Thursday, July 3, 2014

Cruise News Daily Headlines for July 3, 2014

* Starting the Countdown to Lift Off
Technicians at Giglio Island finished attaching the final sponson to the side of Costa Concordia this afternoon, and now the equipment is ready for testing. At present, the sponsons are filled with water, and when the ship is refloated, the water will be pumped out, raising the ship and giving it buoyancy to be refloated and towed to Genoa where it will be dismantled and recycled.
   As we mentioned earlier, it will be raised only as far as Deck 3, so it will have a draft of some 18.5 meters (60.7 feet).

* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about a partial victory for the tour operators in Belize ... Bermuda gets more conservative ... and to be or not to be Takei.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Cruise News Daily Headlines for July 2, 2014

* An Early Morning Knock on the Door Is Never a Good Sign
It’s not a good sign when your cruise ship returns to the US, and at 6:30am Customs agents knock on the door of your stateroom to give you a personal screening. That’s what happened to one Carnival Liberty passenger at Port Canaveral on Saturday.
   The man, who was traveling alone, opened the door to find agents from Customs and Border Protection along with a K-9 search dog, agents and officers of Homeland Security Investigations, and Brevard County Sheriff’s officers. 
   If you follow this story through to its conclusion, it has some very disturbing aspects for Carnival passengers.

* How Fat Jimmy Does It
Although it’s not in one of the marquee eateries, on many Carnival ships, one of the more popular sandwiches is a pulled pork barbeque from Fat Jimmy’s C-side Barbeque.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Cruise News Daily Headlines for July 1, 2014

* Not So Fast
Not everyone in Belize is welcoming Norwegian Cruise Line’s construction of a “private island” style of port in southern Belize at Harvest Caye. The country’s tour operators’ association, BTIA, has filed suit in court in Belize to stop - or at least delay - construction.
   Monday was the opening day of the court case. 

* Safe Until Something Goes Wrong
A popular activity on most Caribbean beaches and many in America, too, is parasailing. It can be fun, but on the occasions something goes wrong, the accident often results in death or serious injury.
   The National Transportation Safety Board has just released its first report on the Board’s investigation into parasailing. It found that the businesses are mostly unregulated, and accidents are often caused by faulty equipment with the serious injuries caused because the participants are suspended 500 feet or more above the water. 

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Monday, June 30, 2014

Cruise News Daily Headlines for June 30, 2014

* Final Destination Decided
Italy’s Council of Ministers decided today that Costa Concordia’s final journey will end at Genoa and the ship will be dismantled there.
   In this CND article we look at the process that will be employed in refloating the ship, the journey and the dismantling.

* Fire Delays Westerdam
A “small” engine room fire Saturday afternoon, shortly after Holland America’s Westerdam departed Seattle, caused it to return to port.
   The ship was just beginning a 7-day cruise to Alaska round trip from Seattle with 2,086 passengers and 798 crew members aboard. 

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

New Business Development Director for Port Everglades

Port Everglades Picks Pyburn to lead Business Development Division

Jim Pyburn
BROWARD COUNTY, FLA. - Port Everglades announced the appointment of Jim Pyburn to the position of Director of its Business Development Division. The 36-year industry veteran comes to the state’s leading container port from Port Tampa Bay where he was the director of marketing and business development for Latin America.

“Jim has all the great qualities we were looking for to lead our Business Development team – outstanding leadership skills, knowledge of international trade and multi-lingual communication,” said Port Everglades Chief Executive & Port Director Steven Cernak.

Pyburn began his career in the international trade and transportation industry back in 1977 with U.S. Lines, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in the company’s Houston, Chicago and New York offices. For a three-year period, he was a partner in a freight forwarding/customhouse brokerage company in Houston. After selling his company, Pyburn eventually made his way to South Florida to work for Tropical Shipping, Tec Marine Lines and Emery Worldwide.

Pyburn earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the College of Science and Mathematics at the University of Houston and speaks fluent Spanish.

The Port Everglades Business Development Division is responsible for developing marketing and sales strategies to draw additional cruise business and containerized, dry and break bulk cargo volumes to Port Everglades. Staff provides customer service to the cruise and cargo shipping communities and markets Foreign-Trade Zone No. 25 and other Port facilities to the maritime community. The Port's Corporate & Community Relations Section is also part of the Business Development Division under Pyburn’s leadership.


About Port Everglades
As one of South Florida’s leading economic powerhouses, Port Everglades is the gateway for international trade and cruise vacations. Already among the three busiest cruise ports in the world, Port Everglades is also one of the nation’s leading container ports and South Florida’s main seaport for receiving petroleum products including gasoline, jet fuel and alternative fuels. The Port Everglades Department is a self-supporting Enterprise Fund of Broward County government with operating revenues of approximately $147 million in Fiscal Year 2013 (October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013). It does not rely on local tax dollars for operations. The total value of economic activity at Port Everglades is approximately $26 billion. More than 202,000 Florida jobs are impacted by the Port, including 11,433 people who work for companies that provide direct services to Port Everglades. For more information on Port Everglades, which is governed by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners, go to porteverglades.net.

Source: Port Everglades

UNICEF Receives MSC Cruises Donation

MSC Cruises Donates €3 Million to UNICEF

Geneva, 30 June – MSC Cruises has donated €3 million to UNICEF, the United Nations agency that fights for the rights of children around the world, during a handover ceremony at MSC Cruises’ Geneva headquarters.

MSC Cruises and UNICEF joined forces in 2009 under the "Get on Board for Children" initiative, which encourages guests on board the 12 MSC Cruises ships to make a contribution to UNICEF.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is active in more than 190 countries and territories, and since 2009, MSC’s collaboration has provided UNICEF in Brazil with funds to combat poverty and inequality. The money has helped children in 126 vulnerable communities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo gain access to a quality education.

In January of this year, MSC Cruises and UNICEF started a new life-saving partnership to provide assistance to malnourished children by delivering Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) – such as Plumpy’Nut® – to treat severe malnutrition in developing countries and in countries affected by crisis situations.

During a ceremony at the company headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, MSC Cruises Executive Chairman Pierfrancesco Vago handed the Executive Director of UNICEF Switzerland, Elsbeth Müller, a check for €3 million.

“At MSC Cruises we are honoured to be able to assist UNICEF in its endeavor to help starving children around the world. It was our duty to set in place such a concrete partnership that can save the lives of children for whom RUTF is an essential lifeline,” said Vago. “We are proud of the hard work achieved by all our staff, which made it possible to raise such an incredible amount of money. MSC as a group, which means cruises and cargo, is working hard to raise awareness of the project and to provide support to UNICEF through our very extensive network around the world.”

“I would like to thank MSC Cruises sincerely for the valuable longstanding partnership and today’s generous donation of €3 million,” said Elsbeth Müller. “The donation will be used for purchasing Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food for the treatment of children affected by severe acute malnutrition. Severe acute malnutrition is a major killer of children under five, accounting for more than one million deaths annually. Around 20 million children worldwide are estimated to be suffering from very poor nutrition. Thanks to partners like MSC Cruises, we can make sure that those children will have a future.”

In addition to donations from guests, MSC Cruises also organizes edutainment activities for children on board, raising awareness of UNICEF’s work and the needs of children around the world. Each week will see a dedicated UNICEF Day that includes fun games, a children’s parade and the distribution to each participating youngster of a UNICEF World Citizen passport, making them an ambassador for the rights of the child worldwide. In addition, MSC Cruises has launched a new song performed by an Italian children’s choir called "I Can Believe – MSC for UNICEF," to provide a soundtrack to all UNICEF support efforts on board MSC Cruises ships.

Guests on board each ship of the MSC fleet have the possibility to donate at least €1, or US $1.50, to the "Get on Board for Children" initiative. More information is available on the following dedicated website http://www.msccruises.com/gl_en/MSC-Unicef.aspx

Source: MSC Crociere