March

The growing battle between Alaska and the cruise industry over taxes and regulation reportedly took a major turn Friday as Alaska Governor Sean Parnell announced he had struck a deal with big lines to bring back ships. The Anchorage Daily News reports that in return for a 25% cut to the state's controversial $46-a-person tax on cruisers, Parnell said cruise line executives have agreed to drop a federal lawsuit against the state to repeal the tax and to increase capacity in the state.

Miami
It's makeover time for Great Stirrup Cay,Norwegian Cruise Line's private island in the Bahamas.Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Kevin Sheehan announced today at the annual Cruise Shipping Miami convention that the line would spend $20 million on the first top-to-bottom overhaul of the 250-acre island in more than two decades. "This is a very, very significant investment for our company," Sheehan said, noting  the hefty cost of the project. But "this was critical to us to improve the customer experience." Located 120 miles east of Ft. Lauderdale, the island getaway will be getting a new marina that will make it easier for tenders to land, an expanded beach front area, a new kids' area, additional dining facilities, private beach-side cabanas and more.

The European Cruise Council said almost 4.95 million passengers took a cruise holiday in 2009. The UK continues to contribute the largest number of passengers with Germany breaking the million passenger figure for the first time. The number of UK passengers has doubled in nine years to 1.53 million, representing 31.5% of the market. Germany continues to show strong growth in second place with 1.02 million passengers and 21% of the market. Italy, the third largest cruise market in Europe, saw a 16% increase to 790,000 passengers while Spain, with increased capacity from its national brands, showed a 26% increase to 627,000 passengers in 2009. The Mediterranean and Atlantic Islands continue to be the most popular destinations with 2.8 million passengers visiting the regions in 2009 – giving a market share of 57%.  Northern Europe had a 20% increase in the number of cruise visitors to 884,000 while the Caribbean and the rest of the world accounted for 1.23 million passengers, an increase of 19% over the previous year.

Leave it to Crystal Cruises to come up with a shore excursion that costs nearly $33,000. The luxury line's latest offering: Cosmonaut training at Russia's once top secret space center at Star City, near Moscow.  The line Wednesday announced it will begin selling four distinct one-night outings to the Star City training center to passengers on ships visiting St. Petersburg, Russia. They'll range in cost from $4,359 to $32,995 per person. The most expensive option, the Final Challenge gives would-be space walkers the chance to install a space antenna on a replica of the International Space Station while wearing an authentic space suit and submerged in 54,000 cubic feet of water. The other programs: The Centrifuge G-Force Experience. Participants experience the simulated G-forces of blast off, flight in orbit and spacecraft descent on the specially-reserved 300-ton centrifuge.

Miami
Royal Caribbean plans a big expansion in Europe in 2011 as demand for cruises in the region continues to grow. Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein reveals this week on his blog that the company will send a record 10 of its 22 ships to the Continent for the 2011 summer season, up from eight this year and in 2009. "Just a few years ago we would not have imagined such a scenario," Goldstein notes. Royal Caribbean already said last month it would move one of its largest, most amenity-filled cruise ships, the 154,407-ton Liberty of the Seas, to Barcelona in 2011, setting up a head-to-head confrontation with the equally giant flagship of rival Norwegian Cruise Line, the 153,000-ton Norwegian Epic.

St.Nazaire, France
MSC Cruises has signed a letter of intent with STX Europe shipyard to build the MSC Favolosa for delivery in June 2012. The 140,000-ton ship would be built at the STX France SA yard in St. Nazaire, which delivered sister ships MSC Fantasia and MSC Splendida in December 2008 and July 2009, respectively. The new vessel will be the ninth MSC Cruises ship built at St. Nazaire. The new cruise ship will have 1,751 cabins, about 100 more than the sister ships. “With this order MSC Cruises again signals the record-breaking extent of its ambition. The new ship will bring our capacity to nearly 1.5 million guests in 2013, confirming both the success of our strategy and our confidence in further growth,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, CEO of MSC Cruises.