Celebrity Appoints First Female Sea Captain to Sail Galapagos
Author: Bill
Celebrity Cruise lines announced this week that Captain Nathaly Albán will command the exclusive Celebrity Xploration through the archipelago of the Galapagos. This marks the first time in cruise history that a woman will navigate the region as captain and continues the history-making promotion of qualified women to senior officer roles in the cruise industry, including appointments by lines such as Cunard and sister-company Royal Caribbean International... read more
We all want lower cruise fares, but getting charged for odds and ends may not be very relaxing either, so some guests prefer cruising where everything they want to do or purchase is included. While all inclusive cruises are nothing new, there are more options than ever, and ways of packaging certain amenities for a flat cost, or even bundling some things in with your cruise fare on lines that aren't typically thought of as all inclusive. Let's look at what it means to be an all inclusive cruise, what some cruise lines offer, and how to budget your next cruise including things you'd otherwise pay a la carte. 
When you’re on a cruise there is one universal truth - you can’t wait to be on another one! Cruise lines are ready to abide and offer incentives for you to book future cruises while you're onboard. Some of the programs offer greater benefits than others, but the bottom line is that if you know what you want, and you're ready to book, you can only win by using these programs. Below we compare the cost and incentives for booking on land vs onboard for several popular cruise lines... 
Onboard credit may be completely new to you, but even if you’re a seasoned cruiser there are probably things we can shed some light on. Commonly abbreviated as “OBC” or referred to as "shipboard credit", onboard credit can be thought of as a gift card of sorts for a specific cruise - money that you can use on your cruise for any number of things, including beverages, shore excursions, retail purchases, and more. What many people don’t realize is there are actually different types of onboard credit, which can affect how you can use it. Let’s look at how you get onboard credit, what you can do with it, and what happens if you don’t use it... 
The first day of your cruise is filled with excitement as you explore the ship and start your vacation, but safety is the priority, so you'll invariably be participating in a muster drill. It may not be the most fun part of your vacation, but let's go over what muster drills are, why they're important, and how you can make the best of this "lost time" on embarkation day. 
Today at D23 in Anaheim, CA, an annual Disney fan event, Bob Chapek, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts announced an additional build for the cruise line, bringing her planned ship count to seven. This adds to DCL's announcement last year that they'd be bringing two new and larger ships, scheduled for delivery in 2021 and 2023. The additional build will be a member of the same new class of ships, slated to come in at 135k gross tons and be released in 2022, with all three ships being built at Meyer Werft in Germany. 
While cruising is about relaxing, fun, enrichment, and telling your office that you’ll be completely unreachable for a week, for the crew and the cruise line there is another important element: safety. The last line of defense is the lifeboat, but it’s far more than a wooden dinghy out of a Hitchcock film. Modern lifeboats have evolved for enhanced safety, reliability, and even visibility - let’s look at how. 
Most cruises are about both the fantastic onboard experience as well as the ports of call you visit. Whether sailing the warm Caribbean or historic Mediterranean, you’ll likely want some sort of plan for while you’re in port. From guided tours to resort passes, or even helicopter rides to glaciers, you can book a number of tours through the cruise line - but should you book independently instead? Let’s look at the risks and benefits of each. 