Tag Archives: cruises

MSC: 7 Cruise Ships for Winter 2025-26 in North America

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MSC Cruises is deploying seven ships in the United States for the winter 2025-26 season, the most for the cruise line to date in the market.

The ships will be based at four homeports, another North American milestone for the brand, in Miami, Port Canaveral, New York City and Galveston, according to a press release.

Highlights of winter 2025-26 include MSC Grandiosa’s debut in the U.S. from Port Canaveral; MSC Cruises’ inaugural season sailing from Galveston; MSC World America’s first winter season sailing from Miami following her debut in April 2025; and most itineraries calling at the enhanced Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve.

Rubén A. Rodríguez, president of MSC Cruises USA, said: “The winter 2025-2026 season will mark our largest presence in the U.S. to date, with seven ships sailing from U.S. homeports.  We are delighted to provide our guests more choices than ever before when it comes to embarkation ports, ships, itineraries and destinations, making it easy to find the perfect cruise.  

“We look forward to introducing MSC Grandiosa to Port Canaveral, launching MSC Seascape from Galveston and offering a new world of cruising aboard MSC World America for our guests embarking in Miami.  Combining world-class entertainment, dining and amenities onboard with the fantastic updates coming to Ocean Cay makes for an incredibly exciting future, which is perfect for everyone from first-time cruisers to our most devoted fans.”

The MSC Grandiosa will offer alternating seven-night sailings to the Eastern and Western Caribbean with a selection of three- and four-night cruises aboard the MSC Seashore sailing to Nassau and Ocean Cay.

 The season will also mark MSC Cruises’ first sailings from the Port of Galveston, with the MSC Seascape. The ship will operate seven-night Western Caribbean itineraries with visits to Costa Maya, Isla de Roatan and Cozumel.

From Miami, MSC World America will operate seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries, calling at Isla de Roatan, Costa Maya, Cozumel and Puerto Plata among other destinations. The Seaside will sail a range of three-, four- and seven-night itineraries while the Divina will sail longer itineraries to the Caribbean.

From New York, the Meraviglia will sail on seven-night itineraries to Florida and The Bahamas, calling in Port Canaveral (Florida), Nassau and Ocean Cay.

Norwegian Set to Boost Caribbean Cruise Capacity

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“We pair our ships with destinations, sending some of our smaller ships to exotic destinations and some of our larger amenity-filled ships to our fun and sun destinations,” said Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, speaking on Monday at an investor event held in New York.

As a result, “Fun and Sun” (Caribbean, Bermuda and Hawaii) capacity will make up 54 per cent of the deployment for the Norwegian Cruise Line brand in 2026, up from 42 per cent this year.

“It gives our guests the opportunity, on the NCL brand, to return over and over and over again, maximizing their lifetime value and driving high fields.”

Sommer said he believed Norwegian’s ships with increased amenities were perfectly suited for millennial and Generation Z guests.

The company will send its biggest ships to its core destinations in the “Fun and Sun” regions.

As a result, by 2026, the company’s average cruise length will be down to eight days from nine in 2023 with more short and week-long Caribbean sailings as a growing part of the deployment mix.

Capacity days are expected to be in the 12 million range in these “Fun and Sun” destinations by 2026, up from 8 million in 2023, according to a company presentation.

In addition, the mix of the company’s top 10 embarkation points (homeports) will be greater, representing 80 per cent of 2026 capacity, compared to 65 per cent in 2023.

“Our increased Caribbean deployment has given us the ability to invest in our private island in Great Stirrup Cay,” Sommer said, noting the coming two-ship pier for the island set to open in 2025.

Other investments will follow in Great Stirrup Cay, including a VIP area, and the company expects to host approximately 700,000 guests on the island by 2026, up from 400,000 in 2023.

Regal Princess Celebrates 10th Anniversary

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Regal Princess arrives in the World Famous Port City of Liverpool on the 29th June 2023 and Spacejunkie2 took some great photos of the arrival.

Regal Princess in the Famous city of Liverpool, Photo credit  Spacejunkie2 Flickr -29/062023

The Regal Princess is completing its 10th year of service this month. Built for Princess Cruises at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, the vessel officially debuted on May 20, 2014.

A sister to the 2013-built Royal Princess, the ship is the second in a series of six Royal-class ships for Princess Cruises.

For its maiden voyage, the Regal Princess offered a seven-night cruise to Italy, Turkey and Greece. Built at Fincantieri’s Monfalcone shipyard, the vessel departed from Venice on an open-jaw cruise to Athens.

Sailing through the Eastern Mediterranean, the itinerary featured visits to Corfu and Mykonos, in addition to a two-day stop in Istanbul.

Throughout the summer of 2014, the Regal Princess offered Princess Cruises’ signature Grand Mediterranean cruises, with different seven- to 12-night itinerary choices.

In October 2014, the 3,600-guest ship crossed the Atlantic for the first time ahead of a winter season in the Caribbean.

Sailing from Port Everglades on Sundays, the Regal offered week-long cruises to St. Thomas, St. Maarten and the Bahamas during its inaugural program in the region.

The Princess ship is spending another summer in Europe in 2024.

Sailing from Southampton, the vessel is offering a series of 12-night cruises to the British Isles that feature visits to Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. Some itineraries also include stops in Wales, France and the Shetland Isles.

In early October the Regal Princess is scheduled to return to North America for a winter season in the Caribbean.

Now sailing from Galveston, the ship will offer six- to 11-night cruises to the Western Caribbean, featuring calls to ports in Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, Belize and Grand Cayman.