AMTRAK LAUNCHES CHINESE LANGUAGE SITE

Call this the Dept. of Who Knew? "Besides English, Chinese is the second-highest language encountered throughout the Amtrak system." Accordingly, "Amtrak is launching today a Chinese-language version of its website to serve as a resource for the increasing number of Chinese-speaking residents of and visitors to the United States. The site is accessible by clicking on the Chinese-language link on the Amtrak.com homepage or at zh.amtrak.com.

"Outside of the United States, China is one of our top Asian markets," said Amtrak Chief of Sales Distribution and Customer Service Debbi Stone-Wulf. "We want our Chinese-speaking passengers worldwide to take advantage of the many services available to them on our website."

From Birmingham to Beijing, "All Aboard!" or  全體到齊 -- Gerry

CELEBRITY MARKS 10 YEARS IN GALAPAGOS

When you think about faraway ports and exotic locations, one place that comes to mind is the Galapagos Islands, off Ecuador. This year Celebrity Cruises is celebrating 10 years of providing passengers unique destination experiences. But Celebrity's commitment goes beyond that, as they detail in this latest release:

"Building on 10 years of involvement in the Galapagos Islands, Celebrity continues its commitment to supporting and empowering the communities of the region with a medical clinic, fishing and agriculture cooperatives, and a partnership with the Galapagos Conservancy, which includes a matching program to double the value of guests’ donations. Now for vacationers, Celebrity has introduced more Galapagos experiences that include:

2nd ANNUAL KEY LIME FEST COMING UP

Key lime lovers -- It's almost that time again. The second annual Key Lime Festival is coming up in July, with an assortment of events to honor that tart and tasteful fruit. Here's the complete rundown from the press release:

"The creation of the world’s largest Key lime pie, the wacky Miss Key Lime Pageant, pie-eating and cooking contests and other tasty temptations await Key West visitors July 3-5 during the second annual Key Lime Festival.

'QUANTUM OF THE SEAS' TAKING SHAPE

The excitement is building as Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas takes shape. Check out this video:

A SURPRISING CUNARD GEM

Editor's Note: Our readers know how much we love history. Here's another article in a series by Cunard's historian and public relations executive, Michael Gallagher (who we interviewed here).

By Michael Gallagher
Cunard Historian

Skirmisher (Cunard)

Which Cunarder served longer than any other? Which carried more passengers than any other? I think you will be surprised with the answers...

The River Mersey is a tidal river and the range of the tide can be as great as 33 feet. In Cunard’s early days, its ships were moored in the river and passengers would embark and disembark in tenders. With the arrival at Liverpool of increasingly larger ships in the 1880s, two new tenders were built: one was the baggage and fresh water carrier Otter, while the other was the large passenger tender Skirmisher. When Cunard ships berthed alongside from 1895, Skirmisher was used to control the positioning of every Cunarder as well as ferry passengers to and from those mid-river.

Skirmisher (607 gross tons / 165 feet long / 32.2 feet wide with accommodations for three classes) was launched at Clydebank on May 14, 1854 and was in fact Cunard’s first two-propeller ship! She entered service in July that year and would remain a familiar sight on the Mersey until she was withdrawn from service in October 1945.

By then, Skirmisher had become Cunard’s longest-serving ship and carried more passengers than any other Cunarder!

Royal duties beckoned twice. On May 25, 1894 Skirmisher acted as an escort to HRH Queen Victoria’s Royal Yacht at the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal. And then in 1897 she acted as a tender to Cunard’s Campania at the Diamond Jubilee Spithead Naval Review. 
She also visited Fishguard at this time.

Skirmisher did her duty for the country in time of war too. She acted during the whole of the Boer War as the Liverpool Embarkation Ship as the troopships mainly anchored mid-river and were stored and provisioned by a medley of small craft. In 1917 when U Boats were reported off the Mersey, she was berthed across Gladstone Dock Gate in case of an attempt to destroy it by torpedo. In the Second World War she was equipped as a fire fighter and capable of pumping 100 tons of water per minute. In 1944 she went to Fishguard to disembark Winston Churchill from Queen Mary after the Quebec Conference as bad weather forced Queen Mary to sail straight to the Clyde.

With the advent of the "giants" Lusitania and Mauretania an extra deck was added to Skirmisher to enable her gangways to reach the hull doors.

In 1914 Skirmisher went to the Clyde to attend the launch of Aquitania.
A truly remarkable Cunarder indeed!

'QUEEN ELIZABETH' GETTING MAKEOVER

Queen Elizabeth (Cunard)

Cunard's Queen Elizabeth has entered dry dock for her first makeover since she launched in 2010. Among the scheduled changes from the Cunard press release:

• In response to passenger demand and changing demographics, a total of nine new single staterooms are being created on Deck 2 midships by remodeling part of Queen Elizabeth’s casino. Eight of the single staterooms will be a new grade of Ocean View accommodation, and the ninth will be a standard Inside.
• In The Lido, the ship’s informal restaurant, refurbishments will mean that waiters with insulated coffee and tea pots will in the future serve passengers with hot drinks at all meals, while recessed risers will improve the styling of the self-service area as well as passenger flows within it.

• More generally, carpets are being renewed and large flat-screen TVs – mostly 32” or above – are being installed in all passenger staterooms.

• Sun awnings are being erected on the open area near the Lido pool at the stern on Deck 9 and on both sides of the Grills Upper Terrace area near the top of the ship to offer more shade on deck.

• The creation of a dedicated studio will enable the ship’s photographers to offer high-end portraiture, while the addition of touch screens in the photo gallery will continue the development of a digital environment in which passengers can more easily find and select their photos taken by the team.

• Significant work is planned for the shopping area on board: the footprint is increasing, new Fine Jewelry and Watch shops are opening, and the layout, lighting and overall shopping experience for passengers are being enhanced.

• On the technical front, scrubber technology is being installed in line with Cunard’s commitment to minimizing the company’s environmental impact. This involves installing a new filtration system for the exhaust gas from the ship’s engines.

Queen Elizabeth will leave the shipyard on June 1 and sail for Southampton, ahead of her 4 June cruise to Amsterdam.

MOST OVER-THE-TOP CRUISE SHIP?

Credit: Uniworld website

It was this headline that caught our attention:

"Is this the most over-the-top cruise ship ever?"

The story in the Melbourne Herald Sun refers to the S.S. Catherine, the newest river cruiser from Uniworld. While it may not look all that unusual on the outside, wait until you see the photos of the inside. Then you be the judge. -- Gerry

ROYAL ADDING TWO NEW 'OASIS' SHIPS TO THE FLEET

Stop the blog. This just in. Royal Caribbean will be launching not one but two new Oasis-class ships. Currently known as "Oasis III" and "Oasis IV," the shipyard in France is already hard at work. Let's go straight to the video...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 'QUEEN MARY 2'!

The Three Queens arrive at Southampton (Cunard)

A special occasion calls for a special celebration. On May 9, Cunard Line marked the 10th anniversary of Queen Mary 2 with a rare opportunity to view all Three Queens together – Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria in their home port of Southampton.
The ships arrived to the sounds of “Happy Birthday” from the ships' foghorns. This was followed by a special reception and lunch aboard Queen Mary 2 for His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, "who last visited the ship when accompanying Her Majesty The Queen to name her in 2004."

We also want to wish Queen Mary 2 a very happy birthday, and many more to come! Here are some photos and videos from Cunard that captured the festivities:

His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh visits with
Captain Christopher Wells, master of the QM2

 

Captain Kevin Oprey takes His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and other guests

  on a tour

Gerry and Pam from their voyage on the QM2

IT'S NATIONAL TRAIN DAY

Today is National Train Day, and one of the themes is "why trains matter to me." Economics aside, we have always loved the idea of traveling by train. Maybe it's just the romantic in us, but there's something about the experience: The sounds of the whistle and the wheels on the rails; taking in the sights or reading a book as the scenery rolls by; meeting new people and forging new friendships, or maybe just avoiding the stress that airplane travel has become. Not to mention it's the preferred mode of transportation by our favorite detective, Nick Charles ("The Thin Man") and how Bing Crosby and friends got from Florida to Vermont in "White Christmas." Here's a video from Amtrak to mark the day. 

VIKING ANNOUNCES TWO MORE OCEAN SHIPS

Viking Star  (Credit: Viking)

Viking, a leader in river cruising, is doubling down on its new ocean-going ships by announcing it will launch two additional ocean ships, bringing the total to three. Viking Sea and Viking Sky will both debut in 2016 as sister ships to the 930-passenger Viking Star, currently under construction and set to debut in early 2015. Like their sister ship, Viking Sea and Viking Sky will sail in Scandinavia and the Baltic; and the Western and Eastern Mediterranean – as well as two new itineraries for 2016 that explore the British Isles.

Here's more details from the press release:

"It was just one year ago that Viking announced its plans to expand into the ocean cruise segment, marking the travel industry’s first new ocean cruise line in nearly a decade. With Viking Star’s 2015 maiden season now more than 70 percent sold out – and sales of 2016 sailings well underway – the company is expanding both its ocean and river product lines aggressively to meet increased traveler demand for destination-focused cruises. This announcement comes directly on the heels of Viking’s news last month that it will launch 12 new river vessels in 2015, bringing the company’s total river fleet to 64 vessels.

Highlights of the new 930-passenger, all veranda ships:

ICE SKATING IN THE CARIBBEAN

As someone in this video points out, there aren't too many places in the Caribbean where you can ice skate. In fact, it appears the only place may be on Royal Caribbean ships. It was no mean feat making that happen, but as a spectator, the effort was worth it. Those shows are amazing. Check out this week's video: