Cruise News!

Cruise Ship Safety

Following the Sea Diamond incident in Greece last week, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) wants to reiterate its commitment to safety and security. Although Louis Cruise Lines is not a CLIA member, we’re aware that the broad media coverage of the incident may raise questions from your clients regarding overall safety issues. CLIA and its member lines place the safety and security of our passengers and crew as our highest priority.

Below is information on what the cruise industry does to ensure safety that we hope you find useful in answering client questions and concerns.

The occurrence of any cruise vessel collision incident is rare in and of itself. For the ship to have such extensive hull damage and sink is extraordinarily rare.
Overall, the cruise industry maintains an excellent safety record. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, cruising today is one of the safest ways to travel.
At the beginning of every cruise, passengers attend a mandatory muster station drill. During this drill, passengers learn where to go and what to do in case of emergency.
All crewmembers are trained and drilled regularly in safety procedures in accordance with international regulations and know what to do in case of an emergency.
For ships calling on U.S. ports, the U.S. Coast Guard conducts inspections to assure compliance with safety regulations. Part of a Coast Guard inspection includes overseeing fire and abandon-ship drills conducted by the ships’ crew, including a practice launch of the lifeboats.
The cruise industry complies with all international safety standards governing the operation of cruise vessels worldwide, including the Convention of Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). In accordance with these regulations, cruise ships are designed to withstand and minimize damage with watertight compartments and fire zones.
As an industry standard, each CLIA member cruise ship provides additional lifejackets on board in excess of the number required by international regulations.
Cruise ships regularly use local pilots, trained mariners who are most familiar with waterways surrounding a port, to safely steer the ship into and out of the area.

This incident has touched many lives and it certainly was a daunting time for those on board, as we have seen in media reports. The cruise industry is committed to providing a safe and enjoyable vacation and we ask for your help to allay public concern over the safety of cruising. As you know, cruising is an extremely safe as well as the best vacation value available and by working together, that will continue.

2009 Carnival Highlights

Carnival opens new port In Roaton...similar to Grand Turk port
November 09` Carnival Triumph moves to New Orleans...
Carnival Fantasy moves to Mobile...
September 09` Carnival Pride moves to Baltimore.

Carnival to add more balconies to three cruise ships

You know balcony cabins are a hot commodity when a cruise line goes to the trouble of retrofitting existing ships to create more of them -- a not uncomplicated undertaking.

Carnival announced today that it will add balconies to dozens of cabins on three ships -- the Carnival Destiny, Carnival Triumph and Carnival Liberty. Each of the vessels has cabins with floor-to-ceiling windows that will be converted into balcony cabins over the next few months.

The three ships already have 480, 508 and 556 cabins with balconies, respectively, and will be getting 16, 14 and 18 new ones.

Carnival also says it will add two 750-square-foot “deluxe penthouse suites” to the Carnival Liberty that are nearly double the size of the largest cabins in the fleet.

“Balcony staterooms continue to be in great demand – in fact, they’re often the first cabin category to sell out,” Ruben Rodriguez, Carnival’s executive vice president of marketing and guest experience, said in a statement.

The new penthouse suites on the Liberty will boast a separate bedroom, expansive living area, and two full bathrooms, including one with a bathtub tub. They'll accommodate up to five people.

As we reported last week, the 2,642-passenger Carnival Destiny just began operating four- and five-day Caribbean cruises out of Miami. The 2,758-passenger Carnival Triumph operates seven-day Caribbean cruises out of Miami but will reposition to New Orleans next year. The 2,974-passenger Carnival Liberthy sails in the Caribbean out of Miami and will reposition to Europe next summer.

The new balcony cabins on the three vessels are available for sale as of today.

Galveston to cruise ships: Come back in October

The top official at the Port of Galveston says cruise ships will be able to return by Oct. 1.

Port Chairman Gerald Sullivan tells the Associated Press the nation's seventh-busiest cruise hub is on the mend in the wake of Hurricane Ike, even as large parts of Galveston remain devastated. The first cargo ships will return to the port early next week, he says.

The Port of Galveston has been shut down since Hurricane Ike roared ashore on Saturday, forcing Carnival to make hasty arrangements to operate its two Galveston-based ships out of nearby Houston’s Bayport Cruise Terminal. The vessels -- the 2,974-passenger Carnival Conquest and 2,052-passenger Carnival Ecstasy -- will sail out of the new location for the first time this weekend.

Another major cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's 3,114-passenger Voyager of the Seas, is scheduled to begin sailing out of Galveston in December for the winter season.

Meanwhile, the Galveston Daily News this morning offers more details about the fate of passenger cars left at the Galveston cruise terminal before the storm. The news outlet says there are about 550 cars in the port's lots in all and none are driveable due to flooding.

"Port officials say the passengers should call their insurance companies for guidance and also arrange for towing," the paper says, although it's unclear how soon tow trucks would be allowed onto the island.

The Houston Chronicle reports this morning that the cars were submerged by seven feet of water during the hurricane.

The Chronicle met the Carnival Conquest as it pulled into Houston Thursday with passengers who had left Galveston a week before the hurricane hit, including some who had left their cars in port parking lots. The ship was scheduled to have returned to Galveston last Saturday but stayed at sea during the storm and then spent much of this week in New Orleans awaiting instructions.

The Chronicle says some passengers were understanding, while others griped.

It's makeover time for Disney's first cruise ship, the Disney Magic

You've got to admire the timing of the planners at Disney Cruise Line. One of the most powerful hurricanes in years bears down on the Caribbean this week and where is one of the line's two ships? Safe and sound in dry dock, where neither rain nor waves can bother it.

That's right, the Disney Magic is getting a makeover -- and a big one, to boot. The 83,000, 1,754-passenger vessel entered dry dock on Saturday for a bow-to-stern overhaul that won't be done until Sept. 24.

Among the changes Disney plans for the 10-year-old ship is a big revamping of the adults-only Quiet Cove retreat area. The Cove Café coffee lounge will get a new seating area with plush chairs, and the Cove's adults-only pool will be redone with a cascading waterfall.

New teak deck and lounge chairs with plush cushions will round out the improvements around the pool area.

Other big changes to the Magic will take place in the children's zones. The Oceaneer Club (for 3-7 year olds) and Oceaneer Lab (8-12) will get new registration areas that should make check-in more efficient (the new areas also are a precursor to adding a state-of-the-art tracking system for children later this year that uses radio frequency identification tags). Disney also is adding a new toddler water playground to the ship called Mickey's Splash Zone -- something it already has added to the Disney Wonder.

Disney also plans an upgrade to cabins, which will include new flat-screen LCD television sets mounted on swivel arms.

Celebrity Cruises takes things 'up a notch' with Solstice

APENBURG, Germany -- Celebrity Cruises vessels are known for their sleek and contemporary vibe, and the soon-to-launch Celebrity Solstice is no exception.

But as Richard Fain, the chief executive of Celebrity's parent company, Royal Caribbean, likes to say, the 2,850-passenger ship takes the sophisticated-and-stylish look "up a notch."

"This is very much in keeping with the Celebrity feel, but it's a little bit more refined," notes Fain during a tour of the ship, and it's no idle boast. Celebrity hired some of the world's most famous designers, including Adam Tihany, to design the ship's public spaces -- and it shows.

USA TODAY got a sneak peek of the Solstice this weekend during a tour at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany. On Sunday we offered a first glimpse of the vessel that included the first photos of its innovative, grass-covered top deck. On Tuesday we examined the ship's unusual solar-paneled solarium. Now it's time to look at the interior design.

Debuting in November in Ft. Lauderdale, the Solstice is the first of a new, larger class of vessels for the line, and four more Solstice class vessels are on order for delivery over the next few years.

Tihany, designer of some of the world's most famous restaurant spaces including Per Se and Le Cirque in New York, brought his signature style to the ship's main dining room, the Grand Epernay. Note the spectacular chandelier in the photo of the dining room above as well as the Gaudi-esque white flying buttresses along the sides of the space.

Tihany also designed the ship's Tuscan Grille, one of five specialty restaurants on the ship, and the Oceanview Cafe and Grill, the ship's buffet (see photo to the right and below).

Tuscan Grille, an Italian-tinged steakhouse, incidentally, will cost $25 per person, executives said this weekend. It'll be the second most expensive of the ship's five specialty restaurants, which also include the Continental cuisine-serving Murano ($30 per person), Asian-themed Silk Harvest ($20 per person), crepe-serving Bistro on Five (no charge) and health-focused Blu (reserved for passengers staying in special AquaClass spa cabins). That's the still-under-construction Blu in the photo below (with Fain in the orange sweater showing off a high-designed divider wall that also serves a structural function).

As for Tihany, this was the first time Celebrity or its parent company, Royal Caribbean, had worked with a world famous designer, and Fain admits that it was a costly undertaking -- not just due to the design fees involved but, even more notably, the cost of materials. But the results are noticeable, and Fain isn't shy about revealing his ultimate goal in spending more on the ship upfront.

"We hope to get a higher (ticket) price," he says.

Cruise Loggers, which cruise line do you think has the best design?

First and last photos on this page by Gene Sloan/USA TODAY. All other photos by Simon Brooke-Webb/sbw photo, courtesy Celebrity Cruises.