Holland America will add cell phone capability in March 2007.

HOLLAND AMERICA LINE will outfit all its ships with cell phone capability by March 2007, the line said; the service is currently available on the Volendam. The technology allows passengers to make and receive calls and send text messages on their own cell phones or personal digital assistants while onboard and be charged international roaming fees. The line partnered with SeaMobile, which provides the same service on ships for Silversea Cruises, Oceania Cruises and Crystal Cruises.

The newly christened Crown Princess had a dangerous list to the side that caused dozens to be injured and 33 passengers to be sent to the hospital. The ship that entered into service in June of this year. The 113,000 ton vessel had several floors flooded with seawater.

Do you wonder if Princess and the cruise industry just dodged a huge bullet and this ship is not seaworthy? Or was this just a fluke occurance that the steering problem that caused the roll was human error?

One passenger said seawater flooded several upper decks of the Crown Princess, forcing water from a swimming pool “like a mini-tsunami,” and breaking windows and furniture.
The vessel, with about 3,100 passengers and 1,200 crew, had just departed Port Canaveral on Florida’s east coast en route to New York when it listed badly to its left side, said Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer James Judge.
The ship then righted itself before returning to port, where the Coast Guard said all passengers and crew had been accounted for.
Besides an adult and a child who were critically hurt, 12 people were seriously hurt and about 70 had lesser injuries, said Cape Canaveral Fire Rescue Capt. Jim Watson.
Thirty-three people were taken to hospitals, he said. Most had bruises and minor back and neck injures.

Dozens injured after cruise ship tilts - Yahoo! News.

Traveling in Maine is probably not a great idea 9 months of the year, but during the summer months it can be a great place to visit. As opposed to staying on the coast, a great alternative is staying off the coast on a mini cruise ship.  The three diminutive ships of American Cruise Lines – American Eagle, American Spirit, and American Glory — carry no more than 100 passengers apiece. They poke along the Atlantic coast, slipping into historic, sleepy ports and letting passengers explore the quirks of these salty towns.

The Cruises visit some of the seaside towns of Maine showing the beautiful coastline during its travels.

So it goes all week, as American Eagle threads its way among the many islands and lighthouses dotting the mid-Maine coast. The journey starts and ends on the Penobscot River in Bangor, pausing in Bar Harbor, Bucksport, Rockland, Camden, Castine and Belfast. The comfortable, if not luxurious, ship provides such low-key entertainment as kite-flying and cocktails on the open top deck. via CNN.com

In another amazing move by the EasyGroup founder, the cruise line easyCruise is doing very well with their low cost formula, and the proof is in the pudding. The company is negotiating for 4 new 500 passenger cruise ships.

EasyGroup, the holding company of Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said Monday it planned to order four cruise ships from a Greek shipyard for use by its low-cost cruise business easyCruise.
The deal, which was signed by Haji-Ioannou and Neorion Participants, states the intention of easyGroup to buy four ships with a passenger capacity of 500 passengers each.
Haji-Ioannou, the founder and chairman of easyGroup, said the contract, for an undisclosed sum, was awarded to Neorion Participants ahead of rival offers from shipyards in Spain, Italy and Germany.
Resolution of several outstanding issues in the next few months would lead to a firm order for the ships, Haji-Ioannou said.
EasyCruise is aimed at younger passengers, offering low-cost holidays off the Mediterranean coast of France and Italy and in the Caribbean. The company hopes to begin operating in the Greek islands. via USATODAY.com

It looks like the cruise ship Calypso had an engine room fire in the English channel as it left Zeebrugge in Belgium on its way to Guernsey. There are no reports of injury on the vessel carrying mostly Dutch passengers.

A cruise liner was under tow in the English Channel after it caught fire in the early hours of Saturday with more than 700 people on board. None of the mainly Dutch passengers or the crew of the Cyprus-registered Calypso were injured.

Lifeboats and a coastguard helicopter were scrambled but the crew had put out the blaze in the engine room before they arrived.

The boat had been making for the Channel island of Guernsey from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

It was expected to arrive in Southampton on Saturday evening.

A team from the newly-launched Maritime Incident Response Group was lowered on to the vessel to investigate the fire. It was their first live job.

The ship had to be towed to port by a tug because its engine could not be restarted.

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: Cruise liner towed to safety after Channel fire.

Royal Caribbean Cruises posted revenue that  was 37 percent less than the a year ago during the busiest quarter of the year. The cruise line was not disappointed with the earnings report, but with all the bad news over the past few months, cruising as a whole has taken a hit.

Profit in the January-through-March quarter dipped to $119.5 million from $189.6 million. Revenue fell 2 percent to $1.15 billion from $1.17 billion.
But the world’s second-largest cruise ship operator managed to beat Wall Street’s expectations, as its stock rose $1.22 to $42.77 in New York Stock Exchange trading.
Wall Street analysts were encouraged that onboard spending remained strong, pushing revenue for each cabin, known as yields, up 1.9 percent. Royal Caribbean now expects yields will rise 3 percent to 4 percent for the year, based on a positive “pace of bookings.”
Royal Caribbean’s upbeat outlook contradicted a more cautionary note that sounded last month by its Miami-based rival Carnival Corp.
”This was a positive surprise for everybody,” said Felicia Kantor Hendrix, an analyst at Lehman Brothers in New York. “The Caribbean could be challenging for them, but they have so much going on that they’re able to offset that.”

Royal Caribbean profit falls 37%.

Are you looking for the best places to take you houseboat this summer. While not designed for the rough ocean waters, a houseboat can be a delightful opportunity to get away from it all. These lakes on the list tend to be large enough for you to find a private cove, but large enough that you are close to any amenity that you would need while houseboating.

• Lake Ouachita. near Hot Springs, Ark.  arkansasstateparks.com/lakeouachita
• Don Pedro Lake,near Modesto, Calif.209-852-2396; donpedrolake.com
• Smith Mountain Lake, southwestern Virginia 800-676-8203; Smith-mountain-lake.com
• Dale Hollow Lake, on Kentucky/Tennessee border 888-406-4704; dalehollow.com
• Lake Lanier, near Atlanta 800-847-4842; lanier.sam.usace.army.mil
• Lake Mead, near Las Vegas riverlakes.com
• Table Rock Lake, near Branson, Mo. tablerocklake.us
• Shuswap Lake, British Columbia shuswap.bc.ca
• Green River, southeastern Utah go-utah.com/Green-River
• Center Hill Lake, near Nashville 931-858-3125; smithvilletn.com/lake via USATODAY.com

If you are looking to rent a houseboat, Go Play Outdoors has a good list of companies.

Looking to buy a houseboat, the National Houseboat Expo has a ton of information.

The Pride of Hawaii is ready for it’s maiden voyage from the Dutch city of Eemshaven. The ship was delayed when the builders had trouble with The Pride Of Hawaii’s propulsion system. With some minor modifications the ship was ready to sail. The ships owners, Norwegian Cruise Lines, had the ship built at the Meyer Werft yards and has two more ships, the Norwegian Pearl and the Norwegian Gem, being built in the same yards.

The ship, built by Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany at a cost of more than $500 million, can carry 2,400 passengers. It will employ 1,000 people, pushing the company’s total Hawaii work force to 4,000. “We are proud to take delivery of this beautiful new ship not only because she is our newest and largest U.S.-flagged vessel but because she features the innovative design and tremendous consumer appeal,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Star Cruises, which owns NCL Corp.

Nationally, Pride of Hawaii is the ninth in a series of 11 ships that will be part of NCL’s North American fleet. The company undertook a $5 billion expansion project here in 1998 to create a niche in the casual, freestyle cruising market.
Just in Hawaii, NCL will have about 500,000 passengers sailing the seas on its three vessels annually.

The Pride of Hawaii will begin its voyage to Hawaii, reaching Baltimore at the end of this month, then traveling to San Francisco and Los Angeles en route to the Islands. The ship will offer interisland hops and leave Honolulu every Monday. It will spend a day each in Hilo and Kona and two days each in Kahului and Nawiliwili before heading back to Honolulu. via the Pacific Business News (Honolulu):.

Freedom of the Seas, the largest cruise ship ever built, is about to head out on it’s maiden voyage and enter service for Royal Caribbean International as it’s Flagship. The Freedom of the Seas is a spectacular vessel, with such amenities as a surfing pool, a skating rink, and a rock climbing wall. The picture on the left is the ship in Hamburg, Germany as the Freedom of the Seas finishes getting outfitted for its maiden crossing.

The Finnish-built vessel - flagship of Royal Caribbean International - will have a thorough check and final polish at Germany’s Blohm and Voss shipyard.
It boasts the world’s first on-board surfing pool, called “Flow Rider”, a skating rink and a rock-climbing wall.
It will take up to 4,375 passengers at a time on Caribbean cruises.
The 160,000-ton ship is 339 metres (1,112 ft) long, 56m (184 ft) wide and has a cruising speed of 21.6 knots.
The crew had to carry out a tricky manoeuvre in Hamburg, as the ship’s berth was only three metres wider and 12m longer than the ship.
The ocean liner Queen Mary II is six metres longer but 15m narrower than the Freedom of the Seas, which will be based in Miami, Florida.
The Freedom of the Seas will leave Hamburg on 25 April for a stopover in Oslo before crossing the Atlantic and starting Caribbean cruises in June. via BBC NEWS