THE CROWN
PRINCESS, which cut its previous cruise short after it
listed between 16 and 18 degrees, was back in its home port of
Brooklyn, N.Y., last weekend and departed on its current cruise at
5 p.m. on July 22. The list occurred after the ship had departed
Port Canaveral, Fla., for Brooklyn on the last leg of the July 11
cruise; about 240 passengers were injured, and of those 94 were
transferred to local hospitals. All were expected to recover. The
cause of the incident has not yet been determined; investigators
from the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety
Board were onboard the ship last week. Princess said that interior
damage to the ship, all superficial, was repaired quickly.
PASSENGERS
EMBARKING in Brooklyn said they were confident the U.S.
Coast Guard would not have cleared the ship to sail with passengers
if it was not safe but wished Princess would divulge what the
problem had been. "We were reluctant, but when we heard how many
checks and double checks the Coast Guard was doing, we thought this
is the safest time to go," said Miriam Weiler of Bronxville, N.Y.
Others were happy about the 50% discount offered to passengers on
the July 22 sailing. "That's the main reason to go," said John
Graves of New York, part of a group of 20 friends that whittled
down to eight after the incident. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here,
either." The ship, which departed Brooklyn two days behind
schedule, will miss calls in Puerto Rico and St. Thomas.
CELEBRITY
CRUISES ordered a third ship in its Solstice class, a
118,000-ton vessel from German shipbuilder Meyer Werft due for
delivery in June 2010. The other 2,850-berth Solstice-class ships,
the Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox, are scheduled for
delivery in fall 2008 and summer 2009, respectively. The
just-ordered vessel will be Celebrity's most expensive to-date,
with an all-in cost of around $698 million, based on current
exchange rates.
CRUISE
SHIPS are helping evacuate foreign nationals from Lebanon
as fighting with Israel continues. The Orient Queen, formerly
Festival Cruises' Bolero, was contracted from Lebanese cruise
operator Abou Merhi Cruises to help evacuate U.S. citizens from
Beirut. It will operate as a ferry between Lebanon and Cyprus, the
U.S. Dept. of Defense said. Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a spokesman
at the Defense Department, said the U.S. has contracted a second
cruise ship, the 1,400-person Rahmah, which is owned and operated
by Saudi company Namma International Trading Industry Services, for
the same route, and it is looking at contracting additional
vessels.