Norwegian Star Decorates for the Holidays

If you are cruising over the holidays, you get to see your cruise ship like at no other time of the year. Cruise lines make a point of decorating their ships in various styles from the tastefully understated to the spectacular. Here is Norwegian Star's atrium decked out for the holidays in one of the more modern and creative ways we've seen.
Photon courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line.

Princess Unwraps Kids & Teen Facilities aboard Royal Princess

Royal Princess is currently under construction at Fincantieri in Italy. It will debut in June 2013.

Duchess of Cornwall Visits Queen Victoria

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall spent the day aboard Cunard's Queen Victoria last week marking the fifth anniversary of her christening the vessel. While aboard, she attended several events including the unveiling of a new portrait which will be displayed aboard Queen Victoria.

In this video, Cunard President Peter Shanks describes the duchess' time aboard the vessel.




Video courtesy of Cunard Line

Salvaging Costa Concordia

Last Sunday evening (December 17, 2012), CBS's 60 Minutes ran a story on the salvage of Costa Concordia. If you've been following Cruise News Daily's coverage, you already know the information presented, but it does show some interesting footage of the wreck and correspondent Leslie Stahl talks with Titaln Salvage's Nick Sloane about the project. We have the report here. (It does have a couple commercial breaks, but that's how CBS pays the bills. Just stick with it.)

Below the report which aired, we have some web extras that give some interesting behind the scenes perspectives on the 60 Minutes story.



In the first web extra, CBS shows how the crew shot the footage of the ship.



The next web extra is a clip from the interview with Nick Sloane of Titan Salvage talking about how they used supercomputers to do the calculations for the design of the salvage operation.



In the third web extra, senior salvage master Nick Sloane tells Lesley Stahl why the ship weighs so much -- and why it's an environmental priority to remove it in one piece.



In the last web extra senior dive master Jimmy Conroy has been working on the wreck for months on end, but says he feels honored to be part of a project that's attracted "some of the best maritime talent in the world."



Video courtesy of CBS.

Photos: Costa Diadema Construction Begins

Fincantieri laid the first block of Costa Diadema (Italian for "tiara") at their Marghera yard on December 10. The ship, when delivered on October 2014, at 132,500 grt, will be the largest flying the the Italian flag.

This interior block measures 15 by 29 meters and weighs 504 tons, 

and this one will form part of the keel. Here it it being lowered onto the blocks

on which the ship will rest until the drydock is flooded and the ship is

floated up.

Costa Diadema's interior has again been designed by Joe Farcus.

The atrium is shown above.

The ship's main restaurant will be located aft for spectacular sea views (above).

The ship will also have a premium/specialty restaurant (above). Details will be available later.