Cruise News

Today's Cruise News brief looks at how ship redeployments, refurbishments, and port upgrades are reshaping future cruise choices. Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas marks ten years in service and returns to Port Canaveral in late July 2026 for year-round Caribbean and Bahamas sailings, following a Royal Amplified refit that added new venues and more than 100 staterooms. Costa Cruises' Costa Serena begins a farewell Asia season before a 65-night Tokyo-to-Buenos Aires repositioning voyage and new South America cruises, part of Costa's 200 million euro revitalization program. And American Cruise Lines advances plans for a 3 million dollar floating dock in Wrangell, Alaska, targeting a 2027 in-service date to bring overnight cruise stays to the Southeast Alaska port.

Today on Cruise News: Virgin Voyages is turning the total solar eclipse of August 12, 2026 into a bucket-list voyage, sending Valiant Lady and Scarlet Lady to sea with astronaut talks, a Virgin Galactic Q&A, and solar physics sessions across 15- and 12-night sailings through Iceland, the British Isles, and the Mediterranean. MSC Cruises has begun sea trials for MSC World Asia, the 333.3-meter, roughly 6,760-guest third World Class ship built at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, ahead of its December 4, 2026 debut from Barcelona. And Royal Caribbean Group is stepping back from port ownership, with Global Ports Holding buying its remaining stake in Turkey's Kusadasi Cruise Port and agreeing to acquire a further 10 percent of Lisbon Cruise Port, reshaping who runs the ports behind popular itineraries.

Today on Cruise News: Margaritaville at Sea will bring its three-ship fleet — Paradise, Islander, and Beachcomber — together in Nassau on January 28, 2027 for a private Zac Brown Band concert at the Nassau Cruise Port Amphitheater, part of a five-year agreement guaranteeing 170 port calls and a projected one million passenger movements. Bacardi is expanding its reusable-packaging partnership with ecoSPIRITS after a Carnival Cruise Line pilot launched in August 2023 eliminated more than 130,000 single-use glass bottles and cut over 82,000 kilograms of packaging waste, using refillable ecoTOTE containers with SmartPour dispensing. And AIDA Cruises unveiled six themed winter 2026-27 sailings aboard AIDAnova and AIDAprima — spanning comedy, wellness, darts, a family program, Spanish nights, and a Norway ski festival — running from late November 2026 through late March 2027.

Today's Cruise News covers three developments from around the industry. Carnival Adventure missed its scheduled call at Mystery Island, Vanuatu, on July 11 after a technical issue with the pontoon door closing mechanism delayed departure from Port Vila and Vanuatu's biosecurity rules barred nighttime inter-island travel; Carnival gave guests AU$100 in onboard credit per stateroom and refunded prepaid Mystery Island excursions. Carnival Cruise Line also revived the Destiny name for its 2029 Ace-class flagship, a 230,000-gross-ton, LNG-powered ship from Fincantieri designed to carry more than 8,000 guests, echoing the original 1996 Destiny that was the first cruise ship to top 100,000 gross tons. And Norwegian Cruise Line completed its Vibe Beach Club rollout on Norwegian Jade and Norwegian Gem, bringing the adults-only sun deck to both Jewel-class ships alongside expanded Mandara Spa thermal suites and full Starbucks stores following three-week dry docks in May.

Today on Cruise News: Princess Cruises' Crown Princess and Oceania Cruises' Oceania Vista both skipped St. John's, Newfoundland on July 14 over a forecast of rain and winds around 20 mph, affecting roughly 4,300 lower-berth passengers even though Canadian authorities identified no severe weather. Port Canaveral is advancing $175 million in cruise infrastructure, including a $78 million renovation that nearly doubles Cruise Terminal 5 to 170,000 square feet and a $93 million, 13-story Cruise Terminal 6 East garage adding about 3,700 parking spaces, as the port works to speed guests from vehicle to vessel after a record 8,602,047 passenger movements in fiscal 2025. And MSC Cruises will debut a 300-square-meter Venchi chocolate boutique, cafe, and gelateria aboard the new LNG-powered MSC World Asia, the Turin chocolatier's first shop on an MSC World Class ship, when the vessel enters Mediterranean service on December 4, 2026.

Three cruise stories today. Aboard Virgin Voyages' Scarlet Lady, a 35-year-old Spanish passenger was arrested by the Hellenic Coast Guard in Souda, Crete, on July 10 on suspicion of possessing and distributing cocaine and cannabis after ship security alerted authorities; the passenger was released by the Chania prosecutor, flown to Spain, and banned from rejoining the voyage without a refund. Royal Caribbean canceled the July 11 sailing of Spectrum of the Seas from Shanghai after Typhoon Bavi forced the government closure of Baoshan port, offering full refunds, future cruise credits, and travel reimbursements with claims due by September 10. And Galveston Wharves is studying a fifth cruise terminal at Pier 14 as passenger traffic climbs toward an estimated four million in 2026, part of a $2.4 billion, 25-year master plan.

Today's brief looks ahead to three future-planning cruise stories. Semester at Sea opened applications for its 104-day 2027 voyage aboard the World Odyssey, sailing September 9, 2027 from Ijmuiden, Netherlands and ending in Thailand in late December, with calls in Portugal, Morocco, Brazil, St. Helena, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Uniworld Boutique River Cruises added a complimentary pre- or post-cruise hotel stay to select 2027 Europe river itineraries on the Danube and Douro, bookable through August 31, 2026. And Ponant Explorations opened bookings for more than 150 Europe cruises running October 2027 through November 2028 across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Islands and Northern Europe.

Today's Cruise News covers three stories shaping where cruisers can go and how they get there. Egypt and Turkey denied port calls to Virgin Voyages' Scarlet Lady during a 10-night Atlantis Events charter, prompting a revised Eastern Mediterranean itinerary for roughly 1,900 guests. The U.S. Department of State kept Turks and Caicos at a Level 2 advisory, urging increased caution at the busy Grand Turk cruise port over crime, vendor scams, and strict firearms laws that have led to tourist prosecutions over stray ammunition. And Atlas Ocean Voyages added six fly-cruise departures for the 2027-28 Antarctica season, letting travelers trade the roughly two-day Drake Passage crossing for a two-hour charter flight from Punta Arenas, Chile to King George Island.

Today on Cruise News: Huna Totem Corporation is scaling back its Áak'w Landing cruise dock in downtown Juneau after costs topped $250 million, trimming the planned indoor space from 50,000 to 18,000 square feet even as Juneau's new daily passenger limits take effect for the 2026 season. In Finland, the Meyer Turku shipyard lifted the 25-meter-tall AquaDome onto Royal Caribbean's Hero of the Seas, the fourth Icon-class ship, ahead of its August 2027 debut from PortMiami. And Costa Cruises rolls out a summer sale with up to $500 off select cabins and up to 30 percent off its My Drinks package, with a booking deadline of August 9, 2026. Visit CruiseNews.io for the full stories.

Today's Cruise News weighs cruise industry growth against rising environmental scrutiny. A University of Southampton study links ultrafine particles from cruise ships at the Port of Southampton to lung cell inflammation, pointing to metals such as vanadium measured near the terminals. Carnival Cruise Line begins construction on Carnival Destiny, the first of its LNG-powered Ace class at roughly 230,000 gross tons, at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard in Italy, with delivery set for summer 2029. And the Port of Galveston's Cruise Terminal 16 earns LEED Silver certification, reusing about 85 percent of former warehouse structures to handle up to 5,000 passengers. Together the stories trace what growth, green pressure, and future sailings may look like for passengers.