The Mein Schiff 6 recently kicked off a series of cruises to Western Europe and Morocco departing from Leixões in Portugal.
Located near Porto, the homeport serves as the starting point for two seven-night itineraries that sail to other destinations in Portugal, in addition to ports in Spain, Morocco, the United Kingdom and France.
Heading north, one of the itineraries features visits to Vigo, La Coruña, Bilbao and Le Verdon before returning to Leixões.
The second weeklong cruise heads south and includes stops in Lisbon and Cádiz, as well as Tangier and Gibraltar.
Guests are also able to book a 14-night voyage that combines both itineraries into a single cruise that does not repeat ports of call.
The Mein Schiff 6 will continue to offer similar cruises departing from Portugal through early September, when it is scheduled to embark on a repositioning voyage to the Western Mediterranean.
Sailing from Leixões to Palma de Mallorca, the eight-night cruise sails to a mix of destinations in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
Highlights of the open-jaw itinerary include visits to Lisbon, Cádiz and Tangier, in addition to Málaga and Barcelona.
After a short fall season in the Mediterranean, the 97,000-ton ship embarks on a 53-night repositioning voyage to Southeast Asia.
The three-part cruise starts with a seven-night cruise to the Canary Islands that sails from Palma de Mallorca.
The 2,500-passenger ship will then operate a 20-night voyage to Cape Town, visiting Morocco, Cape Verde, Namibia and South Africa.
Before arriving in Singapore in early December, the Mein Schiff 6 also offers a 25-night voyage to the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.
Departing from Cape Town, the cruise will sail to South Africa, Mauritius, Réunion, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
As part of its 2026-27 winter season in Southeast Asia, the 2,534-passenger ship is set to offer a series of 13- to 15-night cruises to Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and more.
Carnival and Fincantieri Celebrate 30 Years of Partnership
Carnival and Fincantieri recently celebrated three decades of collaboration between the two companies.
The partnership was highlighted during the steel-cutting ceremony for the new Carnival Destiny, which will be built at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone yard.
Carnival’s relationship with the shipbuilder started with the original Carnival Destiny, which was delivered in 1996.
“Carnival contacted us about a new ship design they had in mind, which they were calling ‘the ship of the future’,” said Maurizio Cergol, designer of the vessel.
“The Carnival Destiny certainly set a precedent at the time with its configuration, having its public spaces amidships, near the lifeboats.”
Cergol said that the design allowed for a larger number of balcony staterooms, creating a new standard for the industry.
“The market responded extremely positively to the possibility of taking cruises in a cabin where you could not only see the sea but also smell it, feel it and feel the breeze,” he continued.
Cergol said that the ship had an adequate, powerful name, as it tied together the fate of Fincantieri and Carnival.
For Fincantieri’s President Biaggio Mazzotta, the event marked both a beginning and an anniversary, highlighting the steel cutting of the new Carnival Destiny.
“With the cutting of the first metal sheet for this new vessel, this next-generation ship starts to take shape,” he said.
Mazzotta noted that the ship will be the largest in Carnival’s fleet, adding that the ceremony marked the “first spark” of a project that will accompany the shipyard for years to come.
“This is not a point of arrival but a point of departure,” he continued, noting that the project has a special meaning, taking place exactly 30 years after the delivery of the original Carnival Destiny.
“Thirty years is not just a milestone but a measure of trust that has been renewed order after order, ship after ship, in a business where decisions are made by looking at decades in the future,” Mazzotta added.
He also highlighted the human element of the collaboration between the companies, noting that “behind every hull and technological breakthrough there is the work of men and women, including designers, engineers, technicians and workers.”
“All the companies in our supply chain have made this partnership a shared heritage,” Mazzotta said, thanking all the involved parties.
“This collaboration tells the story of what Italy does best: combine tradition, innovation, craftsmanship and technology.”
Giorgio Gomiero, senior vice president of operations for Fincantieri, noted that shipbuilding is a complex business and that the partnership with Carnival allowed the yard to grow.
“Carnival was a challenge that allowed Fincantieri to reach where it is today. There were certainly a number of difficult moments,” he explained.
“Critical moments arise during the construction period,” Gomiero added, noting that the original Carnival Destiny was the largest cruise ship in the world when it debuted in 1996.
“It was the first passenger ship in the world to exceed 100,000 tons of gross tonnage. Now, in 2026, we are starting the construction of a vessel with a gross tonnage of 230,000 tons,” he continued.
“Each time there’s an evolution, not only for the shipowner, Carnival, but these projects also create the conditions to do better and raise the bar, allowing us to set new goals together.”
Having started his relationship with Carnival as Project Manager for the Carnival Breeze construction, SVP Shipyard Director Marco Lunardi said that collaboration between the cruise line and Fincantieri has allowed the yard to push boundaries.
“Carnival has been a driving force. I still remember the phrase ‘make it happen,’ which we were told time and time again when we faced challenges from the client,” he said.
“Yet this served as the incentive to push beyond those limits, and through ingenuity, flexibility and even imagination, we found solutions that allowed us to make the product we created a model of excellence,” Lunardi added.
Luigi Matarazzo, general manager of the shipyard’s merchant ships division, said that the relationship between the two companies is based on mutual trust.
He highlighted that Fincantieri built 65 ships for Carnival in the past 30 years, with a further eight currently in the pipeline.
“We’ll reach 73 but my hope is to reach 100 ships, which will further strengthen the strong bond we have,” Matarazzo added.
AIDAprima Guests Test Self Check-In Terminals in Hamburg
AIDA Cruises tested digital guest check-in with all guests for the first time in a pilot project at the Steinwerder Cruise Center in Hamburg.
According to a company statement, guests were able to embark independently for a cruise aboard the AIDAprima at one of the 20 digital check-in terminals on July 23, 2026.
During check-in, a photo was taken of each guest, which is stored in the ship system for the duration of the trip. The image was then compared with the photo on guests’ ID documents based on biometric data.
Digital check-in was found to speed up the embarkation process at the terminal, offering more flexibility in combination with the personal service available at a classic counter.
The new service was developed in collaboration with Lufthansa Industry Solutions over a period of two years, adapting self-service check-in terminals from aviation for use in cruises.
This included, among other things, the integration of printers for boarding passes and the connection to the ship’s systems.
The boarding pass is RFID-encoded, serving as a means of payment onboard and as a key to the cabin, among other things.
AIDA noted that it intends to use the findings from the pilot project to explore further use of this technology.
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