What's the ultimate splurge for people who love to travel? In my
opinion, it's a voyage on one of the six-star ships of
Silversea,
Crystal,
Regent or
Seabourn.
I was in the business for 15 years before I was able to sample a
six-star cruise, but I found that it was worth the wait. The level of
luxury and service beats anything on land, and these small-to-midsize
ships (they carry 208 to 1,080 passengers) sail to the most interesting
and exotic locations on Earth.
Fortunately, the number of folks who can afford this experience has
increased in the last few years, as six-star lines have begun to target
certain sailings with much bigger discounts than ever before. In fact,
there are discounts of up to 81% on six-star ships departing in the next
90 days;
click here
for a peek.
Frankly, I've felt I was splurging every time I've set foot on a ship,
whether six stars or three. It's just so much better out there.
Alan Fox
Chairman & CEO
Today, I'm pleased to present these
terrific deals from Holland
America, Cunard, Regent and Windstar. They include shipboard
credits, which are as good as cash on the ship and can be used toward
onboard purchases not covered in the cruise fare, like boutique
purchases and spa treatments.
Holland America is offering Vacations To Go customers deep
discounts -- save up to 72% -- off a variety of cruises and cruise tours
through 2015. Select sailings also qualify for a free beverage package
that includes alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages (a value of $100 per
day), a free dinner for two in the intimate Pinnacle Grill and reduced
deposits. Past guests may see better rates on certain sailings.
Click here
for dates and prices.
Cunard is offering our customers this exclusive promotion:
Receive shipboard credits of up to $800 per cabin, free gratuities on
select voyages and a free upgrade from an inside cabin to a balcony
cabin on select last-minute trans-Atlantic and Canada/New
England sailings. Past guests may see additional discounts on some
sailings.
Click here
for dates and prices.
Regent is offering our customers terrific discounts of up to 71%
and shipboard credits of up to $800 per stateroom on
applicable voyages. Plus, receive free unlimited shore excursions,
free prepaid
gratuities, free unlimited beverages including fine wines and premium
spirits and free unlimited Internet on select sailings (valued at $30 a
day). Customers paying with American Express Platinum or Centurion cards
qualify for an additional $300 to $500 in shipboard credits per cabin.
Click here
for dates and prices.
Windstar is offering Vacations To Go customers big discounts and
exclusive rates, resulting in savings of up to 78%.
Book by August
10.
Click here
for dates and prices.
As always, these offers are for new bookings only and subject to
availability. Restrictions may apply.
Once upon a time, cruise passengers had few choices when it came to
their evening meal -- one could go at a certain time to a certain table
in the ship's main dining room, head to the casual buffet restaurant or
order room service. These options still exist on most ships today, but
cruise lines now give passengers much more flexibility in when and where
they dine. Alternative restaurants -- those available beyond the formal
main dining room and the buffet restaurant -- can be found on virtually
every large ship and many smaller ones, while open-seating options have
been introduced on numerous vessels. Here's a quick look at today's
shipboard dining scene.
In the "traditional" dining scenario, passengers are informed of their
seating assignments for dinner upon boarding. Dining times and table
size are based on requests made at the time of booking, but on most
ships they are not guaranteed, no matter how far in advance the booking
is made.
Guests are assigned to a specific table in either the early (around 6 or
6:30 p.m.) or the late (around 8 or 8:30 p.m.) seating. Passengers dine
with the same tablemates and are served by the same wait staff each
night of the cruise.
Many passengers prefer traditional dining because it gives them an
opportunity to get to know a few of their fellow passengers and their
wait staff, and it allows the wait staff to learn preferences and
anticipate requests after a night or two, leading to more personalized
service. On the other hand, assigned seating forces passengers to plan
activities around their dinner time, which can be inconvenient on days
when the ship is in port.
Cruise lines offering traditional assigned seating in the main dining
room during dinner include
Carnival,
Celebrity,
Costa,
Croisières de France,
Cruise & Maritime Voyages,
Crystal,
Disney,
Fred. Olsen,
Holland America,
MSC,
P&O,
Princess,
Pullmantur
and
Royal Caribbean.
(On Disney ships, guests rotate through three themed main dining rooms
during their sailing, and their wait staff goes with them.)
Cunard
offers assigned seating to passengers booking certain accommodations.
Hurtigruten
offers assigned seating from 6:30 to 7 p.m.; busier periods may have two
seatings. Table reservations for Hurtigruten's assigned seating are made
on board.
Most small-ship cruise lines, plus several large-ship ones, offer open
seating in their main dining rooms. Ships with open seating operate
their main dining rooms much like shoreside restaurants -- the dining
room is open for dinner during set hours, and guests may dine when and
with whom they please during those hours.
This dining style allows guests to choose their tablemates (or dine
alone) and vary their schedules as desired. On the other hand, some feel
they do not receive the same personalized service since their wait staff
changes each night. And, as with busy restaurants on shore, guests on
larger ships who choose this option may have to wait to be seated, and
service may be a bit slower during the most popular dining times.
Cruise lines that offer open seating in the main dining room include
American Cruise Lines,
Azamara,
Blount Small Ship Adventures,
Carnival,
Celebrity,
Crystal,
Hebridean Island Cruises,
Holland America,
Lindblad Expeditions,
Norwegian,
Oceania,
Paul Gauguin Cruises,
Ponant Yacht Cruises,
Princess,
Quark Expeditions,
Regent,
Royal Caribbean,
Seabourn,
SeaDream,
Silversea,
Star Clippers,
Swan Hellenic,
Viking Ocean Cruises,
Voyages to Antiquity,
Voyages of Discovery
and
Windstar.
Certain accommodations on Cunard ships allow passengers to dine when
they wish, but they are assigned to a particular table throughout the
course of the cruise.
Several cruise lines --
Carnival,
Celebrity,
Crystal,
Holland America,
Princess and
Royal
Caribbean -- are listed above as offering both
traditional assigned seating and open seating. Several of these lines
have at least two main dining rooms on
most of their ships. At
the time of booking, guests choose assigned (early or late) or open
seating.
Note: The following ships offer assigned seating only -- Dawn Princess,
Ocean Princess, Pacific Princess, Sea Princess and Sun Princess.
Celebrity Xpedition offers only open seating.
The great majority of ships offer one or more "alternative" restaurants
in addition to their main dining rooms, ranging from 24-hour buffets and
poolside grills to celebrity chef venues and high-end gourmet
restaurants. These alternative restaurants typically have open seating
regardless of the main dining room's guidelines, though many require
reservations (which are made on board the ship). There may be a
per-person surcharge for specialty restaurants ranging from about $10 to
$45.
For detailed information about the dining venues on any cruise line,
click any link above or
click here.
Our cruise counselors also will be happy to verify dining options
available for any cruise.
Here are today's
Top 10 Cruises,
brand-new specials from the world's best cruise lines.
Click the FastDeal # for details.
1)
Caribbean, 7 nights on Carnival, departs Miami Sep 27, starting at $289, save 84%,
FastDeal # 15179
2)
Bahamas, 3 nights on Royal Caribbean, departs Miami Oct 17, starting at $219,
FastDeal # 24412 (Royal Caribbean does not provide brochure rates for this cruise, so we are unable to show a savings percentage.)
3)
Caribbean, 9 nights on Princess, departs Fort Lauderdale Nov 6, starting at $499, save 74%,
FastDeal # 17103
4)
Bermuda, 7 nights on Norwegian, departs Boston Oct 31, starting at $579, save 68%,
FastDeal # 20578
5)
Caribbean, 7 nights on Celebrity, departs Miami Nov 1, starting at $669, save 54%,
FastDeal # 10822
6)
Alaska, 7 nights on Holland America, departs Vancouver Aug 24, starting at $549, save 70%,
FastDeal # 31476
7)
Caribbean, 5 nights on Royal Caribbean, departs Fort Lauderdale Sep 29, starting at $349,
FastDeal # 23258 (Royal Caribbean does not provide brochure rates for this cruise, so we are unable to show a savings percentage.)
8)
Baltic, 9 nights on Norwegian, departs Copenhagen Aug 8, starting at $899, save 57%,
FastDeal # 17524
9)
Transatlantic, 14 nights on Celebrity, departs London Oct 13, balcony starting at $1,249, save 60%,
FastDeal # 35599
10)
Mediterranean, 7 nights on Oceania Cruises, departs Venice Oct 21, starting at $1,649, save 73%,
FastDeal # 19328
For the best last-minute cruise specials in the next 90 days, please
visit our world-famous
90-Day Ticker.
To search for discounts of up to 82% on cruises departing more than 90
days from now,
click here.
To save up to 40% with escorted and independent tours,
click here.
For river cruises up to 50% off,
click here.
For discounts of up to 50% at hotels and all-inclusive resorts,
click here.
For the lowest rates on Africa safaris from budget to luxury in quality,
click here.
Once you've found a FASTDEAL, call us toll free at 800-338-4962 (US and
Canada) and a cruise counselor will attend to your needs. Customers
from the UK, please call toll free 0-800-098-8546. All other
international customers, please email or call us at +1-713-974-2121.
Please email me your comments, suggestions and questions at
alanfox@vacationstogo.com
and I will respond the same day.
To send a copy of this newsletter to a friend or friends,
click here.
Sincerely,
Alan Fox
Chairman & CEO
Vacations To Go
