Royal Caribbean International has marked the first steel cutting for its second Icon-class cruise ship, an intended sister ship to Icon of the Seas. The second ship, which will join Icon of the Seas as the largest cruise ship ever built, is due for delivery in 2025. No name has been announced for the second Icon-class ship, which is currently known only as “Project NB-1401”. <img … [Read more...]
TUI to sail from UAE to Greece during tail-end of 2023/24 cruise season
TUI Cruises is offering a 15-night Dubai to Greece cruise aboard Mein Schiff 5 in May, 2024, at the tail-end of the 2023/24 cruise season. Mein Schiff 5 will join Mein Schiff 2 in cruising from the region during the season, but while Mein Schiff 2 will homeport in Dubai throughout the season, Mein Schiff 5’s cruise to Greece will be a repositioning voyage between her cruise seasons in Asia and … [Read more...]
Oceania offering Dubai cruises aboard both Insignia and Riviera in 2024
Oceania Cruises will sail a pair of novel cruises from Dubai in 2024, with two of its ships scheduled to depart the city on consecutive days, both bound for Barcelona, but sailing different itineraries. Insignia will sail from Dubai to Barcelona on May 13, 2024, while Riviera will also sail from Dubai to Barcelona, but on May 14th. While Insignia’s itinerary will be a 24-night voyage, Riviera … [Read more...]
New ship Azamara Onward to cruise Dubai to Istanbul during 2024
Azamara’s new cruise ship Aamara Onward will sail a destination-heavy 21-night cruise from Dubai in the UAE to Istanbul in Turkey in 2024. Although new to Azamara (the ship was purchased from Princess Cruises in 2021), Azamara Onward was actually built in 1999 and spent many years sailing as Pacific Princess prior to the pandemic. Fully refurbished and refitted to Azamara standards, the ship is … [Read more...]
Cunard offering 2024 Queen Mary 2 Dubai cruise to Southampton or New York
Cunard Line is bringing its flagship Queen Mary 2 back to the UAE in 2024, with a 21-night cruise from Dubai to Southampton, with the option of extending it into a 28-night voyage that includes a trans-Atlantic crossing to New York. Queen Mary 2 cruised from Dubai in 2023 on her eastward voyage to Singapore and Sydney, where she spent part of the summer before returning to Europe via Cape Town, … [Read more...]
MSC responds to Steve Hoffmeyer criticism after he was dropped from theme cruise
MSC Cruises South Africa has released a statement insisting it was not behind the decision to remove South African musician Steve Hofmeyr from an upcoming themed cruise aboard MSC Sinfonia. Steve Hofmeyr, an Afrikaans singer known for his racially divisive statements, said in a recent Facebook video that the cruise line had sided with “woke snowflakes” and “left-wing radicals” over the thousands … [Read more...]
Cruise Review: Norwegian Jade – 12-night roundtrip Cape Town cruise on South African coast
Norwegian Cruise Line sailed a hugely successful debut cruise season out of Cape Town for the 2022/23 cruise season, offering a second mainstream cruise option for the local and international market, aboard a recently refurbished Norwegian Jade. <img data-lazy-fallback="1" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-21017" data-attachment-id="21017" … [Read more...]
How Africa is looking to invest in boosting cruise tourism after the pandemic
With Africa having borne the brunt of the economic crisis that came with the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns put in place to protect public health, many up-and-coming cruise destinations on the continent are now looking to the resurgent cruise industry for post-pandemic growth. <img data-lazy-fallback="1" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-18606" … [Read more...]
Explora Journeys holds coin ceremony for second luxury cruise liner
Explora Journeys has held a coin ceremony for Explora II, the second of its luxury cruise ships, with a total of six on order. Explora Journeys is a subsidiary of MSC Cruises, and will be its luxury cruise brand, similar to Regent Seven Seas Cruises for Norwegian Cruise Line, Silversea for Royal Caribbean, and Seabourn for Carnival Corporation. The coin ceremony for Explora II took place in … [Read more...]
Oceania ship Riviera to sail unusual 10-day cruise from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in 2023
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are just a few hours sailing distance apart on the UAE coastline, but this year Riviera of Oceania Cruises will spend 10 days cruising from one port to another. Riviera will depart Dubai on December 19th, 2023 and arrive in Abu Dhabi on December 28th (with passengers disembarking on December 29th, because she spends the final night of the cruise in port). During the 10-day … [Read more...]
Seabourn announce Dubai to Athens cruise for 2024 aboard Encore
Seabourn are joining Silversea and Norwegian Cruise Line in sailing a popular Dubai to Athens itinerary, with Seabourn Encore departing Dubai on April 3rd, 2024. The 18-night itinerary can also be booked as a 25-night cruise ending in Venice, with additional port calls in the Greek Isles, Croatia and Italy. The Dubai to Athens cruise features 9 port calls and a transit of the iconic Suez Canal, … [Read more...]
P&O to repeat Dubai to Southampton cruise via Med aboard Arcadia in 2024
P&O Cruises will sail its annual Dubai to Southampton grand voyage in March, 2024 with Arcadia cruising from the Middle East through the Suez Canal and Mediterranean. Arcadia will follow an itinerary largely similar to her 2023 voyage from Dubai to Southampton, but instead of 18 nights, the 2024 cruise will be 19 nights, with the addition of Aqaba in Jordan as a port call. Prices for the … [Read more...]
Silversea to sail Dubai to Athens cruise aboard Silver Spirit in 2024
Silversea is sending Silver Spirit to Dubai in 2024 for a 16-night voyage from the Middle East to Piraeus, the gateway to Athens in Greece. Silver Spirit will cruise from Dubai on March 13th, 2024, visiting Oman, Jordan, Egypt, and Greece, as well as transiting the Suez Canal. This will be Silver Spirit’s first cruise from Dubai since 2022, when she sailed a 12-night cruise to India. <img … [Read more...]
Oceania Cruises to name new ship Allura, sister ship to Vista
Oceania Cruises has revealed the name of its new cruise ship as Allura, the second in the eponymously named new class of vessels. Allura will be the second Allura-class ship following the Vista, which is set to sail this May, while Allura is due for delivery in 2025. Both ships are currently under construction at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy. oceania allura “At Oceania Cruises, we are always … [Read more...]
MSC Cruises eyes Middle East growth with new general sales agent in Qatar
MSC Cruises has appointed United Tours and Cruise as its general sales agent in Qatar as its pushes to increase its market share in the Middle East cruise sector. The announcement was made during a ceremony aboard MSC World Europa on her port call in Doha, Qatar, during her 2022/23 cruise season in the region, sailing roundtrip from Dubai. A three-day educational roadshow for nearly 400 travel … [Read more...]
Regent Seven Seas new ship Seven Seas Grandeur floated out in Italy
Regent Seven Seas Cruises has marked the float out of its new cruise ship, the third in the ultra-luxury Explorer-class, Seven Seas Grandeur. Seven Seas Grandeur touched water for the first time at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, the same shipyard where her sister ships Seven Seas Explorer and Splendor were built. The ship is due to be delivered in November this year, and will debut in Miami, … [Read more...]
New Sun Princess to feature three-deck dining room and most advanced theatre ever
Princess Cruises new ship Sun Princess will feature the cruise line’s first triple-deck main dining room and the most advanced theatre in the fleet when she is introduced in 2025. These are some of the new details about the vessel released by the cruise line in a press release, which describes the ship as its most contemporary and state-of-the-art yet. Sun Princess will also be the first in the … [Read more...]
Costa Cruises signs agreement in Dubai to resume operations in Asia with Costa Serena
Costa Cruises has confirmed that Costa Serena will indeed be resuming operations in Asia this year, after previously throwing cold water on rumours of a coming announcement. Costa Cruises announced during a signing ceremony in Dubai that Costa Serena will be chartered to local South Korean and Taiwanese cruise operators for an Asian cruise season that will be targeted exclusively at the regional … [Read more...]
Cunard flagship Queen Mary 2 makes maiden call at Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal
Cunard Line‘s flagship, and the only remaining ocean liner in the world still in regular trans-Atlantic service, Queen Mary 2, has marked her maiden port call at Dubai’s new Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal. Queen Mary 2 called in Dubai on Thursday on the second leg of her 117-night roundtrip World Cruise from New York City. Cunard Line offered Dubai as a turnaround port for a 12-night Dubai to … [Read more...]
TUI upgrades to Mein Schiff 2 for 2023/24 cruise season in Dubai
In keeping with the ever-growing size of cruise ships sailing from Dubai, TUI Cruises has confirmed that it too is upgrading its tonnage in the region from Mein Schiff 6 to the newer and larger Mein Schiff 2. Mein Schiff 2 was delivered in 2019 and is around 12,000 gross tons larger than Mein Schiff 6, which is currently homeporting in Dubai for the 2022/23 cruise season. She carries 100 more … [Read more...]