Princess Cruises announces that Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge will name Royal Princess, the newest addition to the line’s fleet. The ceremony at which The Duchess will name the ship will take place in Southampton on Thursday, June 13, and will be the highlight of week-long inaugural celebrations to welcome the vessel into service.

The spectacular ceremony will uphold British ship-naming traditions including the blessing, a performance by the Royal Marines Band and the pipers of the Irish Guards, together with contemporary highlights. Alan Buckelew, the line’s president and CEO said “It is a great honor for Princess Cruises that Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge has accepted our invitation to become the Godmother to Royal Princess. We are delighted that the Duchess will launch our new ship and can think of no better way to celebrate our company’s British heritage and our commitment to the country.”

Royal Princess will arrive at the Ocean Terminal in Southampton on Friday, June 7, where she will commence a series of events for customers and travel agents, including a special naming gala on the evening of Wednesday, June 12. The ship’s inaugural celebrations will conclude with her maiden voyage on June 16.

The 3,600-passenger Royal Princess is a new-generation ship. Among the special features found on board will be a greatly expanded atrium, the social hub of the ship; an over-water SeaWalk, a top-deck glass-bottomed walkway extending 28 feet beyond the edge of the ship; plush private poolside cabanas that appear to be floating on water; the new Princess Live! television studio; the largest pastry shop at sea; a special Chef’s Table Lumiere, a private dining experience that surrounds diners in a curtain of light; and balconies on all outside staterooms.

The inaugural period of Royal Princess also includes two short preview cruises prior to and following the naming. After her maiden voyage the ship will sail Grand Mediterranean cruises throughout the summer, followed by Eastern Caribbean cruises beginning in the autumn. More information and video previews of the ship are available at www.princess.com/royalprincess.

Reported by © www.expertcruiser.com – Your online consumer guide for cruise travel and information.

Princess Cruises is offering a way for passengers to ease the cost of getting to their dream Europe or Alaska cruise with a special “Sky High Savings” sale that offers airfare savings of up to $1,000 for two. Running from April 4-19, the promotion also offers up to $2,000 off the cruise fare per stateroom, as well as up to $100 in free onboard spending money per stateroom. The “Sky High Savings” sale offers deals on cruises throughout Europe, including sailings to the Greek Isles, British Isles and Scandinavia & Russia. Travelers will also save on cruises and cruisetours to the natural wonders of Alaska, where they can explore the best of the state by land and sea.

In addition to special fares, passengers booking balcony staterooms or above will receive an onboard credit of $100 (for sailings 10 days or longer) or $50 (cruises up to nine days), and those booking interior or oceanview staterooms can get credits of $50 (cruises 10 days or longer) to $25 (cruises up to nine days). More information about the cruise sale and pricing can be found at www.princess.com/sale.

Samples of the available Sky High Savings cruise deals include:

• Greek Isles cruise – 12 days: $1,779 interior (was $2,379); $2,379 balcony (was $3,379). Air savings: $500

• British Isles cruise – 12 days: $1,839 interior (was $2,439); $2,539 balcony (was $3,439). Air savings: $400

• Scandinavia & Russia cruise – 11 days: $1.869 interior (was $2,369); $2,669 balcony (was $3,369). Air savings: $400

• Gulf of Alaska cruise – 7 days: $899 interior (was $1,259); $1,559 balcony (was $2,159). Air savings: $250

• Alaska cruisetour – Denali Explorer – 10 nights: $1,476 interior (was $1,730); $1,976 balcony (was $2,340). Air savings: $150

Air savings available to passengers booking Princess eZAir flights in conjunction with the cruise. Princess eZAir gives passengers easy and full control of their flights and the ability to seamlessly coordinate them with their cruise itinerary. Featuring real-time pricing and flight availability, immediate flight confirmation, competitive airfares, and next port protection in the event of flight delays, the innovative program provides passengers and their travel agents the ease of a single booking source for both air and cruise reservations. Travelers using Princess eZAir can choose air carriers and flights, as well as select their preferred cabin level and seating, all with no extra customization fee.

All cruise and air prices are per person, based on double occupancy and include government fees and taxes. The “Sky High Savings” sale runs through April 19, 2013, and is available to residents of the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Additional information about Princess Cruises is available through a professional travel agent, by calling 1-800-PRINCESS, or by visiting the company’s website at www.princess.com.

Reported by © www.expertcruiser.com – Your online consumer guide for cruise travel and information.

Regal Princess reached a significant construction milestone today when the Princess Cruises vessel was “floated out” at its building dock at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy. A traditional ceremony marked the occasion as the ship met the ocean for the first time.

Following the Italian shipyard’s custom, the float out of a ship begins when a “madrina,” or godmother, cuts the cord that begins the flow of water into the ship’s building dock. Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of the popular online community Cruise Critic, served in this role to begin the two-day process of setting the ship afloat. “To mark this important milestone we selected a woman who lives and breathes the cruise industry,” said Alan Buckelew, president and CEO of Princess Cruises. “Carolyn has been the editor-in-chief for Cruise Critic for 10 years and not only is she a champion of cruising, she’s helped to build an avid community of cruisers. Her passion for cruising made her the perfect choice to serve as madrina for our new Regal Princess.”

Once afloat, the ship will be moved to the outfitting dock where final construction and interior outfitting will take place. Regal Princess, a sister ship to the soon-to-debut Royal Princess, will debut in June 2014 with a season of Mediterranean cruises. Regal Princess and Royal Princess are new-generation ships for Princess Cruises. Among the special features found on board the 3,600-passenger vessels will be a greatly expanded atrium, the social hub of the ship; a dramatic over-water SeaWalk, a top-deck glass-bottomed walkway extending more than 28 feet beyond the edge of the vessel; plush private poolside cabanas that appear to be floating on the water; the new Princess Live! television studio; a pastry shop; a special Chef’s Table Lumiere, a private dining experience that surrounds diners in a curtain of light; and balconies on all outside staterooms.

Reported by © www.expertcruiser.com - Your online consumer guide for cruise travel and information.

In March, I broke the story regarding Royal Caribbean International’s “Royal Champion” viral marketing program where fans of the cruise line only posted positive reviews on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor. The fallout was huge.

Last week, Royal Caribbean informed its “Royal Champions” that it was canceling the program. I am glad Royal Caribbean decided to end the program since it was duplicitous at best. I never understood why Royal Caribbean opted to go this route. Was it fear of its competitors? Insecurity of its product? Or just shear arrogance? I am inclined to believe the latter. Simply put, Royal Caribbean had no need to employ this program. The line has a very loyal following of cruisers that post positive commentary sans the carrot and stick tactics of free cruises and special invites.

I had been aware of the “Royal Champion” program since May 2008 when I wrote the story of Brenda Moran, a woman banned by Royal Caribbean for complaining too much. In subsequent e-mails and phone calls to the company to inquire about the “Royal Champions” I was not provided with the true facts regarding the program – it was described to me by a former executive of Royal Caribbean as “a fan club” and that’s all it was. My gut told me it was more than that and I monitored the posts on the aforementioned boards for clues. Sure enough it happened ten months later when readers of my column informed me of an amazing blog post. The truth about the “Royal Champions” program came out in the form of a blog post by Royal Caribbean’s own marketing company.

I want to thank my readers. You are the lifeline for the majority of my cruise columns. I want you to know that I read each and every e-mail. Without your feedback and ombudsman issues this column would not exist. Have a cruise problem or issue? You have a voice with me. You won’t find a voice on other cruise sites because they are too scared to write an ombudsman column. As one cruise editor told me “it’s too much work and could affect ad revenues from the cruise lines.” Hmm… As in the case of the “Royal Champion” program justice has been served. Well done readers!

Talk about April fools! The drama at Cruise Critic continues. Three weeks after my articles outing Royal Caribbean’s Royal Champion program on their forums they have wielded a big ax and have banned several of the readers I talked to for my articles. Why? The banned users told me that Cruise Critic felt they were causing trouble by continuing to ask for transparency with the Royal Champion program. Cruise Critic refuses to deal with their questions so they axed them – forever!

I guess Cruise Critic thinks this scandal will go away. Au contraire! No, it won’t go away until the program is banned from Cruise Critic forums – forever. It’s a shame – the Cruise Critic forums are some of best online cruise forums; however, with moderators that take after Vlad the Impaler you have to wonder how long it will be before users get fed up and go to another cruise community say Cruise Mates, which has always had a more honest policy.

Other cruise lines: We wouldn’t do what Royal Caribbean did Major cruise lines that compete with Royal Caribbean say they don’t operate viral marketing campaigns of the type Royal Caribbean allegedly ran with its Royal Champions program, and never will. Read the story on USA TODAY’s Cruise Log.