It took me 24 hours to write about the Costa Concordia’s disastrous cruise from Rome which resulted in five deaths and the latest estimate of 17 missing passengers because I’ve been covering the cruise industry for almost two decades. I know that Carnival Corporation, which owns Costa Cruises, is a leader in terms of building [...]
15 January
It has been many years since we’ve heard of a cruise ship failing CDC’s cruise ship sanitation inspection so it was a surprise to read in the UK’s Daily Mail Online that Cunard’s famous Queen Mary 2 (QM 2) scored 84 (a passing grade is 86). While some items on the list were small glitches [...]
25 June
OK, guys, I messed up big time. This story happened last year, not today!! Hey, I’m blond
Two passengers sailing aboard Louis Cruise Lines’ 1350-passenger Louis Magesty died when a 33-foot high rogue wave struck the ship today during a Mediterranean cruise.
According to the Daily Mail, “The vessel was struck Wednesday by three ‘abnormally [...]
16 March
Within memory we haven’t witnessed political unrest, crime and natural disasters impacting the cruise industry to the degree it is now. From rioting and political instability in the middle-East/Africa to crime in Mexico and Japan’s horrific earthquake, tsunami and potential nuclear disaster, itineraries on three continents have been changed and port calls canceled which is [...]
15 March
Last week Royal Caribbean announced that it would continue to do what it does best: build new cruise ships. Called “Project Sunshine”, the new class of 158,000-ton two vessels will carry 4,100 passengers. (Note, you add least a thousand people because, when cruise lines announce capacity, it’s based on double capacity while many staterooms have [...]
14 February
Due to the escalating violence in Egypt and for the safety of our guests, MSC Cruises has decided to alter the upcoming calls of MSC Magnifica and MSC Splendida at Alexandria on Sunday, January 30 and Monday, January 31.
Instead, MSC Magnifica will call at Limassol, Cyprus and Haifa, Israel on Sunday, January 30 [...]
28 January
Last weekend the media ran stories about gristly murders that occurred in Acapulco, a port of call on many Panama Canal and Mexico cruise itineraries. “15 Headless Bodies…” was the sensationalized part of the story, but, officials reported that a total of 28 people were murdered there on one day.
Will this cause [...]
11 January
*** Amid cheering crowds, music and fireworks, Disney Cruise Line proudly showed off its third vessel in a decade, the 128,000-ton Disney Dream. Emerging from a covered dry dock in Papenburg, Germany (above), the 4,000-passenger ship begins sailing on 3-, 4-day and 5-day Bahamas cruises from Port Canaveral (Orlando) starting January 26, 2011. New features [...]
01 November
*** Each year for over a decade we’ve eagerly awaited hotted new cruise ships with that “wow factor”. They are invariably the biggest ships ever built boasting an increasing number of restaurants and on-board attention-grabbing gimmicks like roller-blading on deck, ice skating, zip lining and first-class entertainment. There have been so many new ships [...]
01 October
I don’t think there’s any special interest you won’t find scheduled aboard a ship as a theme cruise. We’ve had cougars, scrapbooks and geeks, just to name a few. Now, those who hate the government don’t have to stay at home passively watching Fox News but can join other conservatives on a Tea Party cruise [...]
05 August
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ShipCritic Blog is a labor of love by Anne Campbell, a journalist who has been covering the cruise industry since 1993. Why a blog? This newfangled technology is the best way of interacting with cruisers, both first timers and veterans, who also share a passion for seeing the world by ship.
