Christmas in July on Princess Cruises

It's Christmas in July aboard Emerald Princess in the Baltic!



All kinds of groups travel aboard Princess Cruises, and this group of 20 Santas was aboard Emerald Princess for a "School4Santas" last month. It was a real treat for passengers that even included carols, Christmas cookies - yes, and Princess signature snow in the atrium which, like Santa, is normally only seen in December.

Who says Christmas comes but once a year? On Princess Cruises, it comes again in summer - times twenty. All part of the miracle of Princess Cruises.

Construction Begins at Banana Coast Cruise Port

Construction has begun on the new Banana Coast cruise port on Honduras' Caribbean coast, shown in these artists' renderings.

Like similar self-contained resorts for cruise passengers, Banana Coast will offer twin berths for post-Panamax ships, a large sandy beach at the foot of the finger pier, a world-class shopping complex, and a transportation hub and marina for shore and water-based excursions. The difference is that Banana Coast is located at the western end of the Caribbean.

The facility is scheduled to be completed and open to cruise ships in late 2012.

Costa Romantica Set for Major Refit

Costa Romantica is scheduled for a major refit and updating this fall running from October 2011 through January 2012. Costa says it's an evolution of the product resulting in changes so dramatic to the ship it will be renamed Costa neoRomantica.

A major part of the construction will be the construction of two half decks on the forward part of the ship, dramatically changing the ship's profile.

Not only will the ship's capacity increase, but there will be construction of a number of new public rooms.

Rendering of the new Costa neoRomantica at sea.

The new lido bar Monte Carlo.

Grand Bar Piazza Italia is a new cabaret and bar with a dance floor.

The Ristorante Samsara is a new private restaurant dedicated to the new spa staterooms and suites.

Complete details of the project were published in the August 8, 2011, edition of Cruise News Daily.

Queen of the Mississippi Launched

Here's something you don't see much anymore. Today's cruise ships have become so large their hulls are commonly built in drydocks, and when the hull is completed, the drydock is flooded and the hull is floated out. When ships were smaller, they were built on land in the shipyard, and when completed they were rolled on rails down into the water as you often see in classic newsreels of ships being launched.

American Cruise Lines' new Queen of the Mississippi is under construction at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Maryland. Because it is of a relatively small size, the hull has been constructed on land in two parts. They have been joined together and a couple of weeks ago (July 17), it was launched on rails. As we said, you don't see that much anymore, except in the video below.



The launch comes some nine weeks ahead of schedule. Two additional decks will be added to the superstructure. It is currently being outfitted with electrical wiring and plumbing. When complete it will have 75 staterooms.

The new sternwheeler is scheduled to enter service on the Mississippi in August 2012.

Carnival Corp Orders New Ships for Costa and AIDA brands

Cruise giant Carnival Corp has ordered three large new ships for their Costa and AIDA brands for delivery in in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The newbuilds will be the largest for each of the brands.

The first to be delivered will be a 132,500-ton vessel scheduled for October 2014 for Costa, to be built by Fincantieri at their Marghera yard. It will carry 3,700 passengers (based on double occupancy).

The other two will be a pair of 125,000-ton ships to be built by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the AIDA brand. They will carry 3,250 passengers (double occupancy) and be delivered in March 2015 and March 2016.

Complete details will be in today's edition of Cruise News Daily.