January

A great way to follow your favorite Costa vessel "live" can be seen here. In Google Earth View. Click on the vessels name and you will get lots of information, updated every 2 Minutes. Location, Webcams and much more. A must for all Costa Fans......(click on télécharger le fichier kmz)
Enjoy!!

Miami
Neither the Azamara Club Cruises brand nor its ships are for sale, despite widespread speculation, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. chairman and ceo Richard Fain said today. ‘I’ve heard those rumors,’ he said in response to an analyst’s query. ‘We are not interested in selling either the brand or the ships.’ For months there have been reports of the ships being shopped. Fain acknowledged that everything is for sale at a price, but said Azamara Quest and Azamara Journey are showing greater improvement in passenger satisfaction and pricing, on a percentage basis, than perhaps any other ships in the fleet. ‘No, we are not in the market to sell either the ships or the brand,’ he maintained.

SESTRI PONENTE, Italy, January 19, 2011
Oceania Cruises officially took delivery today of Marina, the line’s first newly built ship which measures 66,000 tons and accommodates 1,250 guests. The handover took place at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente shipyard near Genoa, where Marina officially became a part of the Oceania Cruises’ fleet joining Regatta, Insignia and Nautica. Her sister ship, Riviera, is currently being built in the same shipyard and will debut in April 2012.

PIRATES were kept away from the British cruise ship Spirit of Adventure by a loud sonic boom device deployed to deafen them, sources revealed last night. But as the cruise liner was being “buzzed” by a speedboat during the night-time attack, its Australian captain, Frank Allica, ordered the deployment of the long range acoustic device, known as LRAD, which can cause permanent deafness at 300 feet. The device emits a loud boom that can be effective from as far away as 800 feet, though it cannot be heard by those standing behind it. Passengers aboard the Spirit had already been grouped in the barricaded dining room and resumed their black-tie dinner as soon as the danger had passed. more...

SAN PEDRO, Calif. (KABC)
The sour economy and growing drug-related violence in Mexico is having a major impact on the two largest cruise ships serving the Port of Los Angeles. Royal Caribbean is leaving the rough waters of Southern California and Mexico after a voyage that begins Sunday. The cruise line's Mariner of the Seas, a 3,100-passenger vessel, will end up in its new home base of Galveston, Texas. Norwegian Cruise Lines will pull its Norwegian Star out of port in May. The 2,348-passenger ship will end up in Tampa, Fla. The two ships combined carried nearly half of the Port of Los Angeles' passengers in 2009.
Carnival Cruise Lines' Spirit, which has been docked in Los Angeles and San Diego, is also leaving. Beginning in 2012, it will be shipping out of Australia. more...

Dubai
Dubai is flexing its muscles to be the Middle East hub for international cruising industry and banking on the steady increase in the number of cruise ships visiting the emirate year on year to bring in 575,000 cruise tourists by 2015.
The Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has been promoting Dubai's cruise tourism by participating in specialized trade shows, exhibitions and conventions and by hosting specialized tourism industry delegations highlightinhg Dubai's position as a regional hub for marine tourism-related activities. read more...

Released today on frommers.com, the annual Best Cruise Ships list has been compiled by Frommer's resident cruise experts, Matt Hannafin and Heidi Sarna, and reflects the best-reviewed vessels in their new, 7th edition of Frommer's Cruises & Ports of Call. 
In total, 20 ships representing nine design classes made it to the 2011 list, with a further 19 ships in eight classes recognized as "notable." 
The newest and most groundbreaking ship on the list is Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, which debuted just two months ago. Judges praised the 225,282-ton, 5,400-passenger vessel and her older twin sister, Oasis of the Seas, for "letting light and air into the center of the ships" via a radical new superstructure design. The judges also singled out Allure for being "undoubtedly the best entertainment ship at sea, with truly exceptional programming for both adults and kids." more...

Carnival Cruise Lines will base the 88,500gt Carnival Spirit in Australia full-time from October 2012, it was announced today. The 2,667-passenger Carnival Spirit will be the seventh Carnival Corp. & plc ship operating in Australia year-round when she joins P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Sun, Pacific Dawn, Pacific Jewel and Pacific Pearl and Princess Cruises’ Sun Princess and Dawn Princess. 
‘It is amazing growth considering there were just two ships based in Australia year-round in 2007,’ Carnival Australia ceo Ann Sherry said. Carnival Spirit will offer eight- to 12-day cruises to the Pacific Islands and a selection of 13-day sailings to New Zealand beginning October 15, 2012, with the programme expected to go on sale by the middle of this year.

Miami
Oceania Cruises has chartered its 684-guest Insignia to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises of Germany for two years, effective April 2012, at the conclusion of her currently published schedules. Concurrent with the charter of Insignia, the line will accept delivery of the 1,250-guest Riviera. During the contract period of the charter, Oceania Cruises’ mid-size fleet will include two sets of elegant twin ships:Regatta and Nautica, which carry 684 guests and Marina and Riviera,both of which carry 1,250. Insignia will rejoin Oceania Cruises’ fleet in April 2014.

Miami
Electricity for the shopping district of mega cruise ship Allure of the Seas is now being provided by photovoltaic panels. The United Solar Uni-Solar brand photovoltaics were installed by BAM Solar of Miami providing electricity for the ship's shopping district. "The first Oasis-class ship, Oasis of the Seas, has had such positive feedback for using solar that we knew we had to do it again with our Oasis' sister ship, Allure of the Seas," said Rasmus Norling, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Manager of R&D Environmental Technologies and Environmental Stewardship.