Construction work begins in earnest this week at Banana Coast in Trujillo, Honduras, a $20 million Caribbean cruise destination. A two-ship cruise dock and themed retail shopping village are under development and slated for completion in late 2012.

Compagnie du Ponant, which recently added 17 Caribbean sailings, is offering limited-time savings of up to 25 percent off a seven-night St. Martin roundtrip. The two 2012 sailings aboard the 330-foot mega-yacht Le Levant visit ports in the British Virgin Islands, French West Indies, Antigua and St. Kitts-Nevis.

Norwegian Cruise Line says it will host its first "Tweetup" cruise on a sailing in November. The idea behind the SeaTweetup Cruise (@SeaTweetup) is that Twitter users can share their cruise experiences with followers and build more traffic, according to the line. The cruise is being coordinated with the help of several members of the South Florida social media community.

Carnival Cruise Lines's Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises brands will have three new ships join them by 2016. Carnival Cruise Lines has reached agreements for the construction of three new cruise ships: a 132,000-ton vessel for the Costa Cruises brand and two 125,000-ton ships for its AIDA Cruises brand.

Spain’s Alicante could be set to receive an influx of cruise passengers. Representatives of seven US cruise companies will visit Alicante from Thursday September 22 to Saturday 24 to explore the possibility of using the port and city on their cruise itineraries.

Costa Cruises’ newest ship, the Costa Fascinosa, fleet, was floated out July 29 during a technical launch ceremony at the Fincantieri shipyard in Marghera, Italy. The 114,500-ton, 3,800-passenger ship is set to debut May 2, 2012. Costa’s total investment in Costa Fascinosa is €510 million ($734 million).