Disney Cruise Line to return to New York and Galveston in 2016

Posted on 19 May, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Disney Dream enters New York.

Disney Cruise Line is to return to the US ports of New York and Galveston, and offer new seven-night cruises from PortMiami to the Caribbean in 2016.

Departing from New York on 2 October, Disney Magic will sail a five-night cruise to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Saint John, New Brunswick in Canada. The ship will then return to New York to offer an eight-night Bahamas cruise on 7 October, which will include calls at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay; Nassau, Bahamas; and Port Canaveral, Florida.

On 15, 22 and 29 October, Disney Magic will offer seven-night voyages from New York to Castaway Cay and Port Canaveral. Each guest will receive a one-day Walt Disney World Park Hopper ticket and roundtrip transportation between the ship and Walt Disney World Resort when the ship calls at Port Canaveral.

Disney Magic will then offer the line’s first season of seven-night cruises from Miami to the Caribbean in November and December.

On 20 November and 4 December, the ship will sail from Miami to destinations in the Western Caribbean including Key West in Florida, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Castaway Cay. Meanwhile, on 27 November and 11 December, she will offer sailings to Tortola, St. Thomas and Castaway Cay in the Eastern Caribbean. On 23 December, Disney Magic will sail to Tortola, San Juan in Puerto Rico and Castaway Cay.

Additional Miami sailings include a four-night Bahamas cruise departing on 16 November, a five-night Bahamas cruise departing on 18 December and a six-night Western Caribbean cruise departing on 30 December. Each sailing will include call at Castaway Cay.

Meanwhile, Disney Wonder will return to Galveston in Texas to offer a series of seven-night itineraries to destinations in the Bahamas, Mexico and the Caribbean. These include Key West, Castaway Cay, Nassau, Falmouth, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Costa Maya. The ship will also offer two four-night roundtrips from Galveston to Cozumel on 10 and 14 November.

Carnival Triumph headed to New Orleans in 2016

Posted on 3 March, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Carnival Triumph

Carnival Cruise Line will increase New Orleans capacity when the 3,143-passenger Triumph is transferred from Galveston to replace the 2,052-passenger Elation in the spring of 2016.

The Triumph will sail four- and five-day Mexico cruises from Galveston, starting April 4, 2016. The other ship in New Orleans, the 3,652-passenger Dream, sails seven-day cruises.

The Elation will shift from New Orleans to Jacksonville, Fla., and the Fascination will move from Jacksonville to San Juan. The Elation will sail year-round four- and five-day Bahamas cruises, and the Fascination will sail seven-day Caribbean voyages.

As previously reported, Below is the 12th Feb. article.

Carnival Breeze and Liberty will sail from Galveston

To make way for the new Carnival Vista when it is deployed in Miami in November 2016, Carnival Cruise Line will shift the Carnival Breeze to Galveston, Texas.

Also, Carnival will position the Carnival Liberty in Galveston in 2016. It has just repositioned Carnival Freedom to Galveston, where it is aggressively courting new business.

“Miami and Galveston are among our most popular points of embarkation, and deploying our newest, most innovative ships to these home ports speaks volumes about our confidence in growing these markets,” said Christine Duffy, Carnival’s president.

The Carnival Triumph and Magic, currently sailing from Galveston, will be redeployed with details to be announced at a later date.

Prior to the start-up of year-round service from Miami, Carnival Vista will operate a pair of voyages roundtrip from New York, beginning with a three-day cruise Nov. 4-7, 2016, followed by an 11-day voyage departing Nov. 7 and visiting Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua and St. Maarten.

Carnival Vista will then offer an 11-day transit cruise from New York to Miami from Nov. 18-29, with calls at Grand Turk, Bonaire, Aruba and St. Maarten.

Its first cruise from Miami will be a four-day cruise to Grand Turk, departing Nov. 29. Thereafter it will do alternating six- and eight-day Caribbean itineraries, mixed with a few one-time, one-off voyages, Carnival said.

Serenade of the Seas Departs After Being Delayed From Water Pipe Bursting

Posted on 26 January, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

A broken water pipe shorting out an electric switchboard is being blamed for a partial power loss on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas.

Max Power, a passenger who is currently doing back to back to back cruises on the Serenade of the Seas, first reported of the incident on the Facebook group “Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society”. Heavy rain was first blamed for the switch board being shorted out but it is now being blamed on a broken water pipe above the theater according to Max.

The front of the ship was without power early on Saturday morning. Due to the damage from the broken water pipe, 400 passengers who were scheduled to board the ship in New Orleans today will not be able to board.

At least 175 passenger cabins are currently out of service. Passengers who had their cruise canceled will receive a full refund and a 100% credit towards a future cruise.

Royal Caribbean sent out the following text message to passengers who were to board the Serenade of the Seas today:

Urgent Notification: Serenade of the Seas Check-In Update

Hello, this is Royal Caribbean International. We would like to provide you and update regarding your sailing today onboard Serenade of the Seas out of New Orleans. The U.S. Coast Guard is currently onboard inspecting the ship. We are waiting for authorization from the Coast Guard to begin boarding. Because the cruise terminal in New Orleans is very limited in space, we ask that guest explore the local area until we can being boarding. We will contact you again once we have received permission to being the boarding process. We appreciate your patience and understanding, ad we look forward to welcoming you aboard.

An hour later, another text message was sent by Royal Caribbean letting passengers know that the U.S. Coast Guard had given them permission to begin the boarding process.

The Serenade of the Seas will now spend the night in New Orleans while crew members repair the damage. The ship was scheduled to leave this afternoon on a 7 night cruise to the Bahamas and Key West, Florida.

Update: The Serenade of the Seas left New Orleans early Sunday afternoon and will sail a shortened six night cruise to the Bahamas. Passengers who had their cruise canceled will receive a full refund and a future cruise certificate equal to their cruise fare.