Porthole Cruise News Briefs – Dec. 11, 2015

Porthole Cruise News Briefs

Dec. 11, 2015

• Jimmy Buffett has opened his first Margaritaville restaurant in the Bahamas. The open-air, waterfront-concept environment has been established on Paradise Island, one of the songwriter’s favorite vacation spots – and in fact the location is right next to Hurricane Hole Marina, where Buffett wrote “Perrier Blues” while waiting out a storm.

• Cunard Line is launching a new signature restaurant, The Verandah, on Queen Mary 2 as part of the luxury liner’s 2016 refit. The French restaurant, already a hit on Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria, replaces the Todd English restaurant in June 2016, exactly 80 years after the first Cunard Verandah Grill went to sea on Queen Mary in 1936.
  The British line has also announced that jazz great Herbie Hancock will headline the latest Blue Note Jazz at Sea Transatlantic Crossing on Queen Mary 2 on August 1 to 8, 2016.

• Azamara Club Cruises is expanding its Le Club Voyage loyalty program, offering members $300 in future club credit for each new first-time guest they refer. Up to three credits can be applied to reservations, adding up to $900 in savings. On voyages over the last six months, nearly 40 percent of guests have been loyalty members and more than 12 percent of guests were referrals, says line president and CEO Larry Pimentel.

• Pirates, princesses, and knights in shining armor are lingering in the sunshine for the 24^th annual Florida Renaissance Festival. Cruisers sailing out of Port Everglades looking for pre- or post-cruise fun can find it in Deerfield Beach’s Quiet Waters Park from February 13 to March 27, 2016. This year’s festival, “Renaissance Around the World,” honors scholars and thinkers from across the globe who led the revival of classical learning and wisdom in the Renaissance era.

^{Photos: Margaritaville, Bob Carson}

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