Go
to current entries
Go to later entries
Thursday, August 31, 2006
From the great news department: Long-time Royal Caribbean spokesperson
Michael Sheehan (whose self-described sphere of responsibility is the "bad
news" stories coming out of the line, such as broken ships or storm-related
emergency itinerary changes) has received a well-deserved promotion to the
newly-created position Associate Vice President of Corporate Communications.
He'll still be doing the same job, but it means more money, better office, and possibly
the opportunity to occasionally spray a hunting colleague with a load of
buckshot.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
From the back to normal department: Carnival's Celebration did return to
service on Monday as planned after its unscheduled drydock to repair propulsion
system damage from the August 15 incident in Nassau. The special itinerary
it sailed beginning last Monday took it only to Freeport, but Tropical Storm
Ernesto impending arrival necessitated a slightly early departure from Freeport.
Celebration will return to Jacksonville as planned on Thursday and operate
Thursday's 4-night cruise as scheduled.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
From the construction department: P&O's Ventura was scheduled to have its
keel laid today at the Fincantieri yard at Malfacone (Italy). The ship will be
similar to Princess' Caribbean Princess, although not an exact duplicate, and is
the largest ever constructed from the UK market. Delivery is scheduled for April
2008.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
From the more change of plans department: NCL decided Ernesto's path
would make it too rough at their private island in the Bahamas, Great Stirrup
Cay, for Thursday's call by Norwegian Spirit, so the ship will stay in port at
Nassau from 3pm on Wednesday until noon on Thursday.
Monday, August 28, 2006
From the more change of plans department: As Ernesto moves, cruise lines have
changed more itineraries and then changed them back. On the currently affected
list are: Carnival- Carnival Miracle, Ecstasy, and Elation. NCL- Norwegian Dawn.
Royal Caribbean- Enchantment of the Seas, Majesty of the Seas, Rhapsody of the
Seas and Sovereign of the Seas.
There is a tie on our "biggest surprise" list. The
passengers on Majesty of the Seas were expecting to go to Nassau, Coco Cay and
Key West; instead they are going to Cozumel. The passenger aboard Norwegian Dawn
this week, instead of going to the Bahamas and Bermuda, will be spending the
whole time in Bermuda, going to sea at night and in port during the
day.
Sunday, August 27, 2006 - Note: This information was superceded by
later updates
From the change of plans department: Carnival joined Royal Caribbean in
making itinerary changes to avoid now-Hurricane Ernesto. Affected Carnival ships
are Carnival Glory (sailing Aug 26 - now calling at Nassau, St. Thomas and
St. Maarten), Ecstasy (sailing Aug 26 - now calling Progreso and Cozumel),
Carnival Conquest (sailing Aug 27 - now calling at Progreso, Cozumel and
Grand Cayman), Carnival Miracle (sailing Aug 27 - now calling at Belize,
Cozumel, Costa Maya and Grand Cayman), and Elation (sailing Aug 27 - now
calling at Grand Turk, St. Thomas and Nassau).
Royal Caribbean shifted Freedom of the Seas back to its published
itinerary. Two Royal Caribbean ships continue to sail revised itineraries:
Rhapsody of the Seas (sailing Aug 27 - now calling at Belize, Costa
Maya and Cozumel) and Enchantment of the Seas (sailing Aug 28 - now calling
at Nassau, Coco Cay and Key West).
Ernesto's path now seems to be changing markedly with each update
from the NWS with the projected path curving more to the north as it passes over
Cuba and then curving more to the northeast on Wednesday morning. It's likely
that ships will continue to alter their courses through the week. Ernesto's
latest 5-day projected
path.
Saturday, August 26, 2006 - Note: This information was superceded by
the Aug 27 update
From the change of plans department: Royal Caribbean made itinerary changes
for the following sailings based on the current path of Tropical Storm Ernesto:
Freedom of the Seas (sailing Aug 27), Rhapsody of the Seas (sailing
Aug 27) and Enchantment of the Seas (sailing Aug 28). Details
- Latest projected
path of storm
Friday, August 24, 2006
From the this is going to take longer than we thought department: Carnival
has canceled Celebration's August 25 sailing. The ship was to return to
service Saturday after an unscheduled drydock to repair damage from the
August 15 incident when one of the ship's propellers touched bottom while
docking in Nassau. Carnival says the repair is taking longer than anticipated,
and Celebration will now return to service with a special 3-night cruise to
Freeport on August 28. The next regular voyage will take place as scheduled
on August 31.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
From the somebody likes them department: Even though Alaskan voters seem
generally annoyed by cruise ships visiting their ports, other places see the
value and are not only appreciating what they have, but encouraging more. It's
ironic that on the same day as Alaskans were voting on what the industry
considers "punitive" measures against it, an article is running in
Irish newspapers about how the Irish minister of Transport is hosting a luncheon
in appreciation of their association with Princess Cruises (marking Golden
Princess fourth of five visits this year). No one would consider Dublin
(Ireland) a high volume cruise port, but he estimates that cruise ship visits
will pump between E35 and E50 million into the local economy this year. Unlike
the majority of Alaskan voters, he views the cruise ships as bringing something
valuable into the area, and wants to cultivate more visits.
Monday, August 21, 2006
From the we're completely out of ideas department: It's official. Royal
Caribbean has completely exhausted the entire list of well-known ladies to be
godmothers to their ships. They announced today that they are running another
contest, this time to choose a godmother for Liberty of the Seas. This will be a
travel agent with the finalists chosen by panels and the final selection made by
votes of other travel agents. The previous two godmothers were also chosen by
outside groups voting. But before you say Royal Caribbean doesn't even have any
new ideas on how to choose a godmother, wait until you hear how Liberty's first
captain will be to winner of the "So You Think You Can Drive a Boat?"
reality TV show on the Spike cable network.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
From the who turned out the lights department: The lights went out aboard
Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas last night about 30 minutes after leaving
Vancouver, just after sailing out of Burrard Inlet, and the ship was dead in the
water. Emergency lights came on within a couple of minutes, and power began to
be restored within about 15 minutes, and was fully restored within about a half
hour. A tug boat was sent out to keep the ship from drifting. Engineers aboard
found that a valve closed when it shouldn't have, cutting off fuel to the
engines. The ship was back under way in about 90 minutes after the Canadian
Coast Guard inspected the ship.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
From the get outta the way department: When Celebrity's Summit docked in
Seward yesterday, it brought along a little something extra. A whale measuring
between 25 and 30 feet long was wedged in the bulbous bow of the ship and
noticed by a dockworker after the ship tied up. It was apparently struck
sometime after the ship left Disenchantment Bay, but the crew aboard Summit
didn't even feel the impact. The carcass was towed to nearby Thumb Cove by a
tugboat where a necropsy will be performed to ascertain if the while was killed
by the impact with Summit or if it was already dead when it lodged on Summit's
bulbous bow.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
From the more trouble department: Carnival's Celebration arrived back in
Jacksonville this morning without incident, and will depart this afternoon on
the modified itinerary as previously announced. The line has decided that the
ship will need to be drydocked to complete the repairs to the propulsion system
and will cancel the August 21 voyage to accomplish that. Details will be in
this afternoon's edition of Cruise News Daily.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
From the update department: Remember Cougar Ace, the car carrier that listed
80 degrees in the North Pacific a few weeks ago? The dramatic Coast Guard photos
of it made Crown Princess' 15-degree list, about which there was so much talk,
look like child's play. Reports from Alaska tell us the ship was towed to the Alaskan port
of Dutch Harbor and has slowly been righted. The ship is not almost level and is
ready for towing to another port to have the cargo (new Mazdas) offloaded. Most experts
are now agreeing it was a ballasting problem that caused the incident. While
there are certainly differences between Crown Princess' situation and Cougar
Ace's, it should be very comforting to cruise passengers to know that a ship can
list to such an extreme angle, take on water, not capsize, still
remain afloat for several weeks and be towed halfway across the Pacific without
sinking. By the way, many of the 4,800 new Mazda's aboard were
specially-ordered customer-equipped vehicles for which their new owners have
been waiting for several months. They are still waiting
for their new cars and still not knowing when their cars will be deliver
and in what condition.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
From the update department: Carnival announced that Celebration's next voyage
on Thursday will be modified due to its reduced cruising speed. The ship touched
bottom in Nassau yesterday, damaging one engine. (See earlier item.) Thursday's
sailing from Jacksonville will skip its call at Freeport and visit Nassau on
Saturday (Aug 19) from 7:30am until 6:30pm. Only Celebration's speed is
affected; all other services are operating normally. Passengers on Thursdays
sailing are being given $100 per person shipboard credit and a 20% discount on a
future 3- to 7-day cruise taken by Dec 13, 2007. Passengers also have the
option of canceling and receiving a full refund. More details will follow in
this afternoon's edition of Cruise News Daily.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
From the oops department: A propeller on Carnival's Celebration touched
bottom as the ship was arriving in Nassau this morning damaging one engine. The
ship canceled the call and is returning to its homeport of Jacksonville. At the
moment, Thursday's cruise is still scheduled, but engineers will make an
assessment of the damage when the ship arrives in Jacksonville on Thursday
morning. More details will follow in Wednesday's edition of Cruise News Daily.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
From the coming attractions department: Carnival Cruise Lines is set to make
an announcement in New Orleans tomorrow afternoon that we understand should make
a lot of people in the area very happy.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
From the end of the line department: Yesterday in CND we reported that
The Blue Lady, the former S/S Norway, was due at the Alang shipbreaking yard in
Bhavnaga today. The yard reports today that the ship has now been beached at
plot #V1 and it should be ready for dismantling in about a month. As we earlier
reported, NCL says that prior to the sale of the ship, they did remove most of
the unique interior fixtures, and they are safely in storage to be used at some
point in the future.
Monday, August 14, 2006
From the moving within department: Carnival Cruise Lines promoted Roberto
Martinoli to the newly created position of executive vp of operations. Martinoli
has been senior vp of technical operations since joining Carnival in 2000. Prior
to that he held the same position with Costa Cruises.
At the same time Brendan Corrigan has been named senior vp of
marine operations reporting to Martinoli. His responsibilities will include
technical purchasing, technical operations, special projects, environmental,
safety and quality assurance, deck and engine manning, port operations, and
maritime legal and medical affairs. Corrigan started with Carnival as a
sanitation officer onboard the ships in 1978 and most recently has been serving
as senior vp of cruise operations.
As senior vp of hotel operations, Natko Nincevic will also report
to Martinoli. His expanded role will include shipboard food and beverage, hotel
services, entertainment, the "Camp Carnival" program, shore
excursions, shipboard photography and video, as well as shipboard
concessionaires, such as the spas, gift shops and art auctions, among others.
Nincevic will also oversee shoreside administration departments including crew
personnel, hotel purchasing, hotel logistics and warehousing.
Friday, August 11, 2006
From the be prepared department: A check with the major cruise lines tells us
that they have sent information to each of their ships about the new TSA
security mandates regarding liquids no longer being allowed in the passenger
cabins of airliners. They, in turn, are putting the information in letters which
will be delivered to each passenger cabin, so passengers disembarking this
weekend will be aware of the new requirements and pack (or repack)
accordingly.
Friday, August 11, 2006
From the loose lips department: Here's another reason to take whatever a crew
member tells you with a grain of salt. This note was posted on a message board
the other day and set readers off in a tizzy fretting about their upcoming
cruises: "I was told by a staff member that Infinity would not be going to
South America or Hawaii this year but Connie would be going in her place.
Infinity was going to take over Connie's Caribbean itinerary..." That was
only one scenario that Celebrity was considering as they contemplated Infinity's
electrical problem. Of course, as we know from yesterday's announcement, that's
not the one Celebrity ultimately chose. Unfortunately, by believing shipboard
gossip and spreading it in a public forum, the poster upset lots of people who
had booked upcoming cruises on Infinity and Constellation over the fall, winter
and spring seasons as they wondered how this would impact their sailings. As
we've said before, the people on the ship are at the bottom of the information
chain, but they love to gossip about what they've heard. Unfortunately, what
they "know" seldom has more than a kernel of accuracy.
Thursday, August 10, 2006 - 6pm
From the cancel and delay department: Celebrity will cancel Infinity's
September 13 sailing for an unscheduled drydock due to an electrical
problem in the propulsion system. The drydock will also delay the next scheduled
sailing (September 23) by one day and shorten that cruise by one day.
Details will be in today's issue of CND.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
From the delay department: Due to the massive disruption in transatlantic
and European flights today, expect the cruise lines to respond with some revised
schedules for ships turning around today and the next few days in order to
accommodate passengers delayed in arriving at the ports. Details to follow. 1230pm
Update: Golden Princess will depart today from Southampton but is
anticipating a late departure to accommodate passengers en route. 230pm
Update: Royal Caribbean says none of their ships are yet impacted by
late-arriving passengers. 315pm Update: Holland America will delay the
following sailings to assist passengers arriving at the port. Amsterdam from
Copenhagen Aug 11 delayed from 5pm until 1145pm. Statendam from Vancouver
Aug 11 delayed from 5pm until 730pm. Maasdam from Montreal Aug 12
delayed from 5pm until 9pm. Zuiderdam from Vancouver Aug 12 delayed from
5pm until 830pm. Ryndam from Vancouver Aug 13 delayed from 530pm until
930pm. Veendam from Seward Aug 13 delayed from 8pm until 10pm. Prinsendam
from Lisbon Aug 14 delayed from 5pm until 4am on Aug 15. 4pm
Update: Windstar is also adjusting sailing times. Wind Star from Pireaus
Aug 12 delayed from 5pm until 7pm. Wind Surf from Barcelona Aug 13
delayed form 5pm until 10pm. 530pm Update: Royal Caribbean only had one
sailing today, Enchantment of the Seas, and they found none of the European
passengers sailing on it were delayed. RCCL has decided for both brands they
will be watching their air/sea flights closely and delaying ships on a
case-by-case basis if need be.
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
From the over the hill department: A tour bus carrying passengers from
Celebrity's Summit ran off a road in the hills above Juneau on Tuesday and
overturned. Most injuries were minor. CND will have details in tomorrow's
edition.
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
From the what's missing department: Alaska voters will go to the polls two
weeks from today to vote on new taxes for the cruise industry and passengers
cruising to Alaska. We don't think Alaskan voters are getting the whole picture,
however. We looked at this issue in an article in
today's issue of CND.
Monday, August 7, 2006
From the another reason to buy the insurance department: Ohio media outlets
have been running a story about an Ohio family that was flying to Seattle for a
cruise to Alaska. To make a long story short, due to flight delays, they missed
the ship. So the trip wouldn't be a total loss, they flew on to Juneau to catch
the ship there. That's where they were shocked that the cruise line charged them
$300 apiece before allowing them to board, since by boarding in Juneau, it would
put them in violation of the US Passenger Services Act. The $1,200 is the fine
the line will have to pay the government. The insurance also would have paid for
the night's hotel and the extra air fare.
Thursday, August 3, 2006
From the return to sender department: Earlier this week we reported about
a group of a dozen Cubans picked up by Carnival Valor last week and repatriated
by the Coast Guard this week. Cruise ships picking up Cubans in trouble at sea
has become a routine thing in the industry. (It seems to be averaging about two
or three times a month.) What has made some of these cases noteworthy lately is
that once they pick them up, no country along the route of the ship wants to
take them in any longer. More and more lately, it falls to the US, as the last
country in the itinerary to do something. Because of the agreement the US has
with Cuba, the US would rather the transfer to a US vessel take place at sea.
(If they actually set foot on US soil, legally under US laws, it becomes more
difficult to send them back to Cuba.) Recently there was an instance where, at
the end of the cruise (and the only US port on the itinerary), there was no
Coast Guard vessel available to transfer a group of Cubans. (Every other country
on the ship's 7-day itinerary, which is repeated every week, had already
rejected the possibility of the Cubans being landed in their country.) The US
DHS likewise wouldn't let them off the ship in Galveston, so they had to sail on
into the next cruise before a USCG vessel could meet the cruise ship and
transfer the Cubans at sea for repatriation. This isn't unique to cruise ships.
Both USCG vessels and cargo vessels routinely pick up Cubans at sea and in
distress. Most cruise passengers, most of whom aren't from the southern part of
Florida, don't realize how common this is. Last month (July) the USCG
repatriated 159 Cubans picked up at sea. Most are intentionally trying to enter
the US illegally.
Thursday, August 3, 2006
From the Gale & Storm department: Crown Princess also made a
last-minute move yesterday to avoid Tropical Storm Chris. The ship went to La
Romana in the DR instead of San Juan. It will be in St. Thomas today, having
slid behind Chris. Map
of 5-day cone of Chris' forecasted path
Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - 1pm
From the Gale & Storm department: Tropical Storm Chris has caused more
changes to ships' paths in the Caribbean this week. Yesterday Carnival made
changes to the schedules of Carnival Triumph, Carnival Valor and Elation. Today
they made further changes to Valor and Elation and added Carnival Legend to the
affected list. Royal Caribbean added Freedom to their list of changed
itineraries, so their current list of affected ships is Navigator of the Seas,
Explorer of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas. Map
of 5-day cone of forecasted path
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
From the end of the line department: Indian courts have now cleared the way
for the former SS Norway/SS France to be dismantled at Alang. It is
now expected arrive at the breakers within the next 48 hours. For two
years, NCL and Star cruises tried to find a buyer for the disabled ship with a
workable plan to preserve it, but none stepped forward. In June NCL CEO Colin
Veitch told CND that prior to selling the ship, they removed many of the
interior fixtures, and they are now safely in storage awaiting a future use on
another NCL ship.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006 - updated 7:00pm
From the tropical storm department: This afternoon Carnival has revised itineraries
on three ships and Royal Caribbean, two, to avoid Tropical Storm Chris as it advances through the
eastern Caribbean. Carnival Triumph, Carnival Valor, Elation, Explorer of the
Seas, and Navigator of the Seas have all juggled
ports on their current sailings. Map
of 5-day cone of forecasted path
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
From the end of the story department: A former cruise ship captain
pleaded guilty yesterday in Seattle to operating a commercial vessel while under
the influence of alcohol. The man was the captain of Celebrity's Mercury when
the US Coast Guard boarded the ship for a routine inspection on May 19.
They saw signs that made them suspect that the captain had been drinking, and administered
a blood alcohol test that registered, 0.181, about four times the legal limit.
He was arrested and immediately discharged by Celebrity.
He pleaded guilty to operating a commercial vessel while under the
influence of alcohol yesterday under a plea bargain agreement. The judge in the
case sentenced the 47-year-old Greek citizen to one year probation and
prohibited him for one year from being employed on any commercial vessel
entering US waters without approval in advance by the US Dept of Homeland
Security. He was also assessed a $15,000 fine. Originally, the captain's
attorney said that he planned to fight the charges based on the fact that he was
not actually operating the vessel at the time of the incident.
Go to earlier entries
Cruise News Daily Home
Looking for something?
|
Cruise
News Daily Headlines
|