AIDA Cruises announced on 21st September that the first engine room module for the new AIDAnova was launched from the Neptune shipyard in Rostock. The 120m long, 42m wide and 3-deck high module, featuring four Caterpillar dual-fuel engines, was towed to Meyer Werft in Papenburg 25th-28th September to become part of the new ship, sailing via the Kiel Canal under tow. The voyage along the River Ems took place on 28th September. The second such module for the AIDAnova is currently under construction at the Neptun shipyard for delivery towards the end of November 2017. This will contain the 35m long and 8m diameter LNG tanks with a total capacity of 3,550m3.

Carnival Cruises (Australia) is to deploy the 108,865gt/2001 built Golden Princess (above) to P&O Cruises (Australia) in 2020 in place of the 113,562gt/2008 built Carnival Splendor at the end of 2019. Princess Cruises will in turn replace the Golden Princess with the 113,561gt/2008 built Ruby Princess.

The 77,441gt/1995 built Sun Princess (above) will be redeployed to homeport in Fremantle in October and early November 2018, operating five departures including a mix of short breaks and longer cruises. The announcement follows the West Australian Government’s commitment to carry out dredging at Broome Port next year, which will enable cruise ships all-tide access.

Carnival Cruises’ 71,909gt/1998 built Carnival Elation (above) was nearing completion of her extensive refit on 4th October. The ship was originally scheduled to re-enter service 28th September but was removed from dry dock at Freeport’s Grand Bahama Shipyard as a precautionary measure ahead of Hurricane Irma. This subsequently postponed the completion date and the Carnival Fascination, whose cruises had been cancelled as a result of Hurricane Maria, temporarily covered for the ‘Elation. The delayed ship finally made her ex-refit debut on 7th October sporting an expansive new WaterWorks park, 38 new cabins, 98 balconies to existing staterooms and a variety of new food and beverage concepts. The ship’s new features include Guy’s Burger Joint, RedFrog Rum Bar, BlueIguana Cantina (a complimentary poolside Mexican eatery), BlueIguana Tequila Bar (Mexican-themed) and Camp Ocean (a colourful marine-inspired play area designed for children ages 2-11). The new staterooms include two Grand Vista suites, 22 junior suites, two scenic ocean view cabins and 12 inside cabins. All staterooms now offer new island-inspired interiors with bright decor and soothing pastels inspired by the ship’s itineraries.

Celebrity Cruises has revealed plans for a $400 million modernisation of its entire fleet through to 2023. Dubbed the ‘Celebrity Revolution’, the investment is the largest the brand has ever made to modernise the fleet and it says it will raise the bar in modern luxury travel. Staterooms will be refurbished to maximise storage and 11,579 new cashmere mattresses will be introduced. Suite guests will have access to a new retreat sundeck and the retreat lounge will be revamped. A new OceanView Cafe inspired by an international marketplace will also be introduced on the Celebrity Constellation, Celebrity Infinity (above), Celebrity Millennium and Celebrity Summit. On 12th October they announced that it is to offer legal same-sex marriages on board, something made possible following a monumental vote in the fleet’s country of registry, Malta.

Emerald Waterways held its final launch for 2017 with the Emerald Liberté, the third in the trio of new Star Ships, which was officially christened on 1st October in Lyon, France. Australian travel industry veteran and long-standing cruise and tour director Maxine Collins took the honours as Godmother during the official christening ceremony. The Emerald Liberté’s christening follows the official launch of the Emerald Radiance in Porto in June with top UK travel agent Gill Williams as godmother whilst the Emerald Destiny, the first of the new vessels, was christened in Vienna in May by godmother Coleen Christie, an award-winning Canadian newscaster. The fleet of 138 guest capacity Star Ships now totals seven since the Emerald Waterways brand launched in 2014. This year alone the river cruise line has welcomed over 17,000 guests onto the Rhine, Main and Danube, Portugal’s Douro, and the Rhône and Saône rivers in France.

Hapag Lloyd’s newbuild Hanseatic Inspiration was the subject of a steel cutting ceremony on 5th October at the VARD shipyard in Tulcea, Romania (above). The ship is the second expedition ship for the TUI Group company and the contract for the two expedition ships, which will be positioned in the five-star expedition segment, was awarded to the Norwegian VARD Group, a subsidiary of the Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri. The ship’s hull is being built in Tulcea before being transported to the VARD Langsten shipyard in Norway for the interior fitting out. The first 230 passenger capacity ship in the series will be the Hanseatic Nature.

Port of Bergen has announced that it will cap the number of cruise calls per day to four ships and/or 9,000 passengers, citing occasional congestion during the summer. The city’s popularity, its attractive location and steady growth of visitors has in recent years led to discussions as to how many visitors the city can comfortably accommodate per day. The cruise schedule for 2018 already shows several days with five ships in port. For 2017, Bergen had 325 calls bringing in approximately 510,000 passengers compared to 490,546 passengers in 2016. The first four-ship day will be 17th May 2018 when the Magellan, Saga Pearl II, MSC Preziosa and Deutschland are visiting.

Norwegian Cruise Line revealed on 3rd October that, after her 2018 season in the Baltic, the 145,655gt and 4,000 passenger Norwegian Breakaway (above) will reposition from New York to New Orleans for her winter 2018/19 season and cruise to the Caribbean, visiting ports of call including Cozumel and Costa Maya, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Roatán and the island destination of Harvest Caye, Belize. The Norwegian Breakaway will be the largest and newest ship from NCL to sail from New Orleans and will arrive in her new homeport on 11th November for a variety of cruises through to 7th April 2019.

P&O Cruises’ 76,152gt/2000 built Aurora (above) suffered a fire in her engine room on 20th September whilst en-route from Bermuda to the Azores. Reports suggest that the ship was disabled and suffered a blackout but the fire was extinguished in an hour, according to passengers who posted their messages on social media. The ship was then able to continue her voyage and returned to Southampton as scheduled on 26th September.

TUI Cruises’ New Mein Schiff 1 completed her construction stage on 29th September and was floated out from Meyer Turku’s dry dock for further interior outfitting before delivery (above). This marked another important step towards bringing the many improvements that are coming with New Mein Schiff 1 & 2 to reality. The ship is an evolution of the successful Mein Schiff 6. She will be 20m longer (315m total) than her predecessor, which allowed for substantial redesign and further improvement of the interior spaces. The delivery will be in spring 2018. The New Mein Schiff 1 is the fifth ship (starting with the Mein Schiff 3 in 2014) built by Meyer Turku shipyard for German TUI Cruises. The New Mein Schiff 1 will be named in Hamburg on the 11th May 2018 prior to entering service shortly afterwards. The ship will replace the current 76,998gt 1996 built Mein Schiff 1. The 99,526gt 2014 built Mein Schiff 3 became the largest cruise ship to call at London International Cruise Terminal in Tilbury on 12th September. The 293.3m long ship was constructed at Meyer Turku Shipyard in Finland in 2014.

The Keel of the new Mein Schiff 2 was laid on 5th October at Meyer Turku (above), marking the important production milestone at the beginning of the hull assembly. She will be the sixth ship built by Meyer Turku for TUI Cruises. The New Mein Schiff 2 will be delivered in early 2019. The event took place in the middle of a very visible investment at the yard as the parts of the new 1,200t and 130m high goliath gantry crane were being positioned in readiness for an eventual construction starting in week 41.