Balconies to be Added to Carnival Sensation

Carnival will add 98 balconies to Carnival Sensation during previously-scheduled drydock in January. At the same time, a number of the suites, which currently have balconies, will have their balconies enlarged and extended. Carnival says the balconies are and addition to the Evolutions of Fun enhancements being added to the line's Fantasy-class ships. The Evolutions of Fun additions already include an updated pool area, a waterpark, and an adults-only deck area.

Royal Caribbean to Homeport in Dubai

Royal Caribbean International will base Brilliance of the Seas at Dubai for a program that will run from January to April 2010.

Itineraries and program details will be announced later.

Hurricane Norbert Updates

Updated October 11, 9pm EDT

Hurricane Norbert has moved out of the ocean and is no longer affecting cruise ships. The itinerary changes that have occurred are shown below.

The following itineraries have been affected. (Ships are listed in alphabetical order.)

Carnival Elation - departed San Diego Thursday (October 9) - The Cabo San Lucas call on Saturday will be canceled. The revised itinerary calls at Catalina on Saturday (October 11 - 8am-5pm) and Ensenada on Sunday (October 12 - 8am-5pm). Carnival Elation will return to San Diego on Monday (October 13) as scheduled.

Carnival Pride - departed Long Beach Sunday, October 5 - The Mazatlan call on Thursday (October 9) will be canceled and replaced with Cabo San Lucas on Thursday (October 9 - noon-6pm) as the ship hurries to pass in front of Norbert's path. A call will then be added at Ensenada on Saturday (October 11 - 8am-5pm). Carnival Pride will return to Long Beach as scheduled on Sunday (October 12).

NCL's Norwegian Sun - departed San Francisco Thursday (October 2) - The ship will cancel its call at Cabo San Lucas on Friday (October 10) and remain at sea. Norwegian Sun will return to San Francisco as scheduled on Monday (October 13).

Holland America's Ryndam - departed San Diego Sunday (October 5) - The ship is on a charter and not operating its regular itinerary. A call at La Paz on Friday (October 10) has been canceled, and the ship will remain at sea, creating three sea days in a row.

Sapphire Princess - departed Los Angeles Saturday (October 4) - The only change was a cancellation of a call at Cabo San Lucas Thursday (October 9) as the ship wants to cross the storm's projected path ahead of it instead of having to wait for the storm to pass. The ship is therefore spending the day at sea. Sapphire is expected to return to Los Angeles on Saturday as scheduled.

For other cruise weather-related information , please see our cruise weather information page on our main website at CruiseNewsDaily.com

This item will no longer be updated.

Carnival Brands to Set Elimination of Fuel Supplement

This afternoon Carnival Corp made two announcements regarding their US brands' fuel supplements.

The first deals with 2010 sailings. Effective on October 31, they will eliminate the supplement while simultaneously increasing prices, effectively rolling the price of fuel into the fare.

In the second part of the announcement, they set guidelines for removing it from 2008 and 2009 sailings. For that to happen, the company said, the price of oil would have to be $70 per barrel or less at the 2:30pm close of business (as reported by Reuters) for 25 consecutive trading days. At that point the brands would removed the surcharge on sailings at least five trading days in the future.

Details to follow.

QE2 Embarks on Final Transatlantic Trip

Cunard's Queen Elizabeth 2 left Southampton this afternoon on its final westbound transatlantic voyage. It is scheduled to arrive in New York on Thursday (October 16, 2008). That will be its final visit to the Big Apple.

As we reported earlier in Cruise News Daily, the day will be marked by many toasts and events, but the grandest will be when QE2 leaves New York at 5pm for the final time for her final voyage across the Atlantic.

The round trip from Southampton to New York and back will be in tandem with the larger Queen Mary 2.

If you'd like to witness the tandem departure from New York, accompanied by FDNY fireboats, Cunard suggests the following vantage points: Battery Park (on the southern shoreline of Manhattan), Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park (overlooking the Hudson River with great views of the Statue of Liberty), the Esplanade (running the entire length of Battery Park City, along the Hudson River from Stuyvesant High School on the north end all the way south to Battery Park, and Hudson River Park (extends for five miles along the Manhattan shoreline from Battery Place to West 59th Street).

QE2, the longest-serving vessel Cunard has ever had, will be retired in Dubai on November 27, 2008.