The Cruise Report With Cruise Specialists Cruise Reporter Ralph Grizzle

If you’ve been contemplating a luxury cruise but haven’t quite pulled the trigger, this may just decide the issue. The Yachts of Seabourn, recently recognized by readers of Conde Nast Traveler as the Best Small-Ship Cruise Line, is in the middle of a weeklong sale on 10 itineraries this winter and next spring. To qualify for fares from $1,349 per person, travelers must make reservations by the end of next Monday, July 20.  Read more... (248 words, estimated 60 secs reading time)

Cruises in the South Pacific combine cosmopolitan cities with lush jungles, exotic wildlife, snow-capped mountains and fjords, plus white-sand beaches and coral reefs. It’s no surprise that explorers, artists, writers and visitors have been coming here to cruise the south pacific since at least the 18th century, when Captain Cook and his colleagues first arrived.  Read more... (445 words, 2 images, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

The new Queen Elizabeth will make her maiden world cruise for Cunard in 2011. Cunard’s 2011 world cruises — on the Queen Elizabeth as well as the flagship Queen Mary 2 — go on sale next week, and Cunard is offering some significant early-booking incentives.  Read more... (271 words, estimated 1:05 mins reading time)

It appears that what you’ll pay for a cruise vacation has reached bottom and is slowly trending upward. The upshot: Book now for the best deals.

In a conference call to Wall Street analysts Carnival Corporation CEO Micky Arison said, “We have started tweaking pricing on a variety of brands.”

Read: Prices are increasing. However, some incredible deals are still to be found.  Read more... (199 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

The fantastic incentives that luxury cruise lines are offering appear to be having the desired impact, which may be a signal to the cruise lines that they don’t have to be so generous.

Silversea Cruises is reporting that last week it set a corporate record for daily call volume, part of a three-week surge when bookings exceeded the same period of 2008 by nearly 150%. Silversea, like most cruise lines, particularly in the luxury segment, has been sweetening the pot to attract more guests.  Read more... (314 words, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

While we probably won’t have the time to sign up for this particular global tour with Cruise West, we can’t help feeling a large twinge of envy for up to 120 lucky souls who will be departing with the Spirit of Oceanus from Singapore on March 6, 2010. What a wonderful trip it’s going to be: 242 ports, 59 countries, all part of a 335-day circumnavigation, returning to Singapore on Feb. 3, 2011.  Read more... (314 words, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

Princess Cruises has grown increasingly exotic or, to put it more precisely, is offering more opportunities to cruise Tahiti while creating new Asia and Australia itineraries as part of its 2010-11 “exotics” program.

The Princess worldwide cruising program will touch all seven continents, and passengers will be able to explore the charm of the South Pacific with an extended series of sailings to romantic Tahiti and French Polynesia.  Read more... (408 words, 1 image, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Thirty years ago, a 21-year-old boy from North Carolina ventured all the way to Los Angeles and hopped a flight to Tahiti. What possessed him to pursue such a notion? Coconuts. I know, because that boy was me. Months before my journey, I had seen a photograph of one of the Tahitian isles — a island characterized by verdant volcanic peaks shrouded in wispy clouds, ocean as blue as Windex and thick groves of coconut palms. I wanted to be there, among the coconut groves, and so I charted a course for this picture-perfect paradise.  Read more... (769 words, 4 images, estimated 3:05 mins reading time)