This past week delivered more bad weather and more cruise disruptions due to Hurricane Nicole. Luckily, the winds did not keep the cruise news at bay as we stayed on top of some amazing travel updates. As always, drop us a note below if there are any stories we missed in this cruise news October 16, 2016 edition.

Cruise News October 16, 2016

Hurricane Matthew Leaves its Mark in Bahamas

Hurricane Matthew has moved on from the Bahamas, but the impact of this massive storm remains. While some islands were left unscathed, like Royal Caribbean’s Labadee, Haiti, other locales were not so lucky. While Nassau, Bahamas is open to cruise ships, Freeport, Bahamas was still not ready to receive guests as of the end of last week. Carnival’s Half Moon Cay, Disney’s Castaway Cay, and Royal Caribbean’s Coco Cay survived and were accepting ships as of this weekend. NCL’s Great Stirrup Cay was closed for renovations and is still expected to reopen on time, as is the MSC Cruises’ Ocean Cay Marine Reserve, which will debut in October 2018.

Hurricane Nicole Hits Bermuda

Another hurricane in October? These late hurricane season storms continue to make cruise travel hectic. This time, it was hurricane Nicole, which made her way to Bermuda late last week. The storm altered several cruises headed to Bermuda from Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line. The storm also derailed Allure of the Seas, leading the ship further south to stop in Puerto Rico, instead of her original calls in St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Initial assessments indicate some damage and power outages throughout the island, but most of the storm’s impact looks to be manageable.

Cruise News October 16, 2016 – Kings Wharf, Bermuda

New Mediterranean Cruise Terminal

With more ships calling in the Mediterranean, it was about time popular home-ports got an upgrade. Roma Cruise Terminal announced that they have reached an agreement to construct a brand new, modern cruise terminal in Port of Civitavecchia. Costing upwards of 20 million Euros, construction will begin next month with the new terminal being completed and ready for 2018. The new 10,000 square meter facility will be able to handle 4,500 passengers with an efficient design making disembarkation and embarkation easier on guests. Could our first Mediterranean cruise be on the horizon?

Cruise News October 16, 2016 – Terminal Rendering, Courtesy of Roma Cruise Terminal

Norwegian Bliss to Homeport in Alaska

Norwegian’s newest ship is bound for the Pacific Northwest. NCL President, Andy Stuart, announced at the end of last week that the new Norwegian Bliss would have it’s debut season in Alaska in 2018. The 160,000+ gross ton mega-ship would be the largest vessel sailing way up north. After completing a transatlantic and Panama Canal cruise, Norwegian Bliss will bring the Breakaway-Plus class amenities to ports including Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria, British Columbia.  These round-trip cruises will depart from Seattle, WA and will be available for booking in Jan 2017. On second thought, perhaps a 2018 Alaskan cruise is in order?

New Royal Caribbean Class Announced

It what seemed to catch a number of individuals off guard, Royal Caribbean made a surprising announcement at the beginning of last week. A brand new class of Royal Caribbean ship, currently entitled the Icon Class, will debut in 2022. Few details were made public about this mega-ship that will be roughly 200,000 gross tons and host some 5,000 passengers. All we know right now is that this next generation vessel will be powered by Liquefied Natural Gas, a cleaner, more sustainable fuel. RCI’s current “newest ship” is the world’s largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas, which is over 220,000 gross tons.

Cruise News October 16, 2016 – Harmony of the Seas (source)

Details Leaked on Viking River Cruises in USA

Cruise Industry News stumbled upon some interesting news about Viking Cruises’ move into North America. According to documents they reviewed from the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, Viking Cruises may be looking to expand beyond just Mississippi river cruises. While the cruise line previously announced their Viking Mississippi ship in 2015, the company actually holds three trademarks. This would indicate that the company is looking to make a larger imprint in the US market, expanding to other waterways besides the Mississippi. We will surely have more updates as details emerge.

Comments

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