Canaveral to Get Sunshine, Liberty

New Carnival Ships to Call Port Canaveral Home

Sailing from Port Canaveral Post Card by CruiseReady 

In case you haven't heard - Next year, fans of Port Canaveral and Carnival Cruise Lines will have some new choices.  That's because, beginning in 2014, the line will re-position two ships that are currently sailing from East Central Florida's only cruise port, replacing them with two others.  Neither is a brand new ship, but both are new to Port Canaveral cruisers, and one has just undergone an extensive make-over.

The Sensation (pictured above) will be staying here, and will be joined by the Carnival Sunshine (replacing the Dream) in April and the Carnival Liberty (replacing the Ecstasy) in May.

Sunshine is the new name for  the older Carnival Destiny, which has undergone such an extensive refit that the cruise line felt it appropriate to re-christen her with a new name.  She'll sail 5, 7, and 8 night cruises, with each length sailing two choices of itineraries.

The seven and eight night itineraries of the Liberty will visit the same ports as those called on by the Sunshine.  The five night sailings will differ, however.

Sensation will continue to offer three and four night getaways to The Bahamas.

Carnival Sunshine Christening Scheduled

Godmother Lin Arison to Christen Sunshine

Photo credit: Piergiuliano Chesi , via Wikimedia Commons

Formerly the Carnival Destiny, the refurbishment of this ship has been so extensive that the  Cruise Line has deemed it appropriate to rechristen the vessel with a new name.

Although the ship is currently sailing the Med under her new name, she will officially be christened at New Orleans, LA, on November 17.   The re-positioning cruise departs from Barcelona on November 1.

Doing the honors at the official ceremony, which is by invitation only, will be the ship's godmother, Lin Arison, wife of Carnival's founder, Ted Arison (1924-1999).  

After gracing the Big Easy with her presence for several months, Sunshine will then home port in Port Canaveral, effectively switching places with the Dream, which will move to New Orleans.

Pool Deck Chair Police

Photo courtesy of natureworks, via morguefile

Don't you just hate it when you saunter up to the Lido Deck for a little sun, or a quick dip in the pool, only to find nearly every chair empty, save a personal item 'reserving' it for someone  who is nowhere to be seen?


Well, it seems that one of the cruise lines plans to do something about that.


Carnival Cruise Line will begin a test period of enforcement of a 40 minute pool chair saving rule, beginning with the Carnival Breeze.

Crew members on the Carnival Breeze will soon be patrolling the pool areas, searching for 'saved' lounge chairs. The employees will be equipped with stickers which they'll place on chairs containing shirts, towels, books, shoes, or other items being used to save them.   They'll write the time on the stickers before affixing them to said chairs.

 If the passenger owning the items neither begins occupying the chair nor removes the item or items in 40 minutes time, the items will be removed.  They'll be taken to either the towel exchange or to  lost and found desk, where the guest will need to reclaim them.

 The plan is to implement the 'pool chair police' system fleetwide after the test period on the Breeze.

Meet on Lido Button blue
by CruiseReady

Another article you might enjoy is Cruise Ship Swimming Pools.

Port Closings - T.S. Maria



Tropical Storm Maria

   With Tropical Storm Maria approaching, ports in the northeastern Caribbean are closed or will be closed to incoming vessels.

The Port of San Juan went to condition Yankee last night, which closes the port to incoming traffic.  It is likely that they will move into condition Zulu in the coming hours, and order all ships over a certain gross tonnage out to sea.

Currently due in to the Port of San Juan on Sunday are Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas, and the Carnival Victory.   At this time, Tropical Storm Maria is forecast to be passing to the north of San Juan on Sunday.  

As you can see from the attached satellite image, Maria covers a whole lot of  real estate .  Tropical storm force winds extend out some 200 miles from the center.  However, the NHC tells us that the northeast side of the storm is the worst.  While Puerto Rico may get some awfully bad weather, looks like it could have been worse.  Maria could have taken a more southerly route.

Niether RCCL or CCL has announced changes in  disembarkation / embarkation for tomorrow's scheduled sailings  - YET.  They may or may not have to.  It all depends on Maria.

Royal Caribbean is advising passengers scheduled to sail on Sunday to "monitor the Royal Caribbean website and their airlines for any additional updates regarding the storm and the status of the port."  Carnival cruisers should be monitoring the situation as well.

Royal Caribbean is stationing Guest Assistance Agents in baggage terminals B and D at the San Juan Airport.

The itinerary of the Oasis of the Seas has also been adjusted because of the storm.

Related Articles:

• Huirricane Tips for Cruisers
• Hurricane Season 2011 Predictions

New Year - New Ships

Happy New Year, fellow cruisers! 

May your 2011 be filled with health, prosperity, time well spent with loved ones,

and at least a few happy days at sea.

What's new in cruising for the New Year?  Well, one thing is that we can look forward to welcoming a few brand new ships into the world of cruising in the months ahead.  Here's a quick run-down of expected new launches:

JANUARY

The maiden voyage of  Oceania's Marina departs Barcelona for Miami on the 22nd. A Regatta class ship, but a bit larger than her sisters, at 66,000 gross registered tons, she'll carry 1250 passengers.

The Disney Dream will arrive at her home part of Port Canaveral for her inagural sailing on the 26th.  She's the first in the newest (bigger) class of ships for Disney Cruises.  (130,000 tons; 4000 pax)

APRIL
German line Aida Cruises launches Aida Sol.  (71,000 tons; 2050 pax)

MAY
Carnival debuts their 23rd ship, the Carnival Magic, sister to the Deam. After a season of sailing from Barcelona, she'll arrive at her new homeport of Galveston in November.   (130,000 tons; 3690 pax)

JUNE
The Seabourn Quest, new from the Yachts of Seabourn will begin sailing the Mediterranean and Greek Isles in mid to late June.  (332,000 tons; 450 pax)

JULY

Costa brings us their sixteenth ship, the Costa Favolosa, sailing the Med fromVenice, beginning on the 7th.   (114,500 tons; 3000 pax)

A new Solstice Class ship, the Celebrity Silhouette embarks the 23rd from Hamburg to Rome on her inaugural, then sails the Med and Middle East before coming to Bayonne, NJ in the fall.  (122,000 tons; 2850 pax)

Happy New Year from Cruising Musings!

In this New Year, may we all

Live, Love, Cruise, and be Happy!

Take advantage or Cruise Ready Store's New Year Sale -  discounts up to 20%.
Through Jan 4. See Store home page for details.

New for Carnival Cruisers - Comedy Clubs

Carnival Cruise Line has announced that they will be implementing "Punchliner" comdey clubs on all their ship. While the clubs are already operational on four ships (Carnival Glory, Carnival Pride, Carnival Sensation, and Carnival Dream,) the line says they will be available fleetwide shortly.

The clubs will offer multiple 35 minute shows per day, several of each cruise. Early evening shows will be family oriented, while late night shows will be filled with adult humor.

The new Punchliner Comedy Club will be located in the aft of the ships, where the current show lounges are getting some modifications to accomodate the new concept. Those changes include a new stage, and branded glassware and staff uniforms.

Sounds good to me ... My favorite thing to do on a cruise ship is to find a quiet place and just chill out, but a laughter-filled interlude now and then is just icing on the cake.

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PS - Keeping an eye on that piece of weather just above the Greater Antilles (See weather widget at left) It MAY develop into something that could affect The Bahamas, and possibly south Floirida over the next few days. I'll do an update if anything starts to come of it.

Carnival Ecstasy still at Sea (Alex) Next Sailing Delayed

Because of severe weather from Alex, the Carnival Ecstasy has been unable to  port at Galveston.    Carnival Cruise Line has announced the following change.

The next cruise will now be a 3 day cruise to nowhere beginning on Friday, July 2nd.  Bording will begin at 2 pm.

According to the Carnival website, "Guests that sail on the new 3 day cruise will receive a 25% refund of their cruise fare along with a 25% discount on a future 3 to 5 day cruise departing prior to April 30, 2012 as well as a $25 per person on board credit as a reimbursement for the Cozumel government taxes and fees." 
SOURCE: http://www.carnival.com/cms/faq/default.aspx#q-1

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Big Week for Charleston, Mobile

It's been a big week in two of America's gracious southern cities: Mobile and Charleston. Each city saw the first sailing of a newly homeported Carnival ship.


CHARLESTON became a year-round homeport this week, as Carnival's Fantasy took up residence there. Just before the ship embarked on her first sailing from her new home, officials from Charleston and the Fantasy celebrated in style, a traditional maritime plaque exchange, and a sailaway party at a portside venue. But the REAL action was on the pool deck, where local bigwigs competed against Carnival VPs and other personnel in waterslide races.

Meanwhile, MOBILE welcomed the Elation with its own maritime plaque ceremony featuring the ship's captain and the city's mayor. The Elation replaces the Fantasy, which was previously homeported at Mobile.

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CCL to Discontinue Calls at Antigua

UPDATE: It now appears that this information applies to the Carnival Victory only, and not other CCL ships that call at Antigua, such as the Carnival Freedom.
Starting the first of the year, if you want to cruise to Antigua, it will have to be on a cruise line other than Carnival, as the fun ships are dicontinuing their calls at that southern Caribbean port, effective January 2010. They'll be visiting St. Maarten instead.

As far as I can tell, you can still cruise there with any one of a number of other lines, including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess, and Norwegian Cruise Lines. It's a port we really enjoyed on our cruise aboard the Serenade of the Seas a few years back, so I'm glad that the option is still open.

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