It’s been a crazy year for cruise news, with outrageous stories ranging from luggage going on a wild cruise of its own to fights over the silliest things to massive post-cruise bills that could have been avoided. How many of these Top 10 stories do you remember from 2025? Stolen Luggage Takes Cruises of Its
Key Aspects: A Carnival guest feels their New Year’s cruise is ruined because of a cookie confiscation. The guest was bringing homemade cookies to share, but Carnival does not permit homemade treats to be brought onboard. Instead, John Heald will see that there are cookies at the meeting where the guest had hoped to share
Key Aspects: Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas was voted Most Anticipated New Cruise Ship. It was the third year in a row that a Royal Caribbean new-build was chosen for the honor. Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Luna came in second place. For the third consecutive year, a Royal Caribbean new-build was named Most Anticipated
Key Aspects: Norwegian Breakaway has updated its planned visit to Puerto Plata on New Year’s Day. The ship will arrive and depart one hour early to accommodate rough weather on its return to New York. As this is the final port call on the itinerary, no other destinations have been impacted. Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian
Key Aspects: 104 cases of gastrointestinal illness were reported aboard Celebrity Eclipse’s Christmas sailing. Vomiting, diarrhea, and cramps were the most common symptoms, but no causative agent has been confirmed. Enhanced cleaning, isolating ill individuals, and other measures were immediately implemented. A Christmas cruise can be an amazing getaway not only to enjoy all the
Key Aspects: Quintana Roo recorded its strongest cruise tourism year in 2025, with more than 7.4 million cruise passengers. The Mexican state saw 1,874 ship calls across its ports, with Cozumel receiving 4.62 million passengers and Costa Maya adding 2.8 million guests. Officials are hoping new developments will help it set a new record in
Key Aspects: A guest who may have meningitis was evacuated from Costa Diadema on Monday, December 29. The ship diverted to Laguna, Brazil and used a lifeboat tender to bring the guest to shore for emergency care. No details about the guest or their condition have been released. A cruise guest suspected of having meningitis
Key Aspects: Royal Caribbean has won the title of Best Overall Cruise Line of 2025. This is the first time a brand besides Carnival Cruise Line has won this honor. Carnival is now in a close second place behind the newly crowned victor. Step aside, Carnival! There is a new “Best Overall Cruise Line” in
Key Aspects: Different efforts to free Coral Adventurer from a reef in Papua New Guinea have failed. Guests have been evacuated from the ship and will fly back to Cairns on chartered flights. There is no timeline for freeing the vessel but local authorities will conduct inspections to ensure her integrity. Despite multiple different efforts
Key Aspects: Norfolk, Virginia, completed a nearly full year of uninterrupted weekly cruising in 2025 with 338,959 passenger visits. The port reported a total of 47 ship calls from Carnival Cruise Line and an additional 15 port-of-call stops from other cruise operators. The city is preparing for continued growth in 2026 with its first-ever full
Key Aspects: With 22.4% of the vote, Star of the Seas won Best New Cruise Ship of 2025 as voted by Cruise Hive readers. MSC World America and Star Princess were second and third place, respectively. Star of the Seas is following in the wake of Icon of the Seas‘ win for the same category
Key Aspects: Celebrity Eclipse has replaced a port call for its April 19, 2026, sailing to Grand Cayman and the Bahamas. Instead of Nassau, Bahamas, the ship will instead visit Perfect Day at CocoCay. Recently booked guests may not have been officially notified of the change yet, leading to confusion. Some future guests of Celebrity
