Port Everglades opens renovated terminal

Posted on 9 January, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Port Everglades said it officially opened an upgraded Terminal 4 that will accommodate cruise growth in Fort Lauderdale.

The $24 million project moved the passenger drop-off for the 140,000 square foot terminal to the east side from the west to eliminate traffic conflicts with Terminal 2.

The terminal also added 172 surface parking spaces, replaced an old escalator with two new escalators and two new elevators, installed 50 new check-in counters, a new loading bridge and a 4-by-40-foot ceramic mural entitled “Pelican Path” that will be used to guide cruise guests from the arrival area onto their ship.

The Fort Lauderdale port next plans to lengthen the adjacent slip by 250 feet, for a total 1,150 feet of berth length. The $18 million slip extension is slated to be completed by the end of 2016.

Ship originally built for Carnival to replace damaged Bahamas Celebration

Posted on 29 December, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

It’s official: Florida’s Port of Palm Beach will be getting a replacement ship for Bahamas Celebration, which was damaged after striking an object when sailing from Freeport Oct. 31.

Grand Celebration, built in 1987 as Celebration for Carnival Cruise Lines, is to begin operating as early as February for the newly named Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, the Port of Palm Beach confirmed Tuesday. The ship will depart every other day on two-night Bahamas round-trips and offer cruise and resort vacation packages of four to eight nights.

‘This is a tremendous day for the Port of Palm Beach and Palm Beach County,’ executive port director Manuel Almira said.

According to port chairman Edward Oppel, the agreement for a new multi-day cruise vessel will generate an average of nearly $3.9m of annual net revenue and significant spending for Palm Beach County.

The 47,000gt Grand Celebration can carry about 1,800 passengers, about the same as the ship it’s replacing. Most recently Grand Celebration was named Costa Celebration and, previously under operation by Iberocruceros, Grand Celebration.

It recently underwent a €4.5m refurbishment. Carnival Corp. & plc management referred to the ship’s sale during Friday’s earnings call. CFO David Bernstein said the sale had a 0.3% impact on overall costs, on an available lower berth day basis, in the fourth quarter

Bahamas Celebration, which grounded on Halloween night outside Freeport with no injuries, had entered Grand Bahama Shipyard for repairs. The vessel was built in 1981 and previously sailed as Prinsesse Ragnhild for Color Line before undergoing a major conversion in 2009 to begin Bahamas cruises from Florida. At 36,000gt, it is smaller than Grand Celebration.

Grand Celebration has 10 public decks and 751 cabins, more than 60% with ocean views. There are 14 terrace suites. The pool deck has five pools and Jacuzzis. Other public areas include a spa and fitness center, five restaurants and a casino.

The Port of Palm Beach said the ship’s 950-seat ‘performance center’ will stage big-name concerts.

Oasis of the Seas in Southampton

Posted on 27 October, 2014 by Spacejunkie2

Oasis of the Seas in Southampton

Oasis of the Seas has now finished having her refit and finally came into the port of Southampton earlier today. It was a big deal to have the world’s largest cruise ship (joint with her sister Allure) stop off at the UK’s port. Many visitors made their way to Southampton just to get a glimpse of just how larger Oasis is.

If you were not lucky enough to see Oasis of the Seas in Southampton, there are pictures over on the Daily Echo, as well as a video of her entering the port below. This was such a big occasion and so we had tug boats spraying water, as well as helicopters circling her as she manoeuvred into City Cruise Terminal.

Oasis of the Seas video 1

This is the first time that Oasis of the Seas has visited the UK, and so took a lot of skill to get such a large ship into port, although the experience of the Captain and pilots made certain everything went smoothly.

Many cruise lovers made the trip down to Southampton in order to see just how magnificent this giant of a cruise ship is.

She is due to set sail again later tonight, once the more than 6,000 passengers have boarded. Once she leaves port, the destination will be Fort Lauderale, Florida, calling at Vigo, Spain along the way.