Jamaica's State of Emergency Continues

It's getting virtually no notice by major news outlets in the US, but the state of emergency in Jamaica's St. James parish, declared January 18, is continuing, and there are signs it will continue for a while. St. James parish contains Montego Bay.

The state of emergency was declared to deal with the high crime rate of the area. The murder rate in St. James is twice as high as in any other parish. Last year there were six murders a week on average in the parish. The government says that since the start of the year "general lawlessness" has intensified.

The complete story appeared in the January 26 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

One Beautiful Night in the Caribbean

The Milky Way as seen from P&O's Britannia while sailing in the Caribbean.
(Click in the lower right to turn on the sound.)



Video courtesy of P&O Cruises.

Carnival Inks Order for Additional Ship for P&O UK

Carnival Corp contracted for an additional ship today from Meyer Werft for their P&O brand.

This ship will be a sister to the one already on order for delivery in 2020 and will be delivered in 2022. It will be built at Meyer's Papenburg (Germany) yard. 

The complete story appeared in the January 25 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Carnival Liberty Joins a Growing Carnival Club

While other lines are bragging about the number of consecutive perfect scores their ships achieve, lately, Carnival is struggling to get theirs to attain passing scores. Yet another ship from Carnival Cruise Line has failed its semiannual surprise health inspection.

The CDC made the results of Carnival Liberty's January 4 inspection public today, showing the ship scored an 80, when a passing score is 86. This is the fourth Carnival ship in two months to fail.

Details appeared in the January 25 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Business as Usual

The e-flyer came earlier this week along with all the other press releases and ads for pills that will stimulate me and make me Superman. It promises me a four-night cruise to Cuba as low as $139, and to get me to book now, I only have to pay a $50 deposit, and I get an open bar, and up to five free offers of great things like specialty dining, wi-fi, or other good things. (This is real and on Norwegian Cruise Line, but there are asterisks all over the place.)

A year or so ago, I'd be writing this saying it looks like the program is really in trouble. Why would a cruise line be offering all these incentives unless they really needed to fill the ships?

Actually, it might be a sign of how healthy the Cuban market is.

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