October

St.Petersburg
According to ATOR, the new seaport of St. Petersburg “Morskoy Fasad” - VIDEO - which was opened only in 2011, has received 417,000 tourists and 220 cruise liners during summer (+15% in comparison with 2010). About 363 thousand cruise passengers visited St. Petersburg in 2010. 
The navigation in St. Petersburg lasts from the 5th of May till the 12th of October. For the moment only year-round ferry navigation is in process. According to Andrey Fedorov, Commercial Manager of Morskoy Fasad, the throughput capacity of the port is about 1.5 million people per year. 
“It’s the best Russian port for the moment with a great infrastructure; it has the capacity to receive the international cruise liners. The summer cruise period is very prospective. I think, that the increase of the number of the tourists in St. Petersburg has happened thanks to the work of the new modern seaport,” commented Tatyana Yarzhinskayafrom Neva.

ChinaDaily
The lure of adventure at sea and on land are turning China into a cruise industry drawcard.
The well plied waters of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, the South Pacific and Alaska may have had their heyday, and the seas of China loom on the horizon. It used to be that for anyone planning to see a bit of the world in splendid luxury the first port of call was a travel agency, where they would be treated to colorful, glossy brochures replete with images of sun-filled skies, glistening blue seas, palm trees, pristine fjords and snow-capped peaks. But things have begun to change, and China, land of history and culture, is beginning to stake its claim in the market for cruise tourism. If that is not good enough for those in the cruise industry, they can bask in the fact that more and more increasingly affluent Chinese are opting to relieve their tensions - and empty their pockets - on the high seas. more...

TIRANA, Albania
A Turkish merchant ship sank and eight of its sailors are missing after the vessel collided with a passenger ferry off the Albania's coast, Albanian port authorities said Thursday.
The 3,300-ton Reina 1, sailing under a Maltese flag, sank immediately after the collision in international waters with the car ferry Ankara, said police spokeswoman Ornela Cako. 
The crash happened at about 1 a.m. (2300 GMT) Thursday some 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Albanian port of Durres. No injuries were reported on the ferry, which had left Durres en route for the Italian port of Bari with about 200 passengers. It later arrived in Bari, Italy. more...

Southampton
Cunard onfirmed today that for the first time in its 171-year history, no ships in the Cunard fleet will be registered in the UK. Instead of having the name of their home port, Southampton, emblazoned across the stern and on their lifeboats, Queen Mary 2 - VIDEO - , Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth will carry the name of Hamilton, capital of Bermuda.  A three paragraph statement from Cunard simply referred to the fact that the ships would, for the first time, be able to offer weddings at sea. 
There remains a suspicion, however, that the weddings are a cover for deeper economic reasons for a change of flag, allowing Cunard to save on wage bills and registration fees. Sailing under a "flag of convenience" - as most ships do - allows the company to employ crew at cheaper wages and to avoid UK and European employment law. 
Confucius says: beancounter more impoltant than wedding berrs!

AmaWaterways is launching a new Africa river cruise and land program with six departures in 2012. Three packages include four-night Chobe River cruises on the 28-passenger Zambezi Queen, which begin in Kasane, Botswana. The Zambezi Queen has 14 balcony staterooms and suites measuring from 215 to 300 square feet. The boat has a dining room, lounge, pool and reading room. The cruise includes a visit to a Kasenu village for interaction with the local community, a traditional Boma dinner and an African barbeque on an island in Namibia.

Gibraltar
Gibraltar Government yesterday announced plans to extend and refurbish the cruise terminal to keep ahead of trends in the sector and enhance the Rock’s international appeal as Mediterranean passenger port. The terminal will increase in size from its current 1,200 sq m to 2,000 sq m, enabling it to handle the larger ships that call at Gibraltar and the increasingly growing numbers of passengers they each carry. “The Cruise Terminal is a major entry point for visitors to Gibraltar and has handled around 2,500 cruise ship calls and 3 million passengers since it opened on 17 July 1997,” Mr Holliday said. more...

The Port of Falmouth - Video - was presented the Port of the Year Award at the Seatrade Insider Cruise Awards 2011, held at Seatrade Europe, Schmidts Tivoli Theatre, in Hamburg Germany on September 27. Over 89 participants competed across six categories. After an initial elimination process narrowing the group to 18, Falmouth emerged the winner from a group of three finalists, which included Port Akdeniz in Port of Antalya, Turkey and Port of Bergen, Norway. The Port of the Year Award recognises a port authority or port management company which has made significant improvements to its handling facilities/cruise-tourism infrastructure over the past 12 months. Officially named the Historic Port of Falmouth, Jamaica, the cruise ship port was designed to highlight the town's historic past and was strategically developed to enhance Jamaica's cruise product. It was built as a joint venture between the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. The facility's berths can accommodate the largest cruise ship in the world. The Falmouth Port is the largest themed cruise port development in the history of the Caribbean costing in excess of US$220 million.

Miami
International Shipping Partners (ISP) said Gemini and Ocean Pearl are available for sale or charter after charterer Happy Cruises gave notice it is ceasing operations and canceled all remaining departures for the 2011 season. ISP said the two ships are available immediately, and the Miami-based company will entertain charters or sales on a cash basis or on a bareboat hire-purchase contract. The 19,093gt Gemini has double occupancy capacity for 800 passengers, while the 22,945gt Ocean Pearl has double occupancy of 1,100. Gemini was built in 1992 as Crown Jewel and also sailed as SuperStar Gemini. Ocean Pearl was built in 1970 as Song of Norway and lengthened in 1978. The ship later sailed as Sundream, Dream Princess and Clipper Pearl.