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.
Brazilian health agency Anvisa on Sunday warned passengers against boarding cruise ships operating along the Brazilian coast after outbreaks of COVID-19 affecting crew and customers, according to a statement on its website.
The move follows a call for the “immediate temporary interruption of the cruise ship season in Brazil” as they pose a risk to public health.
“In view of recent events, Anvisa does not recommend the embarkation of passengers who have trips scheduled on cruise ships for the next few days,” the statement said.
“This recommendation takes into account the rapid change in the epidemiological scenario, the risk to the health of passengers and the unpredictability of operations at this time.”
There are five cruise liners operating on the Brazilian coast being monitored by Anvisa, the agency said.
The MSC Splendida, anchored at Santos, was banned from embarking new passengers from late Saturday and the vessel was quarantined from Sunday. The Diadema was ordered to suspend service and all passengers will need to disembark when it arrives at Santos, Anvisa said. The other three are the MSC Preziosa, Costa Fascinosa, and MSC Seaside, which face a potential boarding ban and service suspension pending further epidemiological investigation, Anvisa said. (Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Stephen Coates).
Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line on Wednesday cancelled sailings amid rising fears of Omicron-related coronavirus infections that have dampened the nascent recovery of the pandemic-ravaged cruise industry.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd called off its Spectrum of the Seas cruise for Jan. 6 after nine guests on its Jan. 2 trip were identified as close contacts to a local Hong Kong COVID-19 case.
The contacts have tested negative but the cruise ship will return to Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong on Jan. 5 to test all guests and crew who must take a second test on Jan. 8, the company said.
A similar decision to cancel trips by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd was made against the backdrop of the United States reporting the highest daily tally of any country for new coronavirus infections on Monday.
“Due to ongoing travel restrictions, we’ve had to modify a few sailings and unfortunately have had to cancel,” the 17-ship strong cruise operator said, with the embarkation dates for a few cancelled sailings as far out as late April.
The cruise line, which requires everyone on board to be vaccinated, has also had to cut short a 12-day round trip from Miami on its Norwegian Pearl ship, citing “COVID related circumstances.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had last week advised people to avoid cruise travel after launching investigations into onboard cases on more than 90 ships. The health agency starts scrutiny if at least 0.1% of the guests test positive.
Norwegian Cruise said guests, who were supposed to embark on the cancelled sailings on the eight ships, will receive full refunds and bonus credits for future bookings.
The Omicron-led travel uncertainty is also causing guests on other sailings to cancel their bookings as a few ships have also had to skip ports due to onboard infections.
“We booked the cruise last March and assumed that things would be getting back to normal… by mid-December, I was mentally prepared for a change of plans,” said Holly Bromley, a consulting arborist, who cancelled her booking on Norwegian Epic.
Meanwhile, bigger rival Carnival Corp said it has not cancelled any upcoming voyages, but its shares fell on Wednesday to close down 2.6%. Royal Caribbean lost 2.1% and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings 3.6%. (Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Arun Koyyur)
MSC Cruises and Chantiers de l’Atlantique have celebrated two milestones for the construction of the cruise line’s next generation of vessels.
MSC World Europa was floated out for the first time at the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Meanwhile, a traditional coin ceremony took place as the keel was laid for MSC Euribia, with Anne Claire Juventin, who is responsible for quality control at Chantiers de l’Atlantique, and Valentina Mancini, brand manager from MSC Cruises, performing the role of godmothers.
MSC World Europa and MSC Euribia will become the first LNG-powered vessels to join the MSC Cruises fleet next year, with the construction on MSC World Europa II due to commence in early 2023. The three newbuilds represent an investment of €3 billion ($3.39 billion) by the cruise line.
“Today is another important milestone in our journey towards net zero emissions by 2050 for our marine operations,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of MSC Cruises. “We have a lot more to do but I am pleased that despite all that we have faced from the pandemic over the last two years, we have still been able to achieve with our partners at Chantiers de L’Atlantique the launch of these new LNG vessels – the first ever made in France.”
Chantiers de l’Atlantique and MSC Cruises also confirmed that a fuel cell pilot plant known as Blue Horizon will also be installed onboard MSC World Europa. The plant will produce electricity from the ship’s LNG fuel through electrochemical reactions at its electrodes, unlike currently installed engine generators which produce electricity through fuel combustion.
The fuel cell technology selected by Chantiers de l’Atlantique and MSC Cruises is the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) developed by Bloom Energy. The SOFC uses ceramic materials, allowing operation at temperatures of up to 800C at the core of the fuel cell. This allows for electrical efficiency of around 60 per cent and provides the opportunity to recover significant heat from the exhausts, which will bring the overall efficiency of the system close to 90 per cent. The Blue Horizon pilot plant installed onboard MSC World Europa will consist of two 75-kilowatt modules.
The technology will be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent compared to conventional dual-fuel engines, without producing nitrogen oxide, sulphur oxide or particulate matter emissions. SOFC is also compatible with a range of fuels, including bio or synthetic LNG, methanol, ammonia and hydrogen. The operational data and technical feedback from the ship will be provided to Chantiers de l’Atlantique and Bloom Energy to enable improvements of the technology in the future.
“With MSC World Europa, we have designed and built a cruise ship with an outstanding level of performance and efficiency,” said Laurent Castaing, general manager of Chantiers de l’Atlantique. “The integration of this fuel cell demonstrator allows us to take a major step forward and imagine what the cruise ship of the future will be like.”
MSC World Europa has now been moved to a wet dock for work to continue ahead of her scheduled delivery in November 2022. The ship will spend her inaugural season in the Gulf region offering seven-night cruises from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Construction will continue on MSC Euribia, with a global design contest for artists to create artwork for the ship’s hull inspired by the sea and the marine ecosystem.
