I love all things Cruise and add that to my hobby Photography I'm in dreamland, I'm an exTravel agency owner with the inside contacts, so I will try to keep you updated in all things travel related with a side serving of images and other maritime stories.
Currently under construction at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, the next Viking Cruises ocean vessel will be named Viking Vela.
According to the company’s website, the ship is set to debut in 2024 and will be slightly larger than its predecessors.
Eleventh in a series of vessels that was started with the Viking Star in 2015, the Viking Vela will be ten meters longer, as well as two meters wider than its sister ships.
With the extra space, the new build will also carry more passengers: 998 versus 930.
The Viking Cruises website has already published the deployment of the ship as well.
After entering service in 2024, the Viking Vela is scheduled to spend its inaugural season in Northern Europe, offering itineraries to Scandinavia, the British Isles, Iceland, the Norwegian Fjords and more.
According to Viking, the new Vela will offer all-balcony accommodations and is ideally sized to reach destinations where the larger ships cannot dock. The company’s website also highlights the vessel’s “understated elegance and modern Scandinavian design.”
In addition to a large fleet of identical mid-sized luxury ships, the cruise line also operates two purpose-built expedition ships, the Viking Octantis and the Viking Polaris.
Another ocean vessel, the Zhao Shang Yi Dun, is also in service for the company in Asia. Part of a joint venture with China Merchants, the ship was formerly named Viking Sun and is now serving the Chinese domestic market.
Celebrity Cruises revealed details about its upcoming ship, the Celebrity Ascent, set to launch this November.
The Celebrity Ascent will be based in South Florida for the 2023-2024 Caribbean season.
The ship will offer departures from Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale from December 2023 to April 2024, exploring destinations like the Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Puerto Rico, and the British Virgin Islands before heading to Europe for a summer of Mediterranean cruises, according to a press release.
“I am so excited to introduce the world to Celebrity Ascent and continue the legacy of Celebrity’s Edge Series,” said Celebrity Cruises’ President Laura Hodges Bethge. “First launched in 2018, the Edge Series transformed what cruising could be and its ships like Edge, Apex and Beyond quickly became consumer favorites. Continuously striving to offer travellers a better way to enjoy travel and reach the world around them, we are so proud of what we have built and look forward to welcoming both seasoned and new cruisers alike.”
In addition to returning favourites such as the Theatre, the Rooftop Garden and the Sunset Bar, guests can look forward to new experiences including:
Redesigned Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud restaurant;
A plant-based tasting menu at Eden Restaurant;
Le Petit Chef dinner;
Bourbon offerings and tastings;
The Martini Bar;
Revitalized Main Dining Experience inspired by the culture of champagne.
The outdoor terrace at Blu.
The ship will also feature nightly entertainment at the Resort Deck, new production shows, a reimagined Casino floor and a redesigned art gallery. In addition, guests will have the opportunity to shop travel and home accessories at The Sunset Collection by Nate Berkus
MSC Euribia is 100% green-powered, the industry’s first.
MSC Group has unveiled what it said was the next phase of its shore power plan for both MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys.
At least 15 new ports between 2024 and 2026 will be added to the existing use for its vessels to plug into shoreside electricity grids to further demonstrate its commitment to, and continued progress towards, decarbonization, as well as reducing emissions from its fleet of ships while berthed in ports, the company said.
The new 2024-26 shore power plan includes at least five Italian ports; Barcelona and Valencia in Spain; Stavanger and Norfjordied, Norway; Miami, USA; Copenhagen, Denmark; Marseille, France; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Valletta, Malta and Stockholm, Sweden.
The company intends for its ships, both MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys, to fully utilise shore power facilities at all other ports where it operates throughout Europe and the rest of the world when they are made available.
MSC Cruises ships have since February 2023 successfully used shore power at the ports of Southampton, UK and Kristiansand, Norway and later this summer the company will test the facilities at the Norwegian port of Haugesund. Other European trials this year are planned for a range of MSC Cruises’ ships at Bergen and Alesund in Norway and Warnemunde in Germany.
MSC Virtuosa taking shorepower in Alesund, Norway, photo credit Spacejunkie2(Flickr)
MSC Cruises will also use shore power in the German ports of Hamburg this winter and at Kiel in the summer of 2024.
MSC Cruises last year signed a memorandum of understanding with Cruise Baltic for shore power in the Baltic Sea area. Cruise Baltic has 32 ports and destinations in its region that are committed to increasing the number of shore power facilities, the company said.
Shore power capability has been fitted on all MSC Cruises’ new ships as standard since 2017 and together with retrofits completed on other vessels, 67 per cent of MSC Cruises’ total capacity is equipped with the technology. More ships will be retrofitted as the ports on their sailing itineraries make shore power available.
All Explora Journeys’ ships will also feature shore power capabilities. Explora I, the first ship in the new brand’s fleet, will first come into service on July 17 this year.
Linden Coppell, VP of Sustainability & ESG, MSC Cruises, said, “Shore power is an essential factor on our journey towards net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) operations. All of our newbuilds since 2017 are equipped with the ability to plug into local power grids and we are rolling out retrofits on the other vessels in our fleet.
“Our shore power plan actively demonstrates our ambition and that we are fully committed to reducing emissions from our ships, including while in ports,” she said.
“We have invested heavily in hybrid exhaust gas cleaning systems to substantially reduce local air quality emissions and we now need more ports across Europe and beyond to introduce shore power as quickly as possible. By making significant reductions to emissions in ports, we are fulfilling our responsibility to the docks and coastal communities that our ships visit and serve.
“Together with the use of LNG fuel, improving energy efficiency, utilizing innovative wastewater treatment and waste recycling, we are making positive strides in playing our part to address climate change and protect ocean biodiversity.”
