We’re again with one other version of Cruise Hive’s weekly Cruise Information Replace, a must-read for business watchers. Prime tales on this recap embody Carnival Cruise Line’s plans to create a personal vacation spot in Ensenada, Mexico; Royal Caribbean dealing with a lawsuit after the dying of a visitor who turned intoxicated; and the way a number of containers of bananas prevented a cruise ship from leaving Southampton.
Keep updated on the foremost cruise information tales with Cruise Hive’s Every day Replace, a must-read for business insiders. Enroll right here and have the information delivered to your inbox every morning.
Cruise Line Revises Island Visits on Hawaii Voyages
Norwegian Cruise Line’s Satisfaction of America is the one cruise ship that gives weeklong inter-island sailings in Hawaii, all roundtrip from Honolulu.
Beginning in October 2026 and persevering with by means of March 2027, the road has altered the order of port calls the two,200-guest ship will make.
None are cancelled, and the cruise line has famous that the modifications will present a extra immersive journey. In three ports, friends could have extra time to spend exploring on land.
The revised order of visits offers an additional hour in Maui and Kauai, and an additional half-hour in Kona.
Satisfaction of America’s itinerary throughout these months might be: Honolulu, Maui, Hilo, Kona, Kauai, Honolulu. The ship will in a single day in Maui and Kauai.
Greater than two dozen cruises are impacted through the October to March timeframe. Excursions booked by means of Norwegian Cruise Line might be mechanically adjusted to replicate the brand new schedule.
Cargo Incident Delays Cruise Ship’s Departure
This story is admittedly bananas!
P&O Cruises’ 5,200-guest Iona was as a consequence of depart from Southampton, UK, on the night of December 6, 2025, on a 14-night Spain, Portugal, and Canary Islands cruise.
However her schedule went haywire after some 16 containers of fruit, principally bananas, fell off the Baltic Klipper cargo ship, which was crusing close to the Isle of Wight, some 20 miles away. The accident pressured the cruise ship to stay in Southampton harbor.
The delay changed into a 24-hour ordeal, as friends waited for authorities to retrieve the containers. It was a security problem, for the reason that 184,089-gross-ton ship might have collided with the containers or hampered the work of these attempting to clear the waterway.
The containers had been carrying bananas, plantains, and avocados, and a number of other others had been empty, Coast Guard officers stated.
Lastly, on the night of December 7, 2025, the ship was in a position to depart on her voyage. No modifications to her itinerary had been anticipated, since her first port name, at Funchal, Portugal, was not scheduled till December 10, 2025, enabling the ship to make up for among the misplaced time.
Iona will make a number of calls within the Canary Islands, adopted by Cadiz, Spain, and Lisbon, earlier than returning to Southampton on December 20, 2025.
Carnival Cruise Line Unveils Ensenada Bay Village
Carnival Cruise Line is trying to Ensenada, on Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, as the positioning of a new non-public vacation spot its cruise ships will start visiting just a few years from now.
The road revealed its plans for the $26 million Ensenada Bay Village – Treasures of Baja, described as a resort and leisure house with an journey park, an adult-only seashore and different points of interest.
Cruise line president Christine Duffy was available to make the announcement in Ensenada as Carnival Panorama referred to as on the vacation spot. The ship sails 6- and 8-night Mexican Riviera cruises from her Los Angeles homeport.
Ensenada is often included on itineraries that additionally go to Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, La Paz, and Cabo San Lucas.
Carnival Legend can be scheduled to sail Mexico cruises from Los Angeles in 2027 and 2028.
Renderings of the deliberate village present it’ll function 18th-century Mexican and Californian structure, whereas the journey park will supply actions comparable to zip strains, boat rides, river excursions, and many extra.
A agency opening date was not introduced.
Royal Caribbean Hit With Wrongful Demise Go well with
Royal Caribbean is being focused in a wrongful dying lawsuit that claims it enabled a visitor to drink 33 alcoholic drinks in just a few hours’ time onboard Navigator of the Seas, an motion that allegedly contributed to the person’s dying.
The case unfolded in the beginning of a 3-night cruise from Los Angeles in December 2024, when the visitor, Michael Virgil, 35, was over-served and have become intoxicated, the swimsuit states.
It costs that an altercation between Virgil and the ship’s safety staff members led to his dying.
The altercation, which was filmed by one other visitor, reveals Virgil being subdued by safety employees. He was later given a sedative by the ship’s medical employees, an motion that the lawsuit says additionally contributed to his dying.
Virgil’s fiancée, Connie Aguilar, filed the swimsuit. She was onboard the ship with Virgil and their 7-year-old son.
Virgil apparently began to drink alcoholic drinks whereas ready for his or her stateroom to develop into out there. The interplay with safety employees started when the visitor couldn’t find his cabin and have become indignant.
Politics Immediate Ship to Drop Japan Port Calls
It appears politics is interfering with a cruise ship’s itineraries in East Asia.
Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas is cancelling calls to Japan on a number of itineraries deliberate for winter and spring cruises in 2026.
The ship is predicated in Shanghai, China, caters to the Chinese language market, and sails voyages that function a number of Japanese locations.
However as a consequence of current statements that Japan’s prime minister made in reference to Taiwan, China has suggested its residents to keep away from journey to Japan. That prompted Royal Caribbean to drop port calls comparable to Okinawa, changing them with visits to Jeju and Busan, South Korea.
The 4,246-guest ship will sail roundtrip from Shanghai between January 28, 2026 and November 1, 2026. Cruises affected by the change in Japan visits embody these departing on February 1, 14, 18, and 27; March 8; and April 14.
Extra departures are prone to be impacted as effectively. Different locations in Japan that Spectrum of the Seas is scheduled to go to embody Kumamoto, Kagoshima, and Nagasaki.
Visitor Throws a Punch at Ship’s Crew Member
Skilled cruisers know the way exhausting a ship’s crew members work, from cabin stewards to cruise administrators and everybody in between, so it’s notably regrettable when one in all them is badly handled.
That’s what occurred onboard Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas lately, when an argument between a visitor and a crew member, who gave the impression to be a lifeguard, ended when the visitor punched the employees member and knocked him down.
The altercation occurred after the visitor started arguing with the guard. The scene was captured on video and posted on social media.
After throwing his punch, the visitor was wrestled to the bottom by a second crew member. The visitor then obtained up, made an obscene gesture, and walked away, however was adopted by different crew members.
It isn’t clear what finally occurred to the visitor, however the cruise line has a strict coverage towards any kind of violent conduct.
The ship was crusing a 7-night Jap Caribbean cruise that departed from PortMiami on December 6, 2025.
Cruise Line Reveals 2027-28 Caribbean Voyages
Royal Caribbean has disclosed its 2027-28 ship deployments within the Caribbean, providing departures from 5 US ports, plus San Juan, Puerto Rico, Cartagena, Colombia, and Colon, Panama.
Ships will sail from all three Florida ports. Journey of the Seas will deploy to Port Canaveral, whereas Freedom of the Seas and Independence of the Seas will homeport at Miami.
Ships crusing from Port Everglades will embody Attract of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, Jewel of the Seas, and Explorer of the Seas. Different US departure ports are Tampa and New Orleans.
Itineraries will function the cruise line’s non-public vacation spot — Good Day at CocoCay, Royal Seashore Membership Paradise Island, Royal Seashore Membership Cozumel, and Good Day Mexico.
The announcement additionally discloses plans for the road’s new-build, Legend of the Seas, which is because of enter service in summer time 2026. Following the ship’s debut within the Mediterranean, she might be based mostly at Port Everglades beginning in November 2026 and stay within the Caribbean into 2028.
Legend of the Seas, an Icon-class ship that accommodates 5,610 friends, will function 6- and 8-night itineraries to Southern and Western Caribbean locations.
Extra Cruise Headlines
Need much more information? In fact you do! So let’s maintain going with extra protection about Virgin Voyages launching a brand new loyalty match program, gross sales opening for MSC Cruises’ new-build MSC World Atlantic, and Norwegian Cruise Line getting a new president.
Additionally, it’s time as soon as once more to solid your votes within the annual Cruise Hive Awards, and hey, what are the rising cruise journey developments for 2026? Click on right here to search out out.
Cruise Information Replace: Icon Passenger, Delays, Ports Dropped, and Extra
Supply hyperlink
