Cruise & Ferry

Propulsion Issues, Updated Cruise Packages, Itineraries

Published

20 hours ago

July 26, 2025

Cruise Ships in Miami, Florida (Photo Credit: Lemongrass 001)

Are you ready for Cruise Hive’s comprehensive weekly news recap? Of course you are, so let’s dig in! Top headlines this week include the grand opening of the long-awaited Celebration Key, Carnival Cruise Line’s new private island destination, and the updating of Princess Cruises’ two add-on packages, Premier and Plus.

Also, find out which cruise ship had a temporary water shortage, and why a Celebrity Cruises’ voyage was cancelled.

Make sure you stay well-informed by signing up for Cruise Hive’s Daily Update, so the big cruise stories are delivered right to your inbox.

Cruise Line Officially Opens Celebration Key

Celebration Key Suncastle

The highly-anticipated opening of Carnival Cruise Line’s new private island destination, Celebration Key, went off without a hitch on July 19, 2025, with Carnival Vista becoming the first ship to deliver guests to the exclusive enclave on Grand Bahama Island.

The $600 million development featured live music, fireworks, scores of cruise line and local dignitaries, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Even Shaquille O’Neal showed up, throwing the first ball at the basketball court.

Guests got their first look at the Suncastle, where thrill seekers experienced two racing waterslides, the marketplace called Lonoko Cove, the adult-only Pearl Cove Beach Club, plus multiple pools, swim-up bars, lagoons, and warm turquoise waters.

Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald was there too, touring the destination and making videos to post on his social media. He showed off Celebration Key’s in-pool swings and the private cabanas available for rent, among other fun features of the destination.

Work is already underway to expand the pier so that more than one cruise ship can visit at the same time.

Ship’s Speed Issue Causes Cancellation of Caribbean Cruise

Celebrity Beyond Cruise Ship (Photo Credit: Darryl Brooks)

Ongoing propulsion issues caused Celebrity Cruises to cancel Celebrity Beyond’s July 20, 2025 voyage, a 7-night Caribbean cruise from PortMiami.

The sailing had been delayed by one day, but then the cruise line altered course and nixed the voyage outright. Guests had been looking forward to visiting Nassau, Bahamas, St. Thomas, USVI, and Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

The technical problem had surfaced on the ship’s previous cruise, which was late to return to port by one day due to the lowered speed of the vessel. Efforts to fix the problem were under way but work crews needed more time to assess and complete repairs.

Guests booked on the cancelled cruise were refunded and provided with a 100% future cruise credit, valid for any of the line’s voyages departing within one year. It also offered reimbursements for flights (up to $400) and hotel expenses (up to $250).

It is unclear whether any future cruises will be impacted by the needed repairs.

Princess Cruises Updates Its Add-On Packages’ Perks, Prices

Bar on Emerald Princess Cruise Ship (Photo Credit: Yingna Cai)

Princess Cruises added some new benefits to its Premier and Plus inclusive packages, and removed a few as well. The updated plans are on sale now and are valid for departures starting in 2026.

The costs of both packages rose. Premier jumped by $10 per person, per day, bringing the full cost to $100 per day, while Plus rose by $5 per day, to $65.

The prices of the add-on value plans are higher on the line’s two newest ships, Sun Princess and Star Princess. Premier packages cost $105 per person per day, while Plus plans cost $70 per person per day.

Specific changes include benefits tied to specialty dining and casual dining, the beverage packages, WiFi access, crew gratuities, and shore excursion credits.

For instance, the Premier plan now features a shore excursion credit up to $300 for cruises 21 days or longer; $200 for cruises of 10 to 20 days; and $100 for sailings of 6 to 9 days.

Gone from both packages are free fitness classes, among other perks the line said were not guest favorites.

Cruise Guests Arrested on Drug Charges in Bermuda

Carnival Pride in Bermuda (Photo Credit: EWY Media)

Four guests sailing aboard a Carnival Cruise Line ship to Bermuda were detained by the ship’s security team and then arrested by Bermuda police authorities upon arrival at Kings Wharf. The charge: possession with intent to sell drugs in the island nation.

According to police, the passengers allegedly had in their possession cannabis, THC vape pens and gummies, and a supply of carfentanyl, a synthetic opioid similar to fentanyl but stronger.

The Bermuda Police Service’s Narcotics Unit is investigating the case and the four suspects are in custody in Bermuda.

They are potentially subject to prosecution in Bermuda and the US. If convicted under the US Controlled Substances Import and Export Act, they could be fined up to $5 million and serve prison terms from up to 20 years to life.

Carnival Cruise Line’s zero-tolerance policy enables it to remove guests found to be in possession of illegal drugs and to ban them from sailing with the line in the future.

Onboard Water Shortage Prompts Itinerary Change

Ambition Cruise Ship (Photo Credit: Dmitry Rukhlenko)

A shortage of fresh water onboard Ambassador Cruise Line’s Ambition caused the ship to alter port calls so that she can take on a needed supply of H20 during her 11-night Normandy and British Isles cruise, which departed Newcastle on July 19, 2025.

The ship, for reasons unexplained, was unable to secure the full amount of needed water at her departure port.

Port calls to Portland and Fowey were swapped, making Portland an earlier call since the ship can take on a water supply at that destination.

The ship called at Portland on July 25, 2025, rather than the originally planned July 26, 2025. Ambition will call at Fowey on July 26 instead of July 25. Shore tours were adjusted to accommodate the itinerary change.

The 25-year-old ship carries 1,248 guests. The vessel can create fresh water from saltwater by using its Evaporators and Reverse Osmosis equipment, but cannot do so in all ports and sea areas.

Cruise Line Opens Sales on 500-Plus 2027 Voyages

Norwegian Getaway Departing New York (Photo Credit: Just dance)

Norwegian Cruise Line detailed its deployment plans for spring and summer of 2027 and opened for sale some 500 voyages that will visit nearly 60 countries.

Twenty ships will offer cruise vacations from 30 homeports, calling at 150 ports across the globe between April and October 2027.

Guests can choose to explore the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, the Caribbean, Alaska, Bermuda, Canada/New England, and even the South Pacific. Among the most noteworthy deployments are the homeporting of what will be the line’s newest ship, Norwegian Luna, in New York.

The 3,500-guest ship, which will enter service in April 2026, will offer sailings from the Big Apple to Bermuda, spending two overnights at the Royal Naval Dockyard.

Other highlights of the season feature Alaska voyages, with three ships — Norwegian Encore, Norwegian Bliss, and Norwegian Joy sailing roundtrip from Seattle, and another, Norwegian Jade, operating between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Whittier, Alaska.

Norwegian Prima will be among the ships based in Europe, sailing from Southampton to destinations including Croatia, Montenegro, Iceland, and Norway.

Three more ships will sail the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, bringing guests to classic ports such as Barcelona, Istanbul, and Rome.

MSC World Asia Unveils Updated Entertainment

The Harbour, MSC World Asia

When MSC Cruises’ MSC World Asia launches in December 2026, she will introduce new entertainment options for guests of all ages.

The Clubhouse, debuting on the mega-ship, is designed to be a magnet for families, with its retro games such as roller skating and bumper cars.

Several spaces are being refreshed and updated for the new-build, which can accommodate 6,700 guests with all berths filled.

Luna Park, which is already offered on MSC World Europa and MSC World America, will be improved as a multi-purpose destination, at times a space for youth activities, a nightclub, and themed parties.

The Harbour is also being redone for the new ship and will offer an outdoor adventure park with a ropes course and waterslides. The Tree of Life @ The Spiral, the longest dry slide at sea, will give thrill seekers 265 feet of twists and turns.

The ship’s World Theatre will be the setting for stage shows and musical performances, while World Promenade will host parades, street dances, light shows, and plenty more.

More Cruise Headlines

Looking for more cruise news? Cruise Hive has many more developments covered. Learn about protests that prevented a cruise ship from debarking guests at a Greek island; Antigua officials touring the construction site of the island’s new cruise terminal; and a famous shore excursion bar in Grand Turk getting a big expansion.

Also, the residential ship Villa Vie Odyssey adding a floating recreation platform, and erosion causing some problems at Disney Cruise Line’s private island destination.

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Cruise & Ferry

Israeli Cruise Ship, Rebuffed at Greek Island Ports over Gaza Genocide, becomes Flying Dutchman

Published

2 hours ago

July 27, 2025

the Editor

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Extreme-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to turn Israel into a 21st century version of the Flying Dutchman. Britannica tells us that Europe produced the legend of the “Flying Dutchman,” a ghostly vessel that is fated to sail forever. When sailors descry it in the distance, they know a catastrophe looms. One common version of the tale concerns a Captain Vanderdecken, who wagers his immortal soul, vowing to round the Cape of Good Hope amid a tempest. He and his ship end up being doomed to ply those same waters forevermore. The legend forms the subject matter of Richard Wagner’s opera, Der fliegende Holländer [The Flying Dutchman] (1843).

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” also refers to the story:

The Sun’s rim dips; the stars rush out;
At one stride comes the dark;
With far-heard whisper, o’er the sea,
Off shot the spectre-bark.”

Tuesday morning last week the Crown Iris cruise ship full of Israeli tourists tried to stop off at Syros island just south of Athens. They were blocked by a massive popular demonstration at the Ermoupolis harbor, conducted despite a curfew issued by the municipal authorities for local residents, forbidding traffic and circulation at the port in hopes of allowing the Israeli tourists to get off. People ignored the traffic ban to assemble anyway. In the end the cruiser had to cast off its moorings and depart without unloading any of its 1600 passengers.

The protest that blocked the disembarkation was staged by trade unionists and civil society groups, whose members flew large Palestinian flags and raised a banner emblazoned with the logo, “Stop the Genocide!”

Despite the attempt of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to get Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis to intervene, the protesters proved victorious. The center-right Greek government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis condemned the actions of the protesters.

The Crown Iris did manage to dock at Limassol in Cyprus, and then returned to Israel, before returning to Crete with the intention of going to the island of Rhodes.

But the unions and civil society organizations in Rhodes are now mobilizing against the visit, with a demonstration set for Monday afternoon (i.e. tomorrow) at the Old Commercial Port half an hour before the Crown Iris is scheduled to dock.

Organizers issued the following call:

“The Municipal Employees’ Association of Rhodes calls on its members, as well as on those who refuse to compromise with the very idea of slaughtering civilians, of their extermination by enforced starvation, and of systematic genocide — but who at the same time seek a just and viable solution to the Palestine issue — to gather at the old commercial port/ customs office at 3:00 PM on Monday, July 28.

“The message of our protest is clear: we resist the ongoing murderous policy of the extreme-right Netanyahu [ who they point out was indicted by the International Criminal Court as a war criminal] and his supporters — while we have nothing against those Israelis or Jews-by-religion who oppose the crime or do not participate in it.”

Although Israeli propagandists lambaste the protests as antisemitic, the organizers, at least, deny that they are about Jews or Jewishness or even about Israelis. They are protests against the genocidal policies, they say, of a particular Israeli government, which they characterize with the same Greek word typically used to refer to neo-Nazi parties in Europe such as as Germany’s AfD.

“Flying Cruise Ship,” Digital, ChatGPT, 2025

The episode, which has turned Israeli cruise ship passengers into the Flying Dutchmen of the Mediterranean, shows not rising anti-Jewish bigotry but the ways in which Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and a rogues gallery of war criminals at the top of the Israeli state have made Israel a pariah state. Their propaganda was always that Zionist state-making is crucial to Jewish safety, but their hard Right policies have boomeranged, making Israelis and Jews less safe. What would have made Israelis safe was an implementation of the Oslo Peace Accords, signed by Yitzhak Rabin in 1993, and which Netanyahu loudly and interminably boasts he destroyed.

There have been lots of protests against Israeli cargo ships — in Oslo, Istanbul, and San Francisco — and Spain declines to let Israeli ships believed to be carrying arms shipments dock at Spanish ports.

Alas, this is only the beginning. As images of the emaciated corpses of Gaza Palestinians, including children, emerge onto the world’s smartphone screens in the coming weeks — for all the world like the photographs taken by the American soldiers who liberated Nazi death camps such as Auschwitz — the pariah status of the Israeli state will be ever more solidly cemented.

Personally, I don’t agree with boycotting individual Israelis. People should be judged by their deeds, not by their origins. But this crime of the 21st century will unfortunately and inevitably cast a long shadow. And nor should Americans, who are joined at the hip with Netanyahu and his millenarian crazies, think they will themselves escape this gathering global opprobrium.

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Cruise & Ferry

New luxury cruise ship to sail from Southampton in 2026

Published

4 hours ago

July 27, 2025

Maya George

Explora III is set to launch in 2026, joining sister ships Explora I and Explora II under the Explora Journeys’ umbrella.

The MSC-owned cruise line is expanding its choice of “upmarket ships” to boost choice for customers.

And the increase in choice will be coming to Southampton in August 2026, the cruise liner revealed.

The maiden voyage of Explora III is set to take place on August 3, 2026, and will take passengers from Barcelona to Lisbon.

The vessel will then sail around the Mediterranean and the Norwegian Fjords from Southampton in August and September.

Anna Nash, president of Explora Journeys, said: “Today marks a proud milestone for Explora Journeys as we celebrate three remarkable ships, each a symbol of our ambition to redefine ultra-elegant ocean travel.

“This triple celebration reflects the strength of our vision.

“We are not just building ships; we are creating a legacy of transformative journeys that will endure for generations to come.”

The full fleet is set to comprise of six ships in total by 2028.

Explora I and Explora II are already welcoming guests, while Explora III will join the fleet in 2026, followed by Explora IV and Explora V in 2027, and Explora VI in 2028.

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