Disney Cruise Line is revolutionizing movie entertainment at sea with the debut of Disney Digital 3-D, a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience premiering exclusively onboard the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder.
Guests will delight as first-run Disney films leap off the silver screen and take on a whole new dimension thanks to Disney Digital 3-D technology being added to both the Walt Disney Theatre and Buena Vista Theatre. Disney Cruise Line is the first cruise line to introduce 3-D entertainment onboard its ships. Disney Digital 3-D will premiere onboard the Disney Wonder during the Nov. 20 sailing and on the Disney Magic during the Dec. 6 sailing.
Leveraging this new technology, Disney Cruise Line will take 3-D into uncharted waters in early 2009 with the debut of an exciting new cinematic experience that combines full length Disney Digital 3-D films with in-theatre effects. Tridimensional images will combine with lasers, fog, streamers, and special lighting effects to create an immersive movie-going experience like no other at sea. During these once-a-cruise special engagements, guests will feel the rush of being part of hottest show in town as in-theatre effects enhance 3-D films featuring popular Disney popstars in concert.
Disney Cruise Line will celebrate the debut of Disney Digital 3-D by hosting a special screening event for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ newest animated feature, “Bolt,” onboard the Nov. 20 three-night Disney Wonder cruise. As the calendar turns from Nov. 20 to Nov. 21, guests will be invited to a special midnight screening of “Bolt” at the Walt Disney Theatre – complete with meet-and-greet opportunities with lovable walk-around characters from the film.
The film features super-dog Bolt (voice of John Travolta), whose every day is filled with adventure, danger and intrigue – at least until the cameras stop rolling. When the star of a hit TV show is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City, he begins his biggest adventure yet – a cross-country journey through the real world to get back to his owner and co-star, Penny (voice of Miley Cyrus). Armed only with the delusions that all his amazing feats and powers are real, and the help of two unlikely traveling companions – a jaded, abandoned housecat named Mittens (voice of Susie Essman) and a TV-obsessed hamster named Rhino (voice of Mark Walton) – Bolt discovers he doesn’t need superpowers to be a hero.
(0) Comments (Leave a Comment)Filed under: Disney Cruise Line Posted by Michael on 11/18/08
Following Queen Mary 2’s recently completed refurbishment, there is now increased connectivity throughout the ship. In these days of instant communication, guests can now access their emails or websites while aboard the ship as easily as in the comfort of their own home. This makes a voyage on Queen Mary 2, and especially a Transatlantic Crossing, a real opportunity for those who want to get away from it all and still be able to get in touch whenever they want to for personal or business reasons.
Guests have the convenience of using their laptop computers in the privacy and comfort of their staterooms with the addition of in-room wireless connectivity. In addition, mobile phone and handheld service while the ship is at sea is now available. The upgrades enhance the ship’s already existing high technology services, which include WiFi accessibility found in public rooms throughout the ship. Sister ship Queen Victoria already offers these services.
To use mobile phones at sea, guests must have a device capable of roaming internationally and their service provider must have a roaming agreement with Maritime Communications Partner AS, as does AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint. Cunard encourages guests to contact their mobile phone/handheld service provider in advance of the voyage’s departure date to verify their plan for pricing and international roaming capabilities. All mobile phone/handheld data charges will be conveniently billed by the service provider. Charges generated by guests using their laptop computers who register onboard for wireless access packages will be billed to their stateroom folios - standard shipboard Internet charges apply.
This is available in most areas around the ship; however, similar to fine restaurants and theatres on land, mobile phone service will not be accessible in the Royal Court Theatre, Illuminations, the Queens Room or in the ship’s dining rooms.
Queen Mary 2’s dry dock has allowed Cunard to ensure the ship is looking pristine for her fifth anniversary year with a new refurbishment of the nautically themed Chart Room, featuring a new colour scheme and layout, carpet, drapes and furniture; the installation of a canopy providing a wonderful al fresco dining option for our Todd English Restaurant guests; and the replacement of some stateroom corridor carpets as well as French polishing and upholstery work in the Britannia restaurant, Royal Court Theatre and Canyon Ranch SpaClub.
(0) Comments (Leave a Comment)Filed under: Cunard Cruise Lines Posted by Michael on 11/14/08
Recent drops in crude oil prices have led Crystal Cruises to revise its 2009 fuel surcharge policy. If crude oil is below $65 a barrel on a specific quarterly date, the line will reimburse its fuel surcharge to guests sailing in the following quarter.
Given the volatility of oil prices, Crystal Cruises will continue to apply a $12 per guest per day fuel surcharge for Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity voyages departing in 2009. However, adjustments will be determined quarterly based on the closing price of light sweet crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as reported in the Wall Street Journal. If this closing price is below $65 per barrel two weeks prior to the beginning of the upcoming calendar quarter, then Crystal will automatically refund the charged supplement, in the form of a Shipboard Credit, for cruises departing within that quarter.
“We certainly hope that crude oil prices stabilize at a lower rate and that we can pass on this reduced price to all guests on all cruises,” said Gregg Michel, president of Crystal Cruises.
The specific dates on which the price will be measured and the quarters during which refunds may be applied are listed below.
Fuel Price Determination Date Quarter of Possible Fuel Supplement Refunds
December 18, 2008 First Quarter 2009 March 18, 2009 Second Quarter 2009 June 17, 2009 Third Quarter 2009 September 17, 2009 Fourth Quarter 2009
Presently, Crystal Cruises has no fuel surcharges assessed for 2010 sailings…
(0) Comments (Leave a Comment)Filed under: Crystal Cruises Posted by Michael on 11/14/08
Celebrity Cruises announced the Godmother of the Celebrity Solstice. Atypically, she’s not a star of stage and screen; instead, she ’stars’ in a field of enormous importance to Celebrity Cruises: the world’s oceans. Professor Sharon L. Smith, the first ocean scientist ever to serve as Godmother of a cruise ship, joined Celebrity executives today to name the brand’s sleek, 2,850-guest ship in formal ceremonies at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
A magna cum laude graduate of Colorado College, Smith earned a Ph.D. in Zoology from Duke University, holds two additional honorary doctorate degrees, and a master’s degree from the University of Auckland, where she also was a Fulbright fellow.
A biological oceanographer, Smith has traveled the world in research expeditions from Polar Regions to the Arabian Sea. She has devoted her career to studying some of the smallest components of food webs, with a particular focus on zooplankton and how their life cycles are tuned to physical forces, such as daylength in the Arctic or summer monsoons in the Arabian Sea. These tiny, twomillimeter- long animals are the biggest source of protein in the oceans, and all oceanic animals - from seabirds to small fish to whales - are ultimately dependent on them for food.
Smith investigates ecosystems by looking at how ocean physics shape the availability of the food supply, and the effects of global warming on food for birds, fish, and baleen whales, among other animals.
Smith served 15 years at the prestigious Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York, studying coastal ocean environments and the impact of nuclear energy projects. In 1993, she joined the faculty of the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science as a Professor of Marine Biology and Fisheries. Recently, she was named Dean of the Undergraduate Program in Marine Science, and also co-directs the university’s Oceans and Human Health Center.
Due in equal parts to her courage and her instincts as a scientist, Smith overcame cancer in 1993, and again in 1996. Her annual mammogram in 1993 turned up a two-millimeter cancerous lesion, about the size of a pencil point. She opted for a mastectomy, and emerged victorious over the malicious disease. And in 1996, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. But she won that battle, too.
Smith’s story is a powerful example of the critical need for basic breast-cancer screenings - and the reason why Celebrity Solstice, in partnership with United Way on November 16, will raise $100,000 for breast cancer programs to assist lower-income women who otherwise couldn’t afford this simple measure that ultimately could save their lives.
(0) Comments (Leave a Comment)Filed under: Celebrity Cruises Posted by Michael on 11/14/08
There’s been a few stories in the media over the last few days about some large internet and brick and mortar travel agencies suddenly and unexpectedly going out of business.
We just wanted to take this opportunity to re-assure all of you that we’re here and doing well. We’re still with Cruise Planners and are not in danger of closing our doors (or website) anytime soon.
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