Editorial:

One of the nice things a

bout doing the editorial for our news letter is receiving feedback from our clients.  This takes many forms and often brings forth items of interest to our clients that otherwise might have been passed over.  Sometimes it takes the form of additional material on a subject we have recently covered, as is the case here..  following our explanation about the "Jones Act",  Ms. Kristina Kihlberg from RSSC office was good enough to forward a document which we found interesting as it further broke down the Act - "Cabotage" question as it is seen to be enforced in various cruising areas RSSC ships frequent. I am therefore including the information as an addition to our recent review of the Jones Act and hope our readers will file the piece along with the main item for future reference as we feel this has now answered all the basic questions.

Cabotage Laws and Jones Act

Outside of the US and Caribbean, the same style of laws that make up the "Jones Act" are called "cabotage laws".  Many countries are very strict with these laws that dictate that you cannot embark and disembark within the same country without having visited a foreign country in between.  Advance notice for special permits are required for some countries, and they are not guaranteed in advance.  Particular information and documentation may be required by the authorities.

For itineraries in French Polynesia, you may embark and debark at any point during a weekly cruises.  Cabotage laws do not apply there, however, advance notice does, as certain governmental authorities must be advised in advance.

For itineraries in Bermuda, the only foreign country visited is Bermuda.  However, Bermuda is not considered by US Customs to be a "distant foreign port", hence you cannot embark in NY for example and debark in Norfolk, Virginia or vice versa for these itineraries. You may embark or debark in Bermuda at any point with prior advance notice when booking.

For itineraries in the Caribbean, the only ports considered by US Customs to be "distant foreign" are:  San Andres, Colombia, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, Netherlands Antilles (not St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, as this island is considered the "Leeward" Netherlands Antilles). 

Puerto Rico and St. Thomas are exempt from this law altogether;
- You may embark in a US port and debark in a foreign port
- You may embark in a foreign port and debark in a US port
- You may embark in a US port and debark in a different US port only if in between the vessel has visited one of the

   "distant foreign ports" listed above.
- You may embark in San Juan/St. Thomas and debark in a US for foreign port
- You may debark in San Juan/St. Thomas if you embarked in a US or foreign port
- You may embark in a foreign port and debark in a foreign port of another country.
 

For itineraries in Alaska, Vancouver and Victoria, BC Canada:
- You may embark in any US port and debark in Vancouver or Victoria
- You may embark in a US port and debark in a different US port only if you have visited Vancouver or Victoria in between.
- You may embark in Vancouver or Victoria and debark in a US port
 

For itineraries in Europe special permission must be requested in advance of the cruise for any inter-country cruising. Therefore:
- You may embark in a foreign country and debark in another foreign country
- You may embark in a foreign country and debark in a different port in the same country if in between you have visited

   another country.
 

The following countries require AMPLE notice in advance of any deviation requests:
Norway, Greece, Russia, United Kingdom and Spain

Supplemental information may also be requested from the guests.

Opt-in

Another issue we are concerned about are the new rules covering such things as unsolicited emails and faxes.  Whilst we are making every effort to comply with the new rules as they appear, it is never the less easy to run foul of something one is not aware of.  Currently we give our clients the option to "Opt-out"  of receiving our news letter but, this is a blanket opt-out which also has the effect of removing your name from our mailing list for such things as complimentary ship cruises (site inspections) and resort inspections as well as other complimentary offers we are able to make to our clients from time to time.  We have given this a lot of thought but the difficulty of managing multi-lists to cover everyone's requirement is more than we feel we can manage successfully at this time.
 

With this in mind, we have decided to make a start on "Opting - in" ... we realize that not everyone reads every issue of our newsletter so many people might miss this announcement (we always receive a good number of "out-of-office reminders" back from our clients - so we know you're all hard working folk... ).  So starting with this issue and running through the summer we will add this note to the bottom of our newsletter and respectfully request that you take just a second or two to complete the "Opt-in" form so you may continue to receive communications from WWTCA.

The real value of "Perceived Value".

Some of you may have read the recent SITE white paper "The Benefits of Tangible Non-Monetary Incentives by Scott Jeffery" and found it to be interesting in the way that it lays out what many of us have know to be a fact for a long time - namely... people place a higher value on non-monetary incentives than they do a cash pay-out. 

Mr. Jeffery points out that the higher the perceived value of the reward the harder people are prepared to work to earn it.  While the economic value of a cash reward is clear and definite, non-cash award hit emotional triggers. A Hawaiian cruise for example, evokes pleasurable and effective reactions which serve to increase the perceived value the participant attaches to the  reward. Mr. Jeffery states that "people engage in a mental accounting process that separates their money into different funds".  Cash awards tend to mental go into the day to day account, whereas non-cash awards are assigned to a higher level account such as "travel" or "entertainment" thus the unique nature of the non-cash award makes it stand out in the participants mind. Participants are better able to "justify" taking the Hawaiian Cruise because in their mind it was earned by hard work and extra effort therefore making it more valuable than a cash reward.  This is a genuinely interesting paper and worth reading - copies can be obtained from SITE - email request to fkatusak@sitefoundation.org

As our regular readers know, Worldwide has been advocating just such an reward policy for a long time.  Its definitely the time to be creative with your travel programs.  Too many times I hear from participants - not Cancun again or Las Vegas or wherever  the corporate buyer feels comfortable purchasing his hotel block yet again...  next time call Worldwide, we will be more than happy to assist first time cruise buyers into a program and long term clients to end up on their "dream ship".  Cruises on the "right" ship are  amongst the highest perceived value in the Corporate Travel market.

Visa & Other document requirements.

It comes as no surprise to anyone that with all the heightened security a traveler encounters these days how important is is to have the correct documentation prepared and to hand prior to traveling.  Many of the programs our clients handle include nationals from other countries and these participants often come from all over the world.  Ensuring they have the correct documents with them when they arrive in the US and then when they try to board the cruise is a difficult job for anyone to police. 

Visa requirements vary from country to country. Most cruise lines only inform U.S. citizens of specific visa requirements so for other nationals be aware that Visa information may also be obtained through the local embassy or consulate of the country you will be visiting, many of these resources are available on-line.  It is the passengers responsibility to obtain all necessary visas and Visas must be obtained regardless of whether they plan to go ashore or remain on board while in ports which require Visas.  As a guide to what is generally required check our web site at - Resources - listed are the requirements for the USA and Canada.

The cruise line's will NOT allow anyone to board who does not have the correct documents and they will also not refund fares for passengers who are refused boarding for this reason.   Worldwide recommends that you have your participants go on-line to the cruise lines web sites where a pre-boarding section explains the requirements and also allows them to complete the important pre-boarding registration form which is a Federal requirement.

Diamond Princess collides with pier

As the Diamond Princess was  berthing in Victoria on the 21st May for a scheduled evening call high winds forced the ship onto a smaller finger pier. A company spokesperson stated, "Because of the winds, the ship was unable to lift off the pier even though we had tugs helping as well. The ship stood by at the pier, waiting for the winds to subside, but because the wind pushed it into the pier, there was a break on the starboard side of the ship. Princess sent divers down to check on damage to the hull and found superficial scraping damage, no significant damage to the hull itself; no damage to the pier.

"There were several ambulances waiting at the pier, which had been previously scheduled to take a passenger to the hospital. They had nothing to do with the wind at the pier.

"The ship had to wait for the winds to subside until leaving and was unable to do so until 3:30 a.m. the next morning. The
Diamond then sailed down to Seattle, its homeport for the summer, but arrived in late, at about noon. So as a result, we
delayed debarkation and took care of all the passengers coming in with hospitality suites.  Embarkation was of course
delayed because of that. Once we got all passengers off and all the passengers from this week's sailing got on, the ship finally
left. Because of the late departure we are going to miss Juneau [on this week's sailing]. The rest of the itinerary will stay the
same.

"The other aspect was the technical aspect. We sent divers down again as a precautionary measure to find out what had
happened. They found that the starboard propeller has some damage to the tip and went ahead and made the repairs to the
tip of the propellers. If you have scraping and scratching it affects speed of ship. Finally, the ship did depart."

End Result: No injuries; no long-term damage to the ship. Passengers are receiving compensation for inconveniences.

RCI's Voyager class ships continue to be very popular with cruisers.

Worldwide's experience with the Voyager class ships for our clients programs bear out recent industry figures.  The Voyager Class ships with their huge list of on-board amenities are extremely popular with program buyers.  Worldwide has one client who buys a large block of space every year for his client, a well know manufacturer of white goods.  They have just completed their fifth annual cruise on a Voyager class ship and are already planning next years.  Efforts to have them try other new ships have come to nothing as they feel the Voyager ships have such a selection of on-board facilities that even repeat participants are more than happy to repeat their Voyager cruise for another year.

This trend is borne out by figure recently released which show that cruise buyers across the board love the ships and this has  contributed to RCI being able to achieve strong revenue returns on them.  Exec VP Adam Goldstein mentioned an interesting fact saying one reason more people are seeking out the Voyager-class is simply due to exponential word of mouth. "Voyager-class capacity has reached about 15,000 berths, close to the total size of some of the big cruise brands in the industry."  To build on this momentum RCI will in May 2006, take delivery of the as-yet-unnamed ultra-Voyager (an even bigger version of the Voyager Class) which includes a midsection that adds about 90 feet in length and includes a much larger pool deck as well as space for about 15% more passengers.

With Voyager coming off a two-week drydock in Freeport, the fresh feel of the ship  make it hard to imagine she's approaching five years of age.

RCI plan to start five-day Bermuda sailings from Cape Liberty  with the Voyager, this will be another first for the class as they will be offering  one day less in Bermuda than the other major players.  Goldstein explained "We need nine nights to deliver Caribbean from the Northeast, which cannot be effectively done in eight nights,"  "Five nights in Bermuda keeps us within the two-week cycle." Noting that discussions about such a huge ship berthing in tiny Bermuda are ongoing, Goldstein adds, "There's no possibility to berth in Hamilton or St. George, so we'll berth at West End."

One factor for the switch to Bermuda, notes RCI's Senior V.P. Dan Hanrahan, was that sales for this summer's five-night
Canada product on Voyager were not moving as fast as the nine-night Caribbean product. "Early bookings for Canada were
impacted by the tough winter in the Northeast," he said. From the perspective of Bermuda cruising, Voyager makes the destination more attainable and desirable as the passage to Bermuda has been described as dull. Having Voyager do the passage will make it much easier to sell.

Barging in France

Our favorite river barge company has recently been acquired.  Continental Waterways, probably the leading river barge operator, with a fleet of excellent small - from 50 pax down to 8 pax - quality river barges operating on the waterways of Europe for many years, has been acquired by Overseas Travel Group a division of Grand Circle Travel the largest tour operator in the US.  I am advised that the acquisition will not be effecting any of the currently scheduled programs, although the new owners are going to be looking at ways to further enhance the quality of of the cruise/tour experience.  Worldwide has always had a close relationship with Continental Waterways and does not expect this to change.  Feel free to continue to call us with your enquiries or questions on the product or cruising areas.

River Ships

Viking River cruises are offering a series of very different far east cruise on their newly delivered ship the Viking Century Star.  If the names of the programs are anything to go by they should appeal to the  soft adventure type of traveler; The Roof of the World, In the Footsteps of Marco Polo; Imperial Treasures of China, Misty Mountains of the Yangtze, The Ancient Kingdom of Siam.  All start and end at either Beijing,  Shanghai or Bangkok  so air is not a problem.  Worldwide hope to inspect the new ship in the near future so watch out for our ship report on the Century Star.

SAPPHIRE PRINCESS

Princess Cruises newest ship was delivered on time to the cruise line in Nagasaki on June 27 by the ship's builder, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.. The 116,000-ton, 2,670-passenger vessel will immediately set sail for Seattle where it is scheduled to arrive on June 7. , this the latest addition to the Princess Fleet will be christening in Seattle in June.  In a tribute to its summer deployment, and Princess' long relationship with the state of Alaska, the ship will be christened on June 10 by the first lady of Alaska, Nancy Murkowski. The naming is part of five days of inaugural festivities prior to the ship's maiden voyage.

Sapphire Princess will set sail on her first seven-night Inside Passage voyage on June 13, taking passengers to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Victoria BC, as well as scenic glacier cruising through the dramatic scenery of Tracy Arm. The ship will offer weekly roundtrip cruises from Seattle through September 12, after which she will sail on a variety of Pacific adventures, including cruises to Mexico, Australia/New Zealand and Asia.

As with sister ship Diamond Princess, the new vessel incorporates Princess' trademark design philosophy -- including an abundance of balcony cabins, flexibility in dining and entertainment options, Princess' renowned service and a variety of intimate spaces -- giving the ship all of the choice of a large ship with the feel of a much smaller vessel. Sapphire Princess offers passengers a unique dining program with four themed main dining rooms, a new Princess Concierge Service, the fleet's largest Internet Café, a brand-new Princess-operated Lotus Spa, and the debut of Club Fusion, a new high-tech dance lounge.

Memorial  Day.

Finally and to close out this edition of our newsletter - All of us here at Worldwide wish our American clients a happy "Memorial Day" hopefully you will be spending it with friends and family and enjoying good weather and fun time.