CRUISES - TRAVEL NEWS

While anchored in the Bahamas on Tuesday, Carnival Ecstasy received a Mayday call from a private yacht called “Balista” seeking help for a severely injured crew member. (Photo courtesy of Carnival) The ship was approximately four nautical miles away, so Captain Domenico Calise immediately lifted the anchor of Carnival Ecstasy and headed over to rescue the 29-year-old crew member. (Photo courtesy … [Read more...]

The Carnival Ecstasy responded to a mayday call in the Bahamas on Tuesday and came to the rescue of an injured crew member from a yacht. Even if the cruise line has suspended operations into 2021 it doesn’t mean cruise ships can’t be involved in important rescue situations and that was the case for the Carnival Ecstasy. The Fantasy-class cruise ship responded to a mayday call from a private yacht … [Read more...]

Royal Caribbean's Public Health & Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Calvin Johnson, spoke to travel agents on Wednesday about what the cruise line has to do in order to obtain approval to start sailing again.In a webinar, Dr. Johnson spoke about what the new “framework for conditional sailing” order by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) means, and what steps are required … [Read more...]

Windstar Cruises has taken delivery of its transformed cruise ship Star Breeze, which has been refurbished from bow to stern, and lengthened by 26-metres. The newly-stretched Star Breeze can now accommodate an additional 100 guests, thanks to 50 new staterooms contained within the mid-section that was inserted to the ship, while she also features several new public spaces. Star Breeze midsection … [Read more...]

This week we reported that the former Carnival vessel Grand Celebration was reportedly sold by Bahama’s Paradise Cruise Line. It now turns out that there might have been a good reason for selling the vessel. The Miami Herald reports an $875,000 settlement after the cruise line had reportedly imprisoned and forced crew into unpaid labor.  Case number 1:20–cv–23223 has been handled by U.S. … [Read more...]

Positive news about two potential vaccines has breathed new life into battered cruise company share prices over the past couple of weeks.  How The Cruise Lines Are Raising Money Norwegian Cruise Line’s ship Norwegian Breakaway anchored off private island Great Stirrup Cay. With the approval of the new drugs still pending and a massive distribution effort required in the months ahead, the big … [Read more...]

AmaWaterways is moving two of their river cruise ships to meet demand for cruises in France.Once repositioned on the Rhône and the Seine rivers respectively, the ships will be ready to welcome guests when river cruising resumes in Spring 2021. The elegantly appointed river cruise ships have been repositioned in response to the heightened demand for itineraries that reflect the rich culture, … [Read more...]

Carnival Cruise Line announced today it has cancelled all sailings into February, and even some into March, but Royal Caribbean has no plans yet to match those dates.Nearly as soon as Carnival Cruise Line made the announcement it would cancel all of its sailings through January 31, 2021 and select cruises in February and March, many cruise fans were wondering if Royal Caribbean … [Read more...]

As Carnival Cruise Line begins moving toward a resumption of sailing, two ships — the Carnival Horizon and Carnival Breeze — are making their way back to Florida. They are to be the first two ships in Carnival’s fleet to welcome guests back. “We Are Going To Cruise Again” In updating his Facebook followers, Carnival brand ambassador John Heald struck a decidedly optimistic tone. “Never before … [Read more...]

Norwegian Cruise Line has announced its new 2023 itineraries, which include notable firsts such as the line’s first visit to Nessebar, Bulgaria; the debut of Norwegian Bliss calling to Bermuda; Norwegian Jade‘s first visit to Bodrum, Turkey and Paros, Greece; and more. This is the furthest in advance that Norwegian has ever launched its itineraries. Mediterranean Norwegian Epic (Photo courtesy of … [Read more...]

In an open letter sent to the crew members of Holland America Line, and subsequently posted on the Holland America Crew Facebook Page, HAL President Gus Antorcha has good news. The CEO says that the Seattle-based cruise line has now started to move six vessels to US waters. This follows in-depth discussions with the CDC, government agencies, and medical and science authorities. It will take a few … [Read more...]

Carnival Cruise Line has extended its current suspension for another month, this time through January 31, 2021 for cruises sailing from all U.S. ports. In addition, cruises for most ports, including Baltimore, Charleston, Jacksonville, Long Beach, New Orleans, and San Diego have been cancelled through February 28. Sailings aboard the Carnival Legend from Tampa are cancelled through March … [Read more...]

Personal Navigators, and other handouts from the  4-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral. The Disney Magic set sail from Port Canaveral, Florida on March 10, 2014. There are additional Personal Navigators from other sailings of this same itinerary for comparison. The Cruise Director during the sailing was Brent Davies.  <img … [Read more...]

“Star Breeze”, the ship marking the beginning of the extension and modernization Star Plus Initiative project of Windstar Cruises, one of the main operators in the field of high-end small ship cruises, was delivered at the Fincantieri shipyard in Palermo. The program, worth 250 million dollars and involving the cruise ships “Star Breeze”, “Star Legend” and “Star Pride”, envisaged three main … [Read more...]

It’s been an up and down week for the cruise industry. News of effective vaccines had people excited, but cruise lines aren’t even close to taking on passengers again. Carnival Cruise Line affirmed as much this morning with the announcement that they have once again pushed back their timeline for a restart. The cruise line has cancelled all cruises from U.S. ports until February, putting a damper … [Read more...]

The highly-experienced guide and lecturer Pierre Thomas, an expedition leader worldwide for over 26 years, including with top names in the cruise industry, has now found his home at Swan Hellenic, the company announced today, Wednesday 18 November 2020. Pierre’s experience is vast and has seen him gain qualifications that range from naturalist guide and dive guide to expedition leader. He has led … [Read more...]

Norwegian Cruise Line has announced their 2023 summer cruises to the Caribbean, Alaska, Mediterranean, Bahamas, Bermuda, and Northern Europe.Norwegian Cruise Line is offering cruises to the most popular cruise destinations in the world in 2023. This is the first time in the cruise line’s history where they have opened up cruises this far in advance.  Highlights of these newly announced … [Read more...]

With Carnival Cruise Line still developing its plan to meet the CDC Conditional Sailing Order framework it has decided to cancel all U.S. departures until February 2021. There is even more bad news as cruises are also cancelled from select U.S. homeports until March 2021 and Carnival Legend out of Tampa for even longer. So it’s looking like the cruise industry in the U.S. will have to wait a … [Read more...]

Norwegian Cruise Line today opened for sale summer 2023 itineraries while also launching its Black Friday Sale, the brand’s best deal of the year. In addition to 30% off a voyage on any ship visiting more than 300 destinations worldwide, guests booking a cruise during Norwegian’s Black Friday sale will also be entitled to all five Free at Sea offers including free open bar, free specialty … [Read more...]

Carnival Cruise Line has announced another wave of cancelations on cruises that depart from U.S. cruise ports.Carnival Cruise Line previously had canceled all cruises through the end of the year. The cruise line has now canceled all cruises through the end of January as well as sailings from a few home ports after that.Cruises that Carnival Cruise Line has now canceled include:All embarkations … [Read more...]