Panama Canal to get a third lane?

Living near Boston, we thought we'd never hear of a construction mess bigger than the Big Dig. That changed when Panamanian president Martin Torrijos announced an audacious $5.25 billion plan to add a third lane to the Panama Canal to accommodate even the largest ships envisaged today.

Most large new cruise ships are called "post-Panamax," meaning they're bigger than the 33-meter maximum width that can squeeze through the canal's two current lanes. The expansion project would add a third, 55-meter wide lane, ready for use by 2015.

While cruise lines will happily make use of the capability to move ships like Cunard's Queen Mary 2 and Royal Caribbean's Voyager-class vessels through the canal, the real target of the project is the freight shipping industry which has plenty of post-Panamax ships of its own. The canal would be able to handle almost twice as much freight tonnage as it can today, with a corresponding boost in revenues.

This Biggest Dig will get under way provided that Panamanian voters approve the project in an upcoming referendum.

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Star Princess fire update

Initial speculation on the cause of the March 23 fire oboard Star Princess centered around a cigarette discarded onto a balcony. Princess has confirmed half of that theory, announcing that the fire indeed started on a passenger balcony. But a "definitive cause" awaits further investigation.

The consensus in the cruise industry has been surprise that a major fire could ignite on the outside of a ship, and spread there. Our observation is that it stands to reason that saltwater-resistant marine paint, of which most ships have many coats, could burn. Princess announced that going forward it will maintain a 24-hour fire watch of balconies, among other procedural changes meant to minimize risks, but did not forbid smoking on balconies.

In the wake of this fire, Oceania Cruises tightened their already-strict onboard smoking policies, not only forbidding smoking in staterooms and on balconies, but also promising that under "zero tolerance" passengers who flout the rule will be put ashore at the next port.

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Brooklyn's new cruise ship terminal inaugurated by Queen Mary 2

You couldn't ask for a showier guest at your housewarming party. Cunard's Queen Mary 2 arrived regally yesterday morning as the first visitor to Brooklyn's new Red Hook passenger cruise terminal, ending a 38-day South America cruise.

Brooklyn will be the Queen Mary 2's permanent home during her summer-long trans-Atlantic cruise season, in addition to ships from Cunard sister company Princess Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line.

Cunard and Norwegian contracted with the city in 2004 to build out the Red Hook terminal space, and conduct the channel dredging and widening necessary to accommodate today's breed of mega-liner. The new terminal was sorely needed to relieve the crush of new cruise traffic that has descended on the threadbare and aging west side passenger cruise terminal over the past few years.

We'll be visiting the new terminal in late April and will report back with more details then!

New York Daily News: Boro of kings greets a queen

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Cruise ship cocaine smuggler busted

If you were going to smuggle drugs into the country, would you rather try to schlep across the Arizona desert before you dehydrated to death, or book a nice balcony stateroom on a cruise ship? We know our preference, but we're partial to cruising. According to authorities, so was a would-be mule named Dwight Whitehead whose luck ran out.

Dwight's alleged plan was to strap his duffel bag of drugs to a life preserver and throw it overboard from the Carnival Legend as the ship neared Fort Lauderdale, presumably so a confederate could scoop it up in the wake of the passing ship. Sadly for Dwight, the pilot boat (that delivers a local pilot to the cruise ship to navigate into its dock) found his goodies first.

Next, here's our dramatization of what may have happened after Columbo came onboard to crack the case:

- Officer: Did the ship's staff notice anybody behaving suspiciously?
- Carnival: Well, the guy in 6144 only left his stateroom once the entire cruise, in Panama. Is that the kind of thing you mean?
- Officer: Uh, yeah, anything else?
- Carnival: He watched the cabin steward like a hawk whenever he was cleaning.
- Officer: Let's go talk to Mr. Stateroom 6144, why don't we?

No word on whether Dwight was part of a larger cruise ship drug smuggling scheme like the one busted last year.

NBC2 Online: Man allegedly smuggled cocaine on cruise ship

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Cruising attracting younger, more affluent travelers

Cruise travelers have spent the past two years getting younger, richer, and better looking, says the biennial cruise market survey by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). Well, really, it only said the first two things, but we figure if you're richer and younger then you have to be better looking too.

Average household income of cruisers exceeded $100,000 for the first time, reaching $104,000. Meantime, the average age of cruise vacationers dropped to 49, its lowest level ever.

These numbers get the cruise lines' propellers spinning, since most of them, even formerly-stodgy Holland America, have been working for more than a decade to modernize their onboard product and shed the long-outdated image that cruising is for grandparents. And that work has paid off, with the addition of more onboard dining choices than ever, more activities and flexibility, family friendly features, and downright wild new onboard attractions and shore excursions.

The CLIA survey also determined that 51 million people, a mere 17% of the US population, has ever cruised, and that cruising ranks highest of any vacation choice in guest satisfaction.

CLIA Press Release: Growing cruise popularity reflects strong guest satisfaction...

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Secret swank ship suites?

Ask most cruise aficionados about the existence of secret VIP staterooms aboard cruise ships, and they'd say, "occasionally rumored, but where's the proof?"

After all, plenty of spectacular staterooms that qualify as VIP digs--like Queen Mary 2's 2-story duplex apartments, or newer Norwegian ships' 3000+ square foot garden villas--are well-publicized and can be purchased by anybody with the substantial means necessary. No secret there. But we recently got to experience an off-the-deckplan, can't-be-purchased accommodation firsthand, onboard Carnival Fascination.

While these two secret swank suites aboard select Carnival Fantasy-class ships are officially called penthouse 1 and penthouse 2, Carnival insiders refer to them as either owner's suites, or "Mickey suites," after Carnival Corporation chairman Mickey Arison. They don't appear on any deck plans, and they can't be booked at any price. Only senior executives of the cruise line or those lucky few with special dispensation can sail in them. A lot of Carnival employees don't know they exist.

The penthouses are hidden in plain sight, yet with blank-faced entry doors off the beaten path to give their occupants privacy. Beyond the wet bar in the foyer is an enormous, well-appointed living and dining room, a large bedroom, and in turn a marble-trimmed bath and walk-in closet. We were amused to find that enough fiddling with the veritable switchboard of lighting knobs next to the bed resulted in red mood glow on the ceiling.

And, apparently, the ship's staff was unaccustomed to having such lowbrow types as ourselves berthed in the penthouse, since whenever we tried to charge something to our shipboard account they refused to believe it was our stateroom and demanded proof.

Oh, and last but certainly not least, should they be reading this, we send a big thank-you to the Carnival people who arranged this major upgrade for us!

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