Sticking with Tampa Bay

Carnival Corp brands will continue to operate from Port Tampa Bay for another five years. The port last week signed an agreement with the world's largest cruise company that covers their Carnival and Holland America brands to continue sailing from the Florida port through 2021.

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

Just a Sample

Carnival's German brand, AIDA, has a program that the its sister lines should consider. People living near Hamburg, Kiel or Warnemunde who have always wanted to go on a cruise have an opportunity to see what it's like without committing to going on a whole cruise. Likewise there might be other cruise fans who just want to see what a megaliner (AIDA's newest ship, AIDAprima) is like.

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

The Way to Start the Holidays and New Year Off Right

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd has declared a 48-cent-per-share dividend. The quarterly dividend is payable on January 5, 2017, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 21, 2016. Payments should arrive just about the same time as the holiday bills.

This item appeared in the December 6 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Don't Pull That Han....

Grand Princess' current voyage is being cut short because of an unusual incident aboard the ship last week during a Hawaiian cruise.

The ship had departed Maui en route back to the Mainland when a tender platform on the starboard side unexpectedly opened and was damaged. The damage prevented the platform from being reclosed, and it also caused minor damage to the hull.

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

Costa Is Getting Cheesy

Last May we told you about the first fresh mozzarella being made aboard Costa Diadema as part of a pilot project that would see the Italian specialty being made fresh aboard all Costa ships by the end of next year. Since then, the project has expanded to Costa Favolosa, and they have a partner, Italian cheesemaker Latteria del Curatino.

Now the cheesemakers aboard the two ships are popping out enough balls of exquisite fresh buffalo mozzarella each day to satisfy the appetites of all the passengers, and the cheesemaking is ready to ooze out onto the other six Costa ships as fast as mozzarella oozes on a hot grill in the sun.

In the (silent) video below you can watch Costa cheesemakers at work aboard a Costa ship making the fresh buffalo mozzarella. 

The complete story appeared in the December 5 edition of Cruise News Daily.