Australis Cruise Line of Patagonia has revealed the name of its new expedition cruise ship, Ventus Australis, currently under construction at Asenav shipyard in southern Chile. The 210-passenger ship will be launched in late 2017. Built for cruising on the southern tip of South America, the Ventus Australis will replace the smaller, 136-passenger Via Australis, which was built in 2005 and sold recently to Lindblad Expeditions. The Ventus Australis will be a twin sister to the 210-passenger Stella Australis, launched in 2010 and the new ship will offer cruises from Ushuaia in Argentina to Punta Arenas in Chile.

Azamara Club Cruises’ 30,277gt/2000 built Azamara Journey will make her Australian debut in early 2017. Her maiden Australian season will see the ship call into Australian ports 21 times.

CMV’s 16,144gt/1948 built Astoria (above) will operate her farewell season in Spring 2017 with itineraries from Tilbury to Amsterdam and Antwerp, Springtime Gardens and the River Seine, Land of the Northern Lights, Round Britain and the Majestic Fjords. The forthcoming Columbus will depart on her maiden World Cruise from London Tilbury on 5th January 2018.

Costa Cruises’ ill-fated Costa Concordia, or what remains of her (above), departed on its final voyage on 1st September from a dry dock in Genoa for final dismantling operations. With the removal of the last two sponsons in late August, preliminary operations for the transfer from the area ex Super Bacino to Dry Dock no. 4, where the vessel will be dismantled over the upcoming months, were concluded.

Crystal Cruises will undertake an historic rendezvous in Sydney Harbour in 2018 when the Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony meet up on 17th February as part of their respective world cruises.

Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 arrived into New York on 8th September for the dawn of New York Fashion Week, following a successful seven-night voyage from Southampton seeing fashion royalty on board including Dame Zandra Rhodes CBE, Colin McDowell MBE, Fern Mallis and Gail Sackloff OBE, treated to a host of runway shows, glamorous dinners and exclusive unveilings.

Fathom added two Cuba Cruise dates in autumn 2016 in response to strong consumer demand for its cruises, namely 9th October and 6th November, both week-long voyages aboard the 30,277gt/2001 built Adonia.

Floating Accommodations has been managing the 40,171gt/1982 built former cruise ship Ocean Gala and secured work for her as an accommodation ship. The former Island Escape found this new role in February when Sweden signed a deal to lodge 1,800 asylum seekers aboard the ship in Utansjo, Harnosand, on the Baltic Sea. However, Harnosand municipality vetoed hosting the ship and the Swedish migration board accepted that decision, before scrapping the deal with Floating Accommodation entirely in July, arguing that the necessary requirements had not been met. The Swedish migration agency (Migrationsverket) has refused to pay a 54 million kronor ($6.44 million) bill for the costs of running the ship. The Swedish authority argues that Floating Accommodations defied the initial refusal to have the ship at Utansjo and has been billing Migrationsverket around 800,000 kronor per day since the start of July for the running costs of the ship. The situation rumbles on but the Ocean Gala is now up for sale for around $20 million.