CND's Cruiseblogger

Man Dies in Accidental Fall aboard Carnival Fantasy

2012-01-28T17:32:00.000-05:00

updated January 28, 2012, 9:04pm EST A 26-year-old man died in a fall aboard Carnival Fantasy on Friday (January 27, 2012). Carnival said the passenger fell from an upper level in the ship's atrium to the lobby level while the ship was docked in Nassau late Friday evening, approximately 11:30pm. The police in the Bahamas, which are investigating the incident, characterized it a little

Costa Details Offer to Passengers aboard Costa Concordia

2012-01-27T10:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Costa Crociere held discussions with consumer groups to determine a fair compensation to those passengers who were aboard Costa Concordia on January 13 who were not injured. The line has just released details of that offer which are in the press release republished below. We will have further details on the story, and perspective, in today's edition of Cruise News Daily. Costa

Video: Coast Guard Makes Precision Air Drop to Carnival Spirit

2012-01-25T20:20:00.000-05:00

Usually we show you Coast Guard helicopters medically evacuating passengers from cruise ships. Yesterday, however, Carnival Spirit was too far away from Hawaii for a helicopter to reach it. To help stabilize the patient, the ship's doctor requested the Coast Guard bring them six units of blood. A few hours later, when the ship was about 600 miles away from Hawaii, a US Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules

Disney Cruise Line Announces Winter 2012/Summer 2013 Progams

2012-01-24T09:34:00.000-05:00

As expected, Disney Cruise Line announced they would begin sailing from Miami in December 2012. Disney Wonder will sail a pattern of two different five-night itineraries and a four-night itinerary from the South Florida home port. The new program will run through the winter season to May 2, 2013. The line also announced Disney Magic will return to Europe during the summer of 2013 with a series

Erroneous Reporting about Future Discounts for Costa Concordia Passengers

2012-01-23T16:30:00.000-05:00

Updated January 24, 2012 below: It's being widely reported that Costa Cruises has offered a 30% discount on a future cruise, to passengers who were aboard Costa Concordia at the time of the accident. This is absolutely NOT TRUE. These news stories are mostly the result of bad journalism. The people writing these reports are taking the information from other reports, and reporting it as fact

Disney Fantasy Goes Down to the Sea

2012-01-20T22:04:00.000-05:00

When a ship is built in the inland yard of Meyer Werft, its first journey is always the conveyance down the Ems River to the Dutch seaport of Eemshaven. There is a tremendous sense of pride of the Meyer Werft product in the region, and a conveyance is always cause for people to come down to the river to watch the giant ships pass. The journey is always a slow, methodical trip through narrow

Disney Delays Announcement

2012-01-18T16:31:00.000-05:00

Disney Cruise Line had scheduled a major announcement in Miami today, apparently to announce the homeporting of a ship there beginning in December. The line decided to postpone the announcement until an unspecified date. Although they didn't mention it directly, the delay likely was caused by the mood of the industry surrounding the sinking of Costa Concordia last Friday and the media attention

Costa Concordia Updates

2012-01-16T11:04:00.003-05:00

Please note that we are continuing to update information about the Costa Concordia incident in the original article's location so complete information will be available in one place. Latest updates includes information from Monday's press conference in Genoa with Costa CEO Pier Luigi Foschi, and an early morning release of the financial impact on Carnival Corp. Tuesday's updates included updated

MSC Cruises to Relocate to Miami

2012-01-16T10:31:00.000-05:00

MSC Cruises announced this morning they would move their South Florida home port from Port Everglades (at Ft. Lauderdale) to the Port of Miami beginning in the fall of 2013. The complete article appeared in the January 16, 2012, edition of Cruise News Daily.

Costa Concordia Evacuated

2012-01-13T20:00:00.000-05:00

Updated Jan 23 - 130pm eastern time to update the results of Monday's search, decision to begin debunkering fuel, and latest Costa statement. The 112,000-ton Costa Concordia was evacuated Friday night after it began taking on water through a gash opened in the hull and listing dangerously. The ship had left Civitavecchia earlier in the evening and was sailing north to Savona, near the Isola del

Statements Regarding Costa Concordia Evacuation

2012-01-13T19:59:00.000-05:00

These are statements issued by Costa Crociere and Carnival Corp (Costa's parent) regarding the evacuation of Costa Concordia. Our main news story which is being updated on an ongoing basis is located here. Statement by Costa Crociere - issued January 27, 2012, 940am EST Costa Cruises Details Costa Concordia Guest Reimbursement HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (Jan. 27, 2012) -- Costa Crociere wishes to again

Teen Alleges Rape on Enchantment of the Seas

2012-01-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

A now-former crew member of Enchantment of the Seas has been indicted on federal charges of sexual abuse of a minor, which allegedly occurred during the December 17 sailing of the ship from Baltimore. (Note: This should not be confused with a very similar incident which occurred on the Christmas cruise of Allure of the Seas.) According to the complaint in the case, on the last night of the

Crew Memeber Overboard from Monarch of the Seas

2012-01-11T14:20:00.000-05:00

Royal Caribbean reports that a crew member witnessed a 25-year-old male crew member jumping overboard from Monarch of the Seas this morning at 5:45am when the ship was sailing in the Bahamas toward its scheduled call at Nassau. Video surveillance recordings later confirmed the man going overboard. The incident was immediately reported, and the ship turned and began a search. All appropriate

Cruising to Bermuda in 1939

2012-01-10T21:31:00.001-05:00

Sailing to Bermuda isn't a new idea. It's always been a favorite vacation, and here are someone's home movies from their cruise to Bermuda in 1939.

MSC Peosia Runs Argound

2012-01-09T16:10:00.000-05:00

The 90,000-ton MSC Poesia ran aground in the Bahamas off Port Lucaya early Saturday morning (January 7, 2012). It was mostly a non-event from the standpoint of the passengers, because the port was already scheduled to be tendered, and all services aboard could continue normally. Work continued through the day, and the ship was able to free itself with the assistance of four tugs late in the day.

Meyer Floats Out Disney Fantasy

2012-01-08T11:03:00.000-05:00

Disney Fantasy was floated out of the covered building dock this afternoon (January 8, 2012) at Meyer Werft's Papenburg (Germany) yard. The slow process was witnessed by several hundred people, mostly local, who had come to the yard for the event, complete with a few fireworks set off from the top of the ship and a tune from the ship's musical whistle. There were intermittent showers during the

Nighttime Medevac from Emerald Princess

2012-01-07T19:33:00.000-05:00

The US Coast Guard performed an unusual nighttime helicopter evacuation from Emerald Princess Friday evening (January 6, 2012) when the ship was sailing 57 miles northeast of Nassau. The Coast Guard received the call from Emerald Princess about 1:30pm requesting the medevac for a 55-year-old female passengers suffering from severe spinal compression. The Coast Guard launched two aircraft, an HC

Royal Caribbean "Shellphone" Ads Begin to Air

2012-01-07T19:21:00.000-05:00

Royal Caribbean's newest ad campaign has begun to air on TV with their "shellphone" ads and the new tagline that will become the cornerstone of the new campaign, "The sea is calling. Answer it Royally." This will mark the first time the line has coordinated their advertising worldwide. The first TV spot is below: The spot below will be running in cities experiencing frigid weather:

MSC Showcases MSC Yacht Club in New Video

2012-01-05T16:29:00.001-05:00

MSC was one of the pioneers of the "ship within a ship" concept with their Yacht Club when MSC Fantasia debuted. The luxury concept has expanded to three ships, and the line has recently completed a redesign of the product to make it even more luxurious and exclusive, making it even more self-contained for the line's top suite passengers on their largest and most feature-rich ships. In this

Teen Alleges Rape on Allure of the Seas

2012-01-05T04:33:00.000-05:00

An Iowa teen alleges she was raped multiple times aboard Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas during a 10-day Christmas cruise. Two Brazilian passengers accused were arrested on Tuesday when the ship returned to Ft. Lauderdale. The 15-year-old girl told authorities that on the last night of the cruise, she went to the ship's teen club, and a 15-year-old boy invited her to a party in his

Video: Costa Deliziosa Departs on World Cruise

2012-01-04T20:30:00.000-05:00

Costa Deliziosa departed Savona (near Genoa, Italy) on a 100-day world cruise Dec. 28, 2011, with a grand celebration including fireworks. This marks Costa's first return to world cruising in 17 years. The itinerary will be a complete circumnavigation of the world, visiting five continents and making 37 port calls along the way. It will follow a westward route, across the Caribbean, through

Norwegian Breakaway to Sail from New York thru Winter

2012-01-04T10:33:00.000-05:00

Norwegian Cruise Line confirmed this morning that Norwegian Breakaway will indeed be homeported in New York year round with the announcement of the ship's winter 2013-2014 winter itinerary. After completing the inaugural season sailing 7-day cruises from New York to Bermuda, beginning October 13, 2013, the 4,000-passengers ship will shift to a 7-day Bahamas itinerary. During the winter season,

Video: Coast Guard Medevac from Carnival Triumph

2011-12-30T17:00:00.000-05:00

A coast Guard helicopter crew from Houston evacuated a 73-year-old man from Carnival Triumph in an unusual nighttime operation Thursday night (Dec 29, 2011) about 11:40pm when the ship was about 120 miles off the coast of Galveston (Texas). The man was suffering from a blood clot in his foot. He was taken to a local hospital in the Houston area. The video below, provided by the US Coast Guard

Disney Fantasy Gets Its Elephant

2011-12-29T13:14:00.000-05:00

A Disney tradition is that each of their ship’s has a larger-than-life character suspended over the stern that appears to be painting the ship’s name there. Back in September Disney revealed that the character given that singular honor on Disney Fantasy will be Dumbo. The flying elephant was installed in his place of honor on the almost-complete Disney Fantasy on December 14 (2011) at Meyer's

Crew Memeber Overboard from Celebrity Summit

2011-12-27T10:30:00.000-05:00

A crew member went overboard from Celebrity Summit on Saturday evening after the ship left San Juan. A crew member witnessed the other crew member jumping overboard at 12:23 am (Sunday, December 25) and reported it to the bridge. The ship's captain immediately stopped the ship and returned to the location to begin a search. The Coast Guard says they were notified at 12:50am Sunday and began to