CRUISE NEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTARY
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Disney Wish arriving in Port Canaveral. (photo courtesy Canaveral Port Authority).
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Disney Wish Arrives At Her New Home Port Canaveral
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On June 20, 2022, Disney Cruise Line's first new ship in over a decade arrived at her homeport Port Canaveral, Florida. Disney Wish is 144,000 gross tons and is powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), which is a more environmentally-friendly fuel than conventional cruise ship fuels. According to Port Canaveral, it is the only cruise port in North America capable of fueling such ships.
Built at Germany's Meyer Werft shipyard, Disney Wish is the first ship in Disney's Triton class. Two more ships are scheduled to follow. Following her christening ceremony in Port Canaveral, Disney Wish will offer three- and four-night itineraries to The Bahamas with stops at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. Her inaugural sailing from the Port’s Cruise Terminal 8 will be July 14th. |
Disney Dream at Port Canaveral. (Photos courtesy of Canaveral Port Authority).
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Costa Fleet Expands And Contracts
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Costa Cruises' held a christening ceremony for its newest ship Costa Toscana in Barcelona, Spain on June 16th. The LNG-powered ship is the first ship in Costa's Excellence class. She is 185,000 gross tons and features an interior designed to re-create the colors and atmosphere of the Tuscany region of Italy.
Meanwhile, it was announced that two of Costa Cruise's most recent ships, Costa Firenze and Costa Venezia, will join sister brand Carnival Cruise Line in a program called “Costa by Carnival.” Carnival will operate the two ships but they will retain an overall Italian flavor. Venezia will join Carnival in the Spring of 2023 sailing from New York while Firenze will join in 2024 sailing from Long Beach. Both Costa ships are Venezia class ships which are sisters to Carnival's Vista class ships Carnival Panorama, Carnival Horizon and Carnival Vista. This move follows an earlier announcement that Costa Luminosa will leave the Costa fleet in September and join Carnival Cruise Line as Carnival Luminosa. The 92,720 gross ton ship is a sister ship to Carnival's Spirit class ships, Carnival Sprirt, Carnival Pride, Carnival Legend and Carnival Miracle. When she joins Carnival, Luminosa is scheduled to serve the Australian market. In the same announcement, it was stated that earlier plans to transfer Costa Magica to Carnival Cruise Line have been cancelled and that Magica will stay with Costa. Carnival's next ship, Carnival Celebration, under construction at Meyer Turku in Finland, will receive a 1934 Rolls Royce that was off-loaded from Carnival Ecstasy on June 16. The car has been a fixture on Ecstasy for three decades and will grace a bar on Celebration that will feature memorabilia from earlier Carnival ships. The new LNG-powered ship, the second in Carnival's Excel class, is scheduled to enter service in November 2022. |
Above: Costa Toscana in Barcelona.
Below: Costa Venezia is coming to New York. (Both photos courtesy of Costa Cruises). 
Above: Costa Luminosa.
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Viking Saturn Floated Out
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Viking Cruises' Viking Saturn reached a major milestone in its construction when she was floated out at Fincantieri’s Ancona shipyard on June 23, 2022. When completed the ship will be 47,800 tons, with 465 staterooms that can host 930 guests. Her design is identical to Viking's previous ocean-going ships. She is expected to enter service with voyages in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe in April 2023.
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Viking Saturn. (photo courtesy of Viking Cruises)
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Cruise news notes and commentary - - Junel 2022