Friday, June 16, 2017

Your Experience on the Shore Is Up in the Air

This afternoon about 2pm, President Trump signed his executive order enacting his policy toward Cuba and canceling the policies of the previous administration, effective immediately. As expected, his are more restrictive.

But like most governmental actions, the order just gives the broad overview and then it is left to some governmental body, in this case, the OFAC (the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control), to interpret it for the real world situations and put in place the mechanisms to administer it and make the actual rules everyone will have to follow.

Your cruise will still sail to Cuba, but what happens when you get there isn't yet certain. 

The complete story appeared in the June 16 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Keep on Cruising (to Cuba)

Advance drafts of President Trump's speech tomorrow in Miami indicate he will roll back many of the liberalized policies President Obama put in place with respect to Cuba, but he won't break diplomatic relations with the island nation that President Obama ordered reestablished last year.

In the preview Reuters was given, it seemed to increase restrictions on companies doing business with Cuba, but will continue to allow travel to Cuba under the 12 categories of travel allowed. He will tighten enforcement of those regulations, however, according to Reuters.

The complete story appeared in the June 15 edition of Cruise News Daily

Other Things You'll Want to Know - June 15, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:
  • Norwegian Joy's first sailing from Shanghai
  • A puzzling way to cross the Atlantic
Details appeared in the June 15 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Bar Harbor Votes to Stay in the Cruise Business

Voters in Bar Harbor (Maine) on Tuesday voted for a measure that would help to keep the city as a port of call for cruise lines (and possibly expand its capacity) and against another measure that would limit the number of cruise passengers visiting the city.

The measure that was approved 945-658 allows the city to rezone a former ferry terminal, and sets the stage for the city to buy it and upgrade the pier to handle large cruise ships.

The complete story appeared in the June 14 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - June 14, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:
  • STX France laying the keel for Celebrity Edge
  • Adventure of the Seas rescuing two men who had been adrift in the Caribbean for 23 days. 
Details appeared in the June 14 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

The first block of Celebrity Edge is placed in the dry dock.
Photo courtesy of Celebrity Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Ready to Explore

After spending 12 days in Singapore, P&O's (Australia) “new” Pacific Explorer is on its way to her new home port in Sydney. She will come sailing into Sydney Harbor on Monday wearing her distinctive new Southern Cross livery (which debuted on Pacific Dawn in March).

After her multi-million-dollar refit, fans of the former Dawn Princess will hardly know her. More than 1,000 contractors spent more than 200,000 hours converting her while she was in dry dock. During that time, they replaced more than 269,000 square feet of carpeting, brought aboard more than 3,000 pieces of new furniture and 1,200 pieces of artwork.

The complete story appeared in the June 13 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - June 13, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:
  • The senior officers have been chosen for Carnival Horizon.
  • Cunard will be official sponsors of the Broadway musical War Paint,
Details appeared in the June 13 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Monday, June 12, 2017

Cunard Again to the Rescue

A 73-year-old British man was rescued by Queen Mary 2 over the weekend in the middle of the Atlantic when a severe storm disabled the yacht he was sailing along across the Atlantic as part of a 22-yacht race from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island.

The storm had 60-knot winds and 45-foot waves. Four of the yachts declared emergencies, with two of them sinking and another losing a mast. QM2 was only involved in the one rescue, however. At this point, only nine of the yachts remain in the race.

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

Other Things You'll Want to Know - June 12, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:
  • Costa has a new tour option for passengers whose ship calls at Savona.
  • Seabourn's new show, "An Evening with Tim Rice," is now playing fleetwide.
Details appeared in the June 12 edition of Cruise News Daily.