CRUISES: Carnival Tests All-You-Can-Drink Packages

8/21/2012 - CruiseCritic.com reports that Carnival Cruise Lines is quietly testing an "all-you-can-drink, alcohol-included" beverage package (similar to Celebrity, MSC, and Oceania). Now available just on the "Carnival Victory," the "My Awesome Bar Program" runs $42.95 per person per day, plus a 15 percent gratuity. The package includes any drink sold on board priced individually at $10 or less, including sodas, non-alcoholic frozen cocktails, wine, beer, and spirits/mixed drinks. If one passenger buys the package, then everyone ages 21 and up in that person's cabin must also buy it. See the CruiseCritic.com report. MSC Cruises reports that its ship "MSC Poesia" will launch its winter season in Fort Lauderdale in late November (through late April 2013). The ship will add two new port calls (Bonaire and Dominica) on its Caribbean routes, and it will sail to Bermuda as well. The schedule includes several "Baseball Greats" themed cruises. See Holland America Line confirms that its ship "Volendam" helped rescue 70 passengers from a tour boat in Alaska after it apparently struck a rock in Glacier Bay. The U.S. Coast Guard evacuated the passengers from the tour boat to the cruise ship, which will take them to Bartlett Cove for their return to Juneau. See American Safari Cruises plans to add a new vessel next summer: the 88-passenger steamer "Safari Legacy" (formerly the "Spirit of '98" operated by the defunct Cruise West). The ship will be refurbished and upgraded before it begins offering Alaska and Pacific Northwest voyages. Louis Cruises says it will offer new enrichment lectures on its Greece and Turkey cruises this fall. The initial series ("Ancient Empires to Modern Metropolises") will include 60-minute interactive seminars each day on the line's Sept. 21 and Sept. 28 voyages from Athens. (Credit: Carnival Cruise Lines)