The new site is now live!  You’ll find it over at www.mycruiseplanner.net where you’ll find all of the cruise news and information that was here before along with tools to help you find the perfect cruise vacation for you as well as some fantastic specials.

If you were subscribing to either the podcast or to the news feed for this site then you shouldn’t have to do anything.  We’ve worked some magic with the plumbing of the internet to transfer those subscriptions over for you with out a problem.

There are still a few kinks that we’re working out on the new site, in particular the News page is not working if you are an Internet Explorer 7 user.  We’re working to resolve the problem, and hope to have it fixed soon.  If you encounter any other problems on the site, give us a call or shoot as an e-mail at the address above…

We’ve mentioned before that a new site was in the works. It’s taken a little longer than expected, we’re getting very close. It may be a bit quiet over here for the next day or so until we finish up the last touches on the new site. When it’s done you’ll be re-directed to a new site address and a new front page for our entire site. All of our news, podcasts and yes Cruise Planners information will all be running off of the same site! HOORAY!

Actor and comedic legend John Cleese will share his famous deadpan wit — and possible obsession with lemurs — when he hosts a festival of his films aboard Silver Shadow’s May 22, 2007 transatlantic crossing from New York to Southampton.

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer our guests this exceptional opportunity to laugh and learn with a true mastermind of comedy,” said Cliff Perry, Silversea’s director of entertainment.  “As Silver Shadow journeys across the Atlantic, our guests will enjoy what is sure to be a laughter-filled retrospective of Mr. Cleese’s finest accomplishments in film and television.”

The John Cleese Film Festival aboard Silver Shadow will showcase such comedy classics as A Fish Called Wanda and The Life of Brian, as well as Die Another Day, the first James Bond movie featuring Cleese in the role of “Q.”  But the comedy Fierce Creatures, and the documentary In the Wild:  Lemurs with John Cleese, are sure to stand out as two of the most enlightening films presented.  Cleese, an animal advocate who has a species of lemur named after him, considers these works to be among his most significant achievements, as they shed light on the plight of lemurs facing extinction in Madagascar.

Cleese will share insights and anecdotes from a fascinating career that goes well beyond his cinematic works.  Renowned for his TV roles in Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers, the multi-talented British actor has also co-authored two best-selling books on psychology, taught at Cornell University, and spent twenty years helping to run Video Arts, a highly successful producer of management and sales training films.  Most recently, Cleese was the voice of God in the Broadway smash hit Spamalot.

The May 22 cruise aboard the all-suite, 382-guest Silver Shadow departs from New York City for Boston, Halifax, the Azores, Cork, Waterford, Plymouth and Southampton.  Early Booking Incentive fares for this 16-day voyage start at $7,486 per person, based on double occupancy.

Call us at 888-286-9827 to book your cabin onboard Silver Shadow.

Exploration and discovery can be found onboard MSC Cruises’ Northern Europe itineraries.

Three of the line’s ships will be taking guests to some of the world’s most stunning and unspoiled natural beauties this spring and summer on itineraries that feature the Baltic capitals and the Norwegian fjords. The itineraries call at such memorable locations as Oslo, Tallin, St. Petersburg and the North Cape, the pinnacle of beauty.

MSC Opera and MSC Lirica – two of the line’s contemporary vessels – will each sail 7-night roundtrip itineraries from Copenhagen, alternating between the Baltics and the fjords. The classic ship MSC Rhapsody will offer 11-night alternating Baltic and fjords roundtrip itineraries from Amsterdam.

For those who want a truly comprehensive Northern Europe experience, MSC Cruises is offering special rates on back-to-back sailings on MSC Opera or MSC Lirica booked through Feb. 28. The special 14-night itineraries sail roundtrip from Copenhagen and combine both the Baltic Capitals and Norwegian Fjords itineraries at “Best Fare, Best Room” rates that begin at $2,250 per person, double occupancy; government fees and taxes are additional.

NCL America will helped the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Fisheries Service with a second turtle release of 45 small 5-month old Hawaiian green turtles from the passenger-liner Pride of Hawai’i. Captive bred and nurtured at Sea Life Park, the turtles were released 3-5 miles off the east side of the Big Island on the evening of Tuesday, January 16, 2007. The release was overseen by George Balazs, Marine Turtle Biologist with the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service.

The turtles released were in seawater rearing tanks being held at the NOAA secure research facility at Kewalo Basin on O’ahu awaiting their departure Monday. The turtles were reared at Sea Life Park over the past five months as part of a collaborative research project on temperature dependent sex determination in the Hawaiian green turtle. Dr. Thane Wibbels, a world authority on sex determination in turtles with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, served as the lead scientist for this project. The study has now been successfully completed for the 2006 nesting season, hence the turtles are ready to be released into their natural environment to begin their journey in life.

The turtles are the product of Sea Life Park’s highly successful captive breeding program conducted annually since the late 1970’s. The turtles are all of known Hawaiian genetic stock composition. They are vigorous, healthy, and suitable for release into off shore pelagic waters where they would normally live at this small size (from one ounce hatchlings to 15 lb juveniles). The 45 turtles have each been tagged by NOAA with tiny Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT tags) for long term individual identification. A special hand-held scanner is needed at close range to detect the tags, such as when they may be found nesting ashore 20 or more years from now. Electronic tags that transmit to earth-orbiting satellites are not being put on these turtles because the turtles are too small for this technology. Satellite tags were put on four larger captive-bred turtles released by NOAA and Sea Life Park from the NCLA Pride of Hawaii in October 2006. Results of that on-going research project can be viewed at www.hpa.edu/turtle.html.

The 45 turtles were taken aboard Pride of Hawai’i in Honolulu on Monday afternoon January 15, 2007. The ship departed at 8pm and docked in Hilo the next day. The turtles remained on the ship in Hilo. From time to time they were “exercised” and fed in a special portable sea water pool taken aboard the ship for this purpose. The ship departed from Hilo that same day in the late afternoon and proceeded to an area off the east coast of the Big Island for passengers to view the volcano’s lava flow. Along that leg of the trip the ship will stopped 3-5 miles from shore and the turtles will be carefully lowered over the side in baskets and safely released into the sea.

With its inimitable style, luxury cruise specialist Crystal Cruises will conclude its World Cruise 2007 this spring with a stellar line-up of entertaining enrichment. Befitting the final sojourn of Crystal Serenity’s 109-day global odyssey, Grammy-nominated songstress/actress Maureen McGovern joins the NFL’s winningest coach Don Shula, former Presidential Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater and Chef Christopher Émé of L.A.’s acclaimed Ortolan, among others.

Traveling from Rome to London, April 19 - May 1, 2007, the 12-day port-intensive itinerary explores the wonders of Western Europe with calls in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, highlighted by an overnight visit in Bordeaux, France.

Adding to the allure of the destination, onboard enrichment programming includes French language lessons by Berlitz, music instruction by Yamaha, digital photo editing and an array of college level computer classes through Computer University@Sea, scrapbooking as part of the line’s Masterpiece Art Program, dance classes, golf instruction from a PGA golf pro, and much more.

“This level of talent showcasing stars of song, sport and cuisine combined with our renowned enrichment programming and lecture series is indicative of the amazing caliber of speakers and classes found on a Crystal World Cruise,” says Bill Smith, Crystal’s senior vice president, sales and marketing.

Other speakers confirmed for the eighth and final leg of Crystal’s World Cruise 2007 include Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager, dietician/broadcast journalist Carolyn O’Neil and nautical archaeologist Robyn Woodward.

World Voyage fares for this itinerary begin at $5,835, per person, double occupancy, and include special World Cruise gifts, a complimentary shore excursion and exclusive parties. Low business class airfares are available with bookings made by March 31, 2007.

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Our first ever interview!

From the very beginning we wanted to bring our listeners not only the latest cruise news and information, but we also wanted to give you a chance to hear directly from the folks who work for the cruise lines.

This week we bring you Patricia’s interview with Lily Mendoza, who is a cast member with Disney Cruise Lines.  Lily is a true insider, must Disney guests won’t get to meet her as she deals primarily with travel agents.  However, she has a vast wealth of knowledge about DCL and we really couldn’t think of a better person to come and talk to us about the line.

Since we talk about Disney Cruise Line this week, it only made sense to have DCL the subject of our Deal of The Week, although it’s best described as a Deal for The Year sure to check it out.

You can find the show in iTunes, on Digg or click on one of the links below to play it right in your browser window or to download it to your computer.

Listen Now:

 Disney Cruise Line [43:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (50)

We’ve got several stories in our cruise news show this week.  Oceania celebrates their fourth birthday, Princess and Cunard both get new Commodores, and Queen Victoria gets ready to float out of dry dock.  Max Mayfield from the National Hurricane Center will be sailing on Regent Sven Seas this year, Celebrity announces the name of their third planned Solstice class ship, Costa Serena’s naming to be held in Marseilles, and NCL America introduces a new hula program on their ships.

This week’s Deal of The Week can better be described as a Deal for The Year because it’s good throughout 2007.  Check out the details here.

As always you can find the show up on iTunes, on Digg or click on one of the links below to play the show right in your browser window or to download it to your computer.

Listen Now:

 News for the Week of January 15 [28:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (73)