Fincantieri Delivers Costa Firenze

Fincantieri delivered the 135,500-ton Costa Firenze to Carnival's Costa Crociere brand today at Trieste. As the name would imply, the ship has a Florentine Renaissance theme throughout. 

The video below is a first look at the ship's stunning interior. 

Photo courtesy of Costa Crociere. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Stopping for Gas

Carnival's new Mardi Gras made its first port call today as it makes its way from the shipyard in Finland to its new home port of Port Canaveral. It is calling at Rotterdam today and tomorrow for fueling. Mardi Gras is powered by Liquified Natural Gas, which not only has limited availability, but requires a specialized fueling process.  

The complete story appeared in the December 22, 2020, edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Carnival Again Has a Mardi Gras

Today Carnival Cruise Line took delivery of Mardi Gras, named after their first ship, at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. The 180,000-ton ship is almost seven times the size of the original Mardi Gras acquired in 1972. 

The complete story appeared in the December 18, 2020 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Photos courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Another New Ship Floating

On Saturday (November 28, 2020), Meyer Werft floated out Royal Caribbean's new Odyssey of the Seas at their Papenburg (Germany) yard. 

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

 Photos courtesy of Meyer Werft. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Build They Must

Chantiers de l'Atlantique laid the keel today for Celebrity Beyond at their yard in Saint-Nazaire (France). 

Subscribers read the complete story in today's edition of Cruise News Daily. 

 

Photo courtesy of Celebrity Cruises. All rights reserved. may not be copied or used without express permission. 

Still Out There

Even though there are no passengers aboard Carnival Ecstasy, the ship and a small crew are still standing by while the ship is anchored offshore in the Bahamas awaiting a return to service. That crew came to the rescue Tuesday when they heard a Mayday call from a private yacht about four nautical miles away. A crew member had been injured and needed medical assistance. Carnival Ecstasy sailed to the location in rough seas and took the man aboard with the ship's medical team treating him while they waited for a US Coast Guard helicopter to come and medevac him to a shoreside medical facility. 

The complete story appeared in the November 18 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Silversea Gets Mooned

A couple of weeks ago, Silversea and Royal Caribbean took delivery of Silver Moon at Fincantieri's Ancona yard. Today Silversea pulled back the curtain slightly when Chief Marketing Officer, Barbara Muckerman hosted a short five-part video tour (below)

The complete story appeared in the November 16 edition of Cruise News Daily.

 

S.A.L.T. Venues 

      

Public Areas

Suites

Restaurants

An X-tra Special Welcome Home

In this video, Celebrity Edge's captain, Kate McCue, explains the planning that went into the special welcome for the new Celebrity Apex when it arrived at the anchorage earlier this month in the Bahamas with its sister ships. After weeks of planning, the ships did a special dance, a series of complex nautical maneuvers that could only be accomplished (safely) with the technology aboard today's modern ships.

Costa Smeralda Milestone

Costa Smeralda refuled (bunkered) with LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) for the first time in Italy on October 25 (2020) at La Spieza. 

Photos courtesy of Costa Crociere. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

A "Sensational" Rescue

Even though Carnival Cruise Line isn't carrying passengers at the moment, it's ships are still willing to assist fellow seamen when in distress. 

Carnival Sensation came to the assistance of a small boat with 24 people aboard (including two children) on Saturday morning (October 17) about 37 miles east of Palm Beach, Florida. The first provided supplies and then took the people aboard when the boat began taking on water. 

Photos courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Welcome Home - Almost

Celebrity Apex has arrived in the Bahamas at the anchorage off Coco Cay to await entry into service. There it met its sister and other members of the fleet today. 

Photos courtesy of Celebrity Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Iona Delivered to P&O

Meyer Werft delivered the 185,000-ton Iona to P&O Cruises today. 

 

Rotterdam Passing Milestones

Holland America's new Rotterdam has marked a couple of important events in its construction at Fincantieri's Marghera yard. The first was the flooding of the dry dock last week which was held in conjunction with the coin ceremony where two ceremonial coins were welded to the ship's hull on an outside deck. This week, the ship was towed to the finishing dock where interior construction will continue, and where Rotterdam VII will remain until it goes on sea trials early next year. 

Photos courtesy of Holland America Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Trying Out Mardi Gras

Carnival's new Mardi Gras left Meyer Turku this morning for 10 days of sea trials. 

Photo courtesy of Meyer Turku. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

New Atrium Concept to Debut on Carnival's Mardi Gras

Grand Central will be a multi-purpose atrium aboard Carnival's new Mardi Gras. Below are three renderings of the completed venue. The last image is a photo of the nearly-completed room as it looks today under construction. Mardi Gras will debut at Port Canaveral in February 2021.

The complete story appeared in the September 24 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos/renderings courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Sailing During the Pandemic

What's it going to be like to cruise during/after the COVID-19 pandemic? That a question on the minds of most cruisers. The first major ship back in operation, MSC Grandiosa, has been sailing in the Mediterranean for over a month now and is about to complete its fifth cruise. 

Currently, passengers are limited to Europeans, but you can get an idea of what the experience is like from the new video below that MSC has produced showing their health and safety protocols both before boarding and during the cruise itself.

The complete story appeared in the September 18 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

 

Spirit of Adventure Completes Ems Passage

The 58,200-ton Spirit of Adventure that Meyer Werft built for Saga Cruises left the yard last Sunday (August 30) for sea trails, and successfully completed its transit down the shallow Ems River to Eemshaven to prepare for sea trials in the North Sea. 

Meyer Werft did not publicize the operation to limit crowds and thus limit chances of COVID-19 transmission. 

The yard did produce a video that gives us a quick look at the 24-hour transit. 

Fincantieri Floats MSC Seashore

Shipbuilders are back at work, and today Fincantieri floated MSC Seashore for the first time at their Monfalcone yard. It is an evolution of her sisters, MSC Seaside and MSC Seaview, which comes in 52 feet longer at 1,112 feet, making it the longest in the MSC fleet and the largest ship ever built in Italy. 

The complete story appeared in the August 20 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos courtesy of Fincantieri. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Testing the Tracks

The BOLT rollercoaster which will soon be installed above the top deck of Carnival's new Mardi Gras, is in the final testing at the Mauer Rides factory in Munich. 

Laying Tracks in Finland

The first 800 feet of track were laid for the BOLT roller coaster aboard Carnival's Mardi Gras. The first roller coaster at sea will take riders around the upper deck of the new ship being completed in Finland at Meyer-Turku.

Photos courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Chantiers Lays Keel for MSC World Europa

The cruise industry may not be sailing, but it is continuing to build for the day when it will be back as robust as it was. Chantiers de l'Atlantique laid the keel for a giant World-class ship for MSC Cruises today at their Saint-Nazaire yard.

The 200,000+-ton MSC World Europa will be more than just a huge ship. It will utilize some of the latest green technology as well as testing some cutting-edge concepts for the future.

The complete story appeared in the June 29 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

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

Ocean to Ocean in 90 Minutes

In an unusual operation, nearly 100 crew members aboard Carnival Miracle, which was in the Pacific Ocean, transferred to Carnival Glory, which was in the Gulf of Mexico, in order to continue their trips home.

What's so unusual was that to get between the two ships, Carnival chartered buses to go on the 90-minute trip from one side of the country to the other, and consequently from the Pacific Ocean all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Details appeared in the June 15 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Photos courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Virgin Ladies Seen Floating Around Genoa

Over the weekend, Fincantieri floated out the 110,000-ton Valiant Lady from their dry dock near Genoa at their Sestri Ponente yard. The ship was towed to a finishing dock where interior work will be completed. Delivery is currently scheduled for May 2021.

No sooner did Valiant Lady leave the building dock, than a portion of the hull of Virgin's third ship was towed in. It is scheduled for delivery in 2022 and has yet to be given a name.

Valiant Lady is towed out of the dry dock for the first time.

The first section of the Virgin's as-yet-unnamed third ship is towed toward the dry dock at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente yard.

Photos courtesy of

Fincantieri Floats Viking Venus

Fincantieri floated out Viking Venus yesterday at their Ancona yard. Viking Venus is the seventh in the series the Italian yard is building for Viking Ocean Cruises.

In today's ceremony, a cord was pulled which started the water filling the dry dock where the ship was built. At the end of the two-day filling process, the ship will be towed to the outfitting dock, and the yard will be ready to begin fitting out the interior of the ship with delivery planned for 2021.

The complete story appeared in the June 12 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos courtesy of Fincantieri. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

De Hoop Delivers

The De Hoop Shipyard delivered Silver Origin to Silversea in Rotterdam last week.

The 5,800-ton ship was designed for use in the Galapagos. It will carry just 100 passengers in 51 suites with a crew of 86.

The delivery was the first since the coronavirus lockdown where executives actually came in person to accept delivery of the ship.

The complete story appeared in the June 8 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Photo courtesy for Silversea. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Are You Missing Something?

Costa has launched a video campaign in all their European markets that is laying the groundwork for their return to cruising. It's called "The Holiday We Miss" and builds on a previous very successful Costa campaign that used the slogan, "The Holiday You're Missing."

This is the video Europeans are seeing with the hashtags, #CRUISINGSOON and #RIPARTIAMOINSIEME

3,000 CCL Crew Members Go Home through Dubrovnik

Carnival Cruise Line brought nearly 3,000 crew members home through the Port of Dubrovnik last week aboard two of their ships.

Some of the happy crew members are shown in the photo below. You may not be able to see their faces because of the masks, but they're smiling, we're sure of it.

Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved.
May not be copied or used without express permission.

From Home

The cruise ships are waiting to sail again, and so are the entertainers.

Here's something interesting put together - from home - by more than 70 of the talented cruise ship headliners and cruise directors. This will tide you over - until you see them, back at sea.

A Bottle of Champagne Would Have Been in Order

If they had been sailing on Tuesday, they would have opened a chilled magnum of champagne delivered by a masked waiter properly attired in white rubber gloves. Tuesday was Celebrity Cruises' 30th anniversary!

To celebrate, Celebrity produced the video below showing some of Celebrity's milestones.

Iona Once Again on Track for Delivery

Meyer Weft is working to coordinate a new delivery date for Iona with P&O. The ship is shown below at Bremerhaven. It will be leaving Bremerhaven on May 30 to go to Rotterdam by way of the North Sea. Arrival in Rotterdam is expected on June 2.

The complete story was in the May 27 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Photo courtesy of Meyer Werft. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Diamond Princess Cleaned and Disinfected

Diamond Princess has been certified by Japan's Ministry of Health confirming she is ready to sail with no traces of COVID-19.

The ship with its nighttime message to Japan is show shown below at a shipyard in Yokohama where it is currently docked.

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

Sending a Message

Beginning tonight, Carnival ships visible from land will be displaying a message to Carnival Cruise Line's customers and travel advisors.

Carnival Breeze

Copyright Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Meyer Turku Floats Mardi Gras

Carnival's Mardi Gras was floated out on Friday at Meyer Turku.

Photos courtesy of Meyer Turku. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.