From the one way to avoid the cancellation penalty department:

The St. Petersburg Times reports that jailed music mogul Lou Pearlman will be getting his deposit back - at least indirectly - from Cunard Line for a canceled cruise he won't be going on with nine friends.

Pearlman has filed bankruptcy and is being held on federal bank fraud charges, pending his trial now set to start in March, so he won't be available to go on the Queen Mary 2 Thanksgiving cruise to the Caribbean.

A federal bankruptcy judge ordered Cunard to return the $22,467 Pearlman paid the line so it can go into the assets to be distributed to creditors. Already in that pot are the $7.1 million from the sale of his home and $280,000 from the sale of furnishings and memorabilia.

Note: Link is valid at time of posting.

CND Headlines - Crystal Passengers Discovering Private Side of Adventure

A couple of years ago, Crystal Cruises debuted their service called Private Adventures. It's done good business for those customers who wanted something special ashore and were willing to pay for it, but it seems like this year the secret got out and many more passengers are discovering this indulgent option for the first time - and finding they don't want to cruise without it.


That's pushing the dedicated unit at the luxury line to record numbers. From January through August of this year, Crystal's land programs team has arranged 55% more Private Adventures than they did in all of 2006.



Details appear in today's edition of Cruise News Daily.

CND Headlines - More Ways to Be Covered

AIG Travel Guard has just released a new line of travel insurance products and upgrades to existing ones for your next cruise. Included in these are benefits that until now have only been available from cruise-line-issued policies.

These include coverage that allows cancellation for any reason, and cancellation for work-related reasons.

Details appear in today's edition of Cruise News Daily.

From the cutting steel department:

The first steel has been cut for Celebrity Equinox at Meyer Werft in Papenburg (Germany).

Celebrity Equinox is the second of the 122,000-ton Solstice-class. Celebrity Solstice is already under construction at the yard and is scheduled for delivery in fall of 2008. Celebrity Equinox will be delivered approximately a year later. In all, four of the ships were ordered.

The ships each will carry 2,850 passengers, double occupancy, with 90% of the staterooms outside and 90% of those having private balconies. The podded propulsion system will be powered by a diesel-electric system developing up to 67,200 kWh, or approximately 91,400 horsepower.

Shown here are (l to r) Richard Fain (CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd), Jarmo Laakso (Project Manager Celebrity Cruises), and Lambert Kruse (Managing Director, Meyer Werft) just before Fain pushes the button to ignite the plasma torch.

From the a rose for my teeth department:

It's not exactly Dancing with the Stars, but Costa has scheduled a week-long "Tango Cruise" aboard the 114,500-ton Costa Concordia on November 25 in the western Mediterranean.

If you have an interest in tango (it takes two, you know), there will be something here for every level of interest. Costa says the special-interest cruise "is perfect for travelers looking to learn the dance for the first time, spectators interested in watching from the sidelines, or for tried and true tango lovers looking to perfect their dance moves."

The cruise will feature some well-known tango couples conducting workshops and giving performances: Sebastian Arce & Miriana Montes, Esteban Moreno & Claudia Codega, and Marcela Guevara & Stefano Giudice.

If you follow tango, you already know who these people are. If you don't, then there's probably no reason for me to repeat Costa's description, because you don't care anyway. Am I right?