Latest Cruise News

In a surprise statement released on Friday, P&O Cruises have announced the Cancellation of their flagships maiden world cruise starting next January.

Cunard Line have organised a unique event on 5 June 2012 to celebrate The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The wreck of the Costa Concordia still lies on the ledge or rocks next to the Island of Giglio where she sank two weeks ago this Friday.

It is with great sadness that all the team at Ferry Publications report on the sinking of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia resulting in the loss of life. Belonging to Europe’s largest cruise company, Costa Cruises, the 6 year old,114,500 tonne ship with 4234 passengers and crew on board had just begun a seven night cruise from the Italian port of Civitavecchia with scheduled calls at Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.

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P&O Cruises 16 year old ship the Oriana returned to Southampton on the 19th of December after the completion of a £25 million refit in which she was converted to an exclusively for adults ship.

The two new Princess Cruises’ ships currently being built at Fincantieri in Italy will each have four Wartsila F series marine diesel engines capable of producing around 52 Mega Watts of power.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s new 4,000 passenger ship, the Norwegian Breakaway, will be based all year round in the city of New York replacing the 93,000 tonne Norwegian Gem.

P&O Cruises have had to cancel the latest 10 night cruise of their smallest ship the Adonia after she suffered from engineering problems whilst on her Christmas and New Year cruise in the Mediterranean.

On Sunday 8th January 2012 the latest ship for Disney Cruises, the Disney Fantasy undocked from the giant indoor building hall of the German shipyard of Meyer Werft.

Your cruise news writer was invited by Carnival to spend the day in the German shipyard of Blohm and Voss on Tuesday 29th November to see the refurbishment work being carried out on the Oriana for P&O Cruises and the Queen Mary 2 for Cunard Line.

At the start of December 2011, there were 20 cruise ships on the order books of the four big European shipyards, including options and memoranda of agreement for deliveries up to 2016.

For the fifth year in a row, Princess Cruises ships are expecting snow flurries to set the stage for a wonderful Christmas season at sea.

Adolfo Perez, a 29-year veteran of Carnival Cruise Lines, has been named managing director for Carnival UK.

Fred. Olsen’s Black Watch has been overhauled for the start of her winter season at Lloyd Werft.

Savona will be the venue for the naming ceremony of the new flagship Costa Fascinosa, currently being built at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard.

Royal Caribbean International continues to deliver the Royal Advantage with the transformation of the elegant and popular Centrum found aboard its Vision Class ships.

As the New England cruising season has just come to an end, Princess Cruises is reminding passengers it’s the perfect time to start planning a Canada & New England voyage for 2012.

Oceania Cruises’ new 1,250-passenger cruise ship, the Riviera, will be christened in Monte Carlo on the 19th April 2012.

MSC Cruises is launching a unique diet-themed cruise in January 2012 with one of the most famous nutritionists in the world, French diet specialist Dr Pierre Dukan, to give guests the rare opportunity to shed kilos, tone up and tan during a mid-winter holiday in the Mediterranean sea and Atlantic ocean.

Azamara Club Cruises has chartered the Azamara Journey to Miles Morgan Travel in the UK for a special Titanic 100th anniversary sailing.

P&O Cruises is adding a number of new options to its Green World Tours program for 2012. This comes after the programme received an Environmental Initiative Award for its notable contribution to advancing the environmental aspect of cruising.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd has signed the two shipbuilding contracts with Carnival Corporation for the construction of two large-sized cruise ships for Carnival's AIDA Cruises brand.

P&O Cruises has announced that it is to base both the Oceana and the Oriana in Southampton throughout the winter of 2012/13.

Cunard have announced details of the planned refit of the Queen Mary 2, in preparation for her eighth birthday in January 2012.

Royal Caribbean International has announced that from November 2012 its only ship to be based in Britain all year round is to move to Fort Lauderdale for the winter.

Royal Caribbean’s Splendour of the Seas has entered the Navantia shipyard in Cadiz, Spain to begin a five-week long stay. Where she will receive an array of new amenities, the refit cost being $35 million.

Windstar Cruises, which operates a fleet of three luxury sailing yachts will include complimentary soft drinks on all voyages starting this December.

On Thursday 20th October, a significant construction milestone occurred when the keel for the new Royal Princess was laid in the building dock at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy.

The Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest 4,000-passenger Freestyle Cruising ship goes on general sale to the public today, the 17th of October.

According to Carnival Cruise Lines, everything is bigger in Texas and this includes the company’s celebration of the U.S. debut of its newest ship, the Carnival Magic. Carnival has announced it has teamed up with the rock band Maroon 5 to perform an exclusive concert to welcome the line’s newest ship to its homeport of Galveston

The Italian shipyard of Fincantieri has announced that it has been awarded the multi-million Euro refit and refurbishment project of the newest ship acquired by Saga Cruising, the 37,301-ton ‘Bleu de France’.

Celebrity Cruises is offering a free two-night cruise on the Celebrity Constellation next September.

An array of wet and wonderful new surprises help guests cool off as they enjoy soaking up the sun aboard the new Disney Fantasy due to enter service next March.

On the 12th of October, Cunard officially celebrated their new ship Queen Elizabeth’s first birthday.

The Italian cruise company, MSC Cruises have announced that their’ spa and well-being packages is being further enhanced by the launch of its new Aurea Suites.

On the 12th of October In another important milestone of its expansion program, the Panama Canal Authority announced the completion of phase three of the dry excavation project in the construction of the Pacific Access Channel which will connect the third set of locks with the Culebra Cut and Gatun Lake.

Ports of Auckland is hailing the upcoming cruise season as a bumper one, with expected ship calls at a record high of 97.

In 2012 Princess Cruises will offer more itineraries and capacity in Europe than ever before. Next summer features seven ships sailing on 57 itineraries to 116 destinations.

STX Finland and TUI Cruises have signed a contract for the design and construction of a 97,000 gross tonnage cruise ship with a passenger capacity of around 2,500 passengers.

On the 25th September the Cunard liner, Queen Elizabeth, made her first ever call to the port of Halifax in Nova Scotia. The company took the occasion to celebrate the legacy of Sir Samuel Cunard, who hailed from Halifax and established the iconic ocean liner company bearing his name more than 171 years ago.

P&O Cruises have cancelled three of the Oriana’s cruises which were due to take place in early December as the time she is due to spend at refit has been extended.

On Friday 16th September, in a time-honoured Italian maritime tradition, a ceremony was held aboard the Carnival Breeze at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy.

On Thursday 22nd September, the first piece of steel was cut at the German shipyard of Meyer Werft for the construction of Norwegian Breakaway, the first of two new freestyle ships for Norwegian Cruise Line.

Norwegian Cruise Line has selected the winning names for its two new Freestyle ships to be built at the German shipyard of Meyer Werft.

Oceania Cruises first season with a ship based down under has been heralded as a great success by the company.

On Thursday 15th September, two crew members died and at least two others seriously injured after an engine room fire forced the evacuation of the MS Nordlys, a cruise ferry owned by the Norwegian Company, Hurtigruten.

The new Seabourn Quest will embark on a 116-day World Cruise in 2013, visiting an array of exotic destinations in the South Pacific, Australia, Indonesia and Southeast Asia, India, Arabia and the Mediterranean.

All Leisure Holidays Limited are proud to introduce a new addition to the Voyages of Discovery fleet, the Voyager. Formerly the Alexander von Humboldt, she has been extensively upgraded and will be joining the ever-popular Discovery in November 2012 to provide an even wider choice of itineraries to destinations worldwide.

On Tuesday 13th September 2011 the keel was laid of the 5th and final member of Celebrity Cruises successful Solstice class of cruise ship, the Celebrity Reflection.

P&O Cruises and Cunard Line will be screening live rugby matches on board the 10 ships within their fleets during this years world cup.

MSC Divina, the third and latest addition to the MSC Cruises’ flagship Fantasia class, was ceremoniously floated out of dry dock B of the STX Europe ship yard in Saint-Nazaire, France on Saturday 3rd September and transferred to dock C for final fitting and furnishing ahead of her christening in May next year.

On the 5th September the official beginning of the construction of the Europa 2 got under way.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises has been recognized as the World’s Best Cruise Line by readers of Condé Nast Traveller magazine.

Tropical Storm Irene, the ninth named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, has prompted a number of Eastern Caribbean islands to issue storm warnings and sparked itinerary changes by Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

On Saturday 13th August the Queen Mary 2 visited the port of Hamburg for the 20th time. This was also her last visit to Germany this year.

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 has finally passed its vessel sanitation test, six weeks after it failed a routine spot check whilst in New York.

Costa Cruises has announced the resumption of calls to destinations in Japan.

Norwegian Cruise Line today announced adjustments to its smoking policy for all of its cruise ships in response to changing passenger preferences.

On Wednesday 3rd August Carnival Corporation, the worlds largest cruise company confirmed that it had ordered three new cruise liners for its European brands worth a total of over $2 Billion.

Responding to a growing volume of travel agencies selling cruises in Australia, two of the Carnival Corporation brands have now opened dedicated offices in Sydney, Australia ready for this year's summer season.

P&O Cruises have announced their world cruises for 2013 and in a bit of a surprise the Oriana has been dropped in favour of the much larger, Azura.

On the 26th July a pair of Carnival sister ships were involved in a minor coming together whilst one was trying to dock at the North American port of Key West.

On the 18th July the German Shipyard Meyer Werft delivered Celebrity Silhouette, the fourth of a series of five Solstice Class ships for the American cruise company.

On the 30th June the Italian shipyard Fincantieri, delivered the largest ship ever to fly the Italian flag, the Costa Favolosa.

The younger of the luxury cruise lines two ships the Crystal Serenity, recently received a twenty five million dollar facelift during a two week dry dock in Hamburg.

Royal Caribbean have just announced that they are to increase the cost of eating in their Chops Grill by twenty percent to thirty dollars per person.

At Fincantieri’s Genoa yard, Oceania Cruises celebrated the float up of their new cruise ship, the Riviera on the 16th July.