The ANSA is reporting that the Costa Allegra was adrift after a fire near the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. All 1000 people on board have been reported as safe, but the engines are currently down.  The fire, which broke out near the generators is now out and cargo ships nearby have been called upon to help with the rescue.

Customer confidence in Costa is obviously down since the Concordia tragedy, so this new incident comes at an inopportune time.
More details will be reported as they become available.

Passengers from the Carnival Splendor were robbed at gunpoint coming back from a ship-sponsored shore excursion in Puerto Vallarta on Thursday.  A Mexican media outlet has reported that the passengers were returning to the ship after spending time in a tourist area, El Nogalito. At around 5:00 PM, masked assailants stopped the bus and robbed 22 cruise passengers of their money, watches, cameras and other valuables. All passengers returned to the ship safely, and Carnival released a statement that they were working to reimburse the victims and to help them obtain any lost passports and identification. The guided nature tour which they were on has been suspended by the cruise line.

This recent attack is not the first in Puerto Vallarta to put cruise passengers in danger.  Just months ago, an armed robbery near the passenger terminal occured in the afternoon while cruise passengers shopped nearby. Many people have been questioning the safety of cruise ships in the Mexican Riviera, with cruise lines pulling out such as Disney, and others such as Carnival replacing larger ships with smaller ones and reducing itineraries.  Yesterday's incident will certainly hurt confidence in this area.

Carnival sure has been busy with their deployments lately, and today is no exception.  More moves are coming for Carnival ships with some mystery around one in particular.  First, the Carnival Valor will be replacing the Victory in San Juan, increasing the capacity there from around 2,500 to 3,000. The itineraries for the Valor are week-long sailings with stops in St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and St. Maarten.

The Carnival Victory, in turn, will be moving to Miami will be sailing 4 and 5 day cruises to either Cozumel and Key West or Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay for the 4 day cruises and Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios for the 5 day itineraries.  Both ships will offer special repositioning itineraries in late Jan- early Feb of 2013.

The most interesting news to me is concerning the Carnival Destiny, which will be operating a 16 day transatlantic cruise on Feb 4th with stops along the Mediterranean and ending in Civitavecchia (port for Rome).  Details haven't been released yet about what the sailing season or itineraries will be for this ship, but there are a few intriguing things to note. First, Feb. 4th is extremely early for a transatlantic with most not taking place until mid to late March.  Does this mean a year-round ship for Europe?  Second, it ends in Civitavecchia which hints to me that it might be a homeport for the ship.  Remember, the Legend will homeport in Barcelona and Venice when it is in the Western Mediterranean.  Its itineraries also tend to be longer. Will the Destiny be operating 7 day Western Mediterranean itineraries? We'll see. And how exciting is it to have two Carnival options in Europe next year?!? You know my answer. Stay tuned for more news!

Carnival has just announced that the Carnival Legend, a Spirit-class ship, will be heading to Europe in 2013.  The homeport will be Dover, UK with some Mediterranean sailings leaving from Barcelona and Venice. The ship will arrive in Europe on Aprill 22 after an April 7th trans-atlantic sailing that stops in Bermuda, the Azores, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca.  It will then begin a series of Mediterranean cruises before turning its attention North to the Baltics and the British Isles. The return to Tampa for a winter cruising season will begin on November 12, leaving the Legend in Europe for almost 6 months.

This news is extremely exciting for us as we love the value that Carnival provides, and Europe happens to be our favorite cruise itinerary.  John Heald has been hinting to a UK-based ship for some time, and we suspected it might be a Spirit-class ship, just because the size really seems to work for Europe.  Another exciting part of this announcement is that the Legend is not sticking to the normal itinerary of the Western Mediterranean, but is branching out to not only just the Baltics, but also the British Isles. Carnival has reported increased success in reaching British passengers in the past year, and this deployment is a step in affirming that relationship. 


The Spirit-class ships are usually among the highest-rated ships for Carnival at 88,000 gross tons.  With a longer, more sleek look than some of their fleetmates, these ships are usually praised for layout, and all feature Carnival's Supper Club. 

What do you think of the news? Does a Carnival ship in Europe make you more likely to cruise there?