December 2016

Al Roker BullfeathersAs the last few days of 2016 count down, it’s time to pick the most outrageous stories of the year. 

Number 7 – The Year of Cruise Ship Power Failures? This year saw the usual number of power failures and propulsion issues which have plagued the industry for years. Cruise lines often use the euphemism

Viking Sea Power LossToday, I received a message that the Viking Sea was in Barcelona, Spain waiting for repairs to fix an unidentified engine problem.

I received this message: “Don’t know have you been informed about Viking Sea being stuck in Barcelona for more than 10 days, while all guests were disembark, almost same thing like Star last

Lindblad Expeditions’ National Geographic Orion suffered power failure as the expedition ship was leaving Antarctica. It suffered engine failure while returning to the port of Ushuaia in Argentina.

The ship has now returned via the Drake Passage to port in Ushuaia after sailing at reduced speed.

Lindblad Expeditions canceled its December 27th sailing as well

 The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a passenger from a Carnival cruise ship yesterday.

The Coast Guard medevaced a 72-year-old woman Saturday from the Carnival Pride which was approximately 50 miles east of Savannah, Georgia.

The Carnival ship notified the Coast Guard station in Charleston around noon that the woman was experiencing pneumonia but was not

Costa neoRivieraThe Costa neoRiviera suffered a loss of all electricity during a port call in Abu Dhabi earlier this week, according to the Cruise Arabia & Africa website.

The website states that the Costa cruise ship switched to emergency power for several hours after the ship’s power was lost.

“According to staff aboard the ship, who

Queen Mary 2This morning, a crew member from the Queen Mary 2 sent this message from the ship: "Missing woman on QM2. No details yet. Ship turned around and Coast Guard alerted."

The QM2 is on a voyage out of New York heading to the Caribbean (St. Maarten). AIS programs show the ship is sailing north

Royal Caribbean is now advertising that it is hiring lifeguards on its cruise ships. The cruise line posted the availability of the lifeguard position as of December 21, 2016. 

The posting (below) indicates that the lifeguard "will need to perform rescue of Guests in danger of drowning and be vigilant to potential accidents. Will be trained

Former Oceania Cruises passenger Toronto resident, Richard Silver, was aboard the Oceania Insignia a few years ago when the luxury cruise ship’s engine room caught fire.

Two contractors and one Oceania crewmember died in the fire while the cruise ship was docked at Port Castries, St. Lucia. Some passengers who left comments on social media