Carnival is putting a chairlift in Roatan, and Holland America is hosting Windows 7 launch parties.  Holland America’s newest Nieuw Amsterdam was floated out too.

Book a Royal Caribbean cruise with us next week and help support the Fisher House Foundation.

Royal Caribbean took deliver of Oasis of The Seas and check out the daily video we’re getting from the ship too…

Finally, Disney announced a lot of the details about Disney Dream and we’re excited about them.

Not a whole lot going on this week so we talked about some of the stories that you didn’t get to hear last week…

Check the Coral Princess drydock photos there’s some neat stuff in there…

Regent has tweaked it’s dress codes – but best of all they’ve actually defined the new dress codes!

Then it’s all Royal Caribbean and Oasis of The Seas news.  Royal had to tweak a few things as they come down the final stretch towards the delivery.  We’ve also got a peak at just what the delivery entails, and finally where does the line go from here – we’ve got some insight on the topic from Adam Goldstein.

Don’t forget to weigh in on The Question of The Week – we want to know what you think about Mr. Goldstein’s comments…

In a few weeks we’ll should be seeing some details on Disney’s newest ship, and Princess is introducing a family friendly Alaska cruise tour.

Carnival Corp’s Mickey Arison declares that his lines won’t be going larger than they already are, and we have more news about Oasis of The Seas.

This week we talk about how you can be prepared when you cruise on a line for the first time – how you can look like you’re an expert on a cruise line even if you’ve never set foot on one of their ships before.

Norwegian added two new sailings to Pride of America next year, and Regent enters the last phase of their fleetwide refits.

LA approves a major port revitalization plan which includes a big new terminal, Carnival adds a fun zone to their Miami terminal and Oasis of The Seas is on her second shakedown cruise.

Finally there was an “incident” in Cozumel last week…

Given how slow it was this past week we also wrapped up our piece on Butlers – you may be surprised by how much Butlers on some lines do – we sure were…

This week – NCL announced the dates of Norwegian Epic’s Trans-Atlantic crossing, and Holland America made changes to their Mariner Society benefits.

You’ll be able to try Nordic Walking on Crystal starting in October – and there some environmental controversies going on.

Queen of the West has been sold.  Carnival is moving ships again – and they’ve taken delivery of Carnival Dream.

This week we also take a look at onboard butlers…

We’ve added some news music – for now – I haven’t decided if it’s staying yet.

Crystal will be teaching Windows 7 classes a month before the new operating system is available to the public. A passenger on Freedom of The Seas died while on a cruise line shore excursion.

Six passengers from Carnival Victory are being detained in Antigua after getting in a fight with local police, and laser guns may be the latest weapon employed to defend against pirates.

Royal Caribbean will rent “WowPhones” on Oasis of The Seas and has introduced an alpine coaster on Labadee – which we feel rather strongly about…

Celebrity Eclipse will be delivered early and there will be a new sailing added to her schedule because of it while MSC Magnifica will sail with her first paying passengers right from the shipyard in St Nazaire.

Things appear to be getting better for the industry as a whole – and fuel supplements still appear to be staying away…

Oh – and did you hear about Disney’s summer 2011 plans?

Celebrity will start rolling out open seating dining options, and a master is named for Queen Elizabeth. QM2 delivers a precious masterpiece, and Princess is using shore power in Vancouver.  Canyon Ranch spas are coming to all of Regent Seven Seas ships,  and Carnival Dream is getting lasers.

We’ve found out about the dining options coming to Silver Spirit and Holland America will be sending a ship to Hawai’i next year.

This week was a Newbuild Club Sandwich starting with Disney newbuild news, then later some Carnival newbuild news and wrapping with yet more Royal Caribbean newbuild news…

There were some other stories too – but this week was dominated by the newbuilds…

Princess decided to shift capacity from the Mexican Riviera in order to offer some new Hawai’i and Pacific itineraries. Patricia and I debate the wisdom of MSC using thermal imagers to as part of screening passengers for H1N1. Famed artist Wyland adds his touch to a pool on Ruby Princess New Orleans makes progress on upgrading the Julia Street Terminal Paul Gauguin Cruises has been sold – not Paul Gauguin the ship There was a minor fire on Pullmantor’s Zenith And finally a major art installation will happen this week in the new terminal in Fort Lauderdale that will be home to Oasis of The Seas

One thing we’re not happy about is the sound quality.  Everything started well, but it all went bad about 35 minutes in to the show.  We’re not sure why but we’re hoping we can prevent it from happening again.

But we weren’t the only ones dealing with change – a lot of changes are coming to Crystal Symphony – she’s headed to drydock next month.

Regent has announced their Dinner and a Show stars, and Royal Caribbean is making changes to beverage services.

The NSO’s Chamber Players will be doing a Command Performance on QM2 and it looks like Paul Gauguin may be about to be sold.

We have a follow up on the whale that was pinned to Sapphire Princess as she arrived in Vancouver BC a few weeks ago and much more information about Oasis of The Seas.

Yes it’s been a while but WE ARE BACK!  Now we could have discussed all the stories from the past two months, a few things happened while we were gone… But we didn’t.  What we did do this week was discuss some of the stories from the past three weeks or so… 

Not just is the show back – but expect to see life resume here as well. 

Thinking of sailing on Cunard?  Then make sure that you tune in next week – we’re running a cruise sale!!!

The good news (maybe) is that this is the last of the pre-recorded specials that we have in the hopper…

The better news…  We’re shooting to be back with a NEW SHOW next week…  What that show will sound like is still up in the air though, it all depends on the state of the studio…

So watch your podcast feed next week and in the mean time enjoy this special episode…

Now we recorded this with the assumption that it would get posted while we were still driving to Cleveland – but as  you know we’ve made it there safely…

In this episode we talk about how the cruise industry has evolved over the years.  Quite a bit has changed some of it for good – so of it not so good…  We didn’t talk about all the changes, theres been more than even we know about and the show would be longer than you’d want to listen to.  But enjoy our look at the industry through the years.

There were a few stories from the last few weeks that we wanted to talk about plus we wanted to test out a few things.  The good news though is that we’ve arrived in Ohio safe and sound, all our stuff has arrived and the Patricia’s office is running – just not fully unpacked.  However, unlike in California we have seperate offices and the Podcast Studio (aka my office) is not up and running and probably won’t be for a few more weeks.  We’re still shooting for regularly scheduled programming to resume in early August.

This week though we talk about the possible return of fuel supplements, progress on some new builds, Royal Caribbean’s latest experiment, a showing of the Declaration of Independance, and the fire on Royal Princess.

This week a trip down Memory Land to listen again to some of our more interesting comments…

Carnival announced the shows comming to Carnival Dream, and Princess will be rolling out enrichment programs with Leonard Maltin.

Bayonne after finishing their first permanent cruise berth is now seeking stimulus funds for a second berth, and there’s concern that Bermuda’s failure to revise gaming laws may cause cruise lines to consider ending port calls there.

Just a reminder, we may be on the road and the office may be packed up but we’re still taking calls and new bookings.  You may have to leave a message, but we will get back to you as soon as we’re in a safe location to do so.

Also, neither the site nor the podcast will be going dark – we have a few new episodes in the hopper to get you through the next few weeks.

NCL announced that the Blue Man Group will headline the entertainment onboard Norwegian Epic, while Royal Caribbean made an announcement of their own – that they were bringing a new dancing program onboard inspired by a senior citizen hip-hop group – and we really wish we were joking about that part.

With the decision to move the G8 meetings an MSC ship will not play host to world leaders as originally planned and MSC and STX are negotiating to revise the designs for some planned ships.

This week Disney Cruise Lines announced that several Disney Channel Stars will be sailing onboard DCL ships this summer.  Celebrity Millenium is getting a  $10 million upgrade.

Holland America is introducing new Digital Workshops, but if youre listening to our show you probably know what they’re going to teach you, and with the CDC easing their Mexico warnings cruise lines are making plans to head back to Mexico.

Bermuda is ready for larger ships – it’s opened it’s second large pier.  Crystal is celebrating the Theater Guild with some special guests and some special onboard performances.

NCL has revealed the hull art for Norwegian Epic and Holland America is trialing some new excursions that go beyond the usual sightseeing.

Costa details more about their Playstation partnership with Sony, and MSC made it’s first ever call to New York.  Finally Princess is celebrating ALaska’s 50th Anniversary in their own special way.

First NCL announced that they are moving Norwegian Sun from Alaska to Europe for the Summer of 2010.  Meanwhile Norwegian Jewel will move to New York instead of Europe for the Summer 2010 season.  Meanwhile Princess elects to have two ships sail the Caribbean over the Summer 2010 season.

Fincantieri elects to cancel the delivery ceremony for Costa Luminosa because of a labor dispute.  Royal Caribbean expands My Time Dining fleetwide.

Finally we have a quick update about MSC Melody’s pirate attack, and then we talked about the Swine Flue impact.  Expecting to go on a cruise to Mexico in the next month?  We need to talk because your itinerary has changed.  No matter where your cruise is headed there is now an industrywide standardized screening process in place.

Crystal is rolling out a photography based Experiences of Discovery.

Hairspray is coming to Oasis of The Seas and three ships will play a key role maintaining security at next year’s Winter Olympics.

Independence of The Seas will offer year round sailings from Southampton and Celebrity Century will offer year round sailings from Miami.

Seattle and Vancouver start their Alaska seasons and MSC enhances their MSC Club benefits.

The tables turn as MSC Melody opens fire on pirates.

After the news we discuss kids programs this week.  There’s a reason that cruising makes a great family vacation…

No show next week because of the big goings on.

For the first part of this week though we provide you with a lighter look at the cruise industry.  Loyal listener Rob has supplied us with some unique news for this episode…

We know many of you were eargerly awaiting Patricia’s thoughts about Carnival Splendor and we didn’t want to make you wait another week…

While we were off the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Miami conference was being held.  Unlike previous years there wasn’t a lot in the way of announcements – however we talked quite a bit about what was actually announced.  So we ended up with two shows so that we could also bring you Patricia’s quick review of Carnival Splendor this week too.

While we were off Cunard announced a lot of details about the new Queen Elizabeth, and NCL provided more information about the accomodations coming to Norwegian Epic.

Crystal is introducing technology concierges and there was some discussion about whether or not all of the previously announced newbuilds for the luxury segment will still be built.

Fort Lauderdale shares more about their plans for Terminal 18.  Celebrity released dates for Celebrity Equinox.

MSC Fantasia will host G8 leaders, and Royal Caribbean is increasing their presence in the Northeast.

In the news this week:

Construction has begun on Oceana’s Marina, and Disney has named their newbuilds.

James Taylor will be onboard Queen Mary 2.  Royal Caribbean is enhancing their kids programs, and Carnival will be sailing to Alaska from Seattle in 2010.

Sailings have been cancelled and Millenium is headed for some quick propulsion repairs.

The first steel was cut this past week for the first of Disney’s two new builds, and we should be seeing the first details about the new Queen Elizabeth in the next few weeks.

San Diego is pitching Disney to homeport a ship in the area (not that Disney has said that they plan to move a ship west) and Holland America is rolling out Ship to Shelter to San Diego.

We had a lot to say about Norwegian Epic this week too.  We’re not impressed.

One man is missing from Carnival Splendor in what may be a suicide attempt, and MSC Fantasia breaks away from the pier in Palma de Mallorca.

NCL is introducing travel insurance that specifically covers job loss, and Princess has partnered with Klutz for new arts and crafts programs.

In Royal Caribbean’s annual SEC filing last week they drop the bombshell that they still haven’t secured financing for Oasis of The Seas and did you hear that there was a fire onboard Costa Romantica?

Carnival Sensation gets Evolution of Fun upgrades, and Holland America announces sommalier packages and celebrities coming to their Culinary Arts Centers.

Royal Caribbean offers enhanced amenities to suite passengers and the Celebrity Equinox will be delivered early. There’s also been some notable progress on the expansion of Terminal 18 at the Port of Fort Lauderdale.

This week we take a look at Costa Cruises.  Costa’s an Italian cruise line that is very different from their US based counterparts from their theme nights to their rewards programs.

Look for an outstanding Deal of the Week.