Leading Egyptologist Zahi Hawass joins Silversea voyage

Silversea has announced that Dr. Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, will join the Silver Shadow's trip from Dubai to Alexandria departing April 12, 2007. Dr. Hawass will present onboard seminars to bring Egypt's incredible wealth of archeological marvels to life.

Dr. Hawass energizes an audience with this contagious enthusiasm and encyclopedic knowledge of Egypt's antiquities, and will provide a rich context for these lucky travelers who will be exploring Egypt as part of their cruise.

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Queen Mary 2 mutiny ploy pays off for passengers

The threatened passenger mutiny aboard Cunard's Queen Mary 2, traveling at reduced speed subsequent to brushing the side of the shipping channel cruising from Ft. Lauderdale January 17 and breaking one of her four propulsion pods, has been averted.

Some passengers were dismayed that all three ports of call were skipped between Ft. Lauderdale and Rio de Janeiro after the incident, and found Cunard's initial offer of a 50% refund lacking. Having plenty of time onboard to organize their counterattack, these modern-day mutineers threatened to refuse to leave their staterooms and disembark on January 26 in Rio unless Cunard made a better offer.

In a move that showed Cunard the downside of providing ubiquitous satellite phone and Internet connectivity from the ship for passengers, the rebels managed, while enroute, to engage a British law firm to whip up publicity around a potential class-action lawsuit.

Cunard, undoubtedly calculating the cost of negative PR if the passengers made good on their threats, increased their refund offer from 50% to 100%, successfully mollifying the rebels and averting a showdown.

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George Smith and Jennifer Hagel-Smith Update

Just when we thought that the case of "missing honeymooner" George Smith couldn't become more of a circus, the family hired famous forensic scientist (and expert publicity generator) Dr. Henry Lee to examine the Brilliance of the Seas stateroom from which George went missing over his balcony.

On NBC's Today this morning, Dr. Lee explained that when he examined the stateroom over the weekend prior to its next cruise from Miami, he did find "something" as a result of the three experiments he conducted onboard, but couldn't divulge in public what it was.

Dr. Lee also said he wanted to perform two additional experiments, but they were ruled out in negotiations with Royal Caribbean. Since one of these was to repeatedly toss a mannequin overboard from the balcony to see where it landed, which would have been disquieting to embarking passengers (let alone a media spectacle), we can see why it got nixed. But overall Dr. Lee gave high marks to the cooperation he got from the cruise line.

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Carnival to refurbish Katrina relief ships

Carnival Cruise Lines has announced that Sensation, Holiday, and Ecstasy will each undergo extensive multi-million-dollar renovations following their charter to the U.S. government for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

The ships will resume 4- and 5-day cruises this spring, with Sensation launching a new schedule March 23 of cruises from Port Canaveral, Florida, the Holiday returning year-round March 27 cruising from Mobile, Alabama, and the Ecstasy returning year-round April 8 with cruises from Galveston, Texas.

Sensation will cruise from New Orleans to resume year-round four- and five-day cruises starting Oct. 26, 2006.

Carnival: Refurbishment Details

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Pirate vessel seized off Somalia by U.S. Navy

Remember the pirates who harassed small luxury ship Seabourn Spirit in November of last year? Well, by making such a bold move these pirates raised their profile to the point where the U.S. Navy has sent a guided-missile frigate to hunt them down--successfully.

The U.S.S. Winston Churchill had responded to a piracy alert on January 21 related to merchant shipping from the International Maritime Bureau, discovered a suspicious vessel about 50 miles off the coast of Somalia, and shadowed it overnight. Come morning, the Churchill hailed, chased, and eventually fired warning shots at the traditional dhow, eventually forcing its occupants to surrender themselves and their vessel.

Indian mariners onboard the dhow, as it turns out, had themselves been taken hostage by the well-armed pirates and were grateful for the Navy's rescue. The pirates had been using the dhow as a platform for launching attacks on other merchant vessels for six days. No word on whether these particular pirates had any connection to the attack on Seabourn Spirit.

Although it's not common knowledge outside of maritime circles, piracy of merchant vessels on the high seas is a prevalent problem world-wide, and nowhere more so than off the coast of Somalia which has no effective government. The only reason the mainstream media is covering the issue today is due to the extremely unusual and brazen attack on the Seabourn Spirit.

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Los Angeles selects cruise port designer for 3-year project

Los Angeles will be upgrading its port with a $10.8 million, 3-year contract awarded to Sasaki Associates for the master planning and design of the Wilmington area along the northern and western perimeter. The improvements should benefit Los Angeles cruise passengers and residents alike.

The 95-acre project includes landscaped open areas for recreation, a commercial mixed use district linking the Wilmington’s downtown district to the waterfront at Banning’s Landing, and better waterfront access.

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Cruise passenger traffic up 4.5 percent in North America

The number of passengers boarding cruises on seventeen major cruise lines, making at least one stop in North America, was 4.5% higher in the third quarter of 2005 than in 2004, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Why? The cruise industry continues to flourish amid continued new shipbuilds, innovation in the onboard product, diversity of itineraries, and renewed interest in far-from-home travel among Americans.

The big winners included Norwegian Cruise Line, adding 49 departures dominated by its innovative us-flagged Hawaii cruise ships Pride of America and Pride of Aloha, and Princess Cruises with 22 additional sailings.

The data includes Carnival, Celebrity, Costa, Crystal, Cunard, Disney, Holland America, MSC Italian Cruises, Norwegian, Oceania, Princess, Radisson, Royal Caribbean, SeaDream, Silversea, Seabourn, and Windstar.

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New class of Holland America ships named after Signature of Excellence

Holland America's Signature of Excellence program, launched in 2004 to introduce a broad variety of upgrades across the fleet, inspires the moniker for the line's new class of ships. One 2,044-passenger Signature Class newbuild will be delivered in 2008, with an option for a second in 2010, and will increase Holland America's passenger capacity by over 20%.

Have you ever wondered how much pocket change you'd need to buy a factory-fresh cruise liner with that new-ship smell? Well, the answer in this case is $450 million each. The upcoming ships aren't yet named, and will be built at our personal favorite shipyard, Fincantieri in Italy.

Naturally, the ships will include all of the Signature of Excellence premium amenities that have been introduced on Holland's current ships: Euro-top beds, deluxe waffle cloth robes, Egyptian cotton towels, flat panel TVs, DVD players, massage shower heads, professional hair dryers, fresh flowers and complimentary fruit baskets.

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Royal Caribbean and Celebrity guests can check in onboard for homebound flights

For $10 to $20 per passenger, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises guests can check in for their return flights, and check their luggage, onboard the ship, saving about 45 minutes. Before passengers disembark, they are issued boarding passes and luggage claim checks, and their checked bags are transported securely to the airport.

Celebrity offers the service today for cruises ending in Vancouver, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, San Diego, San Juan and Seattle, whereas Royal Caribbean offers Vancouver, San Juan and Seattle. Future airports will be added subject to Transportation Security Administration approval.

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Irish teenage girl reportedly falls overboard from Costa Magica

A search remains underway off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula for 15-year-old Irish teenager Lynsey O'Brien, reported to have fallen overboard from Costa Magica about 2 am Thursday as the ship was traveling towards Cozumel.

After a member of the ship's family is said to have notified ship's staff that Linsey had fallen overboard, Mexican and American Coast Guards were notified and a full-scale search, including the Costa Magica itself, was begun, so far to no avail. The precise circumstances around the tragedy are unclear, and Lynn Torrent, Costa's president, says a full investigation is ongoing.

UTV: Search continues for missing Irish teen

Update 1/16/06: Lynsey has not been found; hope appears lost.

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Captain of "missing honeymooner" George Smith's cruise ship speaks

Michael Lachtaridis, the captain of Brilliance of the Seas in July when honeymooner George Smith apparently went overboard, spoke publicly for the first time today, with Dan Abrams of MSNBC's The Abrams Report. Also today, Royal Caribbean released what they call a factual chronology of the events, exceedingly detailed.

Amid mysterious circumstances and a variety of possibilities ranging from "tragic accident" to "extremely foul play," Captain Lachtaridis believes the more likely scenario is that George Smith went overboard accidentally, and asserted that he, his crew, and Royal Caribbean did everything possible to facilitate the investigation and help spouse Jennifer Hagel Smith.

Disagreeing on Abrams' show were the attorneys for Smith's family, and for his wife, Jennifer Hagel Smith, who both did their best to paint a picture of conspiracy and/or incompetence on the part of Royal Caribbean. There is a lawsuit from the family promised against Royal Caribbean.

Admitting that I harbor a general suspicion of most attorneys, the idea that Royal Caribbean bears responsibility for whatever tragedy befell George Smith is ludicrous. The man almost certainly went overboard from his own stateroom, either through accident or foul play, but in either event Royal Caribbean didn't cause it to happen, nor do the facts support a charge that Royal Caribbean could reasonably have prevented the tragedy. Without a security guard or camera inside each stateroom, there's no way to know for certain what played out there.

But did the cruise line try to hinder the investigation, as the attorneys charged? Turkish authorities had primary jurisdiction, since the ship was docked there, and were the immediate primary investigators. And even the opposing lawyers on Abrams' show admitted that the FBI had been called by Royal Caribbean about a possible crime by 10:30 am local time, less than two hours after the cruise line was first notified that someone may have gone overboard. Plus, a vacationing FBI agent in Turkey lent immediate assistance.

Another new detail is that the young men who were partying with the honeymooners, and were possibly the last people seen with George Smith, were warned about disruptive behavior by Royal Caribbean, and three days after Smith's disappearance were accused of an unrelated rape and put off the ship. Italian authorities concluded there was not enough evidence to charge them, however.

The FBI is still actively investigating these events, and hopefully will be able to reach a firm conclusion.

PREVIOUSLY: August 19, 2005, Missing Mediterranean honeymooner still a mystery

TODAY: January 5, 2006, Royal Caribbean "Factual Chronology of George Smith's Disappearance"

TODAY: January 5, 2006, Abrams Report transcript

UPDATE: January 6, 2006, the Associated Press reports that Jennifer Hagel Smith and George Smith were arguing in a bar earlier the night he disappeared, due to George believing Jennifer was flirting with another passenger. Jennifer kicked George "hard" in the groin, and left.

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Celebrity announces $55 million Century refurbishment

Italian shipyard Fincantieri got the nod from Celebrity for a $55 million makeover designed to incorporate on Century the most popular Millennium-class features. Century will emerge on June 2, 2006, from a five-week drydock period at Fincantieri with 314 new verandas, 14 new suites, more ConciergeClass staterooms, a new specialty restaurant, and other amenities.

Lido-deck casual dining will get a Sushi Cafe, made-to-order Pasta and Pizza Bar, and small ice cream parlor. A martini bar will offer more than 30 variations on the theme, while outside aft a new bandstand and tapas bar will offer romantic sailaway experiences.

Rounding out the upgrades are enhancements to Internet capabilities, the art gallery, kids' facilities, and spa.

Click here to see Century's post-refurbishment itineraries.

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