Friday, February 3, 2012

Passenger Overboard from Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas

Updated 7:15pm EST
A 30-year-old British passenger has gone overboard from Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas. The incident happened early this morning as the ship was approaching Cozumel.

The man going overboard was witnessed by another passenger and reported to shipboard personnel. The ship was turned and began a search.

Normal procedures were followed onboard of searching for the person in question and paging him repeatedly. US and Mexican Coast Guards were alerted, as were appropriate law enforcement authorities.

A subsequent review of the ship's closed-circuit camera recordings confirmed the passenger went overboard from the balcony of his Deck 11 stateroom. The time and ship's position was noted on its Global Positioning System and forwarded to the Coast Guards.

Boats from the Mexican Navy, Coast Guard and the pilot boat joined Allure in the search, but were unsuccessful in finding the man.

Allure of the Seas was on a full ship charter to Atlantis Events and left Ft. Lauderdale last Sunday (January 29, 2012) on the 7-night cruise to the western Caribbean. Allure is scheduled to return on February 5.

The complete story will appear in this evening's edition of Cruise News Daily.

The Sea Is Calling ... Again

In yesterday's earnings call, Royal Caribbean president Adam Goldstein said that the brand had returned to a full slate of TV advertising in the US as of January 30.

Goldstein said that advertising which had been suspended over the last two weeks would be redistributed over the next five weeks along with advertising already scheduled to run in the next five weeks.

Among those ads will be a new entry in the "shell phone" ads which the line successfully launched earlier this month. In this one, the sea is calling again, and she wants you to get romantic. Video is below.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Costa Begins Process to Remove Costa Concordia Wreckage

Costa Crociere confirmed they have invited ten companies to submit plans to remove the wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship.

The cruise line said they are looking for the best plan considering having the work done in the shortest amount of time, ensuring maximum safety and the least possible environmental impact.

Costa said the ten companies from which plans were solicited are the top ten in the world which have the expertise and capabilities to perform the work. The plans need to be presented by the end of March.

Meanwhile Costa has retained Smit Salvage to remove the fuel from the vessel. They have been ready to do so since last Saturday, but sea conditions have prevented the start of pumping of the fuel. Current weather forecasts indicate they now may not now be able to start removing the fuel until next week. Once they begin, it will take approximately 28 working days to complete the operation.

Yesterday, a small amount of oil was noted on the water surrounding the ship. A Smit spokesperson told CND that it is not the heavy oil used for fuel on the ship (which they will remove). It appears to be oil from other machinery on the ship.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Cunard's Queen Elizabeth Interior Design

Unless you think about it, when you’re aboard a cruise ship, it’s easy to overlook the fact that not only did someone have to design what the whole interior space was going to look like, but someone has to say “yes” to this light fixture, and “yes” to this carpet pattern instead of that one, and “these chairs, except in gold, not brown.”

That person for the most part for Cunard and Princess vessels is our friend (and CND reader) Teresa Anderson, Cunard's (and Princess') Vice President of Interior Design. It's always fascinating to walk around a ship with her, because, not only does she know every inch of it, but she'll mention details and how she came to choose these chairs or why that stairway looks like that, or that she really likes the way this corner worked out. ("For that balustrade we used the same pattern as on the original Queen Elizabeth.") Even though you only tap a fraction of her knowledge, you come away with a new appreciation for the ship and of things you never imagined had any significance.

Even though Queen Elizabeth has been sailing for awhile, Cunard released a new video about the ship’s design, and it features an interview with Teresa. In this video, you begin to get a sense of how involved she is, and why the Cunard and Princess ships have the quality they do.