Silversea wins the luxury cruise survey again!

Respondents who would recommend Silversea say it is “by far the best in cuisine, service and luxury,” and comment on the “classy personalized experiences.”

The Luxury Institute (wouldn’t you love to work for a company with that name?) has polled high net worth cruise travelers and they have voted for Silversea, followed by Seabourn in second place and Lindblad Expeditions in third.

Lindblad? I’ve heard of them, of course, but always pictured a more bare-bones experience with them — dressing in layers on a glacier and penguin viewing trip, trying to stay warm by sipping bad coffee from a styrofoam cup. Well, this just goes to show that your humble cruise correspondent is not afraid to admit when she’s wrong!

Fuel surcharges are something I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, what difference is $5 a day compared to the price of a cruise? ($70 for a two week cruise. Oh, OK, that does add up.) On the other hand, cruise companies should take possible future fuel prices into account when deciding what amount they should set the fares. Are their margins so slim that they need to nickel and dime passengers? Or do they want to attract clients by having the lowest fare and just add on charges if necessary?

There has been some discussion of this on cruise forums and boards, and some people don’t mind the charges, while others resent the cruise companies tacking on extra charges after a cruise has been booked. It does seem sneaky to say to a confirmed passenger “By the way, you are going to have to pay more than the agreed upon amount because, um, we failed to plan ahead, and just ’cause we say so”.

The Attorney General of Florida agrees. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azmara will be refunding fuel surcharges.

UPDATE: Elwood makes an excellent point in the comments: Seems like double-dipping to me. I’m sure these cruise lines hedge their fuel costs through the use of futures contracts. It would be possible to “ferret” out the nature of these hedges if the company is public, such as Disney or Carnival.

OK, I have to have it!

My family took our first cruise soon after The Love Boat started airing. It was even on a Princess ship.

How many times do you think my sister and I giggled and sang the theme song when we were anticipating that cruise? Many times, my friends.

The Love Boat - Season One, Vol. 1

Captain Stubing says buy the DVD now. That’s an order, sailor!

I couldn’t be more happy about this news.

So many times the word “unique” is over-used, or we even see the abomination of “very unique”. Hey, either you’re unique or not; there are no degrees of uniqueness. Well, let me tell you, Swan Hellenic is unique.

They have the most exotic and unusual itineraries. Some of the ports I have visited on Swan are: Yalta and Odessa in the former U.S.S.R., Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya, and Olympia and the Mount Athos Peninsula in Greece.

You will find the most fascinating and wonderful passengers on board. Mostly British, mostly older, but all extremely interesting to talk to. On our first Swan cruise, my family and I surveyed the fellow passengers as we boarded and thought “Oh, what a boring bunch of old fogies! They’ll be slow and hold us back on the shore excursions.”. HA! We could barely keep up with them. We would be among the first off the ship and huff and puff to the top of some hill and there already were all the older Brits calmly collecting botanical specimens.

Swan Hellenic provides excellent lecturers to enrich your exploration. A typical cruise might include a university professor whose life work specializes in the areas you are visiting, a bishop to convey the historical religious significance of what you are seeing, a relevant museum director, and an expert archaeologist or linguist. They also accompany you on the excursions, which, incidentally, are always included in your cruise fare.

I think Swan made a mistake when they changed to a larger ship, the Minerva II. Back in 1983 I sailed on the Orpheus, then in 2002 the 350-passenger Minerva, which was larger, and in my judgment, as large as Swan should go to still retain the delightful atmosphere on board. Then we heard that they were moving to the even larger Minerva II. Soon afterward, Carnival bought the brand and closed Swan Hellenic down.

But now they are back, with the original Minerva! The new owner has promised to keep the true spirit of the line alive and I can’t wait to sail with Swan Hellenic again.

Visit their website for information on itineraries.

As cruising has become more affordable and accessible because of the growing number of ships in service, a niche has begun to intrigue me: The luxury cruise.

Regular readers will know that I am a fan of the small ship cruise like Wind Star, Star Clipper, Swan Hellenic and the dear departed Clipper Cruise Line. (Although last summer my sister and I had a great, fun quickie getaway on the Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas.)

Aside from the QE2 back in the day, I haven’t been on a 6-star luxury line like Crystal or Silversea, where the service is so personalized and there is never a bar bill to sign. Well that is soon to change — yippee! In a few months I will be on Silversea, lounging on my private veranda, sipping complimentary champagne and looking at the Norwegian fjords. A full report will come after that, but in the meantime, here is an article from a person who knows what I am looking forward to!