If anyone finds the repositioning cruises to San Francisco - please let me know....
This is the time of year when cruise lines are out marketing their cruises for the 2011 and 2012 winter seasons although history has shown that those plans can change quickly.
A good example is Celebrity's announcement that its ships would cruise out of Baltimore in 2011. That changed in a hurry. Celebrity is now going to Australia and cancelled the Baltimore departures. Unlike days gone by, cruise lines are moving their ships to follow the market's demands.
Here are a few plans for 2011-12, which are subject to change, of course:
- Celebrity has designed three new 12-night, port-intensive, round-trip cruises departing from Istanbul for September and October 2011. The recently revitalized Constellation will sail all three cruises starting with an overnight in Istanbul before sailing to Ephesus, Bodrum and Marmaris in Turkey and Rhodes, Santorini, Athens, Mykonos and Chania Crete in Greece, with one day at sea.
If you're looking for an interesting repositioning cruise, Constellation will sail a 12-nighter from Amsterdam to Istanbul on Sept. 7 next year and then it will re-position from Istanbul to Barcelona on Oct. 25, an 11-night journey. All the details are at celebritycruises.com.
- Princess has some interesting trips to Asia in its future.
If you're into the smaller ships, the Ocean Princess will be sailing from Rome to Singapore for 28 days on Oct. 15. The ship will take passengers to Sorrento, Athens and Kusadasi before entering the Suez Canal and going on to Sharm El Sheikh, Aqaba, Safaga, Dubai, Muscat, Mumbai, Cochin and Kuala Lumpur.
Another trip of interest is the Diamond Princess route between Beijing and Singapore. The 16-day trip has plenty of ports, including Busan, Nagasaki, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok. These cruises will operate from October 2011 to April 2012. The ship actually sails out of Vancouver that September to Beijing and makes the return trip to Vancouver in April 2012 so you have the opportunity to book one of those with a Beijing-Singapore itinerary. These trips from Vancouver in the late summer and back in the spring have been going on for years.
For more information visit
www.princess.com.
- Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas began its Dubai sailings in January this year. There are plans to add more sailings and start the winter season of 2011 in the United Arab Emirates in November. Along with the seven-night cruises, Royal Caribbean is adding two 12-night cruises. They are Dubai to India cruises to take place next March and April with stops in Muscat, Oman, Cochin, Goa and Mumbai. The cruise will also stop at the new Mangalore port in Panambur on the west coast of India. This year and next, there are repositioning cruises on Brilliance from Barcelona to Dubai and back. Look for the details on
www.royalcaribbean.com.
- Carnival will be back in Europe for the first time in 2011 when the Carnival Magic, a sister ship to the Dream, will sail mainly out of Barcelona for the summer. The ship will be sailing nine and 12-day cruises. On the nine-day trips, the ship stops are Monaco, Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Rome (Civitavecchia), Naples, Messina in Italy, Palma de Mallorca in Spain and Marseilles in France. The 12-day trips includes visits to Marseilles, Livorno, Rome, Naples, Messina and Dubrovnik with an overnight in Venice. Full details are at carnival.com.
- Norwegian's Epic, currently exceeding expected passenger sales according to Norwegian Cruise Lines, will move from the Caribbean to Barcelona for summer 2011. All its cruises are seven-day trips with port stops in Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Rome, Naples and Palma De Majorca. Check ncl.com for more.
Visit portsandbows.com for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind the scenes stories from the industry. You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Phil can be contacted directly at
[email protected].
