Crystal Cruises has pulled the ultimate rabbit out of a hat with a new, industry-first program entitled “Magic Castle at Sea.” Thanks to an exclusive arrangement magically orchestrated by Master Magician Rich Bloch, magicians from Hollywood’s renowned private magicians’ club, the Magic Castle, will come aboard to entertain and mystify guests of all ages.
Starting today aboard Crystal Symphony and on August 6’s Crystal Serenity voyage, the incredibly intimate evening shows add yet another live entertainment option to 13 luxury European cruises this year, and every voyage in 2013. The new affiliation also offers complimentary classes for adults to develop their own magical acts, educational enrichment on subjects like Houdini, and children’s shows on select summer and holiday sailings...plus access to the secret Castle itself when in Los Angeles.
“Considering club guests can only gain entrance if they’re in LA and invited by a member, Crystal’s Magic Castle at Sea provides rare access to a truly spellbinding entertainment experience,” says Crystal’s Vice President of Entertainment, Bret Bullock. “We’re thrilled to offer our guests yet another unique choice in high-caliber vacation fun.”
Like at the Magic Castle itself, on-board performances are “invitation-only,” with advance, complimentary “invitations”/tickets available at the ships’ libraries. Guests can choose from multiple, half-hour performances over the course of several nights. Come showtime, they enter a special entrance to find the ship’s Pulse or Luxe lounge transformed into the mysterious spirit of the Victorian-era Castle, with flameless candles, lighting, music, murals, bookshelves and magic movies from the 1920’s. With attendance limited to just 25, audience members are privy to an extremely up-close look at sleight-of-hand tricks, impossible feats, and bewitching hocus pocus.
After vacation’s end, invitations can further be used for one-time access to the real Magic Castle in Hollywood. Show attendees must call the number on the back of their used ticket to reserve entry, then present the same ticket upon arrival at the Castle.
Looking for the latest FABCruise offers on a wide range of cruise holidays let FABTHINGS2do help you.
Showing posts with label Crystal Cruises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crystal Cruises. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Monday, 11 June 2012
2012 Food Cruises from Crystal Cruises
Renowned for providing intimate access to the cream of the international culinary crop, ultra-luxe Crystal Cruises is bringing aboard esteemed chefs, wine experts, and mixologists to enlighten guests on Europe’s culinary arts and host a $1,000/person rare wine experience, with mentors including:
• Norway’s upcoming Bocuse d’Or contender, Ørjan Johannessen, and his coach, past Bronze winner Odd Ivar Solvold, giving an insider’s peak into, and taste of, training to become the best chef in the world.
• Christian Moueix, scion of the French winemaking family behind Chateau Petrus (one of the most expensive wines in the world) and a dozen other wineries in Bordeaux and Napa.
• Hans Peter Fink, an award-winning master chef and winner of Lyon’s Bocuse d’Or.
• Doug Frost, wine author and one of only three people in the world to achieve both Master of Wine and Master Sommelier certifications.
• Andre Rochat, Las Vegas’s original celebrity chef (the Palms’ Alizé, Monte Carlo Hotel’s André’s, and more) and owner of one of the most extensive collections of wine, armagnacs, cognacs, vintage ports, and spirits in the world.
• Robin Kelley O’Connor, a 30-year wine expert and former Head of Wine for Christie’s Americas’.
• Dr. Patrick Farrell, a Master of Wine who has helped create instant decanters that decrease bitterness in wine and whiskey.
Complimentary cooking lessons, hands-on classes, wine tasting, cocktail-mixing instruction, and special dinner menus for all will be offered:
• September 18: 12-day Mediterranean cruise from Istanbul to Venice on Crystal Serenity
• November 17: 11-day Canary Island voyage from Barcelona to Lisbon on Crystal Serenity
• August 14: 11-day Baltic/North Sea sailing from Stockholm to Dover/London on Crystal Symphony.
Moueix and Solvold will also serve as chef/wine expert hosts for this cruise’s pièce de résistance: a 7-course, $1,000 “Ultimate Vintage Room” fete, with Moueix sharing uber-rare wine pairings from his private collection.
Until June 30, “Book Now” fares for the Wine and Food-themed series begin at $3,615/person, double occupancy, with $1,000/person in additional savings for Penthouse bookings. Attractive airfares are available from more than 200 North American gateways.
Looking for the latest FABCruise offers on a wide range of cruise holidays let FABTHINGS2do help you.
• Norway’s upcoming Bocuse d’Or contender, Ørjan Johannessen, and his coach, past Bronze winner Odd Ivar Solvold, giving an insider’s peak into, and taste of, training to become the best chef in the world.
• Christian Moueix, scion of the French winemaking family behind Chateau Petrus (one of the most expensive wines in the world) and a dozen other wineries in Bordeaux and Napa.
• Hans Peter Fink, an award-winning master chef and winner of Lyon’s Bocuse d’Or.
• Doug Frost, wine author and one of only three people in the world to achieve both Master of Wine and Master Sommelier certifications.
• Andre Rochat, Las Vegas’s original celebrity chef (the Palms’ Alizé, Monte Carlo Hotel’s André’s, and more) and owner of one of the most extensive collections of wine, armagnacs, cognacs, vintage ports, and spirits in the world.
• Robin Kelley O’Connor, a 30-year wine expert and former Head of Wine for Christie’s Americas’.
• Dr. Patrick Farrell, a Master of Wine who has helped create instant decanters that decrease bitterness in wine and whiskey.
Complimentary cooking lessons, hands-on classes, wine tasting, cocktail-mixing instruction, and special dinner menus for all will be offered:
• September 18: 12-day Mediterranean cruise from Istanbul to Venice on Crystal Serenity
• November 17: 11-day Canary Island voyage from Barcelona to Lisbon on Crystal Serenity
• August 14: 11-day Baltic/North Sea sailing from Stockholm to Dover/London on Crystal Symphony.
Moueix and Solvold will also serve as chef/wine expert hosts for this cruise’s pièce de résistance: a 7-course, $1,000 “Ultimate Vintage Room” fete, with Moueix sharing uber-rare wine pairings from his private collection.
Until June 30, “Book Now” fares for the Wine and Food-themed series begin at $3,615/person, double occupancy, with $1,000/person in additional savings for Penthouse bookings. Attractive airfares are available from more than 200 North American gateways.
Looking for the latest FABCruise offers on a wide range of cruise holidays let FABTHINGS2do help you.
Friday, 1 January 2010
How was 2009 for Cruising?
2009 was the busiest year in cruising history. A 2009 Cruise Industry Review.
The cruise industry must be doing better than most people expected. Carnival Cruise Lines just ordered a brand new ship, a third sister ship in the Carnival Dream class, and Royal Caribbean just announced that the financing for Allure of the Seas, the sister ship to Oasis, is already 80% in place with another loan guarantee (up to 95% of $1.13 billion) from Finnvera, the Finnish export credit agency.
In the latest Carnival Corp earnings statement CEO Micky Arison said "We weathered the most challenging economic environment in the company's history exceptionally well. In 2009, Carnival was the most profitable leisure travel company, which is testament to the strength and quality of our global portfolio."
2009 brought us several brand new ships of significant size and evolution in design; starting with Seabourn Spirit, the first of the next generation of luxury cruise ships carrying as many as 450 passengers without changing the spacious cabins and personalized service. Celebrity Equinox arrived last summer, the sister ship to the Solstice-class from Celebrity. In November Carnival launched their largest ship ever, Carnival Dream. Just two weeks later we saw Oasis of the Seas arrive from Royal Caribbean.
January 20th, 2010, Silversea Cruises, arguably the most luxurious cruise line in the world - the line for people who want the best at any price - will introduce their brand new 450-passenger ship, Silver Spirit, in Fort Lauderdale. The ship has six different restaurants onboard plus full room service where your butler will bring your entire dining room meal to your suite, if you wish, set up a table with linens and serve it to you course by course.
There will be a spa on Silver Spirit where you can actually get Botox and other surgical enhancements and recover in privacy. They also offer unique eastern medicine treatments such as acupuncture and bamboo massage. The ship's first cruise after her inaugural is a 91-day circumnavigation of South America, and is already nearly sold out.
Reports come in to Holidays Online that certain kinds of cruises are still doing remarkably well. River cruises in Europe, for example, are more popular with Americans than ever before due to a realignment of focus towards the American audience. They now offer a larger variety of shore excursions, which they are making longer than before instead of rushing back to the ship for lunch every day, a practice the Europeans expect but Americans view as an annoyance. Since these riverboats now sail with almost 90% passengers from the United States, there is no longer any reason to take up valuable time translating lectures or having different shore tours for different languages. In addition, the new riverboats are beautiful, with actual balconies for fresh air in every stateroom and even free Internet access available via Wi-Fi throughout the boat.
In fact, computer use onboard ships is finally emerging as a real priority. Carnival Dream has a "FunHub" where cruisers can log in for free at several stations onboard and leave messages for other passengers. Brad Ball from Silversea Cruises tells me more people are coming on cruises and continuing to do their work; almost as if they never left land. As long as they have their computer and Blackberry they are essentially just as connected at sea as they are in the office. Cruising has become the preferred vacation for people who need to work while they play. Although Internet access isn't free on any cruises other than riverboats yet, I personally see this as a very big future draw and I predict that the first cruise line to offer unlimited Internet access for a reasonable fee will find that to be a highly attractive option to draw new business.
One thing that has proven itself is that veteran cruisers will still pay a premium to go on the newest and nicest ships; just for a chance to see something different with all of the latest enhancements.
Meanwhile, the cruise lines also continue to upgrade their older ships by re-decorating them and adding more amenities such as Wi-Fi, new restaurants, new rooms for onboard enrichment such as computer classes and additional places to eat more varieties of food. Holland America has spent more than 500 million dollars now to upgrade their entire fleet by continuing the "Signature of Excellence" campaign started in 2004. Carnival upgraded all of their Fantasy class ships over the last four years to include new water parks for kids, serenity areas for adults, more varieties of food onboard, better Internet access and nicer pool areas with hot tubs and cabanas.
Even the luxury cruise lines are enhancing their older vessels. Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn and Crystal have all announced significant upgrades to their older ships during the last year, making them all highly attractive and utile vessels.
In the long run, while the economy has slowed down consumer spending, it doesn't mean the cruise industry has gone into any kind of suspended mode by any means. Unlike previous economic downturns or interruptions in travel, such as 9/11, this recession has not had the effect of putting any cruise lines out of business or even in the position where they have had to cut back on their plans to continue to grow and improve their fleets.
The only exception was the decision of NCL not to go forward with building two of the F3-class of new vessels, the first of which will debut in June 2010 with Norwegian Epic. So they are only building one instead of two; if the economy gets better and Norwegian Epic is as well received as we predict it will be they can always change their minds again. After all, no one expected Carnival to order a brand new ship just two weeks ago, and yet they did.
It is surprising, in fact, how little effect this recession has had on the continuing plans of the cruise lines. Cruise fares are down so cruising has never been more affordable, and with all of the continuing upgrades we have seen throughout the cruise industry you can truly say that cruising is a strong industry with a proven track record of financial stability. If you believe Micky Arison, CEO of Carnival Corp, cruising is arguably the strongest leisure travel industry in the world right now.
The cruise industry must be doing better than most people expected. Carnival Cruise Lines just ordered a brand new ship, a third sister ship in the Carnival Dream class, and Royal Caribbean just announced that the financing for Allure of the Seas, the sister ship to Oasis, is already 80% in place with another loan guarantee (up to 95% of $1.13 billion) from Finnvera, the Finnish export credit agency.
In the latest Carnival Corp earnings statement CEO Micky Arison said "We weathered the most challenging economic environment in the company's history exceptionally well. In 2009, Carnival was the most profitable leisure travel company, which is testament to the strength and quality of our global portfolio."
2009 brought us several brand new ships of significant size and evolution in design; starting with Seabourn Spirit, the first of the next generation of luxury cruise ships carrying as many as 450 passengers without changing the spacious cabins and personalized service. Celebrity Equinox arrived last summer, the sister ship to the Solstice-class from Celebrity. In November Carnival launched their largest ship ever, Carnival Dream. Just two weeks later we saw Oasis of the Seas arrive from Royal Caribbean.
January 20th, 2010, Silversea Cruises, arguably the most luxurious cruise line in the world - the line for people who want the best at any price - will introduce their brand new 450-passenger ship, Silver Spirit, in Fort Lauderdale. The ship has six different restaurants onboard plus full room service where your butler will bring your entire dining room meal to your suite, if you wish, set up a table with linens and serve it to you course by course.
There will be a spa on Silver Spirit where you can actually get Botox and other surgical enhancements and recover in privacy. They also offer unique eastern medicine treatments such as acupuncture and bamboo massage. The ship's first cruise after her inaugural is a 91-day circumnavigation of South America, and is already nearly sold out.
Reports come in to Holidays Online that certain kinds of cruises are still doing remarkably well. River cruises in Europe, for example, are more popular with Americans than ever before due to a realignment of focus towards the American audience. They now offer a larger variety of shore excursions, which they are making longer than before instead of rushing back to the ship for lunch every day, a practice the Europeans expect but Americans view as an annoyance. Since these riverboats now sail with almost 90% passengers from the United States, there is no longer any reason to take up valuable time translating lectures or having different shore tours for different languages. In addition, the new riverboats are beautiful, with actual balconies for fresh air in every stateroom and even free Internet access available via Wi-Fi throughout the boat.
In fact, computer use onboard ships is finally emerging as a real priority. Carnival Dream has a "FunHub" where cruisers can log in for free at several stations onboard and leave messages for other passengers. Brad Ball from Silversea Cruises tells me more people are coming on cruises and continuing to do their work; almost as if they never left land. As long as they have their computer and Blackberry they are essentially just as connected at sea as they are in the office. Cruising has become the preferred vacation for people who need to work while they play. Although Internet access isn't free on any cruises other than riverboats yet, I personally see this as a very big future draw and I predict that the first cruise line to offer unlimited Internet access for a reasonable fee will find that to be a highly attractive option to draw new business.
One thing that has proven itself is that veteran cruisers will still pay a premium to go on the newest and nicest ships; just for a chance to see something different with all of the latest enhancements.
Meanwhile, the cruise lines also continue to upgrade their older ships by re-decorating them and adding more amenities such as Wi-Fi, new restaurants, new rooms for onboard enrichment such as computer classes and additional places to eat more varieties of food. Holland America has spent more than 500 million dollars now to upgrade their entire fleet by continuing the "Signature of Excellence" campaign started in 2004. Carnival upgraded all of their Fantasy class ships over the last four years to include new water parks for kids, serenity areas for adults, more varieties of food onboard, better Internet access and nicer pool areas with hot tubs and cabanas.
Even the luxury cruise lines are enhancing their older vessels. Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn and Crystal have all announced significant upgrades to their older ships during the last year, making them all highly attractive and utile vessels.
In the long run, while the economy has slowed down consumer spending, it doesn't mean the cruise industry has gone into any kind of suspended mode by any means. Unlike previous economic downturns or interruptions in travel, such as 9/11, this recession has not had the effect of putting any cruise lines out of business or even in the position where they have had to cut back on their plans to continue to grow and improve their fleets.
The only exception was the decision of NCL not to go forward with building two of the F3-class of new vessels, the first of which will debut in June 2010 with Norwegian Epic. So they are only building one instead of two; if the economy gets better and Norwegian Epic is as well received as we predict it will be they can always change their minds again. After all, no one expected Carnival to order a brand new ship just two weeks ago, and yet they did.
It is surprising, in fact, how little effect this recession has had on the continuing plans of the cruise lines. Cruise fares are down so cruising has never been more affordable, and with all of the continuing upgrades we have seen throughout the cruise industry you can truly say that cruising is a strong industry with a proven track record of financial stability. If you believe Micky Arison, CEO of Carnival Corp, cruising is arguably the strongest leisure travel industry in the world right now.
Monday, 7 January 2008
Visit the seven continents with Crystal Cruises in 2009
In 2009 Crystal Cruises will be venturing to all seven continents, from Antarctica to the Polar Ice Cap, circling the Pacific and featuring new itineraries in South America, Europe and the Middle East.
Sailing to 185 ports in 57 countries on 57 voyages, Crystal Cruises' 2009 programme will focus on more port intensive itineraries with overnight port stays on most cruises. Itineraries range from seven to 106 days, from the exotic to convenient European departures.
Among the 2009 highlights are:
106-night Pacific Circle Celebration World Cruise round-trip from Los Angeles, including the inaugural ports of Rangiroa, French Polynesia; Komodo, Indonesia; Napier, New Zealand; Sihanoukville, Cambodia; and Petropavlosk, Russia. Also featured is the 150th birthday of the Port of Yokohama and a return to Alaska.
Return to cruising the Amazon for the first time since 2006.
New autumn cruise to Israel and Egypt.
Dubai overnight stays on two cruises.
European maiden calls to Kotor, Montenegro; Lipari, Italy; Patmos, Greece; Sinop, Turkey; Alesund, Norway and Kiel, Germany.
Virtually all Mediterranean cruises feature overnight calls in cities such as Barcelona, Istanbul, Monte Carlo, Venice and/or Sorrento.
Two ships cruising Asia, including cruises in China/Japan, Southeast Asia and India with overnight stays in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Osaka, Kobe, Bangkok and many others.
Baltic cruises of seven and 11 nights with overnight calls in Copenhagen and Stockholm, plus double overnights in St. Petersburg.
North Cape cruise to Spitsbergen and the Polar Ice Cap.
British Isles cruise featuring the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh.
Black Sea cruise with a new overnight stay in Odessa and maiden call in Turkey.
Five voyages starting or finishing in the UK.
26 voyages starting or ending in Europe.
Choice of exotic and tropical Christmas / New Year voyages: South America and Antarctica or Caribbean.
More than a dozen "career-friendly" voyages beginning or ending on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Find out more about Crystal Cruises with Hays Travel the Cruise Experts
Wednesday, 19 December 2007
World-class master chef teams up with Crystal Cruises
World-class master chef Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa is partnering with Crystal Cruises for two new restaurants aboard the award-winning luxury ship, Crystal Symphony.
Silk Road and The Sushi Bar will debut during Crystal Symphony’s 03 March 2008 Trans-Pacific cruise from Los Angeles to Hong Kong.
Occupying the former Jade Garden space, the restaurants will accommodate a total of 68 guests and will be open most evenings. While there is no additional charge for enjoying Nobu’s extraordinary cuisine, reservations are recommended for Silk Road; dining at The Sushi Bar will be on a first come, first served basis.
The new restaurants represent an expansion of Nobu’s culinary alliance with Crystal Cruises. Since 2003, his cuisine has enjoyed tremendous success onboard Crystal Symphony’s fleetmate, Crystal Serenity.
Check out the latest offers on Crystal Cruises with Hays Travel Cruise - The Cruise Experts
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