DOLLAR NONSENSE
“Quintessentially British,” was how Cunard president Peter Shanks described his line’s newest ship to Her Majesty the Queen at the vessel’s naming ceremony. The whole marketing concept of
Cunard is built upon a history and tradition that goes back to 1840, and particularly, its very Britishness. On Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth there is Royal memorabilia at almost every turn while afternoon tea – with cucumber sandwiches if you want them – is a daily highlight. And, of course, the ships are registered in Southampton. But, when you go to the bar to buy a pint; when you order a bottle of wine from the sommelier; when you pay for an excursion; or when you buy some chips in the casino, what is the currency on your bill?
regular column in World of Cruising, and I am looking forward to using it to share my experiences at sea and to give you the benefit of my opinions. For example, I can give a quick comparison of one of the newest cruise ships afloat and one of the world’s most extravagant resort hotels. Within the space of a couple of weeks earlier this year, I spent two nights on board Disney Dream and two nights in Atlantis, The Palm, at the tip of one of Dubai’s man-made islands. The cruise ship has 1,250 staterooms; the hotel has 1,539 rooms and suites. Each cost well in excess of $1billion to build.
swimming pools; Atlantis has a dolphin encounter, the 40-acre AquaVenture water park and the second-largest aquarium pool in the world, with 11 million litres of water and 65 varieties of fish. Dream has a speciality restaurant,
H
Remy, with menus devised by a Michelin- starred chef; Atlantis has no fewer than four Michelin chefs under its wing – Santi Santamaria from Spain, Nobuyuki Matsuhisa (Nobu) from Japan, Michel Rostang from France and Giorgio Locatelli, one of the top Italian chefs in the UK. And that’s just for starters. The public areas of Atlantis, the gardens, pools, conference centre and Shiseido Spa, are huge, and there’s even a kids club and disco. Dream has a deckful of children’s clubs, and the adults-only District offers a selection of bars and nightclubs.
ow far is it possible to take the comparison? Disney Dream has the AquaDuck water slide and three
I enjoyed my Atlantis stay so much that, for once, just once, when the time came to check out I was almost reluctant to leave in order to head for my ship (which was Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, as it happens). So why would I prefer my next holiday
– and every one after that – to be at sea rather than on land? I have been sold for years on the value that cruising offers – and prices have been falling for years. Apart from optional charges for some speciality restaurants, all meals are included in the fare. Some of the luxury lines – Silversea and Seabourn for example – even include drinks and excursions. Service on board is almost always far more attentive than in hotels and, while the average cabin is not somewhere you’d want to try swinging a cat in, there’s usually enough room for most activities. Where else could you return to your room at night to find a towel monkey – or maybe a dog, an elephant or swan – on your bed? But my favourite feature of a holiday at sea is I can enjoy a day in the sun or the spa, a waist-expanding dinner and a night in the theatre or casino, then wake up the next morning with a completely different view from the one I left behind the previous evening. All with no effort on my part, and without having to pack and unpack my suitcase. Now, time to plan my next trip.
Pass me that stack of cruise brochures, please. Be sure to read the
Captain’s regular Blog online at
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/ captain-greybeard
Not sterling, not the Queen’s shilling, but the all-conquering US dollar. You can pay for your cruise in pounds but you can’t spend a penny on board (if you know what I mean). Carnival, who have owned
Cunard since 1998, have explained their internal accounting systems could not accommodate a switch to sterling. What nonsense. Sterling is the on-board currency for P&O’s ships, which Carnival also run. When it was announced Carnival Spirit was being transferred Down Under next year, it was also revealed the on-board currency would be Australian dollars. So come on, Cunard. Brits are the biggest single group of passengers on your three ships. Let them spend their money without having to resort to a calculator to work out the prices.
Spring 2011 I WORLD OF CRUISING
19
Come and meet Captain Greybeard at the World of Cruising booth at The CRUISE Show at London’s Olympia from 11am-noon on
Saturday March 26. See Page 14!
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