Tag Archives: homeport

Time to Party on the Carnival Vista

Posted on by
Reply

Carnival Vista is a cruise ship built for Carnival Cruise Line, which was delivered on April 28th 2016.[9] Sea trials were completed in March 2016. The ship’s maiden voyage is set to embark on May 1, 2016 from Trieste, Italy on a 13 day Europe Cruise that ends in Barcelona, Spain.

Design and construction

By gross tonnage, she will be the largest ship within Carnival Cruise Lines’s fleet. The ship is under construction in the Fincantieri shipyard of Monfalcone (Gorizia) and will be expected to be delivered by April 2016.

The first steel for the ship was cut in late February 2014, and the keel was laid in October 2014.[9] The Carnival Vista Coin Ceremony/Float out was done in June 2015. [10]

Carnival Vista is the first Carnival cruise ship fitted with ABB Azipod propulsion units since the 2004-built Carnival Miracle.

Home port

Vista will operate an inaugural season in the Mediterranean from May to October 2016 before repositioning to New York to offer a pair of round trip cruises.

She will then move to her new homeport in Miami in November 2016 where she will sail year around.

She will offer 6 and 8 day Caribbean cruises with ports of call such as Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire.
 

SkyRide new to cruising.

Features

Carnival Vista will have outdoor spots like Havana Bar & Pool, SkyRide at SportSquare (an 800-foot-long track suspended around its top deck that passengers can circle in pedal-powered capsules[12]), and Seafood Shack plus plenty of spaces like the first IMAX at sea. 
 
The Vista has custom Cuban themed staterooms and new Family Harbor staterooms. 
 
The Clubhouse features indoor activities like mini-bowling and arcade-style basketball, soccer, volleyball and table tennis. The ship will also have SkyGreens, a mini golf course on Deck 12.
 
Tonnage: 133,500 GT
Length: 1,062 ft (324 m)
Beam:
122 ft (37 m)
158 ft (48 m) at pool decks [7]
Draught: 27 ft (8.2 m)
Decks: 15
Propulsion: Diesel-electric; Two ABB Azipod XO units
Speed: 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Capacity: 3,936 passengers (double occupancy)
Crew: 1,450
Name: Carnival Vista[1][2]
Owner: Carnival Corporation & plc
Operator: Carnival Cruise Line
Port of registry:  Panama
Route: 8-13 Day European cruise from May 2016 – October 2016
Ordered: 2012
Builder: Fincantieri, Italy
Cost: US$780 million
Way number: 6242
Laid down: October 14, 2014
Launched: 25 June 2015
Acquired: April 28, 2016
Maiden voyage: May 1, 2016
Identification: IMO 9692569
Status: In Service
 
 

Voyager of the Seas to spend next summer in Hong Kong

Posted on by
Reply

By Tom Stieghorst
Royal Caribbean International will homeport Voyager of the Seas in Hong Kong for the summer of 2015.

The 3,138-passenger ship will sail 22 cruises of three to 10 days between the end of June and October.

Destinations include Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and ports in China.

“Hong Kong has immense potential as a homeport for Chinese vacationers to board a Royal Caribbean cruise,” said Zinan Liu, RCCL’s regional vice president of Asia and managing director of China.

He added that Voyager will get an extensive revitalization before it arrives in Hong Kong next summer.

To support the ship’s operations, RCCL has opened a fully staffed Hong Kong office, augmenting the Asia offices it now maintains in Beijing and Shanghai.

Voyager’s move to Hong Kong will coincide with the arrival of Quantum of the Seas to do year-round cruises from Shanghai.

Royal Caribbean is a partner in the company that operates the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong, which opened last year.

Carnival Sunshine Comes to New Homeport

Posted on by
Reply

After a major renovation, Carnival Sunshine is welcomed in New OrleansBy: Chere Coen

The renewed Carnival Sunshine will homeport in New Orleans. // © 2013 Carnival Cruise Lines

The Details

It seemed appropriate that Carnival’s massive restoration project — the newly rebuilt Sunshine, transformed from the former Carnival Destiny — should have its renaming ceremony in New Orleans. Not only is Louisiana’s state song “You Are My Sunshine,” but winter in the Bayou State remains balmy for the most part, and Carnival Sunshine will host seven-night Caribbean cruises from New Orleans until the spring, while Carnival Elation continues to sail four- and five-night cruises.

The ship, which received an extensive $155 million makeover earlier this year, arrived in New Orleans following a 16-day transatlantic crossing. The 3,006-passenger Carnival Sunshine was renamed on Nov. 17 with a ceremony featuring Gerry Cahill, Carnival president and CEO, and Lin Arison, wife of the late Ted Arison, founder of Carnival Cruise Lines and godmother to the Sunshine.

“We did something in the cruise ship industry that no one has ever done before,” Cahill said of the renovation. “We rebuilt virtually every guestroom on the ship. This was more difficult than building a new ship.”

“It was an amazing thing to see what can be done on a ship,” said Arison, whose association with Carnival Cruise Lines dates back to the company’s inception in 1972 when she named Mardi Gras, the line’s first ship.

The naming ceremony included a performance by the Destrehan High School Band, chosen from the New Orleans area in a competition, and members of the National YoungArts Foundation. Along with her late husband, Arison founded the program as well as the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. Carnival donated $25,000 to each.

“Carnival has taken it further with these gifts for young artists,” Arison said, just before pulling the symbolic ribbon while the audience watched a video of a champagne bottle hitting the ship’s exterior.

Most of those in attendance were travel agents, media and corporate guests, all getting a first-hand look at the newly designed ship before it embarked the following day on a special six-day cruise. Carnival Sunshine remains in New Orleans until April 2014, when it heads to Port Canaveral, Fla., for year-round, five- to eight-day Caribbean departures.

“I am extremely picky, and I was very pleased,” said Terri Howell, owner of Dream Cruises, which has offices in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La.

Howell had already begun booking cruises for her clients on the Sunshine but she was even more “revved up and ready to sell” after the ceremony.

“I am 100 percent satisfied and am extremely happy to be selling the Sunshine, even though it’s only here for a few months,” she said.

Kathy Lavalla, owner of Vacation Makers Travel in New Orleans, was impressed by the ship’s varied restaurant choices and the hallways, which sport teak doorways, bright colors and beach photos on the walls.

“I love how many dining venues there are,” Lavalla said. “There are so many options.”

Having a ship docked in downtown New Orleans with a massive waterpark on the top deck makes it easy to sell. Lavalla added that children will see the ship and demand that their parents to take them on a cruise.

“Cruises in general are an easy sell in New Orleans,” Lavalla said. “The city is a great port location because visitors can stay a night in New Orleans and see quite a bit in town before sailing. If you come even one day early to New Orleans, you find so many things to do — for families as well as couples.”

The only drawback, both agents agreed, was that Carnival Sunshine would only stay in New Orleans for the winter.

“I wish it could stay longer,” Lavalla said.