Saturday, September 3, 2016

Norwegian Breakaway Sailing Early

Tropical Storm Hermine is heading up the East Coast and it is causing a change in Norwegian Breakaway's turnaround at New York on Sunday (September 4).

The ship will depart at 1:30pm, and Norwegian Cruise Line is asking passengers to begin checking in at 9:30am on Sunday. With the new sailing time, passengers are required to be aboard by 12:30pm.

The early departure should allow Norwegian Breakaway to sail ahead of the storm's arrival in the area. At this point, no other changes to the itinerary are planned.


Friday, September 2, 2016

Fire Causes Sea Dream I Evacuation

The small luxury ship Sea Dream I, operated by Sea Dream Yacht Club, caught fire and was evacuated Thursday afternoon as it was sailing off the Italian coast, 30 miles north-northwest of the island of Stromboli. The ship was sailing between Amalfi and Positano at the time.

The fire occurred in the engine room and caused damage to the engine.

The complete story appeared in the September 2 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

STX France Floats Out First Meraviglia-class

STX France floated out MSC Meraviglia from the dry dock at their Saint-Nazaire yard. The ship now begins the final phase of construction in the wet dock.

As we often note, this event is significant at most yards because it is the first time the ship has actually floated and becomes a ship.

The complete story appeared in the September 2 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - September 2, 2016

CND subscribers also read about:
  • Pride of America sailing early to avoid Hurricane Lester
  • Costa Luminosa's round the world cruise
  • The first Transatlantic Fashion Week aboard Queen Mary 2
  • The final voyage of Costa Concordia
Details appeared in the September 2 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Carnival Sets Imagination Upgrades

Carnival Imagination is heading off to a three-week dry dock next week, and Carnival has finalized the upgrades that will be made to the twenty-one-year-old ship.

The new features being added to Carnival Imagination will bring it into line with the features on some of the line's newest vessels.

Details appeared in the September 1 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Fasten Your Seatbelts - It's Going to Be a Bumpy Night

It sounds almost like Margo Channing was planning to sail aboard Pride of America from Honolulu Saturday night.

Hurricane Lester is taking a more northerly path than Madeline just did, and it appears as if all of the Hawaiian Islands are going to be getting some wind and rain from Lester. Oahu is now under a hurricane watch, and the latest advisory from the National Weather Service says the wind and rain from Lester should reach Oahu on Saturday evening.

The complete story appeared in the September 1 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

It's Showtime

Celebrity is the latest cruise line to test the waters of offering passengers an optional concert by a big-name star, but as you would expect, they have their own unique twist to it.

Demi Lovato will perform for Celebrity passengers from four ships on December 28 when the ships are all in port at St. Maarten.

Details appeared in the August 31 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Faster to the Bottom of the Wallet

Carnival Cruise Line has raised the price of their “Faster to the Fun” program for passengers who want to board the ship early at their port of embarkation - on most cruises.

The complete story appeared in the August 31 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

A Further Minor Adjustment

Pride of America is still dealing with Hurricane Madeline in Hawaii, and Norwegian Cruise Line says they will keep the ship at sea on Thursday (after cruising off the Na Pali coast today, Wednesday).

The line said Pride of America will now have an extended port call at Nawiliwili (Kauai) on Friday, not leaving 6pm instead of the normal 2pm from that port. 

Details appeared in the August 31 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Read My Lips

No more cruise ship karaoke where people laugh if you don't sing well. Now, thanks to Carnival and Spike TV, you don't even have to sing to be a music star on your Carnival cruise.

Carnival has partnered with Spike TV to bring a seagoing version of Spike's “Lip Sync Battle” to Carnival ships.

Details appeared in the August 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Quitting Cold Turkey

Earlier in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Istanbul, Princess and Holland America canceled all calls in Turkey through August, and for the rest of the year in Istanbul. They said they would make a decision on returning to Kusadasi as we drew closer to September. It's about as close to September as we can get, so we asked them today.

Both lines said they have now decided to forego calls at all Turkish ports for the rest of the year.

The complete story appeared in the August 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Aloha, Madeline

It's not getting much coverage on the Mainland, but there are two hurricanes headed toward Hawaii, and Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America is there year round, so you know what that means.

Hurricane Madeline is approaching from the west and will pass south of the islands, so Norwegian is moving the ship to the west.

Details appeared in the August 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Monday, August 29, 2016

Australian Police Hit Jackpot on Sea Princess

When Sea Princess arrived in Sydney on Sunday no one was more excited to see it than the police. Sydney was the end of a lengthy cruise which had come from Southampton and New York and around South America, calling at a half dozen ports, and across the South Pacific to Australia, so it was classified as “high risk” by the authorities for having illegal drugs aboard.

Australian police had also been tipped off by US authorities about several passengers whom they considered “high risk” to be carrying drugs. So when Sea Princess docked, the police took their drug-sniffing dogs aboard and let them sniff around including the “high risk” passengers.

The complete story appeared in the August 29 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

And He's Taking His Show on the Road

Just like any political campaign, this candidate is scheduling rallies on short notice and popping up across the nation. Last week we told you about a rally in Charleston, and now a bigger one in Baltimore.

The Cat in the Hat brought his presidential campaign to Baltimore aboard Carnival Pride. The campaign coincides with the new Dr. Seuss book, "One Vote, Two Votes, I Vote, You Vote," that teaches kids about the election process and the importance of voting, and the companion Seuss at Sea program aboard Carnival ships.

Details appeared in the August 29 edition of Cruise News Daily

In Case You Missed It

A little over a week ago, Meyer Werft floated out Genting Dream, and they did it a day earlier than announced do avoid some inclement weather forecast for the next day, causing many who planned to watch the webcast to miss it.

Meyer has now released a short video of the event so you can get a chance to see it from Meyer's unique perspective.