Princess Cruises introduces its newest ship

JetBlue made me laugh this week — with them, not at them.

They ran an ad on Facebook talking about a United Airlines offer allowing customers to bundle their checked bags fee for a year at a cost of $349. 

JetBlue’s response: “We thought that sounded interesting, so we took a crack at what our bundled fee might look like — $0.”

For Bermuda residents the price actually starts at $449 and is good for travel to anywhere in North and Central America. 

It covers just the first bag, which is normally $25 each way. That’s $50 round trip for you extremely non-mathematic types. You would have to take nine round trips to Newark to make it worth your while. You can add a second bag to your yearly subscription for $50 and that would make more sense as a second bag from Bermuda is $40 (or $130 round trip for two bags). 

That way it would only take four trips to get your money back.

You can add a companion for $100 ($599 for two people and two bags for the year), which then means after three round trips you are ahead of the game. 

If you don’t fly United very much, it’s not going to be a deal for you.

You can tailor your single subscription to make it good worldwide for an extra $350. 

United also came out with a yearly subscription for Economy Plus, which gives you extra legroom and a seat closer to the front of the plane. 

You’ll have to pay $599 for that privilege from Bermuda. If you want to add a companion, that’s an additional $200. 

Royal Princess

Princess Cruises introduces its newest ship this week, the Royal Princess. The 3,600 passenger ship will sail from Southampton, England for its inaugural season with a Mediterranean itinerary. In the fall it will do Eastern Caribbean cruises. 

The line is extremely proud of its expanded atrium and the dining and entertainment options which flow off of it. 

One of those options include dueling glass pianos.

Another is a tea tower with 250 blends and a sommelier to help you choose the right one. The sommelier will also host tea tasting events.

The Princess Theatre aboard Royal Princess will debut four new production shows, including Colours of the World, an experiential journey through the destinations visited by Princess ships; Spectacular! — a colourful music extravaganza; Sweet Soul Music — a tribute to rhythm and blues; and What the World Needs Now — a show celebrating the music and style of the ‘60s.

One change from previous Princess ships is the Wheelhouse Bar will offer English-style pub lunch daily rather than just on sea days.

The Royal Princess has an extensive art collection and to make it easier to find out more about the collection the ship will be providing a self-guided tour people can view through their smartphones and tablets. 

Another new item is the television studio aboard the ship will feature programming throughout the day and passengers can come in to the 300 seat studio to watch the events live.

If you are not afraid of heights there is the SeaWalk, a top deck glass bottomed walkway, which extends  more than 28 feet beyond the edge of the vessel.