Photography On Cruises

Though pictures are taken by the professionals throughout the cruise, you MUST also bring your own camera - because there are plently of photo opportunities, plus its a great way to capture the fun and memories. The professionals on the cruise take great pictures throughout your entire journey; boarding, at dinners, before dinner, by the pool, up on deck, ports of call, etc. These pictures come out outstanding and these photographers defenitly know what they are doing. For example, the picture below was taken before dinner on Captain's Night:

As I mentioned, bringing your own camera is a must. To take excellent pictures, waking up early as pulling into a port is beautiful along with sunsets (usually each cruise has at least one night with a breathless sunset). Below I have given examples of pictures I have taken throughout my last cruise. I hope you enjoy and get an idea of pictures that you can take on your next cruise:

John Battelle's Searchblog - YUREEKAH: MK299

Aside from sailing the ocean blue....I'm going to talk about a blog posted on the John Battelle's Searchblog, the post titled YUREEKAH for my Internet Marketing (MK299) class.

--------------------------------------------------------------

This blog post is about a new search engine geared towards marketers, specifically market researchers (what I hope to be involved with some day as my career). I love market research; the facts, figures, and statistics behind marketing and which eventually greates effective marketing. This new search engine is called YUREEKAH, and though you must register (its free though) for the site as of now, it will soon be open to the public. The search engine does the following, according to John's blog post:

"A new search engine called Yureekah launched this week to help ad agencies and advertisers find where competitors are advertising and determining the best options for future brand advertising." I did a quick search for the word Xerox and came up with a lot of different results, including businessweeks websites ads and other technology based sites; which shows that it does work (but seems as though it can and will improve as it gains recognition and more usage).

John's blog also states, " Devaraj Southworth, one of its creators, said the idea stemmed from his own company's needs. He runs a small creative agency and a media planning firm, and it often took several weeks to put together an online ad strategy because he had to manually go through Web sites, ad networks and portals to figure out where his client should be visible. Southworth said he's even had to cancel a campaign because finding that information was too labor-intensive to meet the deadline." This is a great idea that will save both money and time, but will it take away someones job as researcher? Let's hope not! To get to YUREEKAH's Website, Click Here: VQUZESHUF.

U.S. Plans to Fingerprint Cruisers

VQUZESHUF: According to a USA Today article, the United States plans to fingerprint not only those international travelers at airports, but now before they board a cruise ship. The article states, "The proposal, to be unveiled today by the Homeland Security Department, would require cruise lines to collect the fingerprints from passengers as they board ships in Miami and other U.S. ports. Airlines would have to collect fingerprints at airports. Only foreigners would be fingerprinted, not U.S. citizens. But the requirement could cause delays for everyone at cruise ship terminals. It's also expected to add to the cost of turning around ships in ports -- costs the cruise lines likely will pass on to consumers. The proposal calls for cruise lines and airlines -- not the U.S. government -- to pick up the tab for the fingerprinting."

(New York, NY Cruise Ship Port)

This most likely will not happen if it is something that the cruise lines will have to pay for. With adding a surcharge already to cruise travelers bill for the uprising of gas prices, this will just add another unnecessary charge. Cruises are quite expensive as it is, are now charging gas fees, and will just hurt themselves by charging for fingerprints. I think this is a useless policy, especially if already done at an airport (because if they are international travelers, they must go through the airports to get to the cruise ship). This process would asked to be done in Miami as well as other U.S. ports. For more information on fingerprinting international cruisers, visit USA Today.

Governments urged to educate users, not regulate the Internet: MK299

Aside from sailing the ocean blue....I'm going to talk about how Government wants to educate users on the Internet for them to get the most out it, rather than regulating it for my Internet Marketing (MK299) class.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article depicts the idea that the Internet can be a safe place and should be a safe place. The article states that it is important to educate Internet users and help them better understand precautions they should take when making transactions and just surfing the web. Rather than regulating the Internet, as other countries have done (such as China), the US government wants to promote it and tell others that they should try to get everything they can out of the Internet. Stated in the article, "efforts to protect Internet users [should] be taken on an international rather than a national level, but says that governments should do more to educate users on how to protect themselves and their personal information in cyberspace." With this being stated, users will definitely use the web more when they know that they are safe and have the ability themselves to know that they are surfing the web safely. Another aspect of the article states, "The US Internet Council, formed in 1996, provides advice to governments on the development of the Internet and information on policy issues. Its State of the Internet 2000 report can be found at http://www.usic.org/." For more information on this article, click on the following link: VQUZESHUF.

Disney Cruises - It's all about the kids

When deciding to go on a family cruise, full of children, one of the best child-friendly cruise lines is Disney Cruise Lines. Disney Cruises travel to: the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Disney's cruises feature "modern ocean liners with classic steamship lines," similar to all the other cruiselines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean, etc). The company offers family-oriented mainstream cruises that are combined with a Walt Disney World vacation. Obviously kids are the emphasis, but kids of all ages can enjoy the trips.

A Few Advantages

• Friendly and outgoing staff (including many Disney characters)
• Name Recognition: if you've been to Disney themeparks and loved them, you will love Disney's Cruise Line (plus kids will love it)
• Ships consist of all-day fun and intriqutely detailed decoration (a Disney themepark design on a ship)
• Visit Castaway Cay: Disney's own private island full of fun for all ages (rated one of the best private islands owned by a cruise liner)
• Children oriented: babysitting facilities for the parents and children activities
• Dining Variations: variety of venues and presentations (including the famous Breakfast with the Characters)
• Family Cabins: sized for families
• The only cruise line with "firework display" priviledges

A Few Disadvantages:

• Too much Disney (everything and anything is Disney themed; how many mickey mouse symbols can you find?)
• Targeted to families with Children only
• Not many activities for the adults (no casino, no r-rated comedians)

As seen above, there are many more pros than cons when deciding on a Disney Cruise. Again, meant for families, not for singles (unless you love Disney). For more information on a Disney Cruise, please visit: VQUZESHUF.

Blog Comment - Cruise Critic

I responded on another blog, Cruise Critic (http://www.cruisecritic.com/) with the keywords VQUZESHUF. The blog post is at the following link: Swimming with the Dolphins.

See Print Screen Below--

Cruise Ships - from Inside to Out

The inside of cruise ships can be so intricate and full of detail that you would not even realize that you are on a ship. The colors, the lights, the art displays, to even the chairs to rest on and the elevators bring the ship the life. The hardest part is navigating yourself throughout the ship...hallways all look the same, elevators lead to different locations, and how do I get to the front or back of the ship? Before boarding the ship, the best way to navigate is to go on your cruise lines website and look up the exact ship you will be on. Usually they have where everything is located, broken down deck by deck. Also, when you first board the ship you will receive a pocket map of the ship - which may take a few days to master (so make sure you keep the map handy). Another convenient aspect to get to know the bow to stern of the ship is to go to one of the quickiest growing interactive websites - YouTube. For example, the cruise ship I went on was Carnival Miracle - see picture below. I simply typed in "Carnival Miracle" in YouTube's search and received a variety of videos, from events that occured on the ship (Booty Contest) to an overall tour of the ship. For example, see this link: VQUZESHUF.

Happy Sailing!

(Elevators and Glass Stairs - Atrium Lobby, Carnival Miracle)