The cruise information simply retains coming, and Cruise Hive has all of it coated. On this week’s thrilling information round-up, search for tales from Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean.
Cruise Information Replace
Get able to dive into Cruise Hive’s recap of the large cruise information developments of the week.
Our protection consists of new particulars about Carnival Cruise Line’s Celebration Key, the story of a cruise visitor who misplaced her costly reservation after sharing her reserving particulars on social media, Carnival confirming its return to the Port of Baltimore, a cruise visitor suing Ketchikan after being injured on a city bus, Norwegian Cruise Line increasing its Asia-Pacific deployments, and Icon of the Seas experiencing an influence outage.
Cruise Line Introduces Household Portal at Celebration Key
Carnival Cruise Line revealed the particulars about Starfish Lagoon, the family-friendly space of Celebration Key, the personal vacation spot within the Bahamas set to open in July 2025.
The portal, certainly one of 5 distinct areas within the new growth, will function thrill rides such because the 350-feet-long waterslides Flash Flamingo and Mach III Marlin, plus swimming pools and water video games for younger youngsters within the Guppy Grotto, which may have a wading pool and dump bucket.
The lagoon itself will likely be one of many largest freshwater our bodies within the Caribbean, and people who desire saltwater will take pleasure in a spacious beachfront the place kayaks and paddle boards could be rented.
Facilities for adults and teams embrace AquaBanas — floating cabanas that seat eight and supply shaded areas. Common beachside cabanas will likely be provided for lease, too. The Starfish Lagoon Sports activities Courtroom may have volleyball, basketball, and pickleball courts, plus a variety of desk video games.
Starfish Lagoon will function a number of eating choices. An adult-only sanctuary can be deliberate for Celebration Key, however neither its identify nor its facilities and providers have been revealed but.
Carnival Cruise Line, in current months, has opened a slew of itineraries on the market, together with port calls to the brand new vacation spot. Cruisers who want to go to Celebration Key can select from a dozen ships departing from eight US ports in 2025 and 2026. Relying on the ship chosen, itineraries vary from 3-night getaways to longer, 14-night cruises.
Id Theft Robs Visitor of $12K Caribbean Cruise
An unlucky set of circumstances led to an enormous disappointment for a pair who booked a Carnival Cruise Line crusing aboard Carnival Celebration after which discovered — sooner or later previous to embarkation — that their reservation had been cancelled.
Tiffany and Jamie Banks had been all set for a luxurious trip at sea within the ship’s Excel Presidential Suite, which got here with a cruise fare of $12,000. Plus, they’d spent one other $3,000 on varied providers and airfare.
Tiffany Banks had posted info on TikTok concerning the 6-night Caribbean cruise, which departed from Miami on Could 18, 2024, as embarkation day approached, however she made one large mistake: She posted her reserving ID quantity and her cabin quantity on the social media web site.
Some unknown and unscrupulous individual used that info to entry her reserving on the cruise line web site and cancel the reservation two days earlier than departure. Tiffany, who goes by @thathippiedoc on TikTok, knew one thing was flawed when she acquired an e-mail from Carnival Cruise Line notifying her that two excursions had been cancelled.
The cruiser referred to as the road to inquire, and realized the unhappy fact that her total reserving was cancelled. A sufferer of identification theft, Tiffany is searching for compensation from the cruise line, which has up to now provided a $10,000 future cruise credit score.
Carnival Cruise Line Resumes Sailings From Baltimore
It’s official: Carnival Cruise Line is as soon as once more working from the Port of Baltimore efficient with the Could 26, 2024 departure of Carnival Satisfaction. All service from the port was briefly suspended after a cargo ship slammed into and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge, situated on the entrance to the port, on March 26, 2024.
Carnival Satisfaction operates Japanese Caribbean and Bahamas cruises from Baltimore, and had shifted her homeport to Norfolk, Virginia, whereas crews labored to open transport channels into the Baltimore port.
Carnival Legend additionally was affected by the accident, since she had departed from Baltimore the day earlier than the crash and needed to disembark friends in Norfolk when that crusing concluded on March 31, 2024. With Norfolk a roughly 4-hour drive from Baltimore, the port change offered logistical challenges for the cruise line and its friends.
Carnival Satisfaction’s first cruise from Baltimore will likely be a 14-day cruise to Greenland & Canada departing Could 26, 2024, with port calls at Nanortalik and Qaqortoq, Greenland; St. Anthony and Nook Brook, Newfoundland; and Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Royal Caribbean was additionally impacted by the port’s closure and had lately introduced that Imaginative and prescient of the Seas, which homeports in Baltimore, would resume cruises there on Could 25, 2024.
Cruise Visitor Sues Alaskan City After Scooter Damage
A 91-year-old cruise visitor has filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, holding the Alaskan city liable for an incident that occurred on September 9, 2023 onboard a public bus operated by the borough.
Donald Gillingham and his spouse, Patricia, had disembarked their cruise ship in Ketchikan, a preferred port name in Southeast Alaska, and rented an electrical scooter for Donald, who had mobility points.
The incident occurred onboard a public bus, when the scooter, which was not secured, tipped over when the car made a flip. The person’s accidents weren’t instantly obvious, however when the couple returned to their cruise ship — which isn’t recognized within the lawsuit — he was evaluated by medical workers.
On the subsequent port name, Juneau, the visitor was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital for examination and was discovered to have damaged ribs and a punctured lung.
The couple, who’re residents of Montana, is suing the city of Ketchikan for damages, claiming that the bus driver didn’t safe the scooter or advise them to safe the scooter. The go well with states that the couple has suffered damages in extra of $100,000.
The lawsuit was filed in federal courtroom on Could 8, 2024. It doesn’t maintain a cruise line accountable for the incident. Typically, as soon as friends disembark a cruise ship, they’re liable for their very own security.
Cruise Line Expands Asia-Pacific Voyage Roster
Norwegian Cruise Line is banking large on the cruising grounds of the Asia-Pacific and Australia/New Zealand areas, saying the deployment of a file three ships that may function some 90 voyages between September 2024 and March 2026.
The 1,944-guest Norwegian Sky, the 1,976-guest Norwegian Solar, and 2,032-guest Norwegian Spirit will sail a group of itineraries that function greater than 30 overnights in port, together with first-time overnights in Bali and Lembar (Lombok), Indonesia.
Company can select from 15 embarkation ports, resembling Bangkok, Thailand; Manila, Philippines; Papeete, French Polynesia; Seoul, South Korea; Singapore; and Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan, plus the brand new choices of Cairns, Australia, and Lautoka, Fiji.
Norwegian Spirit will sail 11- to 14-day journeys between Australia and New Zealand from December 2025 to March 2026. Norwegian Solar will debut in Australia in December 2024 with 12- to 15-day voyages between Australia and New Zealand, in addition to throughout French Polynesia.
Norwegian Sky will enter the Asia market in January 2025, crusing a collection of Japan and Southeast Asia cruises by way of March 2025. All advised, the ships’ 9- to 19-day itineraries will go to greater than 60 locations.
Icon of the Seas Experiences Quick Energy Outage
A brief-lived energy outage hit Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas on Could 19, 2024 because the ship sailed a 7-night Japanese Caribbean voyage from Miami. Whereas non permanent energy failures on cruise ships are uncommon, they’re downright puzzling on new ships like Icon of the Seas, which entered service simply 4 months in the past.
Icon of the Seas is the world’s largest cruise ship crusing right this moment, with capability for 7,600 friends and weighing a hefty 248,663 gross tons. Constructed on the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, the mega-ship was launched in late January 2024.
The facility outage lasted between 10 minutes and an hour, by most accounts, and affected propulsion, elevators, water pumps (for waterslides), and lighting in staterooms and different components of the ship.
The causes of small outages can differ, and embrace energy surges, generator or engine upkeep, or electrical points. Reviews concerning the outage, which occurred within the early afternoon, had been posted on social media, however Royal Caribbean has not confirmed any details about the incident.
The outage occurred throughout a day at sea and didn’t influence the ship’s itinerary, which featured calls at St. Kitts, St. Thomas, and Good Day at CocoCay.
Extra Cruise Headlines
These weren’t the one large cruise headlines from the previous week. Take a look at much more protection from Cruise Hive, resembling Cunard revealing extra particulars concerning the upcoming naming ceremony for Queen Anne; MSC Cruises deploying 9 ships to the Mediterranean this summer season; TUI Cruises planning a preview voyage of its new-build Mein Schiff 7; Oceania Cruises’ new ship coming into service sooner than scheduled; and NOAA predicting an energetic hurricane season in 2024.
