In what's being called a “Thanksgiving Day miracle,” the U.S. Coast Guard rescued a 28-year-old passenger who'd gone overboard late Wednesday night from Carnival Valor. The ship was sailing southward from Louisiana to Cozumel, Mexico. The man had floated in the Gulf of Mexico for nearly a day before being hoisted into the Coast Guard helicopter Thursday night.
In other news, construction has begun on the third “Project Blue” hybrid catamaran vessel, a new class of vessel for American Cruise Lines. The U.S.-flagged, small-ship line plans 12 of these innovative,105-passenger “Coastal Cats.” The first two will begin sailing in 2023.
In the continuing progression of destinations and cruise lines eliminating COVID-19 restrictions, Star Clippers eliminated its passenger vaccination mandate. Non-vaccinated passengers will need to present a negative antigen test, performed within 48 hours of embarkation, or a negative RT-PCR test, performed within 72 hours of embarkation. The test must be administered by an authorized party and home tests will not be accepted.
Scenic Group USA said that during Scenic Eclipse's expedition cruise in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea this past week, a "katabatic wind event" occurred.The Scenic Neptune submersible was operating a routine excursion and returned to the surface with no injury to any guests or crew. (The wind affected the submersible’s return to the surface.) That said, ice floes slightly damaged the submersible's external tanks, so repairs are under way; the submersible will go back into service once that's completed.
During the recent Dream Vacations and CruiseOne national conference, Harry Sommer, president and CEO, Norwegian Cruise Line, offered fascinating insight about the line's new “no NCFs” policy, as well as cruise ship staffing levels, itineraries and more. Also at that conference, Brad Tolkin, co-chairman/CEO of World Travel Holdings, which owns both franchise travel agency brands, said 2022 will be the “best year ever,” and offered tidbits on cruise bookings, pricing and trends.
Cunard Line announced a partnership with the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. That group’s experts will lecture as part of Cunard’s “Insights” enrichment program. They’ll be aboard every Cunard voyage for Queen Elizabeth in the 2023 Alaska season (June through August) and on Queen Mary 2’s Canada/New England voyage from New York to Quebec in September.
On the personnel front, MSC Cruises appointed Erin Douglas as VP of field sales. Separately, SeaDream Yacht Club named John Webley as sales director for the southeastern U.S.
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