Welcome to the weekly Cruise News Digest. Here you can catch up on the past week’s cruise news and all things La Lido Loca.
Let’s dive in!
Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, made a big announcement for Disney Cruise Line at the recent Walt Disney Company D23 Showcase. The cruise line will be expanding its fleet by 4 new ships between 2027 and 2031. Disney Cruise Line currently sails 5 ships and has 4 other ships in the works between 2024 and 2029. With this announcement, the Disney Cruise Line fleet will increase to the lucky number 13.
News out of Virgin Voyages brings us “a collection of the most iconic sailings…ever.” The series of Marvelous Voyages include sailings aboard Valiant Lady and Scarlet Lady during the solar eclipse of August 2026, unique sailings in the British Isles & Baltics aboard Valiant Lady, sailings in Europe & Beyond aboard Valiant Lady and Scarlet Lady, as well as sailings in the Panama Canal and up the United States West Coast into Canada aboard Brilliant Lady. Bookings open to the public this week.
Also from Virgin Voyages, Resilient Lady is on her way to Portsmouth, United Kingdom where she will make her debut on August 23, 2024. She will sail a series of 3- to 6-night roundtrip voyages from Portsmouth that sail throughout the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. Ports of call will include Bruges, Belgium; La Coruña and Bilbao, Spain; Bordeaux, France; as well as overnight stays in Amsterdam.
Cruise protestors are ramping up their protest. This past week, members of the Dutch environmental group Extinction Rebellion successfully blocked Royal Caribbean International’s Jewel of the Seas from the Port of Amsterdam on August 10, 2024. They returned to the port the next day and successfully delayed Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Mariner from disembarking on time. The protestors glued and chained themselves to critical locks at the bridge and gate at the IJmuiden causing the disruption.
MSC Cruises and Explora Journeys are joining with the world leader in container shipping, their sister company MSC, to bring the freshest food to their guests. Smart containers will bring the ability to monitor the position, temperature and humidity of the goods being transported in real time and issue an immediate alert if a problem arises.
Princess Cruises is making enhancements to its Princess Premier package. The three enhancements are an unlimited Premier beverage package, unlimited specialty dining, and unlimited MedallionNet Max Wi-Fi. With these enhancements to the package, Princess Cruises is “making all-inclusive cruising super easy.” The new price of $90 per person per day still adds up to more than a 70% savings if all service packages were purchased individually.
There you have it. This week’s Cruise News Digest. If you are looking for more cruising content and vlogs, be sure you are following (with the notification bell on) La Lido Loca’s YouTube Channel. Tony just returned from an amazing Greenland and Iceland itinerary aboard the Caribbean Princess and you will not want to miss any of those vlogs! If you would also like extra exclusive live cruising content and more, become a patreon member of Loca Extra.
Speaking of Iceland and Greenland…LEGO fans–be sure to check out Tony’s Loca Bricks channel to see his amazing finds while there.
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