* Rounding out the Winter Season May 16 - Royal Caribbean International
released a hodgepodge of North American deployment announcements this week
for the 2013-2014 Caribbean season. They contain several minor adjustments
from last year and some ship changes, but there was one more major
decision released among the others. Apparently Royal Caribbean has decided they are going to
stay in the short cruise business from Port Canaveral, although the new
deployment was announced without any fanfare.
* Other Things You'll Want to Know May 16 - CND subscribers also read
about another in the series of weekly drug busts in Bermuda ... the
tale of two Gavins ... a "quick" look at AIDAmar's
christening.
The complete text of these stories appeared in the CND
editions referenced and was sent to subscribers.
* AIDA Takes Title for World's Largest Christening May 15 - When AIDA, Carnival's German brand,
christens a ship, they usually find a way to make it into a spectacle
attended by thousands. This time they've outdone themselves.
* Carnival Breaks Ground for New Caribbean Port May 15 - A couple of years from now, if you
sail in the central Caribbean aboard a ship of one of the Carnival brands,
you may well be stopping at a new semi-self-contained cruise port in the
Dominican Republic. Carnival Corp broke ground today for Amber Cove which
will be located on the Dominican Republic's north coast near Puerto Plata.
* New Julia Street Cruise Terminal Dedicated May 15 - The Port of New Orleans dedicated
their "new" Julia Street Cruise Terminal today.
* More Costa Growth in China May 14 - Carnival Corp will be pushing
further into Asia and China next year via their Costa brand with the
addition of a second ship, Costa Atlantica, to the region.
* Celebrity Completes "Solsticizing" Project -
Almost May 14 - When Celebrity Millennium returned
to service this week, it marked the completion of the line's $140 million
"Solsticizing" project. All four of the Millennium-class ships
have now been through lengthy drydocks to have some of the line's newest
features - which appear on the Solstice-class ships - added to them.
* Other Things You'll Want to Know May 14 - CND subscribers also read
about Carnival Breeze completing
sea trials ... Princess has been served ... and a medevac in an
unusual place.
* Two More Dining Choices on Carnival Breeze May 11 - Maybe they're going to have to
change the version number on Carnival Breeze. We thought we had seen all
the Carnival 2.0 enhancements, but Carnival has two more dining venues
that will sail out with Carnival Breeze when it debuts June 3, and another
option that will be added when the ship reaches the Caribbean in the fall.
* Other Things You'll Want to Know May 11 - CND subscribers also read
about cutting steel in Germany ... what a Cat can do with a bottle of
champagne ... a light sentence ... a big score ... and something
for our readers outside the Southeast.
* That's Why They Call Themselves Royal Caribbean May 10 - Royal Caribbean International
released deployment details for six ships in the Caribbean for the winter
2013-2014 season. It could probably be summed up by the words "more
of the same," except in New Orleans.
* Costa Implements Seven New Safety Procedures May 10 - Costa Crociere is implementing seven
initiatives most of which are designed to make their ships safer. The
announcement of these is part of the line's effort to reestablish trust,
with the European market in particular. While some of these may not seem to be too complex, some
of them are actually going to need a change of Italian maritime law to be
implemented.
* Revitalization of Grandeur of the Seas Begins May 9 - Grandeur of the Seas has become the
latest ship to undergo Royal Caribbean's revitalization process which
brings many of the line's newest features aboard their older
vessels. The ship has entered the Navantia Shipyard in Cadiz,
Spain, for a five-week $48 million upgrade.
* Other Things You'll Want to Know May 9 - CND subscribers also read
about a Royal occasion in Southampton ... a Royal dividend ... US
Government wanting to muscle in on Bermuda's territory ... a lot of French
settlements ... it's more costly to look than to touch ... and more
parking tales from Port Canaveral.
* Princess to Homeport Year Round in San Francisco May 8 - We reported earlier that San
Francisco is going to have a brand-new cruise terminal. Now they're going
to have a cruise ship based there year round, which will be a first for
the city. Princess Cruises is going to base Grand Princess at San
Francisco year round beginning in May 2013. Unlike other year round home
ports, though, Grand Princess will operate a variety of seasonal programs
from San Francisco.
* Other Things You'll Want to Know May 8 - CND subscribers also read
about Norwegian Breakaway taking shape ... tweeting causing trouble
for Carnival ... drug tales from Bermuda.
* A Fascinating Weekend May 7 - I had a unique opportunity this last
weekend. I was invited to Venice for the handover of Costa Fascinosa to
Costa Crociere. One can't see a "newer" ship. When I arrived at
the pier just after 5pm on Friday, Fincantieri had just sailed the ship to
Venice from the yard in Marghera a few miles away, and it had arrived only
about two hours earlier. But the new ship itself wasn't really the story. The
real story we went to Italy to cover was how Costa is going to move
forward now from the Costa Concordia accident, and what the mood of things
really is in Italy.
* RCI Announces Additional Ships for European Deployment May 4 - This week Royal Caribbean
International detailed the itineraries for two more ships in their 2013
European deployment. The announcement tells us that Brilliance of the Seas will
be the brand's third ship based in the UK for the summer season, but it
occupies a rather unique place in the UK deployment.
* Does the World Want Titanic II May 4 - The general news media is already all
over the story that Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer plans to build
a replica of Titanic for operation between London and New York, which,
according to him, will be the first of several luxury ships he plans to
build. The plans have gone as far as signing a MOU with China's
CSC Jinling Shipyard to build the vessel, with a delivery date of late
2016. But is there really a market today for a duplicate of Titanic given
the constraints it puts on the design?
The complete text of these stories appeared in the CND editions
referenced and was sent to subscribers.
May 16 - AIDA christens AIDAmar at Hamburg in an event which
features the four sister ships. More/Larger
May 16 - Gavin MacLeod Meets Gavin MacLeod on the bridge of
Island Princess - More
May 9 - Grandeur of the Seas enters dry dock at Cadiz. More/Larger
May 8 - The keel for Norwegian Breakaway was laid at the Meyer
yard in Papenburg on Friday. More/Larger
Apr 30 - First Look at Norwegian Breakaway's top deck sports
and water complexes. More/Larger
Anita, the editing on these photos is protected by our
copyright. Please don't steal them the way you did the one below.
Apr 24 - Costa Fascinosa has completed sea trials. More/Larger
News File Index - past photos
and articles available online.
Guide to New Ships Lots of new ships will
be sailing over the horizon in the next couple of years. This is the place to sort them all
out and keep them straight. Here we list in a table how big, how many,
who's got them, when they're coming.
Cruise Weather Page Here, you'll find
links to some major weather sites that will help you find the current
weather forecasts at ports you plan to visit and to sites that track
major tropical storms.
Links to Cruise-Related Sites Here we gathered all the links to the major cruise lines'
official home pages (and some selected smaller ones, too) along with
links to the official pages of tourist boards at ports of call. Also
included are other cruise-related sites that you will find useful.
Welcome to Cruise News Daily. The news published here is for the
consumer who loves to cruise and wants to keep abreast of what's new about cruising.
We update each weekday, so please check back here often.
CND isn't a listing of the latest discount rates, rather it will be your guide to what's
new in the cruise industry: new itineraries, new ships, new features and promotions along
with some perspectives on what current trends may mean to you, the cruiser. Our coverage
is focused on major ocean-going lines marketed in North America.
Our entire site is graphics-free (except for photos in our newsfiles) and designed to download to you
quickly (Who wants to wait while a giant graphic of a ship appears each
time you go to a site?), so you won't find complex graphics here -- just
information about the cruise industry, much of which isn't readily
available to those outside the travel industry. Besides the latest news,
our site has evolved to include lots of other useful information about the
cruise industry.
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