October

MIAMI (AP)
Carnival Corp. said Friday that it will suspend its dividend for the first quarter as it looks to preserve cash during uncertain economic times. In light of the unusually high cost of raising new capital, continuing concerns about financial institution liquidity and current uncertainties in the global economy, we believe that preserving cash is a prudent step which will further strengthen the company's balance sheet and enhance our financial flexibility," Chief Executive Micky Arison said in a statement. more >>>>

Ambassadors International plans to break up its American river cruising subsidiary, Majestic America Line, piecemeal rather than as a whole, company officials said Wednesday.
Ambassadors has tried to sell Majestic since early this year, but failed to find a buyer. Chairman Joe Ueberroth said four of the remaining five vessels will be sold individually. “I do not foresee a sale of Majestic America Line as an entity,” Ueberroth said during a Q3 earnings call. “There has been interest on a vessel by vessel basis.”   Majestic allowed a creditor to take back the 2003-built, 223- passenger Empress of the North in August. The line will likely allow the same creditor, the United States Maritime Administration, to take the 1995-built, 436- passenger American Queen as well in coming months, he said.   “When we talked to potential buyers, they just weren’t interested in a vessel with that amount of debt,” Ueberroth said.

Miami
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, the world's second-largest cruise operator, reported higher third-quarter profit on Tuesday but warned that bookings were down significantly in recent weeks. "The rapid fall-off in net yield is troubling to us," said Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kent in a note to investors. The company said new bookings slowed significantly during September, but leveled off in October. "As we have seen during other challenging periods, our customers are delaying their further out purchase decisions," said Chief Financial Officer Brian J. Rice in a statement. "It is too early to respond to this atmosphere in a systematic way, but we have attracted short term volume in the traditionally weak fourth quarter using discounts."Last week, Royal Caribbean said it is ending fuel surcharges for now on certain cruises because the global price of oil has come down and stabilized. more >>>>

The mass-market line announced today that the Miami-based Carnival Liberty, which was scheduled to reposition to Europe in May, will instead remain in Miami for all of 2009. In turn, the California-based Carnival Pride, scheduled to take the Liberty's place next summer in Miami, will make a previously announced move to Baltimore four months ahead of schedule. The troubled economic climate has prompted Carnival Cruise Lines to pull a cruise ship from Europe in 2009 and boost capacity closer to home. The net effect of the moves is to drastically reduce Carnival's capacity in Europe in 2009 while boosting the line's capacity along the Eastern seaboard.

New US cruise line Pearl Sea Cruises has, for the second time, postponed the introduction of the 9,000 grt Pearl Mist, a newbuilding under construction at Canadian shipbuilder Irving Shipbuilders in Halifax, Nova Scotia due to delays in completing the vessel. A sistership on order at the same yard has also been cancelled. Pearl Mist was to have entered service this autumn with a series of cruises around Canada’s Atlantic Seaboard and up the St. Lawrence River, followed by winter cruises in the Caribbean.  The delay in delivering the vessel has been attributed to the owner’s increasing the passenger capacity of the Pearl Mist from 166 to 214. Pearl Seas Cruises is a subsidiary of American Cruise Lines.

The 441 passenger ship, which was built for the Ipswich-based company in
1966, will operate a series of four farewell cruises, starting on September 9, 2009, with an around the UK cruise from Liverpool, and ending on October 16 at Southampton following a final cruise to the Canary Islands. Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines managing director Mike Rodwell said: “This is a very sad announcement for the company to make as Black Prince is one of the best loved ships that caters to the UK market.” 

Narvik
The Norwegian ferry and public transport operator Hurtigruten said, that its wholly-owned Spitsbergen-based business, Spitsbergen Travel AS, has chartered the expedition ship ms EXPEDITION from the Canadian owner GAP Adventures Inc. Spitsbergen Travel will use the ship for seven-day expedition cruises at Svalbard. MS EXPEDITION is a high ice class vessel with capacity for 120 passengers. The charter agreement was signed for a firm period of one year, but includes options for four yearly renewals. No financial details were disclosed.

Langesund, NO
The Nye Kystlink AS administrative board, has not succeeded in reaching out to new investors for the company. The administrative board has therefore concluded to cancel the ferry service, starting Tuesday evening, the 21.10.2008. Nye Kystlink AS will inform all affected passengers. The last departure for “M/S Kongshavn”, will be Tuesday from Langesund to Strømstad 10.30 AM, and return from Strømstad at 2.30 PM to Langesund. Arrival in Langesund will be approximately 06.00 PM.

Hamburg
The largest cruise ship thus far built in Germany, the 122,000 gt, 2,858
passenger Celebrity Solstice, is set to arrive in the port of Hamburg in the evening of October 20, to undergo final inspection in the Elbe 17 floating dock of Blohm + Voss shipyard. Celebrity Solstice, the latest newbuilding from Meyer Werft, has already completed technical and nautical sea trials in the North Sea. During the
drydocking in Hamburg, says Meyer, "a few technical adjustments on the

Naples
MSC Cruises, the rapidly expanding Naples based company, has launched a new logo, designed to have a strong immediate impact and give more visibility to the company name. Unlike the previous logo, which had a horizontal and vertical edition, there is only one version of the new one, which comes with either a dark blue or white background. More space has been assigned to the acronym ‘MSC’ to give it a clear identity and promote brand awareness, the company says. The new logo will be used internationally by MSC Cruises and has been translated from the original Italian into English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian and Chinese.

Private equity company KSL Capital Partners, that acquired Orion Expediton Cruises in May, is taking up the option to buy the ms Orion. The 106-passenger ship was built at the Cassens Shipyard in Emden in 2003 and was brought to Australia in April 2005 by OEC founder and md, Sarina Bratton. 

Port Everglades
Palm Beach County investor Glenn Straub won an auction Thursday for SeaEscape, the Port Everglades casino cruise ship, with a bid of $3.6 million. Straub struck a gentleman's agreement to sell the ship to the second-highest bidder - former Regency Cruise Lines owner and cruise consultant Anastasio "Taki" Kyriakides of Fort Lauderdale - for $100,000 more than the bid price. The ship was seized by U.S. Marshals in late August after crew members sued, claiming they were owed for several months of unpaid wages. Kyriakides said he plans to refurbish the ship and operate it for cruises in Greece and the Mediterranean. more >>>>

Miami
If Adam Goldstein, president of Royal Caribbean International, speaks for the future of cruising, traveling aboard ship may one day be akin to flying the unfriendly skies, meaning you'll sail by class in first, business or coach. "The 21st Century guests, who are prepared to pay top dollar to be in the better accommodations onboard all of our ships, do not accept that once they step outside their door, they are on the same footing as everybody else," he explained. "They expect special treatment outside the staterooms. Read more >>>>

Manila
The Philippines has entered the cruise business with newly established operator Eco Cultural Tourism buying the small 1967-built cruise ship Coco Explorer 2 (ex Caribe Star) from Denmark’s C&C Marine for an undisclosed price. The vessel, which will be renamed 1707 Islands Cruise, will operate three and four night cruises in the Philippine archipelago, to the Boracay and Palawan Islands from November this year. Eco Cultural Tourism is a major tourism developer in the Philippines, with leisure investments, including hotels, resorts, islands and an airport.

London/Dubai
Details are emerging of what will happen to the world-famous passenger liner QE2 when it retires next month to become a floating hotel in Dubai. The plans are unlikely to appeal to QE2's traditional fans. Even the iconic silhouette of the world's best-known ship will change. According to the liner's crew, the new owners in Dubai plan to slice off the giant red funnel, placing it on the waterfront as an entrance to the ship. Inside, every cabin will be ripped out and replaced with new, larger bedrooms that meet the latest standards. And the ship's engines will be taken out, and the space used to create a new entertainment venue. "What's happening to the ship is very good," insists Cpt Ian McNaught, QE2's master for the last five years. QE2 location on the Palm Jumeirah >>>>

Bergen
The board of Hurtigruten has decided to go on with its plans for cutting NOK 150 million through staff reduction and reorganization. Unless an agreement is reached with the Ministry of Communication for refund of domestic duties on fuel and NOX emission, two more vessels may have to be laid up byNovember 1. The Nordnorge has already been withdrawn and replaced by the old Nordstjernen from 1956, and two more of the newer ships may now follow. Talks with the Ministry will commence shortly.

MIAMI, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire
Six brands of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL) -- Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and The Yachts of Seabourn -- have announced that effective October 31, 2008, the existing fuel supplement will be eliminated for all new bookings on 2010 departures. At that same time, a price increase on 2010 sailings will become effective. Additionally, the company has established specific guidelines under which the current fuel supplement may be reimbursed to consumers for 2008 and 2009 voyages. More >>>>

St.Nazaire, France
AKER Yards France has ordered the stoppage of work on the second of
the two Freestyle 3 cruiseships under construction for NCL at its
Saint Nazaire yard, writes Andrew Spurrier in Paris. The yard's initiative comes a little over two weeks after it acknowledged that it was in dispute with NCL over the first of the two F3 vessels, on which construction work is still proceeding.
NCL has declined to comment on the dispute over the C33, indicating
only that it does not comment on "commercial or legal disputes".

Naples
Italian shipping company Grimaldi Group has launched a mandatory offer to buy the shares in Greece's Minoan Lines (MILr.AT: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) it does not already own after acquiring more than a third of the Greek company's shares. The Italian group said it had to launch the offer after raising its stake in the Greek company to 33.36 percent of shared capital and voting rights, above the limit of one third which triggers a bid for the rest of the shares. more >>>