From the in the Caribbean now department:

Emerald Princess entered service in the Mediterranean last spring, but just arrived at its winter home (Ft. Lauderdale) last weekend. This winter it will be sailing a pattern of 10-night cruises round trip from Port Everglades, and yesterday Emerald Princess made its maiden call at St. Thomas. The event was covered by Caribbean Net News. St. Thomas is one of the busiest ports in the Caribbean, but even so, the arrival of a new ship still make big local news.

From the so near yet so far department:

Passengers aboard Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas sat aboard the ship off the coast of Lahaina today for four hours waiting for the state's Department of Land and Natural Resources to get in place to allow the ship's tenders to land passengers on Maui, according to an article in the Honolulu Advertiser.

The ship arrived at 7am, but the first tenders were not allowed to depart for shore until after 11:15am. The state blames it on a staffing shortage of experienced employees to screen arriving passengers.

Unfortunately, the delay scuttled the excursion plans for many of the passengers, costing the local economy mega bucks.

Radiance of the Seas left Los Angeles October 21 on a 14-day itinerary. This is the second disappointment for the passengers. The Hilo call had to be canceled due to sea conditions, so the ship had returned to Oahu for a second call in Honolulu replace Hilo.

updated Oct 30 2007 1:18pm

From the now you see it again department:

Earlier this month we told you about Liverpool's new pier which disappeared. Actually it wasn't a surprise; it was part of a process to get the construction certified. The new terminal was built, used for several cruise ship calls (including QE2), and then dismantled, and parts were towed to the Cammell Laird shipyard for inspection.

The Liverpool Echo reports that the pieces returned last weekend and Liverpool's new cruise terminal is finally (and permanently) ready for business.

From the Carnival delivers department:

As a project toward earning his Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts, 14-year-old Alex Border of Miami wanted to provide football (soccer) uniforms to other kids who couldn't afford them.

What he was originally thinking about was used ones, solicited from area teams. As the drive grew, he found what was being donated was not used uniforms but surplus ones that had never been worn. He eventually ended up with about $6,000 worth of the clothing.



Of course Alex needed to find somewhere to donate the equipment, and he realized there were lots of teams in need in the Caribbean, so that's where Alex's dad came in. He works for Carnival, and asked them to use their contacts in the Caribbean to find teams that could use the uniforms.

Not only did they find the teams, but they also transported the boxes there on their ships.

Above, you see Alex and his dad delivering the boxes to Carnival's headquarters in Miami.



One of the recipients was the Dominica Football Assn,

In the lower photo you see the uniforms being dropped off by Carnival Destiny during a regular port call at the island.

Shown here are (from left): Carnival Destiny Hotel Director Andy Brown; Dominica Football Association President Dexter Francis; and Carnival Destiny Chief Purser Marcus Davies.

From the personnel department:

Carnival Cruise Lines has appointed Justin French director of sales and marketing for Canada.

French joined the company in 2003 as a business development manager for western Ontario, and last year was named Carnival's "Canadian Region Salesperson of the Year."

French will remain based in Georgetown, Ontario and be responsible for directing the efforts of the line's five Canadian business development managers.