Azamara Cruises took possession of the 30,277gt/2001 built Azamara Pursuit, formerly the Adonia, as of midday on 14th March whilst the ship was in dry dock at the Grand Bahama Shipyard being repainted into Azamara colours. The ship later set sail for Harland & Wolff, Belfast, to commence her 4 month internal refit, arriving there on 4th April. The naming and maiden voyage will take place at Southampton on 1st August.

Costa Crociere’s 85,619gt/2003 built Costa Mediterranea is the first Costa ship to feature the new graphic design with the ship name and Italian flag on the bow (above). The vessel’s hull was painted during stopovers in Marseille and Savona on 5th/6th April.

Cruceros Maritimos Vacacionales, Cruise & Maritime Voyages’ (CMV) Acapulco based venture, is preparing to launch cruises using the 46,052gt/1985 built and 1,400-passenger capacity Magellan from Acapulco during the winter season 2019. With the first sailing scheduled for 3rd February 2019, the Magellan will offer a seven-day programme, departing on Sundays, and calling at Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo. For 2019, the Magellan will operate 10 seven day cruises, but plans call for extending the 2020 season to five months and eventually possibly going to year-round operation according to Global Maritime Group, the parent company of CMV.

Cunard Line’s former world-famous ocean liner QE2 moved to Dubai drydock on 18th March to commence the conversion from ship to hotel for Port Rashid, finally. The ship no longer has working engines so the move was made using tugs. The conversion work includes the likes of sealing underwater openings that are no longer required, making arrangements for permanent attachment to the Port Rashid dockside and a new paint job. This was the ship’s first dry-docking since 2013 and her third while in Dubai. The vessel is now devoid of her lifeboats with some being retained for use at the site. The precise opening date for the ship as a hotel had not being revealed at the time of writing.

Disney Cruise Line released the first rendering of its new generation of ships in early March, with deliveries set for 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. The ships will be powered by LNG with capacity for 2,500 passengers and will have a gross tonnage of around 140,000gt. Whilst retaining the familiar and stylish profile of their predecessors, the new vessels will offer more innovation, new technologies, spectacular entertainment and more Disney stories and characters than ever before.

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is to hold the naming ceremony for its second expedition ship, the Hanseatic Inspiration in Antwerp on 13th October 2019. This will be the first time in the city’s history that an ocean-going cruise ship has been christened in Antwerp.

Poseidon Expedition’s 4,200gt/1991 built and 114 passenger capacity Sea Spirit is to be fitted with with new retractable fin stabilizers next year. The vessel will be retrofitted with the new computer controlled technology during her scheduled drydock in May 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal, just prior to the commencement of the 2019 Arctic season. Along with the technical improvements, more than $2.5 million in refurbishments have been undertaken to passenger areas (all cabins and public areas) over the past few years.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ second newbuild, the 55,500gt Seven Seas Splendor, had her steel cutting ceremony on 15th March 2018 at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Ancona. The delivery is scheduled for early 2020. The ceremony was attended, among others, for the ship owner by Jason Montague, President and CEO of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Robin Lindsay, Executive Vice President of Vessel Operations of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and, for Fincantieri, Giovanni Stecconi, Director of the Ancona shipyard. The ship will be 224m long and accommodate 754 passengers on board in 375 spacious suites. The new ship follows on from the Seven Seas Explorer that was delivered by the shipyard in Sestri Ponente (Genoa) in June 2017.

Seabourn Cruises’ new 40,350gt/2018 built Seabourn Ovation has completed her final round of sea trials in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy. The new ultra-luxury vessel for Seabourn departed the Fincantieri shipyard in Genoa on 14th March for four days at sea. Seabourn’s fifth ship will begin her maiden season on 5th May with an 11 day inaugural voyage from Venice, Italy to Barcelona, Spain.

Silversea’s Silver Spirit went to Fincantieri’s Palermo Shipyard in March to be cut in two and receive a new 15m mid-section. The 36,009gt/2009 built and 195m long Silver Spirit was delivered by Fincantieri in Ancona and was able to accommodate over 540 passengers in 270 sea view suites, spread over 8 passenger decks. The lengthening and refurbishment project, the first of its kind on an ultra-luxury cruise ship, has been developed and carried out by Fincantieri’s Ship Repair and Conversion division (above).

SunStone’s first expedition newbuild had her steel cutting ceremony at the China Merchants Group on 17th March at Haimen in Jiangsu Province. The vessel could be joined by up to 10 sisterships but the initial build will be named the Greg Mortimer and will be chartered to Aurora Expeditions for the 2019-2020 Antarctica season. Ulstein Design and Solutions will supply the design and equipment package for the new SunStone expedition ships, as well as the supervision for the building of the vessels.