NYCruiseInfo Blog

Cruise Industry Predictions -Cruise Lines are scrapping cruise ships well before their useful lives are over.   Now that the pause in cruise operations enters its fourth month, the future of cruising this year does not look good. As predicted earlier cruise lines are starting to dispose of ships well before the end of their natural lives. This action is being driven by a number of underlying circumstances. One is the lack of demand for cruises in the near future. In addition, some of these older ship's accommodations do not offer balcony cabins. Forward looking most passengers will desire balcony cabins due to the fear of an outbreak of coronavirus and fear of being quarantined in their cabin.  It is expected that the demand for inside and outside cabins will definitely be less and the cruise lines will be forced to sell those at a much steeper discount. For these older ships, which do not offer many balconies, the revenue generated will be far less than...

Costa Cruises Costa Victoria has been sold for scrap at 24 years old.  As reported in my earlier predictions for the cruise industry during / post coronavirus - many of my predictions are coming true including the premature scrapping of cruise ship well before their time. Read Prior Cruise Industry Prediction articles Carnival Corporation announced that up to 6 ships will be sold / scrapped in between now and the end of the month. Already the Costa Victoria, of Carnival Corp's Costa Cruises,  which was supposed to be used as an accommodation ship for shipyard workers has now reportedly been sold for scrap. Additional ships reported on the for sale list include the Carnival Fantasy class ships and in a surprise move the Carnival Sunrise, which just recently completed a massive $100M refit is on the for sale list for $350K. Reports that Royal Caribbean has also placed a number of ships on the for sale list including the Grandeur of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas a...

Luxury Cruise Operator Viking Cruises' newest ship - Viking Venus - Floated out At Italy's Fincantieri Some Good News - An unrelated Port of New York Cruise News Article. Luxury Operator's New Viking Venus is floated out.. Viking ®   announced its seventh ocean ship – the 930-guest Viking Venus ® – was “floated out,” marking a major construction milestone and the first time that the new ship touches water. Scheduled to debut in early 2021, Viking Venus will spend her maiden season sailing itineraries in the Mediterranean and in Northern Europe. “We started Viking’s ocean project eight years ago, and together with Fincantieri we have built the world’s most beautiful ships. Today we are pleased to celebrate this important milestone in the construction of our seventh ocean ship,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. “As the world continues its path to recovery from COVID-19, we remain focused on the future, and with strong bookings for 2021 and the ...

Cruise Line International Association Announces Member Cruise Lines extend pause until September 15, 2020 Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) issued the following statement today to announce that the association’s ocean-going cruise line members will voluntarily extend the suspension of cruise operations from U.S. ports until 15 September 2020. “Due to the ongoing situation within the U.S. related to COVID-19, CLIA member cruise lines have decided to voluntarily extend the period of suspended passenger operations.  The current No Sail Order issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will expire on 24 July, and although we had hoped that cruise activity could resume as soon as possible after that date, it is increasingly clear that more time will be needed to resolve barriers to resumption in the United States. “Although we are confident that future cruises will be healthy and safe, and will fully reflect the latest protective m...

Six ships expected to exit in next 90 days The company is accelerating the removal of ships in fiscal 2020 that were previously planned to be sold in future years. Carnival said it has preliminary agreements for the disposal of six ships that are expected to exit in the next 90 days, and the company is working on additional sales. The exact ships have not been named but it is expected that their older ships will be the first to go. The ships could span multiple Carnival Brands including AIDA, Holland America, Chartered ships to other carriers, Seabourn, Costa, Cunard, Princess, P&O, P&O Australia and others. It is not clear if the sale will be to other operators or to scrappers in India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey.   RETURN TO NYCRUISEINFO.com   ---------------------------------------   Sister Sites => NYCruiseInfo.com Website - Cruise Schedule, Ship Reviews, Ports of Call & More. => Nick's...

Cunard Announces Extended Pause In Operations Until November 2020. Impacts sailings for Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. Luxury cruise line Cunard, announced that, as a result of the continued impact of Covid-19, it will be extending the pause in operations. For its ships Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria, Cunard is cancelling all sailings that were due to depart up to and including 1 November, 2020 and for Queen Elizabeth, departures up to and including the 23 November, 2020. Impacted will be the majority of the Queen Mary 2's transatlantic season, European cruises and New England / Canada sailings. The majority of these would have been sailing from New York. It is unclear if the Queen Mary 2 will sail her extended cruise in January circling South America due to the Corona virus.  Cunard President, Simon Palethorpe, said, “With many differing restrictions across countries, people’s ability to move freely and safely across borders remains seemingly ...

Carnival Maritime's State of the Art Fleet Operations Center - Ship tracking, efficiency, data collection and analysis Health, environment, safety and security (HESS) is paramount to our business and our Fleet Operations Centers (FOC) are an essential component of our HESS strategy. A first in the cruise industry, our FOCs are designed to assist our captains, chief engineers, and deck and engineering officers with support, control and planning of ship nautical and technical operations. We have three regional FOCs in operation. The first FOC was opened in Hamburg, Germany in 2015, the second was opened in Seattle, U.S. in 2016 and the third was opened in Miami, U.S. in 2018. These centers provide real-time support for our fleet of ships. The Miami FOC, opened in May of 2018, is the largest and most technologically advanced in the cruise industry. The 35,000-square-foot facility was custom-designed, and it is anchored by a 74-foot-long video wall compose...

Royal Caribbean Employee begin to return to the office. The first shore-side employees returned to Royal Caribbean headquarters in Miami  last week. About  150 people are reporting to the PortMiami offices initially as part of the phased start-up.  Other Miami based companies have the majority of their staff working remotely or have only essential workers reporting to the office.  Most cruise lines hope to start having staff reporting to the office over the next few weeks.   RETURN TO NYCRUISEINFO.com   ---------------------------------------   Sister Sites => NYCruiseInfo.com Website - Cruise Schedule, Ship Reviews, Ports of Call & More. => Nick's Cruise Corner Blog - News On Cruise Ships Sailing World Wide. => Follow Us on Instagram - NYCruiseInfo At Instagram => Subscribe to Our Monthly New York Cruises Newsletter .

Norwegian Cruise Line unveils new health safety measures to battle the Corona virus. Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has been working closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to establish new safety protocols  due to the global health crisis, These new precautions are in place to assure everyone's safety moving forward. Norwegian Cruise Line has outlined their intentions covering such topics as: Enhanced Screening Protocols Increase Sanitation Methods Responsible Social Distancing  Enhanced Medical Resources Increased Ship to Shore Safety Improved Air Filtration measures Learn More about Norwegian Cruise Line's Sail Safe Program.   RETURN TO NYCRUISEINFO.com   ---------------------------------------   Sister Sites => NYCruiseInfo.com Website - Cruise Schedule, Ship Reviews, Ports of Call & More. => Nick's Cruise Corner Blog - News On Cruise Ships Sailing World Wide. => Follow Us on Instagram - NYCruiseInfo At ...

Aida Cruises AIDAluna was expected to sail from New York to New England / Canada or the Coastal US and Bahamas - until AIDA cruises decided to cancel all 2020 US based cruises. Aida Cruises, a German based cruise line owned by Carnival Corporation , has made the decision to suspend all cruises to the United States and Canada in 2020 due to travel bans and restrictions in both countries. The cruise line has traditionally sailed from New York to both New England / Canada and East Coast ports like Norfolk, Charleston SC, Port Canaveral and the Bahamas on two ships. Most of their cruises feature overnight stay in New York to offer their German Clientele time to explore New York City. The AIDA ships have limited dining room eateries and were focused more on buffets and cooking stations. Based on the new corona restrictions, the cruise line will have to re-think their dining experiences. For the summer and fall of 2020 AIDA was expecting to sail the AIDAluna and AIDAdiva from New ...

Crystal Cruises Crystal Serenity to Sail the Caribbean from Miami or San Juan instead of New England / Canada Cruises from New York Crystal Cruises has cancelled it 2020 series of New England / Canada itineraries from New York and has replaced those cruises with 7 day Caribbean cruises.  The open jaw cruises on board the Crystal Serenity originate in Miami or San Juan. The cruises are priced aggressively for the luxury cruise line starting at $200/day. Back-to-back cruises can be combined to form 14-day round trip cruises. Crystal is offering additional saving for passengers booking back-to-back sailings. Below is the cruise line's official press release and additional details. Travelers seeking warm island escapes this fall have brand new options aboard Crystal Serenity , as Crystal Cruises announces seven-night Sunkissed Chic and Tropical Interlude Caribbean voyages for October and November. Sailing between Miami and San Juan, the itineraries can be combined for an e...

Carnival Breeze, Carnival Magic in Croatia Bringing Crew Home. Carnival Cruise Line issued a big “hvala” (thank you) to Dubrovnik, Croatia today, after an extraordinary effort resulted in the repatriation of nearly 3,000 Carnival team members through the Port of Dubrovnik last week.  The cruise industry really does bring the citizens of the world together and Carnival proudly boasts 110 nationalities amongst its onboard team.  That can make things complicated in this current situation as the world’s largest cruise line works to repatriate more than 26,000 team members home, with a backdrop of some nations with closed borders, flight options limited, and debarkation and immigration policies frequently changing.  “Luckily, Carnival has great port partners all over the world who are working with the company.  And today, we’d like to recognize our friends in the Republic of Croatia and the Port of Dubrovnik.  Over the past week, Carnival...

Cruise lines not offering the discounts cruise passengers are expecting. With all the bad press and passenger fears, one would think that cruise lines would be offering steep discounts. It seems to be far from the situation. I did some spot checking of the cruise lines website and I am seeing strong pricing for sailings from New York.  Royal Caribbean still seems to be asking, on average, about $100/day for an interior cabin. The best deal I saw in August was an 11 day New England / Canada cruise on the smaller Empress of the Seas from Cape Liberty at $630/pp for an inside cabin.  Norwegian Cruise Line's pricing seem a little softer offering 7 day cruises starting at $519/pp for 7 day cruises to Bermuda; New England /Canada Cruises or Florida / Bahamas. This price is for an interior stateroom. The main reason why the discounts are not as deep as expected is primarily because cruise lines are not anticipating putting all their ships back in service immediately. T...

Manhattan Cruise Terminal Minus the Cruise Ships Due to The Pause In Operations. This past weekend was a great weekend in New York City. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and the temperature was warm. On Saturday, I made my way over to the Hudson River and was saddened to see the cruise ship piers in Manhattan empty. On a normal Saturday a Norwegian Cruise Line ship would have been tied up - loading passengers for a cruise to either Florida and the Bahamas or New England & Canada. In Bayonne, Cape Liberty, a Royal Caribbean ship would have been embarking on as sailing to the same ports - Florida / Bahamas or New England / Canada or Bermuda and the Caribbean. The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal may have been playing host to the Queen Mary 2 preparing to sail to Southampton, England on a transatlantic voyage. Unfortunately none of the above was to be found. The river, itself seemed quiet - no ships, limited ferry traffic, no Circle Line, no excursion boats - just t...

Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas continues to repatriate it's crew and the crew of other Royal Caribbean . Celebrity ships. The Anthem of the Seas headed transatlantic from the Bahamas to Gibraltar. After dropping off crew and taking on crew from other Royal Caribbean ships - headed to Piraeus Greece. After calling in Piraeus, the Anthem of the Seas sailed through  the Suez Canal and in now in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Oman -  sailing east toward Mumbai India to bring crew members home. She is expected to arrive in India late on June 10th. It is unclear what will be the Anthem of the Seas next port of call after Mumbai - but check back and we will be sure to share. The ship is now 7,850 miles away from it old homeport of Cape Liberty Bayonne, NJ. RETURN TO NYCRUISEINFO.com   ---------------------------------------   Sister Sites => NYCruiseInfo.com Website - Cruise Schedule, Ship Reviews, Ports of Call & More. => Nick's Cruise Co...

Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Encore, Norwegian Spirit in Cold Lay up in Norfolk, Va. In an interesting move, Norwegian Cruise Line's 3 ships in cold layup in Norfolk, Virginia all headed out to sea on the morning of June 5th. The Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Encore and Norwegian Spirit's departure is mechanical  in nature  intending to exercise the ship's engines,  desalinization plants, generate fresh water, generate power, test navigational equipment and more. All three ships returned to Norfolk's Portsmouth Marine Terminal on June 8th.   RETURN TO NYCRUISEINFO.com   ---------------------------------------   Sister Sites => NYCruiseInfo.com Website - Cruise Schedule, Ship Reviews, Ports of Call & More. => Nick's Cruise Corner Blog - News On Cruise Ships Sailing World Wide. => Follow Us on Instagram - NYCruiseInfo At Instagram => Subscribe to Our Monthly New York Cruises Newsletter .

Bahamas Port of Nassau To Undergo a Major Renovation and Expansion A popular port on cruises departing from New York and New Jersey, Nassau in the Bahamas is making a massive investment to improve the cruise port. The Project which will be completed in 3 phases, the project has begun. Nassau Cruise Port Ltd. (Nassau Cruise Port) is pleased to announce that it has successfully raised over $130 million through its private bond offering. The bond offering was launched on May 4 and closed on Friday, May 15, 2020. Colina Financial Advisors Ltd. (CFAL), the lead placement agent for the bond issue, has confirmed that the offering was oversubscribed. Mike Maura, Jr., CEO of Nassau Cruise Port, shared his appreciation for the support and confidence of so many investors and stakeholders during these difficult times. “We wish to thank the many investors who recognize the national importance of this project and have given us their backing. We are also very grateful for the assist...

Atlantic Container Line's G4 Container Ship Suspend Passenger Operations Due to COVID Restrictions On Friday May 22, 2020, Atlantic Container Line's (ACL) parent company Grimaldi Lines announced that “it has been decided to suspend passenger service on ACL, G4 Container vessels until the end of 2020.” After several weeks of valiantly trying to maintain its weekly passenger service between Hamburg, Antwerp, Liverpool, Halifax, New York and Baltimore, complications caused by Covid-19 have finally made it impossible to continue to offer passenger service. The Grimaldi Group stated  that many affected passengers have already re-booked for 2021. Those recently impacted by the announcement are now being contacted to move their reservation . The five ACL ships carry 12 passengers each and offer an annual capacity of 600 passengers in each direction. Earlier this year, the ACL ships were booked for 4 months in advance.   RETURN TO NYCRUISEINFO.com   --------...

Canada Extends Cruise Restrictions to October 31, 2020 Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian are banning any ships with overnight accommodations  carrying more than 100 persons from operating in Canadian waters until October 31, 2020. This move has shut virtually shut down the New England / Canada Cruises from New York and Boston as well as impacting the West Coast Alaska program as well.  The announcement was made by the Minister of Transport, the Honorable Marc Garneau. Cruise Lines benefiting from the announcement are America Cruise Line, Blount Adventure Cruises, Uncruise Adventures and others who utilize small  United States registered ships carrying 100 passengers or less. These ships can sail between Alaskan Ports without touching Canadian Ports. Due to their low capacity, they are not impacted by the Canadian Restrictions.   RETURN TO NYCRUISEINFO.com   ---------------------------------------   Sister Sites => NY...

I found this great video of Holland America Line’s Rotterdam of 1959. Constructed at the Rotterdam Drydock Company at Rotterdam in the Netherland,   the ship was delivered 1 year after her sister ship   Statendam was delivered for Holland America. The profiles of the two ships are dramatically different – with the Statendam having a more traditional form and the Rotterdam having a more modern appearance. On September 13, 1958, the 38,645 ton Rotterdam was launched and christened by   Queen Juliana of the Netherlands with the shoreline flanked with thousands of onlookers.  With 1,456 passengers double occupancy and a crew of 776, the 748 feet long; 94.1 feet wide; 29.6 ft draft and a cruising speed of 21.5 knots, the twin funnel liner looked majestic. The Rotterdam was built as a 3 class liner and sailed transatlantic service until 1969. Most of her East bound transatlantic voyages embarked in Hoboken, NJ at the Holland America Pier.   In late 1...