Keep on high of the cruise information with Cruise Hive, the chief in cruise business protection. This week’s replace contains protection of Carnival Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, P&O Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean.
Cruise Information Replace
Let’s dive into this week’s cruise information replace, with Cruise Hive’s protection of main tales, together with a TikTok influencer who shares how one can safe a cruise cabin, Carnival Cruise Line nonetheless attempting to clarify its mobility scooter coverage, MSC Cruises selecting Falmouth as its new Jamaica port name, P&O Cruises cancelling cruises because of a dry dock delay, Norwegian Cruise Line advising friends certain for Mexico ports to convey a passport, and Royal Caribbean cancelling all calls to Labadee in gentle of civil unrest in Haiti.
TikTok Influencer Capitalizes on Cabin Security
A journey influencer on TikTok continues to draw large numbers of followers and web page views along with her concepts on how one can keep secure whereas cruising. Victoria, who posts as @victorias.manner, gears her security recommendation to ladies and solo vacationers, however her ideas might be useful to anybody.
With 155.8K followers, her movies focus primarily on security inside a cruise cabin, since all cruise ships have surveillance cameras {and professional} safety guards onboard. Amongst her most seen movies is one posted on February 17, 2024, which has thus far garnered practically 29 million views.
Within the video, which was filmed on a Royal Caribbean ship, the influencer particulars how she secures her cabin earlier than going to sleep. She makes certain the door is locked, after placing out the Do Not Disturb signal, then closes the peephole and creates a back-up lock utilizing closet hangers and towels.
However that’s not all. She additionally prompts a wi-fi safety digicam, locations a chunk of furnishings in opposition to the door, and installs a doorstop alarm. Many viewers recognize her security ideas whereas others counsel they’re too drastic and will influence exiting her cabin in an emergency.
In a accident, Victoria seems to have been crusing onboard Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas when one of many ship’s cabin stewards was arrested for allegedly hiding cameras inside visitor rooms. The employee was taken into custody when the ship returned to her residence port on March 3, 2024.
Cruise Line Nonetheless Grappling With Scooter Problem
Carnival Cruise Line continued to make clear its coverage concerning mobility scooters onboard its ships, after many friends apparently misinterpreted the road’s guidelines.
Earlier this month, the cruise line stated it could extra strictly implement sure guidelines, together with ensuring friends’ scooters match by the doorways of the cabins they booked.
It was an e mail announcement to friends booked in accessible cabins aboard Mardi Gras that began the controversy. Underneath the road’s coverage, scooters can be measured at check-in, and if the machine is not going to match by the door of the booked cabin, it is not going to be allowed onboard. (If that occurs, the visitor has the choice of renting a smaller scooter from a vendor on the cruise terminal.)
Some friends took the enforcement announcement to imply that solely collapsible scooters could be allowed on board, and others thought it meant that no scooters could be allowed in any respect. That’s when Carnival Cruise Line Model Ambassador John Heald took to social media to try to make clear the coverage.
The issue, he identified, is that some scooter customers are likely to retailer them exterior their cabins. This may result in issues if an evacuation is ordered, and impacts the cleansing employees’s potential to simply entry staterooms and corridors.
Heald, who had obtained some 4,500 feedback on the problem, additionally stated that scooters might be left exterior a cabin for 2 or three minutes, if a visitor simply wanted to get one thing from contained in the stateroom.
MSC Cruises Switches Jamaica Port Name to Falmouth
MSC Cruises’ MSC Seascape will name at Falmouth, Jamaica, somewhat than Ocho Rios, Jamaica, till a broken dock at Ocho Rios is repaired. The 4,540-guest ship residence ports in Miami and sails Caribbean and Bahamas cruises, a few of which name at Jamaica.
Berth 2 at Ocho Rios was closed for repairs after it partially collapsed throughout dangerous climate on February 6, 2024. Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Magic was docked there when the incident occurred. With out Berth 2 operational, it’s attainable that not all scheduled cruise ships will have the ability to dock on busy days.
To keep away from the issue, MSC Seascape will as an alternative name at Falmouth, a port about 40 miles to the west. The port opened in 2011 and was inbuilt partnership with Royal Caribbean. It options eating and buying venues, and public buildings that date again to the 18th century.
Booked friends can be up to date about any adjustments to shore excursions, though the impacts of the altered itinerary are anticipated to be minimal.
Different cruise traces that decision at Ocho Rios embrace Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, Holland America Line, TUI Cruises, and Princess Cruises. No different cruise line has introduced the same port swap.
New Dry Dock Date Forces Cancellation of Two Cruises
P&O Cruises cancelled two sailings aboard Iona, each departing in October 2025, and can as an alternative dry dock the ship for a refurbishment. The dry dock initially was deliberate for March 2025, nonetheless, shipyard delays pushed again the schedule, inflicting the road to nix two cruises.
The cruise line, a Carnival Company model, emailed the dangerous information to friends booked on the ship’s October 4 and October 18, 2025 voyages.
The 5,200-guest Excellence-class ship was to depart October 4, 2025 on a 14-night roundtrip voyage from Southampton, England, to Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands. Her October 18, 2025 crusing, additionally roundtrip from Southampton, was a 7-night cruise to Hamburg, Germany; Rotterdam, Holland; and Zeebrugge, Belgium.
Company booked on each impacted cruises will obtain refunds and a £100 per individual onboard credit score in the event that they rebook one other P&O Cruises’ crusing. Following the dry dock, Iona is slated to function a 7-night crusing, additionally from Southampton, calling at Bilbao, La Coruna, and Vigo, Spain, and Cherbourg, France.
NCL Says Deliver Your Passport to Mexico
Norwegian Cruise Line is strongly urging friends booked on its cruises that decision at Mexican ports to convey a sound passport with them on the crusing, for quite a lot of causes.
In an e mail, the cruise line suggested that, even when a cruise operates roundtrip from a US port, it’s vital that each one friends have a passport and take it with them in the event that they depart the ship on shore excursions.
There isn’t a requirement for US residents to have a passport when cruising to Mexico, however sure conditions might crop up the place a passport is important. As an illustration, if a cruiser returns late from an tour and his ship has already left the dock, he’ll want a passport in an effort to journey to the following port to rejoin the ship, even when that port is also in Mexico.
The cruise line additionally identified that if a visitor misses his ship’s departure from a US port and needs to hitch the ship at a overseas port, a passport can be required to journey to the port name by air. After which there are emergency conditions the place the dearth of a passport can current a number of issues.
The discover got here after some high-profile passport issues made headlines. In a single case, two cruisers on a Carnival Cruise Line ship had been injured throughout an tour in Cozumel, Mexico, and had been quickly stranded there with out passports in 2023.
Royal Caribbean Cancels All Calls to Labadee
Royal Caribbean quickly suspended port calls to Labadee, its non-public vacation spot on the north coast of Haiti, because of the civil unrest and gang exercise that has thrown the island nation into turmoil.
The cruise line earlier had cancelled a number of forms of shore excursions that sometimes depart from Labadee, as an alternative protecting friends throughout the gated compound. Nevertheless, simply days after asserting these cancellations the road went a step additional and suspended port calls throughout the fleet.
An announcement from the cruise line stated port calls to Labadee had been suspended for seven days, with continued suspension on a rolling foundation “with three days advance notification to our friends” crusing on impacted voyages.
A number of ships had been instantly affected by the choice, together with Oasis of the Seas, Symphony of the Seas, and Journey of the Seas, as every was scheduled to name on the non-public vacation spot on March 14, 15, and 17, respectively.
Itineraries had been adjusted to supply an additional day at sea, with extra time in different ports of name the place attainable. Additionally, extra actions, video games, and leisure are being added to onboard schedules.
Royal Caribbean considers the suspension momentary and is constant to watch and consider the state of affairs. The Labadee vacation spot is about 130 miles away from the beleaguered capital metropolis of Port-au-Prince.
Extra Cruise Headlines
These had been among the high cruise information tales Cruise Hive lined up to now week, however there are extra you received’t need to miss out on. Take a look at extra of our tales, together with Royal Caribbean’s new multi-year settlement with its spa operator, MSC Cruises rolling out new Mediterranean sailings for 2025, an Australian enterprise tycoon reviving his plan to construct Titanic II, Carnival Cruise Line issuing vital notices to friends booked on an upcoming repositioning cruise to Seattle, and Royal Caribbean including a brand new perk for top-tier loyalty membership members.
