Norwegian Cruise Lines is coming back to the Big Easy. The Port of New Orleans and NCL announced that the Norwegian Sun will be the first ship to homeport in the city since Hurricane Katrina when it returns October 15.
The ship will sail seven-day Western Caribbean cruises. Prior to the hurricane, New Orleans was on pace to break the 1 million-passenger mark, according to Port of New Orleans President and CEO Gary LaGrange.
Cruise liner Queen Mary 2 with its 2,600 passengers is currently sailing for Ushuaia and Punta Arenas after having spent thirteen hours in Montevideo, where Cunard Lines put on a big public relations operation.
The world´s largest, longest, tallest, grandest ocean liner ever was received last Sunday in Montevideo by the Uruguayan Minister of Tourism Hector Lescano and a display of typical River Plate music and dance groups.
Carnival Cruise Lines has added a number of new shore excursions, ranging from canopy and railway excursions to kayaking and safari expeditions, to its 2006 Alaska season.
With the new tours, more than 100 shore excursions are available in conjunction with Carnival Spirit´s seven-day Glacier Bay and Glacier Route cruises that sail northbound from Vancouver or southbound from Whittier/Anchorage from May 10 to September 13, 2006.
This summer, travelers who combine any two consecutive Northern Europe cruise vacations aboard Discovery can enjoy free air, city sightseeing and added savings.
As part of the combination cruise promotion, passengers receive free air transportation from select East Coast cities, a complimentary full-day sightseeing tour in Cambridge, England, and an additional five percent discount. Vacationers not from the East can also save with low air add-on fares of just $99 from the Central U.S. and $199 from the West Coast.
Cunard Line will give passengers on the Queen Mary 2 a full refund of the cruise fare between New York or Fort Lauderdale and Rio de Janeiro after the ship, which has been slowed by propulsion problems, cut three calls from its itinerary. Originally, the line had offered a 50 percent refund to passengers.
One of the QM2´s four propulsion pods was damaged on January 17 as it struck the ship channel during an attempt to depart Fort Lauderdale. The ship, which is on a cruise around South America, left Fort Lauderdale two days late and missed calls in St. Kitts, Barbados and Salvador, Brazil.
In a bid to explore the possibilities of cooperation in the area of cruise shipping, India and the Bahamas have decided to enter into a memorandum of understanding in this regard.
The decision was taken at a meeting between Union Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T.R. Baalu and the visiting Foreign Affairs and Public Service Minster of the Bahamas, Frederick Mitchell, here yesterday.