Royal Caribbean Cruises ordered a third Oasis-class vessel for their Royal Caribbean International brand today from STX France.
The ship will be built at the STX France yard in Saint Nazaire for delivery in mid-2016.
Details and analysis appeared in the December 27, 2011 edition of Cruise News Daily.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
UK Reports: QE2 Sold for Scrap - Updated
Update below original story
According to UK newspaper reports, The classic Queen Elizabeth 2 has apparently been sold for scrap to a Chinese yard.
The oceanliner has been sitting in a port at Dubai since its purchase by resort interests there in 2008. The original plan was to convert it to a luxury hotel for use there, but that plan was shelved when world financial markets tightened. A crew of 40 to maintain the vessel has been constantly aboard since the handover.
The UK reports say QE2 was sold to Chinese interests for 20 million pounds. It's original sale price was 64 million pounds, and it has been running up fuel and docking fees since.
The reports say that a crew of 20 Chinese replaced the original crew last Friday, indicating a change of ownership. The rumor is that the ship will be going into drydock before leaving for an undisclosed destination in Asia. That would seem to point to it ultimately being scrapped.
Reports from the UK are notoriously unfounded, but this one seems to have a lot of detail with it, and it's quite possibly true.
British interests had been negotiating to purchase the ship and bring to back to the UK for use as a hotel, but those hopes would now seem to be ended.
Update:
In an unusual move, Cunard has issued a statement saying they have been in contact with "Dubai" regarding the stories published in British newspapers "and to the very best of our knowledge this story is pure speculation."
This is unusual in that in the past Cunard has never wanted to comment on their former vessel. The attitude seemed to be that it was no longer theirs, so anything to do with it was no longer their business.
Beyond that, while it is reassuring what Cunard said, they actually have no more information than anyone else. If the Dubai owners aren't ready to confirm the sale to anyone else, they aren't likely to confirm it to Cunard, since Cunard has no interest in the project, past or present.
As we mentioned in the original article UK media often runs with reports without verification, and they were saying the Dubai owners were not commenting, but this does have a lot of detail, and the Dubai owners were not denying the story either. If they have no interest in selling the ship, logic would say they'd be very quick and very public about denying the reports. There seems to be a lot of smoke for no fire. One explanation may be that a sale may not have closed yet, but it could in the near future. Time will tell.
By the way, Cunard has commented to CND in the past that they have absolutely no interest in reacquiring the vessel.
According to UK newspaper reports, The classic Queen Elizabeth 2 has apparently been sold for scrap to a Chinese yard.
The oceanliner has been sitting in a port at Dubai since its purchase by resort interests there in 2008. The original plan was to convert it to a luxury hotel for use there, but that plan was shelved when world financial markets tightened. A crew of 40 to maintain the vessel has been constantly aboard since the handover.
The UK reports say QE2 was sold to Chinese interests for 20 million pounds. It's original sale price was 64 million pounds, and it has been running up fuel and docking fees since.
The reports say that a crew of 20 Chinese replaced the original crew last Friday, indicating a change of ownership. The rumor is that the ship will be going into drydock before leaving for an undisclosed destination in Asia. That would seem to point to it ultimately being scrapped.
Reports from the UK are notoriously unfounded, but this one seems to have a lot of detail with it, and it's quite possibly true.
British interests had been negotiating to purchase the ship and bring to back to the UK for use as a hotel, but those hopes would now seem to be ended.
Update:
In an unusual move, Cunard has issued a statement saying they have been in contact with "Dubai" regarding the stories published in British newspapers "and to the very best of our knowledge this story is pure speculation."
This is unusual in that in the past Cunard has never wanted to comment on their former vessel. The attitude seemed to be that it was no longer theirs, so anything to do with it was no longer their business.
Beyond that, while it is reassuring what Cunard said, they actually have no more information than anyone else. If the Dubai owners aren't ready to confirm the sale to anyone else, they aren't likely to confirm it to Cunard, since Cunard has no interest in the project, past or present.
As we mentioned in the original article UK media often runs with reports without verification, and they were saying the Dubai owners were not commenting, but this does have a lot of detail, and the Dubai owners were not denying the story either. If they have no interest in selling the ship, logic would say they'd be very quick and very public about denying the reports. There seems to be a lot of smoke for no fire. One explanation may be that a sale may not have closed yet, but it could in the near future. Time will tell.
By the way, Cunard has commented to CND in the past that they have absolutely no interest in reacquiring the vessel.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Monarch of the Seas Passenger Arrested with Child Porn
A passenger returning from a cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas was arrested when it was discovered that his laptop computer contained more than 1,100 images and video believed to be child pornography.
According to the complaint filed in federal court, the pictures included toddlers and babies being sexually abused. Authorities said about 350 of the children in the material have been identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The man has now been indicted by a federal grand jury on child pornography charges. The alleged pornography was discovered when the man returned from his cruise on December 10, 2012.
According to the complaint filed in federal court, the pictures included toddlers and babies being sexually abused. Authorities said about 350 of the children in the material have been identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The man has now been indicted by a federal grand jury on child pornography charges. The alleged pornography was discovered when the man returned from his cruise on December 10, 2012.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Toddler Falls from Monarch of the Seas
A toddler aboard Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas reportedly fell from an upper deck to a balcony one deck below shortly after the ship left Port Canaveral Friday afternoon.
Royal Caribbean said the 14-month-old child was treated at the ship's medical facility, but the injuries were extensive enough that the ship returned to Port Canaveral where the child could be airlifted to a hospital in Orlando.
Monarch of the Seas departed Friday (Dec 22, 2012) on a 3-night cruise to Coco Cay and Nassau.
Details will appear in the next edition of Cruise News Daily.
Royal Caribbean said the 14-month-old child was treated at the ship's medical facility, but the injuries were extensive enough that the ship returned to Port Canaveral where the child could be airlifted to a hospital in Orlando.
Monarch of the Seas departed Friday (Dec 22, 2012) on a 3-night cruise to Coco Cay and Nassau.
Details will appear in the next edition of Cruise News Daily.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Queen Mary 2 Sailing from Manhattan
Last month when the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal was closed due to damage during Hurricane Sandy, Queen Mary 2 instead sailed from the cruise terminal in Manhattan, giving us a rare (these days) chance to see her sailing past the famed Manhattan skyline. Making it all the more romantic was the nighttime departure.
Luckily our favorite New Jersey YouTube ship videographer, NJPhotographer62, was there to capture it for us. You can almost hear Frank Sinatra singing.
Luckily our favorite New Jersey YouTube ship videographer, NJPhotographer62, was there to capture it for us. You can almost hear Frank Sinatra singing.
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