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!
Australia and New Zealand’s summer cruising season is ramping up. Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas and Princess Cruises’ Royal Princess are both debuting down under and sailing a six-month summer season in Australia and New Zealand. For the first time in the cruise line’s history, Disney Cruise Line has a ship sailing down under–Disney Wonder. Additionally, Virgin Voyages’ Resilient Lady will arrive in early December. Ships from numerous other cruise lines will also be in the region giving passengers more options than ever to explore Australia and New Zealand.
Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas is one step closer to her debut on January 27, 2024. She completed her first set of sea trials about four months ago and is completing her second set of sea trials now. This means it will not be long before she is ready to be delivered to Royal Caribbean which is to take place this month, November 2023.
Carnival Cruise Line released its holiday decorating schedule for its fleet. Decorating will begin the day after Thanksgiving with the last ship, Carnival Jubilee, being decorated before her inaugural voyage on December 23, 2023.
Carnival Cruise Line is also teaming up with local offices of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to honor hundreds of military heroes. There will be a series of tributes on board six ships while in their homeports during the week leading up to Veteran’s Day. Veterans will be invited to come on board the ship for a special military tribute and luncheon. The cruise line is also donating a van to each local VA office to assist in providing transportation for VA programs and services.
Norwegian Cruise Line revealed the name of its third Prima-class ship–Norwegian Aqua. She is currently under construction with renowned Italian shipbuilder, Fincantieri, and expected to debut in April 2025. Once completed, she will be ten percent larger than her sister ships in size at 1,056 feet long and capacity accommodating 3,571 guests at double occupancy. Bookings are open now.
And in “cruise news you don’t hear every day”–two cruisers allegedly stole two pieces of art from Carnival Legend on a recent cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda. The FBI has recovered the art from the alleged art thieves, but no formal charges have been filed.
There you have it. This week’s Cruise News Digest. Are you a member of the Loca Extra Patreon? You can join here and get extra live content and more. Have you been keeping up with Tony and the lovely Jenny B on the Halloween group cruise? La Lido Loca had even more cruise news, while La Lido Loca Two offers more cruising content along with the Cruise Podcast! Tony updates his weight loss journey over at Have To Lose. You can also join in on the conversation via social media on the La Lido Cruising Community and the Have to Lose Support Crew group pages.