Boka Vanguard Lifts Carnival Vista

On Saturday (July 13), outside of Freeport, Boka Vanguard lifted Carnival Vista out of the water and transported it to Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport. It will hold it out of the water, acting as a floating dry dock, for servicing of the Azipod propulsion system.



Video courtesy of Bosjakus..All rights reserved.

Alley-OOOOOP!

When Carnival Vista finishes its current cruise, its off to dry dock for repair of its two Azipods, one of which has been keeping the ship from attaining normal cruising speed and has necessitated modifying the itineraries. It will be out of service for a couple of weeks causing the cancellation of three scheduled sailings.

There are few dry docks in the region that can handle a ship the size of Carnival Vista, and fewer that have the expertise to do this kind of work. Normally, the most logical place to have the work done would be Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport, but as you may remember, its large dry dock was damaged in an accident when a crane collapsed on Oasis of the Seas several weeks ago.

At the time Carnival announced Carnival Vista's repairs, Carnival said they were working on a repair solution with ABB (the manufacturer of the podded propulsion system). Carnival detailed that solution today and explained how the repair would be accomplished.

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

Azipod Trouble to Take Carnival Vista Out of Service

Carnival Vista is sailing a bit slower due to trouble with one of the pods of the ABB Azipod propulsion system. The line is adjusting the next two sailings to accommodate the slower attainable speeds, and then will take the ship out of service for 17 days while the three-year-old ship goes to dry dock for repairs.

Details appeared in the June 20 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Yet Another Carnival Ship Fails Its Health Inspection

The CDC has released an inspection report that reveals a  third Carnival Cruise Line ship has failed it's most recent surprise inspection by USPH inspectors. The surprising part is that it was Carnival's newest ship, Carnival Vista, and the newer the ship, usually the easier it is to keep clean and attain a high score because they are built to make it easier to keep clean.

The even bigger surprise is why many of the points were lost. Inspectors believed there was an organized effort to hide violations from them, and they found carts full of food and dirty dishes in crew quarters. (The last time we saw that was in the 2013 Silver Shadow incident.)

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

Other Things You'll Want to Know - May 22, 2017

CND subscribers also read about:

• Carnival celebrated American Craft Beer Week by creating a new beer, created on, brewed on and served on Carnival Vista only. 
• Former Celebrity chief Dan Hanrahan returned to the cruise industry last week. 
• The case of those drugs aboard Island Princess took another unusual twist late last week.
• And you can see how Legend of the Seas became TUI Discovery 2 in the video below.

Details appeared in the May 22 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Carnival Vista Gets Its Name

After sailing the Mediterranean this summer, Carnival Vista is making a stopover in New York on its way to its new Miami home port. In addition to a couple of sailings from there the main reason for the New York visit is to be officially named today.

The naming ceremony was part of a larger gala event honoring Operation Homefront military families which featured a concert aboard for them by seven-time Grammy winner Carrie Underwood.

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

Carnival Vista captain Luigi De Angelis and Deshauna Barber pour champagne over the ship's bell signaling the release of the bottle of champagne against the hull.

And a blast from the past. Kathie Lee Gifford dropped in to help Carnival celebrate. Here she is shown with Micky and Madeline Arison, along with Carrie Underwood who performed a concert aboard the ship for Operation Homefront military families.

This photo was actually taken the day before. Carnival Vista's officers are all smiles after the ship received its US Coast Guard certificate. Of course, getting your picture taken with the boss helps too.

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

There She Is - Miss Carnival Vista

Carnival Cruise Line reported yesterday that Miss USA, Deshauna Barber, has consented to serve as godmother to Carnival Vista. She will officially name the 133,500-ton vessel in New York on November 4.

The naming will be part of an overnight gala event aboard Carnival Vista honoring Operation Homefront featuring a concert by seven-time Grammy award winner Carrie Underwood. The overnight event is by invitation only with most of the invitations going to hundreds of military families.

The complete story appeared in the October 6 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Well, Paint That Ship Green

It's not the same as getting an Oscar to you and me, but to ship operators it is. Lloyd's Register has given Carnival Vista their “ECO Notation.”

This designation means that the ship's classification society (the company a cruise line employs to make sure their ships meet all the standards and requirements all around the world) believes Carnival “designed, built and operates Carnival Vista in a manner that exceeds current maritime statutory environmental regulations.”

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

Where There's Smoke - There's Bar-B-Que

At an event in New York yesterday called a “Beer-B-Que,” Carnival introduced Guy Fieri's Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que Smokehouse to New Yorkers - and announced its expansion to more ships.

Details appeared in the July 28 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - May 6, 2016

CND subscribers also read about:

• Carnival Cruise Line canceled calls at Izmir (Turkey) through June 19 due to security concerns.
• Today was the opening of the Alaska cruise season in Vancouver. Three ships brought 13,000 people into town, and the pace will continue through Sunday. By then eight ships will have visited.
• A homeless shelter in Ketchikan reports they will have a $14,000 shortfall in their budge because cruise passengers keep stopping in, drinking coffee and eating their snacks. The shelter doesn't charge, but would like the visitors to at least leave a donation. 

Details appeared in the May 6 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Fincantieri Delivers Carnival Vista

Carnival Cruise Line’s fleet grew a little today - by one ship - but its capacity grew by a lot - 3,954 passengers - when the line took delivery of the 133,500-ton Carnival Vista from Fincantieri.

The ship will enter service on May 1 in the Mediterranean and remain there through October when it repositions to North America.

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

Carnival Vista at delivery

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

Looking Good

Carnival Vista has completed its sea trials in the Adriatic and has returned to the yard in northern Italy where Fincantieri workers are doing the last of the finishing work.
   The 133,500-ton ship will set sail on its maiden voyage from Trieste on May 1.

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

Carnival Vista to Get Its Own Local Brews

“It’s common for vacationers to want to test out the local beer,” said Jon Carpenter, Concrete Beach Brewery’s Brewmaster, and thanks to CBB, Carnival Vista will have its own local beers. “Carnival Vista has taken the concept of local, and applied it to the decks of their ship,” he said.

Carnival Cruise Line has partnered with Concrete Beach Brewery to create three distinctive craft beers based on what Carnival Vista’s passengers will want in beers, and they will be unique to Carnival Vista when it debuts in May.

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

First Look at Carnival Vista’s SkyRide

When Carnival Vista enters service in May, it will have a new attraction that will send passengers whizzing around the ship’s top deck at speeds up to 25 miles per hour on an 800-foot track.

The SkyRide is something like a bicycle suspended from a track above, and it was created by the same guy who invented Rollerblades.

In thus new video from Carnival, you'll see the prototype on land and then go aboard the ship, under construction in Italy, to see where it will eventually be installed.

Behind the Scenes Building Carnival Vista

Carnival Vista is far from complete, as it should be. It doesn’t enter service until next May = almost a year from now. So this is a good time to watch the details of how it’s made.

Carnival has assigned journalist Peter Gonzalez to do monthly video updates on the progress, showing details of how each phase of the ship is built.

The first of the series was released today:

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

A cruise ship is constructed of giant preconstructed blocks, and the blocks are fitted together in the dry dock. Once the final one is in place. the ship can be floated and towed out of the dry dock to a finishing dock, making space for another ship to be built or repaired.

The final block of the 133,500-ton Carnival Vista was put into place this week at the Fincantieri yard in Monfalcone (Italy). The ship is scheduled for delivery next spring.

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

Just Wait ‘Till Next Year

Carnival Vista under construction at Fincantieri's Monfalcone yard

Carnival Vista is just a year away from her May 1 (2016) inaugural cruise in Europe. It’s currently under construction at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone yard, and right now, it looks more or less like just a big ugly hunk of steel.

But a year from now, the ugly duckling will become a beautiful white Carnival ship. The features are shown in the video below.




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

Carnival Details Features aboard Carnival Vista

Carnival Cruise Line showed off Carnival Vista this afternoon at a media event in New York, and in a breath of fresh air, they returned to the days of unleashing the entire product instead of letting features dribble out one by one in an endless series of live webcasts or press releases.

Carnival has apparently realized the public loses interest fast. They collected all their hype and let it explode today.

There’s good news and ok news. (No bad news, unless you were expecting to have your socks knocked off by everything about Carnival Vista.)

There are lots of good features. We can say that with confidence because Carnival has used many of them on other ships, and they’ve evolved them for Carnival Vista. Almost all the ones that aren’t coming from Carnival ships, however, are coming from some other cruise line’s ships.

The complete article appeared in the January 22 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Cruise News Daily Headlines for November 27, 2013

* Silver Wind Returns
Silversea’s Silver Wind has returned to service following a two-week dry dock in Palermo partially remodeled, but everywhere freshened up.

* Did You Miss Something?
In case you hadn’t realized it, this is hurricane season, and it wraps up on Saturday.

Contrary to all the predictions of above-average storm activity this year, the Atlantic hurricane season was easy to miss because it had the fewest hurricanes in three decades.

* Engines Sold Separately
If you buy a car, it comes with an engine. You might have a couple of options to upgrade it, but it’s a given that some engine comes with the car. Most cruisers never think about it, but when a cruise line builds a ship, the engines are ordered separately and are chosen in conjunction with engineers from the shipyard.

What brings this up is that Carnival has just chosen the engines that will power Carnival Vista, the 135,500-ton ship that Fincantieri will deliver in the spring of 2016. More

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

Quick Look at Engines Carnival Chose for Carnival Vista

To power the 135,500-ton Carnival Vista, which will be the largest ship in their fleet, Carnival has chosen five 48/60CR engines from MAN Diesel & Turbo. An almost-identical version is shown below. Carnival Vista, which is the first of a new class, is expected to be delivered by Fincantieri in the spring of 2016.

Photo courtesy of MAN Diesel & Turbo. May not be used or reproduced without permission.