It’s time for the weekly information recap from Cruise Hive, your go-to supply for international cruise information. Our protection this week consists of tales about Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line.
Cruise Information Replace
Able to dive into this week’s thrilling cruise information round-up? Learn on for vital information developments, together with Carnival Vista being faraway from service in order that velocity points will be resolved; Carnival Cruise Line confirming its 2026-27 Caribbean deployments; Royal Caribbean ordering its fourth Icon-class ship; and Princess Cruises elevating its crew gratuity price.
Additionally, Norwegian Cruise Line cancelling 4 sailings of Pleasure of America because of a dry-dock schedule, and a Carnival Cruise Line visitor complaining there are too many onboard bulletins.
Carnival Vista Eliminated From Service for Propulsion Restore
After practically a month of experiencing propulsion points, Carnival Cruise Line’s 4,000-guest Carnival Vista is being taken out of service for repairs.
The cruise line has cancelled the ship’s September 7, 2024 cruise from Port Canaveral in order that engineers can resolve the problem. The 8-day Southern Caribbean crusing was to name at Aruba, Curacao, and Grand Turk Island. Booked visitors acquired the disappointing information on August 27, 2024.
The ship is at present crusing an 8-day Jap Caribbean voyage, however officers have shortened the vessel’s time in port at Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, and the US Virgin Islands in order that the ship can return to Port Canaveral as scheduled on September 1, 2024.
The ship’s velocity downside turned obvious throughout her August 4, 2024 crusing and once more on the August 10, 2024 departure. That crusing additionally was adjusted to compensate for the ship’s slower velocity.
Company booked on the cancelled voyage will probably be refunded for the cruise fare and reimbursed for any booked shore excursions. The cruise line additionally pays as much as $200 per visitor for change charges associated to air journey. As a particular bonus, visitors will obtain a 100% Future Cruise Credit score, legitimate on any voyage booked by August 31, 2025.
The 133,596-gross ton Carnival Vista was the primary of the road’s Vista class, and entered service in 2015.
Carnival Cruise Line Opens Bookings for 2026-27 Caribbean Season
Carnival Cruise Line rolled out its Caribbean deployments for 2026 and 2027 from 4 US ports — Miami, Port Canaveral, Galveston, and Baltimore, and introduced modifications deliberate for Half Moon Cay, a non-public island vacation spot within the Bahamas.
Half Moon Cay is owned by guardian firm Carnival Company and is visited by a number of of its manufacturers. Carnival Cruise Line is scheduling calls to the favored vacation spot by its three Excel-class ships, Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration, and Carnival Jubilee, as soon as the enhancements are accomplished. Upgrades embody a bigger seashore, a brand new pier, and expanded eating and beverage choices.
Carnival Cruise Line’s new personal vacation spot on Grand Bahama Island, Celebration Key, will open in July 2025 and is a featured name on lots of the line’s just-revealed Caribbean itineraries.
The 2026-27 voyages, now open on the market, provide 6- to 14-day holidays at sea within the Jap, Western, and Southern Caribbean.
From Galveston, visitors can sail aboard Carnival Jubilee, Carnival Dream, and Carnival Breeze on Jap, Western, and Southern Caribbean cruises. From Miami, Carnival Celebration will sail the Jap and Western Caribbean.
From Port Canaveral, Mardi Gras and Carnival Venezia will provide Jap, Western, and Southern Caribbean itineraries, and from Baltimore, Carnival Pleasure will sail Bahamas and Southern Caribbean voyages. It additionally will proceed to supply a Greenland and Canada cruise.
New Ship Order Will Increase Royal Caribbean’s Icon Class
Royal Caribbean is on monitor to add extra ships to its Icon class, following the wildly profitable launch of Icon of the Seas in January 2024.
The cruise line’s guardian firm, Royal Caribbean Group, ordered a fourth Icon-class vessel from the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, and the settlement consists of choices for 2 extra ships.
The second within the class, Star of the Seas, is because of launch in 2025 and a 3rd, unnamed ship, is slated to debut in 2026. The fourth, just-ordered ship — additionally unnamed — will enter service in 2027, giving the cruise line one new Icon-class vessel per 12 months for at the very least the subsequent three years.
Icon of the Seas is the most important cruise ship crusing at this time, at 250,800-gross tons and with capability for 7,600 visitors with all berths occupied. Star of the Sea will probably be a tad bigger, making her the largest cruise ship at sea when she begins crusing in August 2025.
The 20-deck Icon of the Seas has impressed visitors together with her AquaDome, the most important water park within the cruise business, with six thrilling water rides, together with a free-fall slide and the tallest water slide at sea.
Meyer Turku is constructing all the Icon-class ships. All are powered by liquefied pure gasoline (LNG) and produce other eco-friendly applied sciences corresponding to water therapy methods.
Icon of the Seas relies in PortMiami, and Star of the Seas will homeport at Port Canaveral. No homeports have been introduced for any of the opposite ships within the class.
Princess Cruises Hikes Crew Gratuity Charges By $1 Per Day
Princess Cruises’ visitors are paying $1 extra per day in crew gratuities after the road quietly upped the cost throughout all stateroom classes.
With the rise, visitors in suites pay $19 per individual, per day; visitors in mini-suites, cabanas, and Membership Class cabins pay $18; and people in all different classes pay $17.
The hikes are efficient instantly, however visitors on future sailings who already booked a Princess Plus or Princess Premier bundle — each of which embody gratuities, is not going to pay the additional $1 per day.
Like different cruise strains, Princess Cruises provides service expenses starting from 17% to 18% onto bills corresponding to specialty eating meals, drinks, spa therapies, and different companies.
The crew gratuity charges on Princess Cruises, a Carnival Company model, are much like what sister manufacturers cost.
Carnival Cruise Line expenses $16 per individual, per day for normal staterooms and $18 per individual, per day for suites. Holland America Line expenses $17 per individual, per day for normal staterooms and $19 per individual, per day for suites, for instance.
Elsewhere within the business, Royal Caribbean’s charges are barely larger: It expenses $18 per individual, per day for many stateroom classes and $20.50 per individual, per day for suites
And Disney Cruise Line has among the lowest crew gratuity charges — $15.50 per individual, per day in Concierge-level cabins and suites, and $14.50 in all different staterooms.
Crew gratuities on all cruise ships are routinely added to onboard accounts and will be adjusted earlier than disembarking, though that’s an unusual follow.
Cruises Cancelled as Hawaii-Primarily based Ship Heads to Dry-Dock
Norwegian Cruise Line cancelled 4 voyages aboard its Honolulu-based ship Pleasure of America in spring 2025. The affected sailings have been to depart between Might 3 and Might 24, 2025.
The 22-year-old ship — the one one within the business to sail the Hawaiian Islands roundtrip from Honolulu, was final dry-docked in April 2024, however that was as a result of want for a technical restore. The spring 2025 dry-dock is for routine upkeep.
Booked visitors are being refunded and anybody who booked utilizing a Future Cruise Credit score (FCC) can have the fare returned to their Latitudes account. The cruise line supplied a number of choices for rebooking, and can give visitors who rebook a 20% low cost on their new voyage.
The low cost will probably be issued as an FCC and legitimate on Pleasure of America sailings departing between April 5 and April 26, 2025, and between Might 31 and June 21, 2025.
An extra 10% low cost, additionally as an FCC, is obtainable for bookings on any Norwegian Cruise Line crusing by way of December 31, 2025. (The reductions can’t be mixed.)
Pleasure of America sails 7-day inter-island journeys throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Departing from Honolulu, on Oahu, the voyages go to Kahului, Maui; Nawiliwili, Kauai; and Hilo and Kailua Kona, on the Large Island of Hawaii.
Carnival Visitor Complains About Onboard Bulletins
Cruisers aboard Carnival Cruise Line’s Enjoyable Ships are accustomed to listening to cruise director bulletins over the ship’s PA system and/or of their cabins a number of occasions every day, however some visitors say there are simply too many.
A detrimental remark concerning the bulletins from one cruiser on Model Ambassador John Heald’s common Fb web page prompted fairly a dialogue.
The visitor referred to as them annoying and pointless because the actions and occasions being promoted by the cruise director already seem in printed supplies and through the ship’s app. Furthermore, stated the visitor, few cruisers take note of the bulletins.
Heald replied that cruise administrators are anticipated to advertise actions that end in onboard income, however acknowledged that generally bulletins can disturb visitors who’re napping or simply enjoyable.
To settle the query, Heald posted a survey asking whether or not normal bulletins needs to be piped into cabins. The ballot garnered greater than 9,400 votes ultimately depend, with 57% of respondents saying they need cruise director bulletins of their staterooms.
Heald, a former cruise director, closed the dialog with a thank-you to the fleet’s cruise administrators for all they do to maintain the Enjoyable Ship visitors completely satisfied.
Extra Cruise Headlines
Now that Cruise Hive has you caught up on all the massive headlines, there are much more tales you received’t wish to miss. Take a look at our protection of Holland America Line’s 2026-27 Alaska deployments; Oceania Cruises deploying its first ship to Tampa, Florida; Norway detailing environmental guidelines for cruise ships; Carnival Cruise Line updating its schedule of onboard theme events; and Disney Cruise Line revealing the maiden voyage of Disney Future in 2025.
