Majestic Master of His Domain

Princess Captain Dino Sagani

This week Princess Cruises announced that Captain Dino Sagani has been named Master of their next ship, Majestic Princess, which is under construction at Fincantieri and scheduled for delivery in April. Captain Sagani has been with Princess for 21 years.

At the same time, Princess named Captain Craig Street as Majestic Princess’ Relief Captain.

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

Looking under the ship

As we reported back in January, Carnival Inspiration began a three-week dry dock at the Vigor Shipyard in Portland, Oregon. During the time out of service, Carnival added many of their newer and most popular features to the ship. We took that as a vote of confidence that they intend to keep the Fantasy-class around for a while. One feature we didn’t mention at the time is that they are adding the ability of the ship to accept shore power while in port, a requirement in Californian ports.

Carnival released some photos of the ship in dry dock which we thought were interesting and give us a look under the ship.

The ship will return to service from Long Beach on Monday.

Carnival Inspiration in the floating dry dock at Vigor Shipyard in Portland, Oregon

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

Other Things You'll Want to Know - February 5, 2016

CND subscribers also read about:

• Disney Fantasy experienced a propulsion problem that caused it to have to skip its port call at Castaway Cay this week. Repairs are underway.
• Carnival's American Table menus are still slowly rolling out across the fleet. Two more ships will be added in March. 

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

Crystal Options the SS United States

Contrary to earlier plans and assumptions, the SS United States will not become a floating hotel or amusement center, permanently moored in some East Coast city. Plans now are to once again revive it as a cruise ship.

With great fanfare, Crystal Cruises today announced they have an option to buy the classic liner and restore it to sailing status. They are currently beginning a feasability study which they plan to complete by the end of the year.

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

Now Selling at Popular Discount Prices

It would seem the Fathom paradigm is changing. The line announced a BOGO promotional rate on their program to the Dominican Republic. This should not be much of a surprise to most cruisers, because cruises are seldom sold at full price. (It was perhaps more surprising to cruisers that Fathom ever tried to sell any cruises at full price.)

It doesn’t fit with Carnival’s original vision of the brand. 

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