A Milestone in Barcelona

The cruise industry took a major step forward today when AIDAnova arrived in Barcelona to begin its summer Mediterranean season and was the first LNG-powered cruise ship to refuel at the important Mediterranean port. AIDAnova is the first cruise ship to be able to operate on clean-burning Liquified Natural Gas both at sea and in port.

AIDAnova refueling today at Barcelona

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

Three for Barcelona

Half of Windstar's fleet - three ships - docked in Barcelona last week (October 27). It's seldom that many ships from the line meet up like that, so Windstar made an occasion of it.

The three ships - Star Breeze, Wind Surf and Windstar - represented both types of vessels Windstar has - one power yacht and two sailing yachts.

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

Three Windstar Ships leaving Barcelona, (L to R) Star Breeze, Wind Star and Wind Surf.

Windstar Captains (L-R): Vitaliy Brylko (Star Breeze), Belinda Bennett (Wind Star), Roman Krstanovic (Star Breeze), and Pedro Pinto (Wind Surf). 

Crew members from all three ships met aboard Star Breeze.

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

Carnival Corp Opens Second Barcelona Terminal

Carnival Corp opened their second cruise terminal at the Port of Barcelona on Saturday and named it the Helix Cruise Center.

The 12,500-square-meter (134,549 square feet) state-of-the-art terminal is on the port's Adossat Wharf.

The complete story appeared in the May 7 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Carnival Horizon Enters Service - but No Bottle Broken

Carnival Horizon arrived in Barcelona yesterday, ready for her first passengers to board today. They did, and the ship left as scheduled this afternoon, on her maiden cruise, a 13-night Mediterranean voyage.

There was no naming ceremony in Barcelona today. That will wait until the ship reaches New York on May 23 and actress Queen Latifah will name the ship before it sets sail on its summer series of cruises from the Big Apple.

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

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

Carnival Unveils Sleek Design for New Barcelona Terminal

In the planning since 2015, Carnival Corp unveiled the designs for their newest cruise terminal at Barcelona yesterday. It will be the second terminal the company has built and operated at Barcelona.

The terminal, which is scheduled to open next year, is designed specifically to service Carnival's next generation of ships which will be fully powered by liquified natural gas (LNG).

The complete story appeared in the April 28 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Renderings courtesy of Carnival Corp. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.

Barcelona Considering New Cruise Visitor Tax

Cruise ship passengers visiting Barcelona soon could be paying a tourism tax if local officials have their way.

The tax is currently only levied on visitors staying overnight in hotels, and expanding it to all visitors would greatly expand the revenue. Last year there were 30 million visitors to the province of Catalunya (where Barcelona is located) but only 8 million were subject to the current tax by staying in hotels.

The complete story appeared in the September 23 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Carnival Corp to Build Terminal at Barcelona

Carnival Corp said today they have approval from the Port of Barcelona, to proceed with their plans to build and operate their second cruise terminal at the port. The new terminal will be on the port’s Adossat wharf.

At almost 124,000 square feet, the new structure will be one of Europe’s largest cruise terminals. Construction will start in 2016 with completion scheduled to be completed in 2018.

The complete story appeared in the July 23 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for May 16, 2014

* A Singular Refit
Queen Elizabeth has arrived at the Blohm + Voss Shipyard at Hamburg for her first scheduled dry dock since she entered service in 2010.
   Following the multi-million-dollar refit, Queen Elizabeth will leave the yard on June 1 and return to service on June 4 with a short cruise from Southampton to Amsterdam.

* Norwegian Jewel Returns from Dry Dock with New Facilities
Norwegian Jewel is returning to service Saturday after its regular dry dock, refurbished and ready for its Alaskan season. Of course, after Alaska, Norwegian Jewel will be ready for Norwegian’s return to the Houston market this fall.
   During the two-week dry dock, numerous enhancements and changes were made.

* Other Things You’ll Want to Know
CND subscribers also read about a top level meeting ... a big day in Vancouver ... and a even bigger day in Barcelona.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Happy Birthday Queen Mary 2! Cunard's flagship celebrates her 10th anniversary in The Big Apple, New York, New York, USA.

Master of Queen Mary 2, Captain Kevin Oprey together with members of his crew celebrate the ship’s 10th anniversary in New York City today. Cunard is today recongnising the long standing and enduring relationship with New York having sailed here since 1845. Cunard continued its celebration 10th anniversary of its flagship, Queen Mary 2 with her arrival in New York on May 16th from Southampton during the first of a pair of commemorative Transatlantic Crossings. Her arrival in the Big Apple pays homage to her maiden Transatlantic Crossing 10 years ago.

The ship arrived at first light to begin a day of joyous celebration in the city. A special afternoon reception on board was hosted to toast Cunard Line’s and Queen Mary 2’s long-standing relationship with New York over the past decade.

Photo courtesy of James Morgan/Cunard. All rights reserved.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for September 27, 2013

* Deja Vu Carnival-Style
During Carnival Corp’s conference call for financial analysts to discuss their third quarter results earlier this week, a recurring topic of conversation was the Carnival Cruise Line brand.

It’s no secret that this is a trouble spot for the company since the brand had a couple of high-profile incidents with their ships earlier this year that kept them in a very negative light at the top of the consumer news for a lengthy period. The company had bad news and some good news to report about the Carnival brand.

But it was something I noticed in the way they were reporting it early in the call that surprised me.


* Carnival to Grow at Barcelona
The Port of Barcelona announced an agreement today with Carnival Corp to build a new 107,000 square foot cruise terminal at the port.


The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.