From RCI Blog:

Port Canaveral, Florida is celebrating the start of construction of a new cruise terminal with a scheduled completion date of July 2012.  The new terminal should be large enough to handle any cruise ship in the world, including Royal Caribbean’s behemoth Genesis class ships such as Oasis and Allure of the Seas.

Port Canaveral Port Authority Chief Executive Officer J. Stanley Payne says the new Terminal 6 dock will be large enough to accommodate "the absolute largest cruise ships in the world," including Royal Caribbean’s 6,200-passenger, Genesis-class ships.

Currently Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas is home ported in Port Canaveral, which was the largest passenger ship ever built (by gross tonnage) from 2006 until construction of Oasis of the Seas, so large ships are something Port Canaveral can handle.

Click for uber hi-res

Image from CBS 4

On Tuesday, the three flag ships and largest ships in their rival lines all met in St. Maarten. I am of course referring to the Carnival Dream, Norwegian Epic and the Oasis of the Seas. This unique meet-up was courtesy of Hurricane Igor which rerouted the Dream and Oasis.

The totals for that day:

13,000 Passengers

5,000 crew

18,000 visitors total!

picture form the Daily Herald

UPDATE: Royal Caribbean will alter the Oasis of the Seas’ calls in the Eastern Caribbean. Originally planned for St Thomas on Tuesday and St. Maarten Wednesday, the line will reverse calls swapping the two ports.

File this under mega-rumor-that-probably-has-little-truth-but-is-interesting-nonetheless. According to CIN who hears “through the industry grapevine,” RCI execs are considering possibly sailing the Oasis to Europe. The Mediterranean is probably the best bet. Oasis has been very profitable for the port of calls in the Caribbean, and ports in Europe would love the bragging rights to say that they have Oasis calling there. The ports in the Med are extremely interested in attracting her also for the amount of visitors she can carry.

The big problem is: infrastructure. Oasis is huge in both a physical sense and a passenger sense. Port Everglades required a massive expansion of a terminal, Labadee required a dock be built, and Falmouth, Jamaica warranted that a port be constructed. RCI execs are reminding the European port authorities of the investment that is required for her to sail there. RCI claims that current infrastructure needs to be upgraded.

Europe is becoming extremely lucrative and very profitable for lines. In 2011, Barcelona will be THE hot spot for cruising in Europe. All lines are sending their best products there. Carnival will have the brand new Carnival Magic; NCL’s will have among others, the hotly anticipated Norwegian Epic; and RCI will send the Liberty of the Seas, and others, to the Med; Other lines will also have a strong presence in the Med then as well.

IF Oasis were to sail there, it would be in 2012 I would guess.

Some things to keep in mind: RCI are under contract to bring a certain amount of passengers to Port Everglades. This is only economically feasible through the use of Oasis and Allure as they process 10-12,000 pax every turn-around day. RCI may have contracts with other ports in the Caribbean that Oasis and Allure play important roles. Also, why would European ports invest that much money in infrastructure to attract ONE ship, when lines are already sending ships to Europe based on current infrastructure and facilities.

So I pose a question to you: Do you feel that RCI should send Oasis to the med or keep her stateside. Sound off in the comments below.

source CruiseIndustryNews

May 22, 2009	May 22, 2009	May 29, 2009

images from mortgagemobile.com

The current lifeboat structure has never before been used. The ship features 18, 370 pax boats. Until then, IMO regulation only called for 150 pax boats max. These new boats (model number CRV55 for those interested) feature a catamaran, twin hull, design for stability and a three tier seating structure. Most notably, other than their enormous size, is their positioning. The davits are fixed in a way that allow the boat to be stowed in the launch position. The boats hang over ocean and against the side of the ship. All they have to do is be lowered straight down. See the assortment of press photos below for more details.

	via Scat-Harding

from flickr	from flickr

source myfoxnewyork.com

UPDATE TUESDAY MORNING: Still no official confirmation. Just a lot of chatter around the net. Although, it is said that the ship is supposed to be docked in St. Thomas today, yet the webcam shows her at sea so this story must have some truth to it.

I’ll check back in tomorrow morning and see if there have been any developments.

UPDATE 11:13pm: Found that it may have been a male crewmember. Capt Trym Selvag then announced that the ship will stay at sea and search. She is supposed to call on St. Thomas tomorrow. No word on the status on that situation.

This news is just breaking and still in a rumor stage. It has been reported that either a passenger or crewmember has been reported as missing. The ship then turned around began searching for him/her. Will post as I get the details.