Holland America Line and the city of Rotterdam extended the charter contract for the cruise ship Volendam to house Ukrainian refugees through September 14, 2022.
Holland America Line’s Zaandam, the 10th ship in the fleet to resume cruise operations, returned to service on May 12, 2022 from Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Zaandam embarked guests for a nine-day Atlantic Coast cruise to Montreal, Canada, that will position it in Canada/New England through October.
The delivery ceremony of Viking's latest ocean vessel, Viking Mars was held at the Fincantieri shipyard in Ancona, Italy. Viking Mars set off for Valletta, Malta, where Lady Fione Carnarvon the ship’s godmother, will officially name the vessel on May 17. The ship will then sail across the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and Northern Europe before re-positioning itself at the end of the year for trips around Australia and New Zealand.
A small fire broke out in the engine room technical area on the Norwegian Cruise Lines’ ship Norwegian Escape yesterday morning, after the vessel departed from Civitavecchia on a 10-day round-trip to Greek Isles and Italy.
Code Bravo was sounded on the ship's PA system and the firefighting teams were quickly dispatched to the affected area.
A crew member was found dead yesterday afternoon onboard the cruise ship Aegean Goddess moored at the port of Heraklion, Crete. The crew member was identified as a 61-year-old Greek national who was working as a sailor aboard the vessel. Local media report that the sailor was found unconscious by his colleagues inside his cabin. An emergency medical team responded to the scene and confirmed the death.
Royal Caribbean International announced that the company has hired around 600 crew at the recruiting fair in Gambia held on May 8, at the Coco Ocean Hotel in Bijilo. The company recruited professionals for the following positions restaurant staff, cooks, laundry personnel, security officers, bar waiters, and photographers among others.
After the success at the Sanremo Festival, Costa Cruises one of the six national sponsors of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, launched the Eliovision, an alternative 'festival' connected by international waters aboard Costa Toscana. Elio and Le Storie Tese organized the event by launching an appeal on social media to find the right location and receiving an invitation from Fabio Rovazzi.
Cunard Line is limiting guest capacity on some sailings aboard Queen Victoria and Queen Marie 2 due to lack of crew. The company said that guest capacity will be limited in order to provide its distinctive service.
Celebrity Cruises announced that Simon Biles, will become the godmother of Celebrity Beyond, the foremost expected ship of the year within the industry that as of late debuted in Europe.
After pandemic lockout of more than two years, New Zealand is fully opening its borders starting from 11:59 p.m. on July 31, with cruise ships allowed to come back to ports on the same day. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the news today adding that the opening of New Zealand to the world is two months earlier than the previous time frame.
