Cruise Sweepstakes from MSC

We've found another contest for you to enter, with a cruise as the grand prize.  MSC Cruises is giving away a free New England cruise for two.

FROM the entry page - Just enter our sweepstakes and you could win a free cruise for two to Canada and New England during our inaugural fall season, September-October 2010.
Here's the link to enter:  http://www.freecruisesweepstakes.com/

Good Luck, and happy sailing from http://www.cruisereadystore.com/

We Sail Today!

Some persnal notes for today - Sailaway day! It's been SO long since we curised that I hardly know how to act, but today's the day!

We'll be on the Monarch of the Seas, with our good friends Sue and Dickie, and it will be three days of relaxing and catching up. Everything's ready. Bob and Marilyn are here to mind the house and Walker, and I've got my Bon Voyage to Me T shirt ready to wear.

Dickie informed me he brought his nautical tie clip - the one from my store with the cruise ship on it - but doesn't intend to dress up. Does THAT make sense??? Why bring it if you don't intend to wear it? We'll see. And Sue brought everything but the kitchen sink, as usual. The two of them are such fun. It's going to be great to cruise with them again.

They were really pleased with the way our little magnet door markers turned out. These come in handy for my guy, too, who can never remember his cabin number. Since all the doors on those long hallways look pretty much alike, I 'mark' ours for him with a pretty magnet. Here's a pic of the ones I did for this trip ... one for each of our two cabin doors. They'll be a nice little keepsake afterwards, too. This is just one of several designs available for personalization in my Zazzle Gallery. (There's buttons and shirts, hats, bags, and other things, too)

Well - time to get in gear... first, breakfast at our favorite pre-cruise spot - The Sunrise Diner. So, now IT BEGINS.

Win A Disney Cruise

It's been a while since I brought you news of a 'win a free cruise' contest. But, today, I'm doing just that. This one is from Disney Cruise Line and The Weather Channel.

Good Luck, and Happy Cruising, from Cruise Ready Store !

Here some of the details, and the link to the page where you can enter:

If you win the Grand Prize in the Choose & Cruise Contest, you get to choose whether you'd like to cruise the Med, visit European Capitals, bask in the warm Western or Eastern Caribbean.
There's also instant on-line prizes, including short cruises to The Bahamas, and DCL and TWC merchandise.

The link for the entry page is here- http://weather.promo.eprize.com/cruise/

Caribbean Cruising Cruise Gear

Caribbean Cruising

Cruise Gear & Gifts

by

Cruise Ready on Zazzle

If you love Cruising the Caribbean, you're sure to like this new line of persosnalizable "Caribbean Cruising" cruise gear from Cruise Ready on Zazzle. Shown above are the magnets and buttons ready for you to customize with your name, and cruise information. Both come in either round or square. -OR- if you're a TA, take advantage of bulk pricing, and customize with your agency and contact information instead - they would make great advertising give aways!

Two more products in the line include tote bags you can put your name on (with several styles of totes to choose from), and coordinating Tropical Isle keds deck shoes.

There are mpre Caribbean Cruising Cruise Gear amd Gifts, too - including a hat, stickers, a mousepad, and mugs. See them all, along with other cruise geag and cruise themed gifts at Cruise Ready on Zazzle.

Is the End Near for the SS United States?

Is the end coming for one of the most beloved Ocean Liners ever?

Sadly, it appears that way.

The famous ship, now languishing at a pier in Philadelphia, was the last to win speed records for transatlantic crossings in both directions by a passenger ship in regular service. Today, she still holds the speed record for a westbound crossing. She's alsos the largest liner efver to be built entirely within the United States - a source of consierable national pride in 1952, the year she entered service. (She continued transatlantic passenger service unti 1969.)

Her fate having been uncertain for years now, she has been sitting idle in Philly since 1996. Many times, hopes have risen that a new owner would come to her rescue. Those hopes have remaiined alive, but unreallized for over a decade.

Now, a deadline looms. A deadline that could mean a national icon that once transported would be new Americans to our shores will surely become nothing more than scrap. Unless, ofcourse, a last minute rescue party arrives. Although unlikely, the dim hope of a reprieve of her death sentence still lives through the efforts of the SS United States Conservancy. Anybody got an extra three milion in their back pocket?

Brought to you, with sadness at the thought of losing a grand lady of the sea,

by Cruise Ready Store

Top photo: Public Domain

Do You Believe in the Upgrade Fairy?

If you're a long-time cruiser, you probably know all about the mythical Upgrade Fairy. If you're scratching your head, here's a quick primer:

She's an elusive creature. Some cruisers scoff at the existance of such a being. But many others fervently believe, and earnestly petition her to grace them with a visit prior to their cruise.

What does a visit from the Upgrade Fairy mean? It means the cabin you paid for is unexpectedly upgraded to one of a higher category. This often means that your basic inside cabin as become an oceanview cabin. (No extra charge!) Or, though you paid for a small bacony cabin, the good fairy has waved her wand and turned it into a mini-suite.

Do such things really happen? Yes, but rarely. Very rarely. And when they do, it's such a 'magical' experience, that some cruisers are convinced there surely must have been extra-human intervention. Thus, . . . the Upgrade Fairy.

Do you believe? I do.

It happened to me once. Yes, ONCE, out of thirty-plus cruises. But it DID happen, and it was a good one... a SIX category upgrade! Now, this phenominal strike by the Upgrade Fairy did involve some unuual circumnstances, AND the involvement of my excellent TA. But even circumstances and TAs don't usually net upgrades of six categories. So, I think the good fairy must have a little hand in aligning those circumstances in such a way as to pave the way for the multi-category nature of the event.

FOR BELIEVERS - In tribute to the capricious wand waver, here's my just-designed fun little line of Upgrade Fairy products that includes pins, magnets, a mouse pad, mugs, and shirts. (More to come? We''ll see . .) All are available at Cruise Ready on Zazzle.

Now, the opening question remains - Do YOU believe? Do you want to?

This "Fairy Tale" brought to you by

www.CruiseReadyStore.com

Rogue Waves Slam Louis Majesty

The Louis Majesty has been hit by THREE rogue waves, the highest estimatead by the captain at some 26 feet, a she sailed on an itinerary in the Med. Two passengers were killed, and sevral more injured. The ship is now returning to Barcelona, her port of departure. The Louis Majesty formerly sailed as the Norwegian Majesty.

Star Princess in Chile

Princess Cruises' Star Princess is currently ported in Valparaiso, where cruise passengers aree scheduled to disembark at cruise end. The next cruise, originally scheduled to leave from there today, will instad leave tomorrow evening, at the earliest.

Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises

Princess reports this morning that the Cruise Terminal there is operational. However, air service in and out of Chile has, as we know, been affected by the recent earthquake. According to a Princess news release, "... we plan to keep Star Princess in Valparaiso for at least another 24 hours so our passengers who are unable to fly out, will be able to stay onboard until flight operations resume. Passengers who are already in Valparaiso will also be able to embark and stay on board the ship."

For further details and updates, check the Princess Cruises website

This Cruising News brought to you courtesy of
http://www.cruisereadystore.com/

The Sun and The Star

Norwegian Star

With Port Canaveral already anticipating the arrival of the Norwegian Sun this October, Tampa got some good news, too. Norwegian Star will call the Port of Tampa her winter home, beginning in 2011.

While the Sun begins her alternating seven day Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries October - April of this year, next year will see the Star sailing weekly to Roatan, Costa Maya and Belize from Tampa.

It's always nice to have more cruising options in the Sunshine State!

Tune in to Cuising Musings for reports of local plans to welcome the Sun to the Space Coast later this year.

The Norwegian Sun (stock photos courtesy of NCL)

Good News in Cruising brought to you by Your source for Cruise Accessories

UPDATE on othe Disney Magic Delay

This is an update to the news reported in my previous blog entry, which said thet the Dusney Magic had failed to return to Port Canaveral this morning as scheduled. Disney Cruise Line has issued a statement. Here's a quick summary:

Gale force winds prevented a safe departure from Castaway Cay last night.
Guests on the cruise scheduled to end today will stay on board until tomorrow.
Those scheduled to depart on their cruise today will depart tomorrow instead, and will have the option of spending today at Epcot. Additionally, Disney indicated it will attempt to house all of them in Disney resort hotel rooms tonight.

Phone number for cruise guests with questions: 1-800-939-2784.

This update brought to you by Cruise Ready Store.

Disney Magic Delayed by High Winds

The Disney Magic, which was due in Port Canaveral earlier this morning for a turn-around, is reported to be stuck in The Bahamas, unable to leave due to high winds.

Of course, this means that the passengers currently on board the ship, who should have disembarked this morning, may be missing air connections. And those due to board for the next cruise, slated to leave this afternoon, are stuck in the Disney cruise terminal!

I'll bring you updates as soon as I know anything more.

Cruising Musings reminds everyone that it's always a good idea to plan to arrive at the city of your port of embarkation a day early and make post cruise travel plans that are flexible, as one never knows when something beyond anyone's control might alter the ship's schedule.

This cruise news brought to you by Cruise Ready Store, your source for cruise gear, travel accessories, and cruise and ocean liner memorabilia.

Cruising Musings is now Networked on Facebook

Well, it's done! Not sure that I followed the directions properly, or that I could repeat the process in the same order again, but this blog is now networked on Facebook!

This means (I think) that all my blog posts here will now be fed to my facebook Cruise Ready Store fan Page . (If you're on Facebook, please consider becoming a Facebook Fan of Cruise Ready Store!) So, you can now follow this blog right from Facebook.

If you'd like to set up your blog to feed entries to your facebook page, don't bumble through like I did... get some help at The Selling Lounge, where Valerie, of Mulewagon Antiques and Collectibles has been kind enough to post some step by step directions.

Well, here goes ... I'm gonna publish this post, and then see if it appears on my facebook page!

EDIT: It worked. (sort of) It's not feeding to a separate 'blog' page, but it's feeding.