagged vessels to spend at least 48 hours in a foreign port and to spend at least 50 percent of the cruise outside of the U.S. However, assuming arguendo that this competition is the cause of NCL’s failure, it only demonstrates that there is something inherently inefficient about operating under the PSVA. The other lines have to travel far out of the way, incurring addition fuel costs and making their cruise-itinerary less appealing to passengers, in order to compete in the Hawaii market. If they are nonetheless succeeding in the market, it follows that they are the more efficient competitors. To impose additional barriers to competition would only distort the market further to the detriment of the American consumer.

In addition, the Maritime Administration’s proposal would have effects beyond Hawaii in markets where there are only foreign-flagged ships. For example, on cruises to Canada and New England from New York, the ships would have to spend at least half their time in Canada to the detriment of cities like Boston, Bar Harbor and Portland Maine.

The food and beverage manager on any passenger ship has a great responsibility. After all, eating in the ship's restaurants and drinking in the bars are important parts of the cruise experience. Consequently, the food must be good and plentiful and quality service has to be maintained. In addition, the restaurants and bars have to reflect the style of cruising that the cruise line has marketed to the public.

All of this involves a massive behind-the-scenes operation. The food, beverages and other supplies have to be ordered, brought onboard, stored and used. The staff must be trained and motivated. There must be opportunities for advancement, good living conditions and entertainment for the crew in order to have good morale and thus good service.

Bernhard Fischer is the Food and Beverage Manager on Queen Mary 2. QM2 is one of the largest ships in the world and with a schedule that involves numerous sea days, there are logistical considerations that other ships do not encounter. Moreover, when I interviewed him recently, he pointed out that the history and tradition of Cunard Line required a different way of doing things that differentiates QM2 from every other passenger ship.

The interview is posted at http://www.beyondships.com/QM2-Fischer.html I hope you enjoy it.

There is something about Caribbean Princess

I recently returned form a cruise on Caribbean Princess. The ship is the fourth one to be built on the design first inaugurated with the Grand Princess. There are now ten Grand-class ships - - nine with Princess and one with P&O cruises. All are massive ships ranging from 108,000 to 116,000 tons and carrying 3,000 plus passengers. Their steep white sides tower over you like a building when you are standing on the pier.

Although these ships spring from the same basic design, there are differences. Some have more decks than others, some have a pod suspended above the stern that houses a nightclub, and some have what looks like jet engines around the funnel. Along the same lines, Princess has developed new ideas for amenities and facilities over time and consequently, there are differences in that you will find inside the ships. While the line strives to retro-fit the earlier ships with the things that have proven a success on subsequent ships, that process in itself leads to differences.

There is also the fact that even physically identical ships have different personalities. This is a function of a host of factors including the captain and the crew. The original personalities often leave their mark on the way things are done on a ship. Subsequent, personalities may make changes but the atmosphere on board will never be identical to that on board the ship’s physically identical sister.

Caribbean Princess has a quiet unassuming personality. The ship’s interior is physically attractive and well-maintained. Indeed, there are areas such as the atrium that are quite pretty but it is never overpowering. There is no neon, nothing intended to shock the senses.

Things tend to move smoothly on Caribbean Princess. The service in the cabins and the restaurants was good throughout my voyage. Moreover, there was always something going on or something to do. Indeed, I was impressed by the fact that thee were activities on the ship even when she was in port - - a recognition of the fact that for some passengers the ship is the destination.

This year, Caribbean Princess is taking over the itineraries done in the past by her sister Crown Princess - - sailing from San Juan in the winter and from New York in the warmer months. Accordingly, I expected to find veterans of Crown Princess on this cruise. While there were some, most of the past passengers seemed to be followers of Caribbean Princess. There was something about this ship in particular that they liked, something intangible. Indeed, it is difficult not to like Caribbean Princess.

My photo tour of Caribbean Princess as well as copies of menus, daily programs and other materials are at: http://beyondships.com/Princess-CB-Profile.html