It’s simple to remain on prime of essential cruise developments by studying Cruise Hive day-after-day, however simply in case you’ve missed one thing, right here’s our newest version of Cruise Information Replace. This week’s recap has protection from Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line, and PortMiami, the Cruise Capital of the World.
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Royal Caribbean Provides Homeport in The Golden State
Royal Caribbean is banking massive on California in 2026 and 2027, including a brand new homeport — San Diego, and basing 4 mega-ships in Los Angeles.
The two,490-guest Serenade of the Seas will sail from San Diego beginning in October 2026 and persevering with by way of the winter 2027 season. Three-, 4-, and 7-night itineraries are supplied to locations alongside the Mexican Riviera.
In Los Angeles, Quantum of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas, each with double occupancy capability for five,000 company; the 4,000-guest Navigator of the Seas; and the three,600-guest Voyager of the Seas will sail a number of itineraries of as much as 8 nights in the course of the summer season and winter seasons.
Locations visited from each ports embody Cabo San Lucas, Ensenada, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Catalina Island.
Additionally, La Paz can be a brand new port name for Serenade of the Seas, marking the primary time Royal Caribbean has included the vacation spot on a voyage. The ship’s maiden name to La Paz can be a celebratory occasion. The entire California-based cruises have opened for bookings.
Rubber Geese: Cruisers Both Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em
Carnival Cruise Line Model Ambassador John Heald reached out to his 1000’s of followers on Fb asking why so many company need the rubber duck recreation banned.
For these readers who could also be oblivious to the innocent recreation, Cruisers cover small rubber geese round their ship for others to search out. Those that uncover a duck can cover it someplace else, for another person to search out, or maintain onto it as a souvenir.
Though some company have steered that the road ban the sport, Heald has already said that won’t occur. Some company replied to his submit, with various opinions on the controversy.
One admitted he’s not into the “duck factor,” however has no objection to others having fun with the sport. One other posited that company who complain concerning the duck recreation achieve this solely as a result of they haven’t been fortunate sufficient to search out one in all their very own.
Acknowledging the recognition of the sport, Carnival Cruise Line just lately took it to a brand new stage by including a “Ducky the Duck” character onboard its ships for the needs of picture ops for his or her duck-loving company.
Taxi Travesty Journeys Up Cruisers at Port Canaveral
At all times choose the fare — or no less than know the mileage cost, earlier than getting right into a taxi. That was a lesson realized the onerous means for a pair who just lately disembarked Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas at Port Canaveral.
Capable of get off the ship sooner than anticipated, the couple had an hour to attend for his or her pre-scheduled Uber journey, they wrote in a Reddit submit. In order that they cancelled that reserving and as an alternative accepted a journey from a driver already on the port, nonetheless, he would grow to be a scammer.
As soon as arrived at their vacation spot — Orlando, about 60 miles from the port, the couple was introduced with the scammer’s invoice, a whopping $345. The Uber journey would have price round $120.
In the long run, the couple paid the scammer $100 in money, grabbed their suitcases and rapidly left the scene. Whereas they didn’t truly pay the scammer’s value, they described their expertise as a warning to others.
Carnival Sunshine Begins Service From Norfolk
Carnival Cruise Line started working year-round from Norfolk, with the three,700-guest Carnival Sunshine launching a sequence of Caribbean and Bahamas cruises from the Virginia port.
Beforehand, the three,690-guest Carnival Magic supplied solely seasonal voyages. That ship is now crusing from PortMiami.
The choice to base Carnival Sunshine at Norfolk was made again in 2022. The ship just lately emerged from a scheduled dry dock and is crusing 5-, 6-, and 8-night voyages to the Jap Caribbean, Bahamas, and Bermuda. Come September 2025, the ship will characteristic a port name to Celebration Key, Carnival’s new non-public vacation spot within the Bahamas set to open in July 2025.
Norfolk expects to welcome about 150,000 cruise arrivals every year because of the presence of Carnival Sunshine, which the town believes can be a boon to the native economic system. The port has been getting ready for the ship’s arrival by investing $12 million within the Half Moone Cruise Middle.
Upgrades embody the addition of air-conditioned seating areas for as much as 600 company, and a sloped walkway from the cruise middle’s second ground to the luggage pick-up space.
‘Get to Know’ Your Favourite Carnival Cruise Director
Carnival Cruise Line company — previous, current, and future, now have an opportunity to go behind the scenes and study all about their ships’ cruise administrators. Cruise administrators, in spite of everything, play an important position in setting the tone of a Enjoyable Ship trip and within the course of grow to be identified to many company on every crusing.
Fleet Cruise Director Lee Mason has launched a YouTube video sequence that focuses on the road’s cruise administrators. Mason is a former Carnival cruise director and, as fleet cruise director, is concerned in coaching and supervising administrators throughout a number of ships.
His “Get to Know” sequence consists of 5- to 10-minute interviews with numerous cruise administrators. The primary within the sequence launched on February 10, 2025 and featured Gary Blair, presently serving aboard Carnival Miracle.
It seems that Blair is an accordion participant, has a penchant for Scottish dancing, and is an enormous fan of actuality TV. So tune into the Mason’s sequence and search for your favourite Carnival Cruise Line cruise director.
New Carnival Cruise Line Present Makes Packing Simpler
Cruisers who’re Platinum and Diamond stage members of Carnival Cruise Line’s Very Vital Enjoyable Particular person (VIFP) loyalty program will quickly have a brand new reward to take pleasure in after they board their subsequent Carnival cruise: packing cubes.
The cubes are zippered baggage designed to carry private gadgets inside a chunk of baggage. They’ve already rolled out aboard Carnival Jubilee and can be made accessible throughout the fleet by early March, Model Ambassador John Heald revealed on his Fb web page.
Loyalty membership members usually are recipients of particular presents from cruise traces. Carnival Cruise Line’s newest reward, in October 2024, was a baseball cap.
Loyalty membership members earn factors for every day they sail on a Carnival Cruise Line ship. The Platinum stage requires 75 factors, whereas Diamond standing is reached at 200 factors.
Cruisers can accumulate their reward by visiting the Pixels Picture Gallery onboard their cruise ship. Their identify and membership stage standing can be checked in opposition to an inventory of eligible passengers.
PortMiami Information Busiest Cruise Day Ever
On a typical day at PortMiami, the world’s busiest cruise port, one can anticipate finding 5 or 6 cruise ships embarking and debarking company, however on February 8, 2025, the port had 10 ships docked, making it the busiest day within the port’s historical past.
The ships on the port that day have been Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Dawn and Carnival Magic; Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas and Icon of the Seas; Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Gem; MSC Cruises’ MSC Seascape; Oceania Cruises’ Sirena; Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Woman; and Holland America Line’s Zaandam.
All advised, the passengers transiting the port from the entire ships mixed got here to a dizzying 68,000.
The ships working on the port that day have been sure for numerous locations and areas of the Caribbean. Icon of the Seas, for example, the world’s largest cruise ship, was boarding company for a 7-night Jap Caribbean cruise to St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Good Day at CocoCay, whereas Zaandam was departing on a 27-night voyage to the Amazon.
Extra Cruise Headlines
These have been only a handful of cruise information developments from the previous week, and we’ve obtained lots extra on Cruise Hive. Try our protection on Costa Cruises unveiling its 2027 World Cruise; Norwegian Cruise Line and its sister manufacturers including a preferred on-line cost possibility; Princess Cruises increasing its Alaska cruisetours; a brand new residential cruise ship revealing its inside design; and a Royal Caribbean visitor suing the road after a jet ski accident.
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