Norwegian Star, Battles Choppy Waters, Wind to Reach New York

Cruise Ship Battles Choppy Waters, Wind; Hits Pier in New York

The 2,348-passenger Norwegian Star grazed Pier 86 in New York -- where the USS Intrepid is docked -- as it attempted to pull into Pier 88. The incident was overshadowed by the flyover of the Enterprise space shuttle which occurred shortly thereafter.

Reports on Cruise message boards noted, "We just got home from our wonderful cruise on the Star and yes, the currents and wind were very strong. We made several attempts and it looked like we were going to make it on the last attempt but ended up hitting the pier...CRUNCH. Good thing there are wooden pilons that give a bit or we would have hit the concrete. The Intrepid is at the pier we hit. Lots of cross currents there which kept forcing the Star towards that pier. No one got hurt but we may see coverage on the news as there were news trucks for the space shuttle fly-over. We did get to see that also because of the delay in getting off the ship."

Though the accident did cause delayed disembarkation, damage to both the pier and the ship were minimal, and the Enterprise flyover was not impacted. After docking in New York on Friday, Norwegian Star sailed a two-night cruise to nowhere and returned to New York on Sunday morning. The ship will begin sailing its Bermuda season with a weeklong cruise departing from New York Sunday afternoon.

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Costa Fascinosa Set for Delivery

Charm and elegance for the new Flagship

Fincantieri will deliver the 114,500-ton Costa Fascinosa to Costa on May 5 at Venice. The ship has completed sea trials and is now in the final fitting out process.

Costa Fascinosa represents an investment of 510 million euros by Carnival Corp. The ship was built by Fincantieri at their Marghera yard and utilized the services of some 500 Italian suppliers and 10,000 workers.

Costa's next ship will be a 132,500-ton vessel also built by Fincantieri for delivery in October 2014. When delivered, the as-yet-unnamed ship will be the largest vessel flying the Italian flag.

With the natural elegance of a diva and the charm of a work of art, Costa Fascinosa is the rising star of the Costa fleet. Enriched with precious and sparkling materials, its environments are inspired by the seductive atmospheres of great historic films, the protagonists who made them famous and the works that brought success to the most celebrated theatres in the world.

Aboard Costa Fascinosa you will experience the greatest thrills of the big screen and the new adventure that is about to begin: your next cruise, brimming with wonderful atmospheres and authentic cinematic locations!

A new adventure is coming....

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Island Escape Goes All-Inclusive

Island Cruises, the budget brand of Thomson Cruises, has announced that the 1,504-passenger, 40,132-ton Island Escape will go all-inclusive from March 2013.

Essentially, the only change is that drinks will be included, as the line already covers gratuities in its fares. Although the ship offers 24-hour buffet dining, charges for eating a la carte in the smarter, waiter-service Oasis restaurant will continue to apply.

For the 2012 season, passengers will continue to have the option to buy an all-inclusive drinks package, which varies according to the cruise but works out at around £189 per person per week.

Prices under the new arrangement will be higher than they are for this year, understandably, although it's difficult to pinpoint by exactly how much, as cruise fares frequently drop as a departure date approaches. In a price comparison check on Thomson's Web site, a typical 7-night cruise in the Med in 2012 was selling for a discounted £400 per person on Island Escape, and was priced at £779 for 2013.

Fraser Ellacott, managing director of Island Cruises said in a press statement: "All-inclusive is a very popular option with our customers already, so it makes perfect sense to offer it as standard."

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Allure of the Seas to Depart as Schedule After Engine Fire

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas arrived back in Fort Lauderdale early Sunday morning as scheduled after a short-lived fire broke out at 7:45 Friday evening in the engine room aboard the world's largest cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean tells Cruise Critic that nobody on the 5,400-passenger vessel was injured, and the next sailing will leave on time Sunday evening. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

According to accounts from several passengers on cruise message boards, the ship had to change course briefly on its way from St. Maarten to Fort Lauderdale to keep smoke from blowing back inside the vessel.

One such message had this to say of his first-hand experience: "I am on board The Allure, yes there was a small fire in one of the engine rooms, that caused some smoke smell around the back end of the ship. There was no visible smoke in passenger areas. I was dining at the Chefs Table at the time and we were asked to move from the area for about 20 minutes, whilst the extract fans did their job. There was NO panic around the ship, a couple of youngsters showed concern, and some parents went to meet up with family members."

Whilst another posted the following: "Just got off the Allure and I have to disagree that there was NO panic. The crew were visibly scared as we're many of the passengers. ...The crew were trying very hard to appear in control and they did a good job, but you could see them passing notes to each other and the concern on their faces. We were finished our dinner, but skipped out on desert because I really couldn't eat much after hearing Bravo bravo bravo and water tight doors closing." 

"We could see that there was no power from the engines as it appeared we were drifting - this occurred for at least an hour maybe two," commented another user of the online message boards of the view from the AquaTheater deck. "Auxiliary power was running as at no time did the power, lights, air conditioning or water go out."

This incident is just the latest in a string of recent cruise ship engine problems. Last week, Saga Holidays' Saga Sapphire cut its inaugural cruise short due to engine troubles. Two weeks ago, Plancius, an ice-class vessel operated by the Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, suffered a partial engine failure and stranded its 73 passengers and 42 crew on a South Atlantic island. In March, Azamara Quest suffered an engine room fire that injured five crewmembers and left the ship adrift off the southern Philippines coast. In February, an engine fire left Costa Allegra inert in the Indian Ocean. Cunard's flagship, Queen Mary 2, has also been plagued with engine troubles over the past year.

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