Tag Archives: carnival cruises

Man takes same Carnival cruise 33 times in a row

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By Tom Stieghorst
Carnival Elation - FosselmanA Mississippi man has departed the Carnival Elation after setting a record by taking the same four- and five-night itinerary to Mexico 33 times.

Mark Fosselman of Diamond Head, Miss., has been sailing on Elation since April. His five-month odyssey began after his wife Becky passed away. They had sailed together on the New Orleans-based Elation in the past, and the ship evoked good memories, Carnival said in a statement.

Fosselman said his wife loved sailing with Carnival and believed that the cruises contributed greatly to her quality of life despite her declining health. According to Carnival, Fosselman said he considered the voyages therapeutic following his wife’s death.

Carnival said Fosselman is notable because no one else is believed to have sailed as many consecutive Carnival cruises in the line’s 42-year history.

The Carnival Elation staff warmly greeted Fosselman him in the ship’s atrium and held a special farewell reception that included a banner created especially for the occasion when he finally left the ship.

Carnival preparing Seattle ships for new emission limits

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Carnival preparing Seattle ships for new emission limits

Carnival Cruises is pumping a significant sum of money into equipping five of its ships based in North America with new environmental technology.

With strict new rules coming into effect over cruise ship emissions in the region, the company will reportedly spend $10 million (£6.3 million) fitting exhaust scrubbers on its Seattle-based fleet, Bizjournals reports.

The green technology works by cleaning ship emissions and should ensure that the vessels in question comply with the new air quality standards.

As well as fitting its own Seattle-based ships with the exhaust scrubbers, Carnival will also implement the technology on ships operated out of the Port of Seattle by its subsidiaries Holland-America Line and Princess Cruises.

Seattle, along with Alaska, is one of the main cruise ports expected to be negatively affected by the new rules, with ships concentrating on these areas likely to remain in the North American Emission Control Area for the majority of their cruising.

In the long-term, Carnival has suggested that the exhaust tech will be fitted to all 32 of the ships it has servicing North America.

Previously, it warned that the new environmental rules could negatively impact on the number of cruises offered in the region, particularly those focusing on the Canadian Atlantic.

Harris survey finds cruise brand erosion

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Harris survey finds cruise brand erosion

By Tom Stieghorst
A Harris Poll done in May found public perception of cruise line quality has declined from March.

In a survey of 2,052 adults, the average perceived quality score is down 13% from the period before the Carnival Triumph engine room fire in February.

The average trust score for the seven brands in the poll was down 12% in May, and the average intent to purchase was off 11% from pre-incident levels.

The best showing among the seven lines was Holland America, down 2%. The worst was Carnival Cruise Lines, down 20%.

A Harris survey in March, shortly after the Triumph incident, showed declines in scores on all three measurements.

“When we first addressed this topic in March, even we were open to the idea that a ‘recency bias’ of sorts might be impacting the results so soon after the Triumph fiasco, creating a low tide for the industry as a whole,” said Deana Percassi, Harris Poll Insights vice president. “But these more recent findings, coupled with reports of heavily discounted pricing on Carnival cruises, indicate that the industry as a whole, as well as the Carnival brand specifically, may still be facing rough seas.”