2016  Hurtigruten has announced it has ordered two new ships to its fleet, scheduled for delivery in summer 2018 and 2019. Both ships carry 600 passengers in 300 cabins and they will be marketed as expedition ships sailing in the polar regions. It has been 10 years since the line placed an order for a […]

At the beginning of 2020, the future of cruising looked as bright as ever. High growth rates, 30 million passengers cruising in 2019, 120-plus vessels on order until 2027 of which an impressive 40 newbuildings were (soft-)expedition ships. Then the Corona/ COVID-19 pandemic -which had started in China already at the end of 2019- spreaded

2015 Carnival Cruise Line normally operates three- to eight-night sailings, but is planning to expand by offering longer sailings beginning this fall. These longer cruises called Carnival Journeys  will stop at ports of call normally never visited by Carnival ships and will feature special onboard experiences. Local food and entertainment will be offered as well

2021 again was a very slow year for cruising as for most of the year, ships were forced into lay up because of the COVID-19 pandemic. All eyes were on the US cruise market, where the CDC (Center of Disease Control) issued a cruise ban which was partly lifted later in the year. As of

2014 The Russian passenger ship Lyubov Orlova -arrested three years earlier in Canada because of unpaid debts- which was on its way way under tow to the breakers almost a year earlier and broke free during a storm still seems to be afloat. The abandoned ship is inhabited solely by rats and is drifting towards

The end of the pandemic: cruising restarts MSC Magnifica is an excellent example of the way cruise ships returned to service after the pandemic. She was one of the pilot-ships when she was pushed back into operation late 2021, but unfortunately was forced to quit sailing her North Sea itinerary when several ports closed down because

2013 – The QE2 could be on her way back to London, after four years of languishing in the port of Rashid, Dubai. Recent reports say the owners of the ship, Dubai-based Istithmar have sold the ship to the Chinese for £20m to be scrapped. Just before Christmas a 20-man Chinese crew replaced a crew