The Cruise Cafe

Welcome to Cruise Cafe. The great new place to find out the latest in the cruise business. Whether it be the latest specials, great new itineraries or information on cruise ships or cruise lines. Feel free to add comments on your experiences too. You can always find out more at www.CruiseCafe.com or by calling us at 1-800-788-2545. For the latest specials, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CruiseDepot.

Monday, March 09, 2009

New Carnival Promotion Provides Cash Back Of Up To $240 Per Stateroom

Carnival Cruise Lines is launching a new promotion offering “cash back” of up to $240 per stateroom for a wide range of “Fun Ship” departures this summer.

The new promotion is available in conjunction with virtually all three- to eight-day summer departures, including voyages to the Caribbean, Bahamas and Mexico from 14 convenient North American homeports. Bookings must be made between March 9 – May 10, 2009, to qualify for the promotion, which is valid with the line’s “Fun Select” advance purchase discount fares.

The cash back option is provided in the form of a shipboard credit that can be redeemed once on board. Guests will receive a $100 per stateroom shipboard credit on three- and four-day cruises; $150 per stateroom shipboard credit on five-day voyages; and $240 per stateroom shipboard credit for six-, seven- and eight-day sailings.

The shipboard credit is automatically applied on guests’ Sail & Sign accounts when they board their cruise and can be redeemed toward shore excursions, spa treatments, supper club reservations, gift shop items and a variety of other shipboard purchases. Any unused funds at the end of the cruise will be returned to guests on debarkation day in the form of a check.

“A ‘Fun Ship’ cruise is already an affordable vacation option for today’s value-conscious consumers and this new promotion – which provides guests with cash back that can be used toward any shipboard purchase -- makes the value of a Carnival cruise even more outstanding,” said Lynn Torrent, Carnival’s senior vice president of sales and guest services.

The new promotion is capacity controlled and applies to new individual bookings for stateroom categories 4A to 11. Guests must request fare code OCB when making the reservation.

For additional information and reservations on the “Fun Ship” vacation experience, visit www.CruiseCafe.com or call us at 1-800-788-2545.

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Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Whales Force Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship To Abandon Port Call In Maine

Call it the revenge of the whales.

The Herald Gazette of Rockland, Maine reports Royal Caribbean has canceled a much-anticipated June call in the budding port town due to a new federal right whale regulation.

The news outlet says Royal Caribbean told officials last Friday that the 2,446-passenger Grandeur of the Seas wouldn't be visiting as planned because of a recently announced federal restriction that limits vessels to no greater than 10 knots (11.5 miles) per hour in a protective area off Cape Cod. The ship would have had to transit the area to reach the town.

The Gazette says local businesses in Rockland and Camden, Maine had been planning a big welcome for what was to be one of the largest influxes of tourists to the area ever.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the new restriction in December as a way to reduce ship strikes with right whales. Only around 350 northern right whales exist and ship strikes are one of the leading causes of death for the animals.

The restriction runs from March 1 to July 31.

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