Some Small Blog Changes..

Hi readers! Just wanted to let you know that today I made some small changes to the blog. If you look you will see that at the bottom of each post there are 4 buttons... "interesting", "cool", "geeky" and "umm...?". You can click any one of these to express your feelings about the post if you would prefer not to comment.
On top of that there are several other buttons at the bottom of the post that will allow you to easily share these posts on facebook, twitter, google etc etc..

Anyways, my readers, I hope you like the blog so far. Every week I am getting more and more visitors from all over the world and I hope that number continues to grow.

Always feel free to comment on here with your questions or opinions about ships, the blog or the cruise industry!

-Mark

The Rose Parade and Cunard!!

Well I am very excited for this coming New Year! A whole new year for cruising, blogging, geeking out over ships, visiting the Beautiful and Ever Perfect…Queen Mary in Long Beach and also…The 2011 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade!!

Why am I so excited about a Parade?? You ask. Well for one, it’s the world famous Rose Parade! Secondly, I am from Pasadena, California and I love the Rose Parade and Pasadena, Thirdly…this year, for the first time ever The Great, The Powerful, The Amazing and Historical Cunard Line (….*geek drool…) is going to have a float in this, the greatest of all Parades!

Named “A Grand Celebration at Sea”, the float will be Cunards first ever foray into this Parade even though, interestingly enough, Cunard has had a connection to Southern California for decades. The float is designed to show different scenes and experiences that you could have on a Cunard ship like a Grand Ball, a grand staircase, a big band orchestra, a large floral graph of the Three, current, Cunard Queens, a Cunard funnel and other such er…um…..grandness. AHHHHHHH!!!! I LOVE CUNARD!!!!...sorry, I had a geek out moment there :D. (The picture below shows what the float will look like)

For those of you who might possibly not know what the Rose Parade is….first of all I would suggest you get out from under that rock you live beneath, because if you hadn’t heard of the Rose Parade, well…you must live under a rock. Secondly, the Rose Parade is a very large parade that we have here in Pasadena every year on New Years to celebrate the coming of the new year. Millions of people every year watch the Rose Parade all over the world. There are marching band, horses and of course the floats. The thing that is special about this parade over others is the floats, because in the Rose Parade every single visible inch of them has to be covered in flowers or some kind of plant material. As a result the floats are really quite beautiful and now with the addition of a Cunard float the parade will be incomprehensibly beautiful! ;)

I will try and get pictures from the parade route of the Parade and most importantly of the Cunard float. I will be sure to post those here so be sure to keep reading!!

ShipGeek Christmas Wishes!

Merry Christmas blog readers!!!

-Mark

(P.S- I didn't get any ship related presents -_-....Dang!)

A little late but....Royal Caribbean Launches Newest ship….Allure of the Seas!!

Earlier this month RCI (Royal Caribbean International) launched Allure of the Seas on her maiden voyage to the Caribbean. While I will try not to make this to long today, I will try and give some small tidbits of information and some commentary here. Allure is the largest passenger ship in history, even larger then her identical sister ship the Oasis of the Seas (but only by 50 millimeters I think it was LOL!) and 5 times the size of Titanic. She can carry over 6,000 passengers and over 2000 crew members on each cruise.

Above photo "Pictures of the Allure of the seas boat as she docked in Labadee, Haiti" by flickr member "Nathan & Raquel"

She has 7 “neighborhoods”, like her sister, Oasis.
They are…
---Central Park, with real plants and trees running down the center line of the ship, sporting shops and restaurants. Photo at left "Launch of Royal Caribbean International's newest ship Allure of the Seas. Central Park." by flickr member "new cruise ships"
---The Boardwalk, a large open outdoor space at the aft end of the ship, modeled after different ocean side boardwalks around the world like the famous Santa Monica pier here in California. It has several restaurants, stores, bars, and handmade wooden carousel, rock climbing walls and at the stern of the ship; an Aqua Theater with original diving and acrobat shows.
---The Royal Promenade, a large shopping and entertainment arcade that has become something of a staple on newer RCI ships, runs down the center of the ship below central park. It has restaurants, shops, bars (including one that acts as an elevator between The Royal Promenade and Central Park) and even a couple of parades that happen several times during the cruise.
---Entertainment Place, an area that includes Studio B, Allure’s ice rink which features ice shows, Comedy Club, Jazz lounge, The Casino and the Amber theater, Allures main theater with shows like Chicago and a RCI original “Blue Planet”.
--- The Pool and Sports Zone, with several different pools, including a beach like pool that gets gradually deeper as you walk, a zip line that zips you 9 stories high above the Boardwalk area and 2 Flowriders: Serf simulators. It also features an large adult only space at the front of the ship over the bridge which has a light buffet by day and a Brazilian Churrascaria restaurant by night, 2 levels of out door lounge space and 2 whirlpools that hang over the side of the ship.
---The Youth Zone featuring several different areas for different age groups including a nursery for babies, the theater and a science lad.
---The Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center, which features a large fully equipped gym and a large luxurious spa.

Photo at right "Boardwalk 3" by flickr member "Gelinda"

The ship is beautiful and seems to be doing very well already. She’s identical in almost every way to her sister Oasis but does have some key difference, for example the Boardwalk on Oasis features a seafood restaurant, The Seafood Shack, where as on Allure there is a Mexican Restaurant, Rita’s Cantina, in its place. This was done to attract more people to the Boardwalk area which apparently was under-performing on Oasis. There are also some other small differences such as Oasis does not have the Brazilian restaurant mentioned above, Oasis features “Hairspray” as its headlining show where as Allure has “Chicago”, Allure has the first Starbucks at sea (STARBUCKS IS TAKING OVER THE WORLD I TELL YOU!), Allure has a hot dog eatery absent on Oasis, the look of the Boardwalk has been changed and there is one other difference on Allure that I am not so keen on.

A few months back, RCI teamed up with DreamWorks Animation Studios. Doesn’t sound too bad at first…you can have Shrek, Puss In Boots and Po play with the kids in the kid areas which they (the kids) will love. But it’s not like that here… and this is RCI’s one and only big fail with Allure so far, in my opinion. DreamWorks characters are everywhere. The Ice show is “How to Train Your Dragon on Ice” (Great movie BTW), the parade that goes down the Royal Promenade is DreamWorks filled (from what I have heard), DreamWorks movies are shown, the characters are walking around and the thing that bothered me the most was Princess Fiona as the Allures Godmother. Don’t get me wrong, The DreamWorks movies are good, I am just not crazy about them being all over this ship.

Disney Cruise Lines does the same thing on their ship but I don’t know…Shrek doesn’t seem quite as loved or as endearing as Mickey Mouse does he?

But besides that I have no major gripe with Allure of the Seas. She’s beautiful, great and I desperately want to sail on her!!! She and Oasis really are great ships and both together, in my opinion, offer a unique and great cruise experience.

I am hoping to write another article on the Oasis class ships, in which I will go into more detail about the ship, soon so keep reading!

Above photo "Sunrise at 6:45 am off the coast of Ft Lauderdale, Florida aboard Allure of the Seas." by flickr member "jazzybeatles- Joe DeRenzo "

Ummm.....

Well now here I am sitting at my laptop ready to finally write for this sad little blog that I have been negliecting. I have just finished watching a DVD “Three Queens: An International Rendezvous” by Robert Neal Marshall (Great DVD BTW…..I geeked out watching it) and I am inspired now to write!...that and I have time right now as I don’t have any work right now.
Let my desire for this blog to be great, never be questioned! I may not write as often as I should but I am still devoted to it!

Above Photo "The cruise ship the Celebrity Infinity" by flickr member "Chris&Steve"

Cunard’s Newest ship, The Queen Elizabeth…

Last month Cunard took delivery and put into service its newest ship the mv Queen Elizabeth, named after the original RMS Queen Elizabeth of 1940.

Before I go on, I actually all ready wrote an article on the subject, that I never got around to posting on here. Here it is….

“”Last week Cunard (hehe…..I love Cunard!!!) took delivery of their newest ship, the “Queen Elizabeth”. Now let me say here, right now before anything else is said, that I LOVE Cunard with passion! They are my favorite Line and are by far the greatest in the world with a history that spans over 170 glorious years! (If anyone says their line is better kick them in the shin…hard). My favorite ships in history are Cunard ships, like my all time favorite, The Glorious, The Beautiful, The Perfect, The Way Better Then The Normandie (though she was great too), The Incredible, The Sexy…The R.M.S. QUEEN MARY!!!! Cunard is great…I love them.

Ok now, that being said, I have to admit I am somewhat divided on this ship. First there is the part of me that loves all ships no matter what. They are all beautiful in their own way (yes….even Norwegian Epic). Looking at the current pictures of this ship’s interiors I have to say they look pretty nice and no doubt this ship will do well for Cunard and their parent company Carnival Corp. From a purely ship-critic stand point there is nothing really to complain about, but from a Shipgeek stand point and that of a die hard Cunard-geek I have to say I have some problems with this ship.

My problems are thus… First of all, the name, the name Queen Elizabeth is very significant and historical for Cunard. Two of their greatest ships (and two of the greatest ships in history) have held that name, the original Queen Elizabeth of 1940 (sister ship of the Queen Mary) and the very very famous QE2 (Queen Elizabeth 2). That doesn’t seem like it should matter but it does. Those 2 ships were both unique and beautiful. They were important. This new ship on the other hand is not really on the same level, it is 11th in a long line of Carnival Corp. ships of the same design, the Vista Class (which includes the beautiful Queen Victoria), and is really just another cruise ship. Now there is no problem with that, I love even regular cruise ships, I also really like the Vista Class but considering the history behind the name and the company I would have hoped for something a bit more special then this. Above picture "Queen Elizabeth and Waverley" by flickr memeber "andywsx"

Another problem I have with it is the interiors. Like I said above they are actually pretty nice but there is still on problem I have with them….they are practically carbon copies of Queen Victoria’s interiors! Now, again, don’t get me wrong, I love QV (Queen Victoria) and her interiors however I do have a big problem with them being copied over to the QE. When QV came out, Cunard said her interiors recalled old ships like the Lusitania or the Mauretania and was “Edwardian” (like the Titanic for you non-shipgeeks) in her style. Now the QE on the other hand, Cunard says is styled in the same way the original Queen Elizabeth was,…as an art deco ship. But if the interiors are basically copies of QV’s Edwardian interiors (with really minor modifications) then how can the ship be art deco? Really, looking at the pictures there is only one room on the ship that stands out to me as art deco, the main dining room, but even there its really more of an 1980’s art deco then one meant to recall that of the 1940’s QE.

One other problem I have, and I admit this is more petty then anything, is I find her rather unattractive. The Vista Class is actually quite lovely; QV for example is very good looking. This new ship though has a large structure on top above the bridge and a built up stern (to allow for more cabins and therefore more revenue) which in my opinion gives her a resemblance to Norwegian Epic (poor Norwegian Epic has set the standard for ugly in the industry).

I think, had Cunard given this ship another name like Caronia, Mauretania, or any of the other names from Cunard’s past fleet, this ship wouldn’t bother me. I guess to put it simply I just don’t find it worthy of its name or the history behind it. If you’re not a shipgeek you probably would not understand. I know Cunard is a business and has to do what make the most sense for their guest and their business but still I can’t help but feel this way.

Cunard’s flag ship, the RMS Queen Mary 2 or 2004, holds one of the most important and historical names in Cunard history and indeed, maritime history as a whole and in my opinion she is totally worthy of it. She’s a beautiful and unique, one off design. She’s an actual Ocean Liner (as opposed to a cruise ship, depending on your definition of an ocean liner), she sail the historic transatlantic route between England and New York and she actually is Art Deco like her beautiful predecessor the Queen Mary. She’s proof that a new Queen Elizabeth could have been really special. The Picture above shows the difference between Queen Victoria's profile and Queen Elizabeth's

Well now that I have had my rant…I have to say that I do, in fact, like the QE. She’s a perfectly nice ship, one that I would not hesitate to sail on or hesitate to encourage others to sail on. I am sure Cunard will be very happy with her. I am also sure that many loyal Cunard passengers will enjoy her. Hopefully I will be able to get aboard her someday…maybe if I am lucky, when she comes out here to Los Angeles in a few months on her Inaugural World Cruise!! Wink wink Cunard!!””


….Ok there you have it but now that its been a month since I wrote this and a month since this all happened, I have new things to say about this ship.

First of all I have to admit that even though I stand by everything I said in my above article, this ship has started to grow on me (I have never been able to resist a ship in Cunard livery). The more I see of this ship the more I notice little things about her that I like, Little differences between her and her sister Queen Victoria and little details that Cunard has added or changed on her. I won’t go into detail but I will say that I really do hope to someday sail on this ship and I really really hope that I will somehow be able to visit this ship when she is here in Los Angeles and then write about that visit... *WINK WINK CUNARD!!

Here are some links for you….

http://www.cunard.com/Ships/Queen-Elizabeth/
http://www.cunard.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Queen_Elizabeth

Cruise News and My Thoughts on it...

Hello!

Guess what…..I have a cold. And because of this cold I have more time to write today on my sad little blog. Like I said in my last blog post, work has been taking up a lot of my time lately (who would have thought that soil, not dirt, can take up so much of your time?) and has been keeping me from my blog and you…the few, the sad…my blog readers.

Anyways…One of the sad things about my absence is that a lot has been going on lately in the cruise industry, and I am late on reporting it. Things like, Cunard’s new ship has being launched and put into service, the largest cruise ship in the world leaving the ship yard, Disney’s new Disney Dream being launched in Germany (its gorgeous BTW), new ships have being announced and this week a bad engine room fire on the Carnival Splendor leaving the ship crippled off the coast of Baja California, have all happened since I last wrote an article on here.

Now that I am sick and not at work I have time to comment on all these things….

I will be writing each article in its own post so I don’t write one huge and overwhelming article that will scare anyone reading it away.

Above picture "QUEEN MARY 2 in MONTE CARLO" by flickr member " Reinhard_Schuldt"