Update on Millennium:

Celebrity reports that Millennium arrived in the Fincantieri shipyard in Palermo early this afternoon (Italian time - early morning Eastern time). Work is proceeding to remove the damaged propeller.

They still haven't confirmed the departure date from the yard, but they see no problem being in Barcelona in time for the next cruise on July 24.

From the where do they come from department:

You may never have thought about it, but there are a number of people working on your cruise ship who aren't members of the crew. Take the piano player in the bar, the lady who teaches a class in scrapbooking or the one who paints faces.

There's an interesting article in the Bloomington (IL) Pantagraph about one such person from their area (Clinton IL). The lady profiled was a junior high school teacher who took up face painting several years ago as a gimmick to reach her students and connect with them (we need more teachers like that), and has also been painting faces at various festivals in the area. She recently retired from teaching, and attended attended a face-painting convention in Florida. (Who knew there were such things?) There she met a representative of Sixth Star, an agency who recruits that kind of talent and provides it to cruise lines.

The idea sounded interesting to her, cruising for free and getting to take a guest, and doing something she enjoyed - painting a few dozen kids' faces a day. A few weeks later she and her daughter went on a three-day cruise, her very first, and she loved it. She now plans to cruise often for free.

If you have a talent like you see being demonstrated in the cruise lines' enrichment programs, you might want to check out the Sixth Star website and put your talent to use.

From the enrichment department:

Veteran newsman Bernard Kalb will be a featured speaker on two Seabourn Spirit sailings in Southeast Asia. Kalb's resume includes three decades as a correspondent covering world affairs for CBS, NBC and the New York Times.

He will be a "Dress Circle" guest lecturer on the ship's January 31 (2008) 14-night sailing from Hong Kong to Singapore (making calls in Vietnam and Thailand), and on the 14-night February 14 (2008) round trip cruise from Singapore (visiting Thailand and Malaysia). Details of the sailings are available on the line's website at http://www.seabourn.com/

From the ready for a change department:

We received an e-mail from reader-favorite James Deering who, lately has plying his hotel director skills aboard Holland America's Oosterdam. Many readers also may remember him from his tenure aboard NCL and NCL America ships.

James says he signed off Oosterdam on Sunday and is now at home in Japan for some R&R and is considering some different offers he has. He thinks it's time for a change. But in the mean time, he's excited that he's home in time for the summer Sumo Basho and will be enjoying that next week - and knowing James - a glass or two of sake.

He promises to let readers know where he will be appearing next. We know wherever it is, the passengers aboard will be fortunate indeed. Stay tuned.

From the what does this mean department:

Celebrity just announced a two-day sale for July 12-13. It applies to all sailings Sept 1, 2007 thru Sept 30, 2008. It gives passengers $50 off their stateroom on 3-5 day cruises, $100 off 6-9 day cruises, $200 off 10-12 day cruises and $250 off longer cruises. It also reduces the deposit requirement by 50%. The offer excludes Celebrity Xpedition, Azamara ships and all cruise tours. Of course it also applies only to new bookings.

If I were a suspicious person, I'd think they were trying to lengthen their booking window figures in advance of their August earnings call.