MSC Dominated Copacabana on NYE

Where were you on New Year’s Eve? If you were one of MSC’s passengers in South America, chances are 100% you were in the place to be - on Rio’s Copacabana Beach.

As the largest cruise operator in the rapidly expanding South American market, MSC had four of their ships there, and they all had a front row “seat” for the spectacular NYE fireworks display above the beach.

The  complete story appeared in the January 4 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Beyond the smoke from the fireworks, four MSC ships are anchored.

Photo courtesy of MSC Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.

Carnival Corp Announces Construction of Four Newbuilds

Carnival Corp is ending the year with the announcement of an agreement with Fincantieri to build four new ships for three of its brands. The deployment of those ships highlights where the industry is fastest-growing and where it will continue to put its resources. By the same token, those in traditional markets - ports, suppliers, customers, and travel agents - should note that things have changed, and it is no longer business as usual.

Two of the four ships will be for Costa, and Costa has already said they will go to their Asian division for deployment in China. One will go to P&O Australia for operation from Australian ports for the locally-sourced market, and one will go to Princess Cruises, but Princess has not specified where it will operate.

The complete story appeared in the December 30 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Elevator Accident aboard Carnival Ecstasy

A 66-year-old Italian electrician died in an usual accident while working in an elevator shaft aboard Carnival Ecstasy Sunday evening about 6:15pm. Apparently he met with some sort of trauma because a passenger reported seeing blood running down the outside of an elevator door.

The complete story appeared in the December 30 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Surprise Record Breaker

Port Everglades broke its own world record for the most cruise passengers to embark and debark in a single day - 53,485 people - on December 20. The previous record was set March 20, 2010, with 53,365 passengers.

Details appeared in the December 30 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Coral Princess to the Rescue

Two Venezuelan men owe their lives to the alert eyes of the bridge crew aboard Coral Princess who spotted them and their overturned boat Tuesday night about 180 miles northwest of Aruba.

The complete story appeared in the December 30 edition of Cruise News Daily.