It's Like 1984 Again

Those last 35 years slipped by fast. It was in 1984 that Kathie Lee Gifford starred in the first Carnival Cruise Line commercial.

You remember it. She sang Carnival's catchy jingle, “Ain't We Got Fun,” in the first national television campaign for a cruise line. It was the first of several, and people still refer to them today.

Actually, they showed one on the Today Show today. Kathie Lee was retiring from the show, and after they showed the one in which she was seen all around the ship singing, “If They Could See Me Now (on a FunShip Cruise),” Carnival gave everyone in the audience a free three- or four-night cruise for two.

The complete story appeared in the April 5 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - April 5, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Virgin Voyages selecting a spa operator
• O3b launching four more satellites
• A faster and less expensive way for crew members to send money home

Details appeared in the April 5 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

New Home (for a short while), New Entertainment

Although we didn't cover it at the time (basically, because the ship just started doing what we already reported it was going to be doing), Royal Princess is now comfortably in its new seasonal West Coast home port of Los Angeles sailing Princess' signature itinerary to the Mexican Riviera.

Captain Stubing, Gopher, Julie, Doc and Isaac would be proud at how the hardware has evolved from Pacific Princess to this magnificent Medallion Class ship. They would also have a new feature which would be a source of different guest stars to board the Love Boat every week.

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

It Takes Longer to Get to Australia

“Anywhere” now includes Australia. Back in February we told you how Carnival Cruise Line's “Pizza Anywhere” program available via their Carnival Hub app was being expanded beyond Carnival Horizon and Carnival Visa. Our friends down at Carnival Australia are excited to tell us that “Pizza Anywhere” is now available on Carnival Spirit and it will be available on Carnival Splendor when it arrives in Australia in December.

Details appeared in the April 4 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

The Journey Begins

As you remember, on Monday afternoon, a shipyard crane collapsed onto Oasis of the Seas while it was in the floating dry dock in the Grand Bahama Shipyard. The damage to the ship caused Royal Caribbean to cancel three sailings. Although Royal Caribbean has yet to publicly detail the damage, they did say they were going to move the ship to a yard in Cadiz (Spain) for repair, and Oasis would return to service with its May 5 sailing from Barcelona.

The line did not give a timetable for the move but it began in a small way today.

The complete story appeared in the April 4 issue of Cruise News Daily.

A Cheesy Day on Costa

Most people who book a Costa cruise do so because they want the Italian experience Costa exports so well all around the world. Costa often positions themselves as the ambassadors of aspects of Italian excellence with short- term initiatives onboard.

Usually these special experiences aren't significant enough that one would book a cruise just for it, or even choose one itinerary over another just to be on the right ship, but if you happen to be on one of the selected ships, it's like you've won a small prize in the lottery.

The complete story appeared in the April 3 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Fastest around the World

Last week we told you about Princess opening sales on their 2021 world cruise.

This week we can tell you Princess says that within 24 hours, the 2021 cruise became their fastest-selling world cruise in the more than two decades Princess has been taking passengers around the world.

Details appeared in the April 3 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Vancouver Ready for Record-Breaking Year

Vancouver's 2019 cruise season began last weekend with the arrival of Emerald Princess at Canada Place.

This year, Vancouver expects more than a million passengers to pass through the BC port on 290 ship calls,

Details appeared in the April 3 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Oasis to Return to Service in May

While Royal Caribbean still hasn't told us specifics about the damage Oasis of the Seas sustained yesterday when a crane collapsed on it at the Grand Bahama shipyard, they have acknowledged the inevitable and begun to advise passengers booked on canceled sailings.

Royal Caribbean said today they will cancel three sailings: April 7, 14 and 21. Those are what were to be its last three sailings from Port Canaveral, and include what would have been the 14-night transatlantic repositioning cruise to Barcelona.

Details appeared in the April 2 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Windstar's Star Plus Initiative Begins in Trieste

Back in November we told you how Windstar was going to have Fincantieri enlarge their Star-class ships. Today, that program began when Fincantieri cut the first steel for the new mid-section of Star Breeze.

The complete story appeared in the April 2 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Living on the Edge

The courageous among our readers may be interested in this special cruise being planned for next year - if the organizers can find enough members of their group willing and curious enough to go.

Details appeared in the April 2 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Oasis of the Seas Involved in Shipyard Accident

This is no April Fools Day joke. Oasis of the Seas was damaged this afternoon at the Grand Bahama Shipyard when a construction crane collapsed. The ship had arrived in the shipyard last night for maintenance, so no passengers were aboard.

The complete story appeared in the April 1 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Overboard from Carnival Spirit

A male passenger went overboard from Carnival Spirit last Thursday as the ship was traveling from Sydney to Noumea, but was not reported missing until the next morning.

Details appeared in the April 1 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Passenger Arrests aboard Two Ships for Smuggling Drugs

Authorities in two countries have disrupted major drug smuggling operations on two cruise ships in the last few days by arresting groups of passengers traveling to Europe carrying significant amounts of drugs.

Details appeared in the April 1 issue of Cruise News Daily.