Okay, there is no Lobster-Town, except maybe in my own imagination. To me, the whole of the New England Coast even stretching northward up into Canada makes me think of fall foliage, rustic scenery, and, well, lobster.

Princess Cruises just announced in 2010 Canada and New England schedule. Princess has two ships that work this coast: the Caribbean Princess and the Crown Princess.  These two vessels will have three itineraries available for 15 different departure dates. According to Jan Swartz, VP of Princess, these two ships are the largest and “most amenity-filled” vessels at Princess.

You can go round-trip (NY to NY) on the Caribbean Princess on a 7-day cruise, or you can go on the Crown Princess NY to Quebec City for 10 days. The third itinerary is on the Crown Princess (13 days).

The Roundtrip (Caribbean Princess) will offer ports of Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor (which is gateway to Acadia National Park), Saint John (Bay of Fundy) and Halifax.

The Classic calls on Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, Saint John, Halifax, Sydney (Nova Scotia) and Ville Saguenay with an overnight stay in Quebec City. You’ll travel on Crown Princess.

The third itinerary is called Canada & Colonial America and it’s by far the most extensive (13 days). It starts in Quebec City (overnight stay) and goes to Ville Saguenay, Halifax, Bar Harbor, Boston, Newport, Brooklyn, Norfolk, and Charleston before delivering you to Fort Lauderdale.

Tell me you couldn’t find some lobster on those routes.

In 2008, 906,000 Germans took a cruise vacation. That’s nearly a million cruisers. And even with the economic downturn, analysts are predicted an 11% upsurge in 2009. Accommodating this burgeoning new market is the TUI Cruise Fleet, which just partnered with Royal Caribbean to launch its first ship. It’s called Mein Schiff which, even if your German is rusty, you should still be able to deciper (”My Ship”). By the way, the ship got its name in a naming contest.

After the inaugural cruise, Mein Schiff will sail the Baltic in the summer of 2009 and then reposition to the Caribbean for the winter, with a home port in the Dominican Republic.

In 2010-2011, Mein Schiff will offer Nordic Seas itiniaries (including Iceland) as well as Eastern and Western Mediterranean including the Rock of Gibralter, Canary Islands, and Morocco.

Mein Schiff accommodates 1,914 passengers and was formerly the Celebrity Galaxy of the Celebrity Cruise line. The ship got a complete makeover and is completely tailored to meet the tastes and expectations of a mainly German clientele.

Royal Caribbean is kicking off the 2010-11 winter and spring season. This involves seven ships and a total of over 30 different itineraries and 28 ports. Here’s the run-down, ship by ship.

Enchantment of the Seas ports at Baltimore and will alternate three itineraries: 9 nights to the Bahamas, 12 nights to the Southern Caribbean and seasonal voyages to Panama.

Grandeur of the Seas has a new Western Caribbean itinerary including Colombia, Montego Bay (pictured), Grand Cayman, and Hondorus.

Jewel of the Seas is going to relocate to Port Everglades, Florida as its new homeport (down from Boston) and will then offer a 10-night and 11-night “Ultimate Caribbean & Panama” voyages.

Adventure of the Seas has been in Europe but is returning to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and offers two 7-night Southern Caribbean voyages. If you’re interested in Christmas cruises, consider this ship which is touring Grenada and Tortola on December 19 and St. Kitts on December 26 sailings.

Serenade of the Sea also ports in San Juan and it continues its regular 7-day Southern Caribbean itineraries.  The way these schedules are set up, you can now set sail on RC out of Puerto Rico on either Saturday or Sunday.

We’re very happy here in Texas to welcome Voyager of the Seas back to Galveston in November 2010 and throughout 2011. It’s offering two 7-night Western Caribbean itineraries. In 2011, the Voyager is going to call on Falmouth in Jamaica instead of Montego Bay on trips that include Jamaica.

Explorer of the Seas is going to continue offering 5 to 14 night sailings from Cape Liberty. In case you’ve never heard of Cape Liberty (and that includes me), it’s somewhere in the New York City area. Look for Southern Caribbean tours of 12 or 14 nights, including some special 2010-2011 holiday tours.

For more info on these tours or to book your tours now (early bookers can sometimes nab great deals) .. visit the RC website.

Dubailand and RC forge a deal to promote tourism to Dubai and offer cruise passengers on RC an unprecedented opportunity to tour Dubai.

Dubailand is the world’s largest tourism, leisure, and entetainment destination, consisting of an autodrome, an outlet mall (in a place called “Outlet City”), The Global Village, Al Sahra Desert Resort and Sports City (which includes a premier golf course, golf school, and cricket stadium). Although still in phase 1, Dubailand already gets about 8 million visits a year. Plans are to expand Dubailand in the future to include even more leisure, sports, and entertainment options.

From January to April 2010, RC will introduce seven-night sailings on the Brilliance of the Seas, departing from Dubai. Cruise short excursions will showcase Dubailand attractions. Guests will also have the opportunity to extend their cruise with packages to stay in Dubai.

This is RC’s launch of “our first Arabian dedicated season,” according to Adam Goldstein, president and CEO of RC.  In case you don’t know much about Dubai, the city is home to the world’s tallest building (see night-time shot below) in a striking modern style, but remains committed (and is a showplace) of more traditional Middle Eastern architecture as well.

Dubai is in the midst of a building boom. In fact, it’s been estimated that one quarter of the world’s cranes can be found in this one city. But while there is a frenzy of high-rise construction and traffic, the city offers marinas and peaceful retreats. According to Mohammed Al Habbai, senior VP of Dubailand, the deal with RC will offer cruise passengers opportunity to get to know Dubai.  “As one of the premier global destinations, Dubailand is privileged to enter into this partnership with one of the globe’s leading cruise line operators,” Mr. Al Habbai commented.

Used to be that Celebrity Cruise Lines sailed in Europe in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter. Starting in the 2010-11 season (now available for sale), Celebrity has extended its Caribbean season to be year-round.

This matches what some other cruise lines are doing. The Caribbean remains one of the most popular routes.

Starting in May 2010 (next year), Celebrity Century is going to stay in the Caribbean all year round. Century recently got a $55 million makeover in the form of a major refurbishment. It’s a relatively small ship (1814 passengers) with state-of-the-art upgrades.

The Caribbean offerings are mainly four-day or five-day tours that port at places like the Cayman Islands, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, the Bahams, Roatan (Hondurus) and Jamaica.

The Christmas 2010 cruise on the Century will be a first for Celebrity as it calls on Falmouth, Jamaica (new for them). The New Year 2010-11 cruise on the Century will be a one-time only three-port line-up of Key West, CocoCay, and Nassau.

Among the upgrades: an ice bar. This is the first ice bar on a cruise ship and should make a nice chilly contrast to the hot Caribbean sun.

Floating Vietnamese Market on Mekong River

Azamara is a relatively newcomer to the cruise industry but it has such a strong presence because of its focus. It’s a small cruise line, for one thing, and it boasts of its small ships that can visit ports where other larger ships cannot travel. It’s a high-luxury line (every stateroom includes butler service), but it’s not a formal line. It tends to be both casual and high-end.

This April, Azamara just unveiled its Asia season for 2010-11 with cruises that will call on Indian, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Singabore, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, and South Korea. In Beijing and Hong Kong, passenger can extend their stay with cruise tour packages.

The first voyage in the winter of 2010-11 is a repositioning cruise from Athens to Singapore that stops in Alexandria (Egypt), Cochin (India), Phuket (Thailand), Dubai (U.A.E.), Bombay (India) and a passage through the Suez Canal. Around Christmas, the first of six Southeast Asian voyages launch running from Singapore to Hong Kong.

The line is also offering two 12-night Northeast Asian cruises (Hong Kong to Shanghai) in March 2011 which have completely different itineraries and could be purchased together for a 24-day sailing–which includes China, Japan, and South Korea in one voyage.

For more details, contact Azamaracruises.com.

Blue Exit Glacier in Alaska

Princess Cruise Lines, headquartered in the Los Angeles area, has announced its 2010 Alaska season with a total of 112 Alaskan sailings on seven ships with 4 itinieraries. The Alaska season runs from May to September, and it continues to be one of the industry’s most popular destinations. Princess cruises there on its Diamond Princess, Coral Princess, Island Princess (this is the Voyage of the Glaciers ship), Golden Princess, Sapphire Princess, Sea Princess, and Royal Princess. The latter is a smaller ship offering a more exclusive 14-day package to some of the less frequently visited ports.

The main itineraries are the Inside Passage, which leaves from Seattle or San Francisco, the Voyage of the Glaciers, and the new Connossieur Voyage on the Royal Princess.

Those who want to extend their stay have some new options with “Direct to the Wilderness” (go by rail from the port city of Whittier into the Denali wilderness), “Explorer” (Denali and other options are available, including an opportunity to cross the Arctic Circle and venture to Prudhoe Bay), and “Deluxe Escorted” which offers three options for those whose idea of wilderness includes a warm place to view it from.

Alaskan packages can start at around $749 per person at Princess.

The grand dame of cruise lines, Cunard, has just annouced its 2010-2011 season, or as it calls it, “the progamme” for its three cruise ships: the brand new Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria.  Despite the old-fashioned names for these vessels, they’re some of the newest on the seas.

Queen Mary 2 will make 21 transatlantic crossings, taking passengers back and forth from New York and Europe (alternating ports of Southamptom, Great Britain; Cherbourg, France; or Hamburg, Germany). Cunard is a very different sort of cruise line–after all, what other line boasts in its press releases that it sails with an “onboard library of 8,000 volumes”? Still, it’s a pretty hot ticket because stats show than 97% of people who sail with Cunard wind up recommending it to a friend.

And just to show that special effects are in their repertoire, Queen Mary 2 also offers the only onboard planetarium and among its entertainment offrings is the chance to participate in an at-sea drama workshop where passengers can hone their acting skills.

Queen Victoria’s 2010 season starts out  all Europe, traveling to Spain, Scandinavia, the Baltic and the Mediterranean for part of the year. Queen Victoria then crosses the Atlantic to New York and offers a voyage through the Panama Canal commencing in New York and ending inLos Angeles.

Wondering about prices? This is a very upper-crust line but tickets for a Queen Mary transatlantic crossing start at $1,295 (6 days) and the Panama Canal NY to LA cruise is $1,995 for 11 days.

Royal Caribbean is debuting a brand-new ship, named Allure of the Seas, with its maiden voyage December 12, 2010. It’s the sister of Oasis of the Seas, and they hold a couple of records, the most notable of which is size. These will be the biggest cruise ships on the waters.

Allure will be based at Port Everglades, which is near Fort Lauderdale, which for people not to up on Florida geography, is near Miami. It’s at the southern tip of the Floridian peninsula, but on the Atlantic side. The vessels will do the classic 7-day East or West Caribbean voyage. If you go east, you can expect to call on St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Nassau and the Bahamas. If you prefer est, you’ll visit Jamaica, Cozumel, and Labadee, which is a privately owned beach/theme park area in the north of Haiti. The image here is Montego Bay, Jamaica, one of the world’s best-known and best-loved beaches.

As for size, these ships are expected to accommodate 5,400 guests. There are many large cruise ships that accommodate barely half that number.

Allure and Oasis aregoing to be done according to RC’s new “neighborhoods” theme which means that guests can visit seven different areas of the ship with different eateries, entertainment options, and decor.

The ships also feature something called “Central Park,” which is a football-size garden in the center of the ship that (get this) opens up to the sky. This is a “park-within-a-ship.” A moving bar called the “Rising Tide” will slowly elevate into the park.

Royal Caribbean has just announced its 2010-11 season for Caribbean destinations of its five Caribbean-based ships. The voyages run from 5 to 9 days and include 24 itineraries, 25 ports of call, 243 sailings. Vessels depart from Port Canaveral and Miami on Florida’s Atlantic coast or Puerto Rico.

The Caribbean will be toured by Serenade of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, and Allure of the Seas. Freedom and Liberty (doing an East/West Caribbean voyage) have an ice rink, a boxing ring, a FlowRider surf simulator, and oftern high-rollers a chance to book the four-bathroom super-sized stateroom known as the Presidential Family Suite.  Allure and Oasis were built on RC’s new “neighborhood concept” which has seven themed zones in the ship for different eating and entertainment options. They have an amphitheater entertainment venus (for synchronized swimming productions and high-dive exhibitions) and a zip-line on the ship.

Seranade of the Seas is sailing out of Puerto Rico and offers two different 7-day itinaries (no port of call repeated) so cruisers can combine both into a 14-day cruise or just do one leg or the other.

Ports of call include Curacao, Aruba, Dominica, St. Thomas, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Maarten, and St. Croix. Shore excursions run the gamut of snorkeling, zip-lining, touring Mayan ruins, all-terrain vehicle jungle tours, and lots of beaches. RC owns a beach area in northern Haiti called Labadee which offers visitors not only a private beach experience but also access to a new roller coaster in th epark area.