Marella Cruises will offer voyages to Canada

A new 14-night East Coast Adventure sailing, departing Port Canaveral in October 2023 and calling at Newport, Bar Harbor, Saint John, Sydney, Halifax and Boston, will go on sale on 21 July, along with the line’s full winter 2023 programme. 

Speaking to TTG on Tuesday (28 June), managing director of cruise at Tui UK and Ireland Chris Hackney said the new itineraries will “bring North America to life”.

“It’s a great time of year to go to Canada, and we’re really excited to go there for the first time,” he added.

“We’re going to different parts of the US and offering a nice range of options. It brings to life the different destinations, whether it be the south, the north, it will be very appealing to customers and it will help tick off those bucket-list holidays.”

Discovery will also offer a 12-night Stateside Discovery sailing, departing Port Canaveral and calling at Miami, New Orleans, the Dominican Republic and Barbados.

Meanwhile, the line’s newest ship, Marella Voyager, will offer three Caribbean itineraries from Barbados in winter 2023, including an eight-night Paradise Islands sailing in November 2023, which calls at Tortola, Saint Maarten, Saint Kitts, Antigua and Dominica.

Elsewhere, Marella Discovery II will homeport in Singapore and offer a 14-night Eastern Experience sailing, calling at Laem Chabang, Phu My, Malacca, Langkawi and Patong Bay.

“We have operated in Asia in the past, but this time we will homeport out of Singapore, where the ship will overnight, giving customers the opportunity to experience the destination in the day and the evening,” Hackney added.

“In the past, we have received really good feedback from customers on being in a place like Singapore, where you’re centrally located in such a vibrant city, so we think it will go down really well.

“Everything is really exciting, and these new itineraries allow us to bring in some new destinations, we have a lot of customers who ask when we’re going back to Asia and it’s great to be able to bring it back for next winter for customers to see some fantastic parts of the world.”

Carnival Cruise Line Has Carried Two Million Guests Since Restart

As the first major U.S. cruise line with its full fleet back in guest service since the industry’s restart in 2021, Carnival Cruise Line has now reached the milestone of welcoming two million guests, according to a press release sent out on Thursday.

The milestone was commemorated today in Port Canaveral, Fla. aboard Carnival Freedom as the Gibbs family – Daniel and Kristi with son Mason and grandmother Theresa Campbell – from Ocala, Fla. boarded the ship. They were surprised with fanfare from Carnival Freedom’s Captain Mario Imbimbo, Hotel Director, Cruise Director and team members. 

In addition, during this time, guests have taken more than 1.3 million shore excursions in Carnival’s destination ports, and two million Carnival-branded items have been sold in the gift shops fleetwide, including 150,000 items from the line’s 50th Birthday collection.

“We are so pleased to have sailed two million guests since our restart, providing much-needed vacations featuring our signature fun to an array of destinations in the Caribbean, The Bahamas, the Mexican Riviera, Alaska and Europe,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “All the while, providing an economic boost to those destinations and providing our crew members with opportunities to support their families.”

Carnival will restart in its 14th homeport of New York City in June with Carnival Magic and has announced plans that Carnival Splendor will restart in Australia following its Alaska season with a three-day cruise departing Sydney on October 2, 2022.

And in November, Carnival’s newest ship, Carnival Celebration, featuring a roller coaster and powered by Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), will debut in Miami.

Norwegian Escape Resumes Service After Repairs

The Norwegian Escape is back in action. After a month out of service due to a grounding incident, the Norwegian Cruise Line ship welcomed guests back on Saturday in Port Canaveral.

Marking its first cruise since Mar. 12, the 2015-built vessel departed on a seven-night Eastern Caribbean voyage that includes calls in Tortola, St. Thomas, Puerto Plata and Great Stirrup Cay.

The Norwegian Escape ran aground off Puerto Plata on Mar. 14. The ship was freed on the following morning but was said to have suffered minor damage.

With the ship back alongside in the Dominican Republic, guests were sent back to the United States between Mar. 16-18 using charter flights.

Upon returning to its homeport with no passengers on board, the Escape remained docked in Port Canaveral while repairs were being carried out.

A total of five cruises have been affected by the incident. While the Mar. 19, Mar. 26, Apr. 2 and Apr. 9 departures have been entirely cancelled, the Mar. 12 sailing was cut short due to the event.

Upon completing the Apr. 16 Caribbean cruise, the Norwegian Escape is set to cross the Atlantic for a summer season in Europe.

Based in Civitavecchia, Italy, the vessel is offering a series of ten- and 11-night cruises to the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.