February 2010

Besides all the exciting & adventurous activities offered on the Oasis of the Seas, here are some special points of interest to know:

• WOW phones can be rented onboard and..

       -  Used to call other WOW phones, or guest rooms

       -  Used to text message between devices

       -  Retrieve onboard real-time & can locate another member within the traveling party

       - Track your children onboard

       -  View ship activities & events

• Guests can pre-book online Flowrider lessons for up to 8 people in a group
  
  
• Guests can pre-reserve tickets online for Ice Show, Opal Theatre, AquaTheatre & Comedy Show
  
  
• Adventure Ocean Theatre is the first ever children’s theatre at sea. Children can learn about theatrical productions, take art in talent shows or sign up for hip hop dance classes.
  
  
• Guests will not have to bring life jackets from their cabins before reporting for muster drills.  There will be life jackets there.
  
  
• Digital signage with real-time updates will be communicated easily & clearly for:

       -  Muster drills

       -  Entertainment schedule

       -  Departure information

• The pier at Ft Lauderdale, built to accommodate this large ship, has 4,000 sq ft of skylight

      -  TVs with security & check-in info are provided

      -  Monitors provide, 15 min easy-in

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Princess Cruises will be starting a new program in March which will allow non-cruisers to board ships on departure day.  This gives them the opportunity of coming onboard to wish their friends and family a "bon voyage."  This was a common practice which stopped more than twenty years ago as security procedures tightened.

Princess says visitors who sign up for the new program will get a four-course dining room lunch with wine on the ship, a tour of the vessel and a souvenir photo. They and their passenger friends/family will have access to priority embarkation.  A charge of $39 for the four-hour experience can be applied to a future Princess cruise.

The program will debut in March in the ports of Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale, and later to New York, San Francisco and Seattle. Princess says passengers will be notified about the program through the pre-cruise emails they receive from the line as their cruise date approaches.  In-port visits can be booked through a travel agent or by calling Princess beginning 120 days before a cruise and up to six days before the sailing date.

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Norwegian Cruise Line announced that the Norwegian Spirit would begin sailing year-round out of New Orleans.  Norwegian Spirit will operate weekly seven-day Western Caribbean voyages every Sunday from April 2011 through April 2012.

The itinerary will take the ship to Costa Maya and Cozumel (Mexico); Roatán, Bay Islands (Honduras); and Belize City (Belize).

Three months earlier, it was announced that Carnival Triumph was coming to New Orleans.  This is the first time since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that a vessel of its size has sailed out of the city.

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