Cruise News

Today's Cruise News covers three stories from across the industry. Princess Cruises' Ruby Princess returned to San Francisco after a norovirus outbreak that affected 102 guests and 23 crew during its 20-night Alaska voyage ending July 2 — the third confirmed norovirus event on a Princess ship in 2026, reported to the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program. In New York Harbor, Cunard's Queen Mary 2 anchor...

Cruise News covers three developments across the industry. Holland America Line has revised three of its Zaandam Alaska sailings from Vancouver — departing July 15, August 19, and September 16, 2026 — adjusting departure times and dropping Tracy Arm Fjord service calls because of operating speeds and tidal constraints, including currents up to 15 knots at Seymour Narrows. In Vancouver, Canada Plac...

Today's brief looks at how cruise ships are doubling as celebration venues, event hotels, and active resorts. Carnival Cruise Line hosts an America250 tribute for veterans and first responders in Jacksonville aboard Carnival Elation and plans Fourth of July homeport gatherings across its U.S. fleet, with new bow crests for Carnival Magic and Carnival Legend. AROYA Cruises' Aroya Manara is set to h...

Today's Cruise News covers three developments spanning safety, ports, and ships. In a federal courtroom in Houston, former Royal Caribbean crew member Elias Luis Herrera pleaded guilty to the 2003 sexual assault of a 15-year-old passenger aboard Rhapsody of the Seas; sentencing is set for September 18, 2026, and he faces up to 20 years in prison. Carnival Corporation completed a pier expansion at...

Today's Cruise News covers three stories from across the industry. Port Tampa Bay projects roughly 1.8 million cruise passengers in 2026, an eight percent increase over its record 2025 total, with a fourth cruise terminal in development to add capacity. AIDA Cruises has canceled its winter 2027-28 Middle East program aboard AIDAperla and AIDAprima, saying the regional situation cannot be assessed...

Today on Cruise News: cruise lines are increasingly building voyages around celebrations, entertainment, and personal passions. Carnival Cruise Line, an official America250 partner, opens its shipboard celebrations of America's 250th anniversary with a June 28 event aboard Carnival Pride at the Port of Baltimore, followed by July 4 gatherings across its fleet and a 40-foot Uncle Sam hat on deck. C...

Norwegian Cruise Line opens the show with a 50% discount on 2026 summer fares across 15 homeports, pairing Kids Sail Free with its Free at Sea package and pointing families toward Great Stirrup Cay, where the new Great Tides Waterpark opens September 4. We then turn to the MS Hondius, where Oceanwide Expeditions says its crew has completed quarantine following a hantavirus outbreak that produced 1...

Today's Cruise News covers three stories from across the industry. Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Sun has dropped four Baltic ports — Nynäshamn/Stockholm, Klaipeda, Gdynia/Gdansk, and Kiel — from its June 24, 2026 sailing after propulsion issues limited the ship to 11 knots, with affected guests offered a $100 onboard credit per stateroom, a 25% future cruise credit, and a 25% fare refund. Amba...

Today's Cruise News covers three stories shaping cruise choices for the seasons ahead. Margaritaville at Sea welcomed its one millionth guest on June 25 and is preparing to add a third ship, the Margaritaville at Sea Beachcomber, which will homeport at PortMiami beginning January 2027. MSC Cruises launched a July 4 sale offering 40 percent off, free sailings for children, and 250 dollars off U.S....

Today on Cruise News: Miami-Dade County moves to seize the Fisher Island fuel depot that supplies PortMiami, using eminent domain after the site's new owners signaled plans to close it for luxury residential redevelopment — a dispute with stakes for the busiest cruise port in the United States. Royal Caribbean's new Icon-class Legend of the Seas scraps its planned Cadiz drydock stop and heads stra...

Today on Cruise News: Carnival Cruise Line is planning 155 Halloween-themed cruises across its entire 29-ship fleet, with departures running from September 20 through October 31, 2026, and onboard fun including costume contests, trick-or-treating, themed bingo, and pumpkin hunts. Port Tampa Bay has completed three enclosed, climate-controlled boarding bridges across its cruise terminals, modernizi...

Today's Cruise News brief covers three developments across the cruise industry. Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas returns to Europe for the first time in five years after an April to May 2026 drydock, sailing the Western Mediterranean from Barcelona and Civitavecchia before a July transatlantic crossing back to Port Canaveral, with roughly 100 new staterooms and refreshed onboard venues. MSC C...

Today's Cruise News covers three developments shaping how cruisers plan ahead. Carnival Cruise Line points to NOAA's forecast for a quieter 2026 Atlantic hurricane season — a 55% chance of below-normal activity, with eight to 14 named storms expected against an average of 14 — and details how its 35,000-square-foot Miami Fleet Operations Center monitors all 29 ships to steer captains into the safe...

On today's Cruise News: PortMiami warns of heavy traffic on June 13 as eight cruise ships and the opening of the FIFA Fan Festival overlap, with roughly 63,000 cruise passengers expected through the port in a single day during a 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. peak. Royal Caribbean's seventh Oasis-class ship, known for now as B35, has begun block assembly at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France, f...

Today's brief covers three stories shaping the cruise calendar. Fincantieri has delivered the LNG-ready Mein Schiff Flow, the ninth ship for TUI Cruises, from its Monfalcone yard, a roughly 160,000-gross-ton vessel carrying 3,984 guests, with a christening set for Trieste and a Mediterranean program based out of Palma de Mallorca. Norwegian Sun opens its 2026 Northern Europe season on seven-to-ten...

Two safety cases — onboard and ashore — bracket a lighter look at music cruising. In federal court in Bangor, Maine, 46-year-old John Kelleher was sentenced to 12 months for assaulting his girlfriend in their cabin aboard a cruise ship that departed New York in December 2024. In Genoa, Italy, a 14-year-old French passenger was punched near the cruise terminal while ashore with family, and police d...

Alaska takes center stage this season. Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas launches its first Alaska summer from Seattle — running seven-night Inside Passage itineraries to Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, and the Dawes Glacier — though its June 19 departure was overbooked, with the line offering incentives to rebook. Aboard Virgin Voyages' Brilliant Lady, onboard retailer Starboard rolls out an Alaska-e...

Three stories on a faster, more digital, and cautiously expanding cruise industry. The Port of Vancouver has processed its one millionth cruise passenger through facial biometrics, cutting per-passenger screening from minutes to about 10 seconds and embarkation from two hours to 30. Carnival Cruise Line completes its rollout of Konami's SYNKROS casino system — branded SURF onboard — across all 29...

Three stories on safety, growth, and shifting tastes at sea. A 43-year-old passenger has pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to sexually abusing a 15-year-old aboard a Carnival cruise that sailed from New Orleans in November 2023, with sentencing set for September 1 — a sober reminder of onboard passenger-safety stakes. On the Great Lakes, Victory II kicked off Green Bay's expanded 2026 season at...

MSC Cruises unveils 'The Spiral @ Tree of Life' aboard the upcoming MSC World Asia — an 81.3-meter, 12-deck plunge billed as the longest dry slide at sea, debuting on the 6,758-guest ship in December 2026. Celestyal turns Celestyal Journey and Celestyal Discovery into floating sports bars, screening 2026 FIFA World Cup matches across multiple lounges from June 11 to July 19. And Holland America's...

Port Canaveral advances a $95 million upgrade of Cruise Terminal 10 — expanding security and luggage handling, fixing the trench-drain failures that caused sinkholes, and readying the building for ships up to 6,700 guests like Disney Wish and MSC Seashore — as the record-setting homeport handles 8.6 million passenger movements a year. And Holland America expands its Single Barrel Series to 13 bour...

Carnival unveils 'The Next Course,' a fleetwide dining overhaul with new venues like Emeril's Coastal Seafood, Uku Lei Lei, and Fetaccine debuting on the upcoming Festivale (2027) and Tropicale (2028), plus refreshed main-dining menus rolling out to 14 ships by July. Turkey's Antalya port opens shared piers 9 and 10, finally letting it berth ships over 300 meters — like the 335-meter Aroya — as it...

A Florida federal judge clears the way for a lawsuit against Carnival to proceed after a passenger lost both legs in a Nassau shore-excursion propeller accident, putting cruise lines' responsibility for vetting and selling third-party excursions back in the spotlight. Margaritaville at Sea taps MJM Marine and Mivan to convert the former Costa Fortuna into its third ship, Beachcomber, ahead of a 20...

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas skips its scheduled Falmouth, Jamaica call after a propulsion issue slows the ship, a reminder of how mechanical hiccups ripple through an itinerary. Holland America commits to sailing Nieuw Statendam in Europe year-round, a notable shift toward continuous European deployment. And the American Patriot brings cruise traffic back to Rochester, New York after a si...

Carnival tweaks 14 Carnival Panorama sailings from Long Beach between August 2026 and March 2027 — mostly small departure and return-time shifts with revised Cabo San Lucas port calls — a reminder of how often the fine print of a booking changes. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings locks in its Seattle homeport through 2035 (with options to 2045), committing four ships and 70-plus calls plus aggressive...