Mrs. C Goes to Sea

It's always a special occasion when a godmother returns to sail on her ship, and it's becoming more and more rare these days.

Noted actress Marion Ross was aboard Emerald Princess this week during its transatlantic crossing to Europe. Ms. Ross was one of the four godmothers who named the ship in 2007 during a Mothers' Day-themed ceremony where two classic tv-mothers and their tv-daughters did the honors. The godmothers were Ms. Ross and her tv-daughter, Erin Moran, from “Happy Days” (Marion and Joanie Cunningham), along with Florence Henderson and her tv-daughter, Susan Olsen, from “The Brady Bunch” (Carol and Cindy Brady).

Ms. Ross was, of course, invited to check out the bridge of "her" ship, and she is shown here with Capt. Mario Ciruzzi on Emerald Princess' starboard bridge wing.

Oosterdam Receives Air Drop

A US Coast Guard C-130 flew 1,000-mile round trip on Wednesday (May 1, 2013) to deliver blood to an ailing passenger aboard Holland America's Oosterdam as it sailed a three-week cruise from the South Pacific to Vancouver. The Coast Guard plane left Sacramento with two units of blood donated from a local blood bank and dropped it by parachute to Oosterdam which was approximately 500 miles off the coast of San Francisco. It was quickly retrieved by seamen from Oosterdam and delivered to the ship's medical center.

Double Transit

Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Sun (front) transited the Panama Canal at the same time yesterday (April 25, 2013) providing this rare photo opportunity.

First Look Inside Norwegian Breakaway

Meyer Werft delivered the 146,600-ton Norwegian Breakaway to Norwegian Cruise Line this morning at Bremerhaven. This is the first chance to really look around inside the ship.

Norwegian Breakaway at sea. But where's the New York skyline atop the ship that we always see in the commercials?

The Raw Bar

The Prime Meridian Bar

The Manhattan Room

Savor Restaurant

The Casino

The 678 Ocean Place complex surrounds the ship's atrium.

A suite in the Haven, which is a ship within a ship.

The Freefall Waterslide

Photos courtesy of Meyer Werft

Royal Caribbean Reveals Quantum of the Seas' Features

Royal Caribbean revealed many of the features today that will debut aboard Quantum of the Seas in late 2014.

This first video will give you an overview of the ship's main features. We discuss them in more detail in the Cruise News Daily article appearing in our April 16, 2013, edition.



Quantum will have an array of stateroom types, and this video is an overview of them.



The Family-Connected staterooms combine three stateroom types. This floor plan should clarify how they will all fit together.



One of the innovations is going to be adding a "virtual balcony" to inside staterooms.



A new aft lounge and entertainment area is called Two70. This video helps clarify the possibilities in this unique space.



The final video details some more of what will become the signature features of Quantum of the Seas.




The complete story and analysis appeared in the April 16, 2013, edition of Cruise News Daily.