Disney revises Mediterranean voyage

Posted on 28 December, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Disney Cruise Line altered a Mediterranean cruise next summer to eliminate port calls in Greece, Turkey and Malta.

The 12-night cruise on the Disney Magic is scheduled to depart Barcelona on Aug. 1. Its original itinerary included Athens as well as Mykonos in Greece, Kusadasi in Turkey and Valletta in Malta.

Other cruise lines have scrapped calls to the Greek island of Lesbos because of the refugee crisis and Turkey because of security concerns.

Disney has revised the itinerary almost completely, leaving only one port, Civitavecchia, from the original lineup. The cruise will now call in Olbia, Sardinia; Civitavecchia, Naples and Livorno, Italy; Palermo, Sicily; Villefranche-sur-Mer and Cannes, France; and Palma de Mallorca.

In a letter to travel agents, Disney said, “We realize this is a considerable change from the previously published itinerary and hope you and your client understand our desire to only provide the best possible experiences to our guests.”

Customers have been given a choice of a refund, a change of sailings, or a $1,000 onboard credit if they stick with their original booking.

Cruise Ship Affected By Strong Winds In Mediterranean

Posted on 10 March, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Photo By: LiveBoat.it

Thanks to CruiseHive.com

A Costa Cruise ship sailing in the Mediterranean has been affected by bad weather conditions including strong winds.

Apparently according to local Italian media the neoRomatica which is operated by Costa Cruises had a scary ordeal during a Mediterranean cruise. The ship sailed into a storm on Thursday night March 5th near the vessels last port of call at Trapani, Sicily. The storm was producing wind gusts of around 60 mph which also caused strong waves to hit the 57,000 gross ton cruise ship.

The neoRomantica was forced to let go one of its anchors so the strong conditions wouldn’t knock it out of action. The anchor was apparently hitting the ship’s bow very strong which has done some damage as seen in the featured image. An Italian forum has messages from passengers who were onboard the ship at the time:

” Moments of panic !!! staff on board certainly very prepared to deal with the situation! We were forced to stay almost a full day in the hallway without eating almost had it not been for some apple and a few bottles of water !!! ”

“My boss is on board, I confirm cabins flooded (including that of my head, not accessible to virtually all day yesterday, the water is coming down from the ceiling, wetting the bed and carpet, you name it) and the black out” .

Here is one video posted by a YouTube user who was a passenger onboard neoRomantic as the storm was just starting to get more intense:

So it seems some Cabins had been flooded but this could have been from water pipes inside the ship. With the heavy rocking and banging of the waves against the ships hull it’s possible that pipes could burst. As a result of the damage the ship diverted to Savona, Italy instead of sailing back to its home port of Marseille, France. Passengers were taken back to Marseille by bus.

Cruise Hive has requested further details from Costa Cruises and will update this report once we get a response.

Carnival Vista to sail from Miami

Posted on 8 February, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners approved a new lease for Carnival Corp. at Port Miami that stipulates the Carnival Vista will use the port after it is delivered next year.

The deal calls for Carnival Vista to sail from Port Miami for 24 months out of its first three years in service. Carnival had not previously disclosed where Vista would sail from after its inaugural series of cruises next summer in the Mediterranean.

Carnival’s newest ship, Carnival Breeze, currently sails from Miami. Its next most recent ship, Carnival Magic, debuted in Galveston, Texas, after a European summer launch.