Crew Member Medevaced from Carnival Legend

The US Coast Guard reports one of their HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters from air station Clearwater (Florida) hoisted a 29-year-old female crew member from the deck of Carnival Legend this afternoon at approximately 5:20pm.

The USCG received a call from the ship at approximately noon today requesting a medevac for the woman. Earlier reports from the Coast Guard said the woman was "suffering from a serious head trauma." Carnival advises that was not the case. They said it appeared the woman was hemorrhaging, likely from an aneurysm, and there was no traumatic event or injury involved.

Carnival Victory was approximately 290 miles southwest of Tampa at the time of the airlift. She arrived at the hospital in Tampa at approximately 7pm Monday evening.

Last updated April 21, 12:55pm

Can Pricing Increase in Alaska?

With one ship fewer in Alaska next year, Princess set a smaller schedule for 2010 with four basic itineraries there with seven ships, but still 112 sailings, indicating there is still a lot of inventory to be sold in 2010. With the parent company, Carnival Corp, recently stating there would be further reductions to their fleet in Alaska in 2011 if pricing doesn't rise, it leaves the question if Princess and its sister brand, Holland America, can sustain the optimistically high pricing levels the lines indicated with their 2010 lead prices - especially in view of the low 2009 pricing.

In the April 20 Cruise News Daily article, we took a look where 2009 pricing is and where it is likely to go in 2010. It seems to spell trouble for Alaska in 2011, and we looked at where the cuts would then likely be.

7-Day Cruises from Mobile Now Open for Sale

Back in January Cruise News Daily reported that Carnival Cruise Lines would be operating a limited number of 7-day cruises aboard Carnival Fantasy from Mobile in 2010. The cruise line reports they are now available to book.

Based on the success Holiday sailing from the Alabama port, the port has aggressively sought more ships and longer itineraries. Holiday has sailed from the port since cruise service began there in 2004. Carnival will be replacing Holiday with the larger Carnival Fantasy in November (2009).

Carnival Fantasy will continue to sail Holiday's popular 4- and 5-day cruises from Mobile. The 7-day itineraries just replace them on the selected dates.

The new 7-day sailings depart on May 8, May 15, July 3, July 10, October 23 and October 30, 2010, and call at Montego Bay (Jamaica), George Town (Grand Cayman) and Cozumel (Mexico).

Discovery Sun Halts Sailings for Repairs

The Sun-Sentinel reports that Discovery Cruise Line's Discovery Sun has suspended sailings while engine repair work is continuing, leaving the single-ship cruise line with no operating vessels.

The line operates day cruises almost like a ferry between Ft. Lauderdale's Port Everglades and Grand Bahama Island.

The ship has been out of service since April 5, and the sudden suspension caused the cruise line to charter planes to return stranded passengers home, both to the US and to the Bahamas. The article reports that the line carries many Grand Bahamas residents to Florida for shopping.

There is a possibility that it may return to service as early as April 24, but a May date is more likely.

Conversion Work Continues to Make Celebrity Galaxy into Mein Schiff

This video from TUI Cruises shows the continuing conversion of Celebrity Galaxy into Mein Schiff, which will be the German line's first ship. TUI Cruises is the partnership between Royal Caribbean Cruises and the German travel giant TUI.

Even if you don't speak German, you'll probably find this video of the drydock work interesting. This one shows the portion of the project on the ship's aft end which adds a "ducktail" to the stern to counterbalance the extra weight being added for additional staterooms and balconies. The month-long project is being carried out at Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven.