Hundreds of crew members gathered at the Port Everglades pier and on the decks of the cruise ship MS Volendam to say farewell to their bellowed Master Captain Chris Turner. While he disembarked from his ship for the last time in Fort Lauderdale, the crew members of Volendam bid farewell to him with cheers, hugs and the whistle of the vessel! After 21 years’ service for Holland America Line Captain Chris Turner has finally retired on 18 January 2019.

Captain Adriano Binacchi and it’s amazing crew welcomed the professional tennis players onboard Carnival Spirit, marking the launch of the ATP Cup. This special event took place on January 7, while Carnival Spirit was docked in Sydney Harbour, Australia. The Captain and its crew shared some fun with tennis players Jamie Murray, Bruno Soares, Milos Raonic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Lucas Pouille, Diego Schwartzman and Nick Kyrgios during the Fast4 Tennis Launch held onboard.

An epic crew party took place on December 26, onboard the cruise ship MSC Fantasia. Brazilian and Filipino crew members decided to put their talents to the test in a friendly dance-off battle during an open deck party.

Ten cruise ships arrived in the port of Funchal, Madeira for the New Year’s celebrations carrying a total of 25,000 passengers and 9000 crew members, according to official data.

With the delivery of the first LNG-powered cruise ship named AIDAnova the cruise industry enters a new era. The German shipbuilder Meyer Werft delivered AIDAnova on December 12, the first vessel of the new generation cruise ships ordered by Carnival Corporation for AIDA Cruises. 

The most anticipated cruise ship of the year, Celebrity Edge was officially baptized during a Tuesday ceremony at Port Everglades by the godmother Malala Yousafzai. In front of 3,000 guests, employees, crew members and students this magnificent vessel was the first to be baptized by a Nobel Prize Laureate.

Scarlett Anthony from Adelaide, Australia is this year’s winner of the OTR Search for a Christmas Star competition. The 19-year-old super talented singer will shine before an audience of around 30,000 people at South Australia's largest Christmas Concert, the QBE Insurance Carols by Candlelight at Elder Park. Scarlet will sing the song Amazing Grace in an arrangement with a modern twist, “but respecting the original words and tune”.

The food prepared on board the Costa cruise ships not served to the guests from now on will be distributed to the ones who need it the most. The Spanish organization “Banc dels Aliments” and Costa Cruises signed an agreement for the food surplus to be distributed, among different NGOs in Barcelona.

The German Cruise operator TUI Cruises has done something unimaginable in the cruise world. From October this year, TUI Cruises has allowed access to guest public areas for all of their crew members when off-duty. Before this was only possible with the so-called “Leisure Time Cards” permit request which was distributed among the departments in limited numbers. With this privilege crew will have access to the bars, guests open decks and crew members may use the guest gym from 9 pm-midnight.