Carnival Has Been Cooking up a Surprise Feature

Carnival Panorama was delivered last week and is now crossing the Atlantic on its month-long positioning journey to Long Beach, and word comes that Carnival has been keeping one of the ship's new features a secret.

Carnival Kitchen, a complete kitchen and dining facility, will offer Carnival Panorama's passengers more than 15 onboard cooking classes.

The complete article appeared in the November 14 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Where's Oasis?

In case you've missed Oasis of the Seas, it's been hiding out in a dry dock in (Cadiz) Spain for almost two months getting updated - or “amplified” as Royal Caribbean calls it by some 2,700 contractors who have been working hard aboard the ship. The work is touching almost every space on the ship over its 63 days out of service, and the “amplification” will make the 10year-old ship seem new again.

The complete story appeared in the November 12 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Celebrity Xpedition Grounded

Local media in Ecuador reported that the 2,300-ton Celebrity Xpedition ran aground on a sandbar in the Galapagos Tuesday afternoon about 5:40pm. While there doesn't appear to be damage to the ship, passengers had to be removed from the ship to refloat it.

The complete story appeared in the November 6 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Costa Firenze Floated Out

Fincantieri floated out the 135,500-ton Costa Firenze at their Marghera yard today. The ship is the sister to Costa Venezia which was built at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard and entered service last March.

Look quickly, because Costa Firenze, like her sister, is designated to operate in the Chinese market for the foreseeable future.

Details appeared in the November 6 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos courtesy of Costa Crociere. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.  

Planting the Norwegian Flag in Alaska

Princess and Holland America have both been closely identified with Alaska - and have become leaders in the market - because of their highly visible infrastructure investments there - ground tour operations, hotels and rail operations. Now Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which helped the market explode when the Norwegian Cruise Line brand pioneered the Seattle homeport with more easily accessible cruises (from the US) - is stepping up its infrastructure investments in the 49th state.

The difference is that NCLH's investments are less visible and giving it an advantage over its competitors in booking their ships into the ports.

The complete story appeared in the November 5 issue of Cruise News Daily.