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.
The Carnival Dream has become the latest Carnival Cruise Line ship to be adorned with a new hull design, joining the Carnival Magic and the Carnival Glory which were completed over the past few weeks.
According to a press release, the Dream got the new colors in a drydock in Marseilles, France.
The livery is inspired by the design that debuted on the line’s newest ship, the Mardi Gras while serving as “an homage to maritime tradition with patriotic red, white and blue hues, also the colours of Carnival Cruise Line,” the cruise line said.
The next ship in line is the Carnival Valor, which is currently in drydock with work scheduled to be done by the end of July, marking the fourth ship to feature the new livery. Going forward, the new design will be added across all Carnival Cruise Line ships, the cruise line said.
Canada will allow cruise ships back into its waters starting in November as the COVID-19 pandemic fades, but they must fully comply with public health requirements that have yet to be finalized, Ottawa said on Thursday.
Earlier this year, Canada extended a ban on cruise ships until February 2022, citing the need to protect public health. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a statement that the restriction would now be lifted on Nov. 1, 2021.
“We will welcome cruise ships – an important part of our tourism sector – back in Canadian waters for the 2022 season,” he said.
The news should please major operators who complained that Canada’s ban was hurting their business on the West Coast. U.S. law obliges foreign-flagged cruise ships sailing from Washington state to Alaska to make a Canadian stop.
Canada, however, has not yet lifted a ban on non-essential travel with the United States. A Canadian government official said Alghabra’s announcement would allow both countries to work on ways of safely managing the cruise sector.
“We’re working hard through our embassy, through our officials, myself, through our department, and ensuring that we maintain business as usual,” Alghabra told reporters.
He gave no indication of when the border between the United States and Canada would reopen to tourists.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Montreal on Thursday that Ottawa would make an announcement on the next steps to reopening the border in the coming weeks.
A day earlier he had said it “would be catastrophic and heartbreaking to have to go back into lockdown, as some countries are now looking at with surges in the Delta variant, because we were overly eager to reopen by a few weeks.”
Here’s a scenario for you… a cruise ship is sinking at sea and hundreds, if not thousands of people are in need of immediate rescue. Due to conditions, lifeboats are inoperable or infeasible. What’s the best option for rescue? That’s a question the Department of Homeland Security needs your help figuring out.
In collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate has released the “Mass Rescue Operations Lifesaving Device Broad Agency Announcement” solicitation seeking the public’s help in coming up with innovative technology to respond to mass-casualty events at sea.
The solicitation asks innovators, industry, academia, and laboratories to submit solutions for a large capacity-floating device to keep survivors out of the water during mass rescue operations.
The U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center (RDC) will provide technical support to DHS S&T throughout the effort to help with the development of the device.
“We’re looking forward to working with the public to help develop their innovative ideas into a practical and useable design,” said RDC Commanding Officer, Capt. Dan Keane. “If successful, the mass life-saving device will give first responders additional capability and capacity to respond quickly to a mass rescue situation.”
Specifically, the solicitation seeks an effective solution for providing short-term lifesaving and rescue assistance in disasters that render existing systems, such as onboard lifeboats, inoperable or infeasible. The Coast Guard wants to develop a non-standard, one-time use, large capacity, an ultra-lightweight floating device that will be deployed from air or vessel during a mass rescue operation to mitigate the loss of life.
For example, if a large ferryboat or cruise ship is unexpectedly stranded or sinking, the ship’s staff may not be able to deploy the lifeboats. Coast Guard aircraft or vessels could respond and deploy mass rescue devices at the scene to better maintain passengers until all can be rescued.
“The purpose of a large-capacity floating device is to solely keep survivors out of the water during a mass rescue operation,” said S&T Program Manager Angela Blair. “The commercial marketplace already has large, flotation devices, but these are too heavy to be deployed from a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter or easily lifted over a vessel’s bulwark for deployment.”
White papers are due by 2 p.m. EDT on August 5, 2021.
“The Coast Guard is excited to work with industry to develop this cutting edge, mission-critical, lifesaving capability,” said Tom Gorgol of the Coast Guard office of search and rescue.
For more information, visit the mass rescue solicitation on SAM.gov.
