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 newbuilding, and this investment is the largest in the 123-year history of the company.

For the first time in  half a century, a cruise ship left Miami for Havana, when the Adonia of Fathom Cruises sailed for Cuba after a long period of preparations of trying to have the Cuban authorities grand permission to visit the island. Cruise passengers will fulfil volunteer work with local residents which is a new concept in cruising.

Royal Caribbean International took delivery of the world’s largest cruise ship today in France. At a ceremony held today in Saint-Nazaire’s STX shipyard, Royal Caribbean International took delivery of the world’s largest cruise ship, the 5480 passengers Harmony of the Seas,  She is Royal Caribbean’s third Oasis-class ship and a little larger than the previous ships, by 41 cabins and nearly 100 passengers.

A record 1,058,781 Australians took an ocean cruise in 2015, which is a growth of 14.6 per cent compared to the previous year; 25% sailed in Australian waters, rising from 80,000 to 270,000 according to this year’s figures from the Cruise Lines International Association. Australia’s growth is second only to that of China.

Royal Caribbean Cruises has announced a fifth Oasis-class ship, less than a week after the line’s inauguration of the Harmony of the Seas, with delivery planned for 2021. Also, RCCL made pulic it will add two ships to Celebrity Cruises’ new Edge Class (delivery in 2021 and 2022) . The Edge-class with already two ships ordered for 2018 and 2020, is positioned between the Solstice Class and the Millennial Class in terms of size and capacity.

Thomson Cruises has purchased the Legend of the Seas from Royal Caribbean International. She will join the Thomson fleet in May 2017 as TUI Discovery 2. In two weeks Thomson will take delivery of the TUI Discovery which is the former Splendour of the Seas, a sister ship to Legend of the Seas. Further plans for Thomson are that Mein Schiff 1 and Mein Schiff 2 will be acquired from TUI Cruises in 2018 and 2019 respectively, while current ships Thomson Majesty and Thomson Spirit will leave the fleet at the end of 2017.

An Italian court ruled again the 16-year prison sentence earlier given to the former captain Schettino of Costa Concordia who was again found guilty by a higher court of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning passengers in the accident, which took place off the island of Giglio,  in 2012, and led to the loss of 32 lives. Both Schettino and the prosecutor had appealed against the ruling of the court last year, when  the prosecutor had asked for a prison sentence of 26 years and Schettino’s lawyers asked him to be found not guilty.

The world’s oldest ocean-going passenger vessel, originally the Stockholm of 1948, now the Astoria will leave the Cruise & Maritime Voyages fleet in  2017, it was announced today. She will transfer to the French line Rivages du Monde. Also CMV will add P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Pearl to its fleet in June 2017, renaming her Columbus.

Hurtigruten has signed a letter of intent for two additional ships to its fleet, to be built by Kleven shipyard in Norway. CEO of the line Mr. Skjeldam stated “People no longer want to spend their holiday time being passive spectators, the new adventure traveller is looking for authentic experiences, which is why sedentary, standardised travel packages are becoming less popular and active adventure travel is booming.”  The two new ships are being designed  by Rolls-Royce together with Norwegian ship designer Espen Oino.

Cruise lines calling at the French Riviera like Royal Caribbean, P&O Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises  are likely to  cancel calls at the region following the terrorist attack in Nice where a truck driver steered into the crowds celebrating France’s Bastille Day, killing 84 people.

Silversea Cruises will invest $170 million in refurbishing Silver Whisper, Silver Wind and expedition vessel Silver Discoverer, as well as adding some upgrades. Many of the enhancements have been suggested by the line’s previous World Cruise passengers. Further enhancements to the fleet are planned for 2017, with plans for Silver Cloud to be refitted as a polar expedition vessel.

Crystal Cruises has shelved plans to restore the iconic liner United States as a cruise liner. After spending more than 1 million dollars in the investigation, it was concluded that although the ship still is strucurally sound, the technical (the hull would have to be completely rebuilt) and commercial risks would be to large. The ship will remain docked on the Delaware River in Philadelphia, while the S.S. United States Conservancy will continue its search for investors. Crystal plans to donate $350,000 to the Conservancy to cover the cost of the Big U’s upkeep.

P&O Cruises has announced plans to build a 5,200-passenger cruise ship, the largest ever built  for the U.K. market for delivery in 2020. She will be much larger than the lines current Flagship Britannia, measuring over 180,000GRT. According to P&O there will be no features like climbing walls, skydiving or surfing experiences on board as this will not be to the taste of their clientele. She will sail from Southampton year round. However, the first reactions to such a large vessel amongst P&O regulars is not very favourable generally, as English cruise passengers like classic, more intimate ships.

Carnival Corp. has ordered two new cruise ships for Carnival Cruise Line from Meyer Werft, Finland, which will become the largest in the line’s fleet, with delivery planned in 2020 and 2022. They will carry 5,200 passengers, compared to the lines latest addition Carnival Vista having a capacity of 3,936-passengers. They will be the first in North America to be powered by liquified natural gas (LNG). Last year, Carnival already placed an order with the same yard for four vessels,  two for German AIDA and two for Italian Costa, to be delivered from  2019 onwards.