Carnival to resume operations from Mobile, Alabama

Carnival announced today that it "will resume operations from Mobile's Alabama Cruise Terminal with a five-day voyage departing Saturday, Sept. 3. The 1,452-passenger Holiday, which earlier this week was rerouted to Tampa as a result of Hurricane Katrina, will depart Tampa tomorrow, Sept. 1."

The vessel is expected to arrive in Mobile on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 3. No word yet on plans to return to New Orleans.

Update 9/3/05: Change of plans. Holiday has been chartered to FEMA for refugee housing for six months, docked in Mobile.

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Royal Caribbean to launch onboard surfing

Today Royal Caribbean announced that guests on Freedom of the Seas, currently under construction in Finland and scheduled to set sail in May 2006, will be able to hang ten on a 32-foot-wide by 40- foot-long FlowRider continuous wave machine from La Jolla-based WaveLoch.

Future newbuilds from the line will also get the new feature, which up until today had been such a closely-guarded secret that Royal Caribbean president Adam Goldstein told us yesterday that he'd kept his own kids in the dark until the last minute. Their reported reaction: "Wow! Totally cool!"

Royal Caribbean is banking on others sharing the kids' sentiment. Guests can surf or bodysurf on the 30,000-gallon-per-minute current generated by the FlowRider, which is blasted over a curved, tensioned-fabric surface that promises to make the inevitable spills a soft landing. There will be no extra charge to surf. Less adventurous souls will have plenty of room to watch and encourage riders from the sidelines.

We met yesterday with executives from Royal Caribbean and Arnold Worldwide, the ad agency responsible for the cruise line's award-winning "Get Out There" marketing campaign, and it's clear that Royal Caribbean is committed to continuously pushing the envelope on adventurous and innovative onboard features.

For example, when rock climbing walls first rolled out on Voyager of the Seas, the response was so enthusiastic that all of the fleet's ships were retrofitted with the walls, and now the new onboard surfing ups the ante for the competition.

Cruises on Freedom of the Seas can be booked today with 02Cruise.com starting at $709 per person, double occupancy. Remember that only at 02Cruise.com will your booking be eligible for CruiseDividends points that you can cash in for valuable name-brand merchandise! Click here for itineraries, sailing dates, and pricing.

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Hurricane Katrina aimed at New Orleans

As of this moment Hurricane Katrina seems to have New Orleans in the crosshairs. Those of us involved in the cruise industry, from guests to cruise line employees, need to remember that while storms can cause us occasional inconvenience and discomfort, at least cruise ships can move safely out of the way of a storm. Cities hit by hurricanes don't have that luxury, and our thoughts are with the residents of New Orleans and other affected cities.

At this moment, Carnival's ships scheduled to return to New Orleans (Carnival Conquest) and Mobile Alabama (Holiday) are directly impacted. Conquest is redirecting today to Galveston, while Holiday's scheduled Monday return to Mobile is delayed pending the course of the storm. Up-to-date information is available at the Weather Updates link on Carnival's Web site.

We suspect that drive-in Conquest guests who parked at the port in New Orleans may not be seeing their cars again for some time, if Katrina takes the currently predicted path. Carnival is permitting guests to stay aboard the ship overnight tonight in Galveston at their option.

All cruise lines' ships currently at sea will be charting a safe distance from the storm, altering itineraries and port calls as necessary.

UPDATE 8/29/05: We have received questions about Carnival Conquest's August 28 sailing...but there was none scheduled since the ship had previously been scheduled for drydock maintenance.

UPDATE 8/30/05: Carnival's Sensation August 27 cruise departure, scheduled to return to New Orleans, will return instead to Galveston. The ship's September 1 and September 5 sailings have been changed to roundtrip Galveston itineraries. Carnival's Holiday, which departed Mobile, Alabama, on August 25, has returned instead to Tampa today; guests can debark Tuesday or Wednesday. Holiday's scheduled August 29 departure was cancelled with guests receiving full refunds.

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Carnival extends its stay in Mobile, Alabama

Carnival's Holiday will keep sailing year-round from Mobile Alabama for at least another year, as the company announced an extension of its contract with the city. Carnival reports that the ship generally sails with all lower berths full (at least two passengers per cabin) plus thirds and fourths, which is considered better than 100% occupancy.

Four- and five-night Western Caribbean sailings are available, as of today, starting at $239 per person, double occupancy.

PR Newswire: Carnival press release

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Hurricane Katrina closes ports

Newly upgraded to hurricane status, with sustained winds at least 74 miles per hour, Katrina will make landfall in the next few hours. The Coast Guard closed Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale) and the Port of Miami, causing changes to itineraries of a number of ships including Carnival's Imagination and Fascination, and Royal Caribbean's Empress of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas. Passengers on ships sailing this weekend are advised to check their cruise line's Web site for updates.

For those of you keeping score at home, Katrina is the 11th named storm this season, with several months remaining. The forecasters were right...this hurricane season likely will be well above the long-term average of 10 named storms.

UPDATE 8/27/05: Having battered Florida while scooting across the state and into the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina is strengthening and could disrupt Carnival Conquest's New Orleans turnaround August 28. Carnival is quite good about posting timely weather updates on their home page, so potentially impacted guests should check there regularly.

National Hurricane Center Updates

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Freedom of the Seas takes largest cruise ship crown from Queen Mary 2

Royal Caribbean's massive Freedom of the Seas officially became the world's largest cruise ship afloat when her hull was moved from drydock to wetdock on August 22, in preparation for the final work prior to her May 2006 introduction. At 158,000 gross registered tons, Freedom edges out the previous champ, Cunard's Queen Mary 2, which weighs in at a mere 150,000 tons.

Everything about Freedom is big, from the passenger capacity (4,370) and number of staterooms (1,817), to the size of the interior promenade (427 feet) and overall length (1,112 feet). The ship keeps the popular features of the Voyager-class vessels, like the rock climbing wall and ice skating rink, while adding new bells and whistles--some of which remain secret.

Freedom of the Seas' Western Caribbean itineraries are now available for booking, from $709 per person (double occupancy, as of 8/22/2005). All Freedom of the Seas bookings at 02Cruise.com are eligible to earn valuable CruiseDividends points redeemable toward name-brand merchandise, from Apple iPods to Weber grills.

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Missing Mediterranean cruise honeymooner still a mystery

In spite of intense media attention, authorities have yet to decipher what happened to honeymooner George Smith, of tony Greenwich CT, who disappeared from Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas on the night of July 5 enroute to Kusadasi, Turkey.

The short version of the alleged facts is that George and his wife Jennifer Hagel both were having a good time and became severely intoxicated. She fell asleep in a public area, and he was assisted back to his stateroom by two Russian brothers and a California teen.

A California deputy police chief in the stateroom next door reported hearing loud noises at 4 a.m. from Smith's cabin, sounding like a party, furniture being moved, arguing, and a loud thud. In the morning, blood was discovered by a cleaner in Smith's stateroom and on an overhang under its balcony, and Smith hasn't been seen since.

Turkish police were summoned about 9:30 a.m., and since then the FBI has taken up the investigation. The media frenzy even includes video leaked to NBC of the Turkish interrogation of the California teen.

Greenwich Time (Greenwich, CT): Man's disappearance aboard ship unsolved
MSNBC.COM: Analyzing the honeymooner disappearance

UPDATE 8/30/05: The FBI has sent a letter to passengers and crew members aboard the ship at the time asking them to come forward with any information they may have.

UPDATE 1/6/06: The ship's captain speaks

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Ship made out of popsicle sticks sets sail

Not to be outdone by the floating of the biggest-in-the-world Freedom of the Seas cruise ship, intrepid soul Robert McDonald succeeded in launching the biggest-ever ship made of ice cream sticks. Take THAT, Royal Caribbean.

"Captain Rob's" 50-foot replica Viking boat, made of 15 million ice cream sticks, successfully set sail on August 17 in Amsterdam. We wonder whether it's pure coincidence that this creation was inspired in Amsterdam, the city where "coffee shops" are allowed to openly sell marijuana.

Official Website and Photos: http://www.seaheartship.com/eng/

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Norwegian Dream engine problems inconvenience passengers

Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Dream, one of the line's older ships built in 1992, experienced engine problems in Alaska that slowed the ship, causing missed ports and flights and a six+ hour late arrival in Seattle on August 11.

An amusing side note here is that the Coast Guard was alerted to the problem, which by all accounts impacted speed but not safety, via phone by a passenger onboard the ship. The Coast Guard subsequently met the vessel in Seattle and found two of its four engines under repair but the ship still seaworthy.

Now we don't fault a cruise line for the occasional mechanical difficulty, which is a fact of life as anyone knows who has ever owned anything with a motor in it. However, press reports suggest that Norwegian's handling of the passengers affected by the delay could have been better. For example, passengers who expected to be boarding the ship for a 4pm sailing were instead shuttled to a hotel, where a promised lunch and city tour turned out to be chips without a tour, and eventually sailed at 9pm.

Seattle Times: Ship fix lands guests in hotel

Update 8/25/05: On August 25 Norwegian told us the ship, while sailing, is still not yet capable of full speed.

Update 9/9/05: Ship still not repaired, still operating on one engine at slower-than-normal speed. Awaiting parts.

Seattle Times: Norwegian Dream trip haunts some

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