In celebration of Veterans Day yesterday (November 05), Carnival Cruise Line welcomed approximately 200 local Miami-Dade veterans for a special military tribute event and appreciation luncheon aboard Carnival Horizon at PortMiami. Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy presented a 15-passenger van to the Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System to assist with transportation of veterans participating in its programs and services.
Everything moves more slowly in Arctic. The seasons are condensed in Canada’s far north as nature takes advantage of a few fleeting months of light and hibernates in the long dark months. There’s a timelessness to the land that has never been altered by roads or development.
MSC Cruises says it has cancelled the full winter program of MSC Orchestra that was planned in the Red Sea from Nov. 8 to April 17 because of the proximity of some of ship’s ports of call to Israel and the number of restrictions in the bordering countries that would have adversely affected the holiday experience for passengers.
“Barcelona closes port to cruise ships” – Many of the headlines on social media have been breathless. But let’s take a deeper breath. While, yes, the city pier called Muelle Barcelona Norte and another small commercial dock will no longer be available for cruise ships to book, Barcelona’s large and best-known port complex is actually going to be upgraded to accommodate extra ships.
Carnival has been ruled negligent by an Australian court for failing to cancel a cruise that led to a major COVID-19 outbreak early in the pandemic. The Ruby Princess left Sydney on March 8, 2020, with 2,671 passengers aboard for a 13-day cruise to New Zealand but returned in 11 days as Australia’s borders were closing. COVID-19 on the ship spread to 663 passengers and claimed 28 lives.
After a pandemic pause, Norwegian Cruise Line returned to Asia for the first time in three years last week as the Norwegian Jewel set sail from Tokyo to begin an extensive six-month season of voyages in the region.
Paying homage to the age of tall ships, with more than 44,000 square feet of sails that are unfurled by hand, the new 136-guest Sea Cloud Spirit combines a romantic windjammer atmosphere with the most modern comforts. The newly built three-masted ship follows the role model of her two classic wind-jammer sisters, the Sea Cloud and the Sea Cloud II while offering a generous number of cabins with balconies.
There’s a polar bear on our starboard side! The first of what would be many encounters with the Arctic’s iconic ice bears woke everyone up early on Seabourn Venture’s Northwest Passage voyage. Guests rushed to the observation decks and trained binoculars on a polar bear on the prowl, regularly raising his head to sniff the air for a potential meal.
From cancelling cruises from Ashdod and Haifa to hasty departures as bombs were falling, cruise lines have had to quickly retreat from Israel due to the sudden eruption of a devastating war. Here’s a look at what we know so far.
Are you ready for an adventure that will make history? We’re about to sail across the top of the world, to explore the fabled Northwest Passage and set foot on places few people have ever been. For decades, Canada’s high Arctic remained terra incognita, a fascinatingly dangerous obsession that drove explorers to commit to three years of hardship on wooden ships with icy decks in an environment that could break ships as well as the resolve of even the most resolute sailors.
MSC Cruises celebrated its return to Canada after four years with a series of visits by travel advisors in Saint John, NB; Charlottetown; and Halifax last week as it heads into the fall season for a series of cruises in the Maritime region on return itineraries out of New York.
Holland America Line is launching a global fresh fish program by engaging a network of 60 ports to source and serve 80 types of fresh fish in all its restaurants,– promising to go from port to plate in less than 48 hours.
It wasn’t that long ago that exploring remote areas of the globe could put you out of touch with the outside world for weeks. Until recently, cruises near either of the poles and even to lesser-populated islands were well out of contact for satellite services. Or, if available, they cost the price of a meal per minute. But all that is changing fast.
It’s life, but not as we know it. Sea angels, sea butterflies and jolly jelly fish glimmer in vivid colors all around us, even though we can see right through them. The ultimate experience on a momentous expedition across Canada’s famed Northwest Passage aboard Seabourn Venture is the unique opportunity to dive into unexplored icy water in a custom built mini-submarine.
Travellers to Greece’s popular island destinations will face disruptions on Wednesday because of a 24-hour strike by ferry crews who cite safety and labour concerns after a tardy passenger was pushed into the sea by a ferry crew member and drowned – a scandal that led to the resignation of Greece’s shipping minister on Monday.
Carnival Cruise Line is preparing to welcome its third BOLT: Ultimate Sea Coaster as it takes shape atop its next new ship Carnival Jubilee. The roller coaster’s 245-metre track is being installed on Deck 19 at Meyer Werft in Germany where the ship is under construction, a process expected to be complete this month with test runs are scheduled for October.
Spouting and snorting and flipping its enormous tail, it was almost as though a humpback whale was giving us an escort to his glittering ice cave as it emerged from the waves alongside our boat. Towering walls of ice surrounded us as we entered Disko Bay on a small boat tour from a town clinging to the Greenland coast that’s a whale-watching paradise and whose name Ilulisssat, literally means icebergs in Greenlandic. Titanic chunks of white ice streaked with brilliant blue float everywhere in the water, fed by mountainous glaciers which date back at least to the last ice age 10,000 years ago.
Disney Cruise Line unveiled its sixth and newest ship – Disney Treasure – yesterday in a virtual video reveal that introduced never-before-released details about the vessel, which is set to sail in December, 2024.
Norwegian Cruse Lines returned to Maui on the weekend. Earlier in August, the cruise line paused its calls to the island, to avoid stressing local resources due to the devastating wildfires in Lahaina on the island’s west side.
You can visit the world’s biggest penis collection, dance until dawn and take a quick jaunt to an active volcano and a steaming Blue Lagoon. What’s not to love about Iceland’s capital city with its clean, walkable streets of quaint shops painted in vivid colors that could have been imagined by a theme park set designer?
With the notion that It’s never too early to plan for an Alaskan adventure, Carnival Cruise Line has unveiled more of its 2025-26 deployment by opening sailings to Alaska from Seattle on two ships: Carnival Spirit and Carnival Luminosa. Several Carnival Journeys cruises aboard the two ships are also open for sale, including a transatlantic
I’ve toured the fascinating ruins of ancient Ephesus many times on visits that have spanned more than two decades, and each time I’ve been amazed by how many discoveries are still being made regularly. In fact, less than half of the city that eventually became buried after being abandoned nearly 2,000 years ago has actually been uncovered and cataloged. But the work is continuing.
Princess Cruises’ largest ship ever – Sun Princess – will make her US debut in October 2024. The ship is the first in the line’s new Sphere class, and will homeport at Port Everglades, Fla. for the winter, following a season of Mediterranean and Europe cruises when she launches in February.
Just scanning Istanbul’s minaret-studded skyline on the busy Bosphorus that divides Europe from Asia evokes images of genies and wizards and magical flying carpets. It’s Constantinople, the coveted city that inspired Crusades and Tales of Arabian Nights.
Norwegian Cruise Line has welcomed the first guests to sail aboard its new Norwegian Viva, the company’s highly anticipated new ship and second of the Prima Class, as it embarked on its maiden voyage from Venice (Trieste), Italy.
Globus family of brands had announced a new leadership position for company’s Canadian team, with industry veteran Denise Harper joining the brands as senior director of sales starting today (Aug. 14).
Double Michelin-starred chef, Michel Roux will set the tone for a pub on Cunard’s coming Queen Anne, as well as planning an exclusive gala menu for the Queen’s Grill. Roux will be working alongside Cunard’s culinary development chefs to create a new menu for the Golden Lion pub that will be rolled out fleet wide.
MSC Cruises has opened sales for its winter 2024/25 season with more than 150 global sailings now available to book. Six ships will serve the Caribbean Sea, while the MSC World Europe will sail the Mediterranean, and MSC Euribia undertakes a new deployment in the Middle East.
Canadians are booking cruises again at pre-pandemic levels according to First in Service, which is reporting that two-thirds of its advisors in a recent survey said that demand for the sector has bounced back. Data also reveals that the Mediterranean is top cruise itinerary booked and that luxury and small ship experiences are increasing in popularity.
On the occasion of Digital Nomad Day today (Aug. 08), AmaWaterways is encouraging remote to “make the world their office.” And to do so, the luxury river cruise line has put a special focus on its 2024 early season cruises, starting in February on the Rhine and Danube rivers.