Cruise News Update: Carnival Testing, Hero Crew Member, Guests Banned
Are you up to date on the big cruise news stories of the week? Keep reading, and you will be! Highlights of Cruise Hive’s newest recap include coverage of a new luxury cruise suite that costs $25,000 per night and an Express Dining pilot test rolling out on a Carnival Cruise Line ship.
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Last-Minute Changes Alter Alaska Cruise Itineraries
Guests booked to sail on several 2025 Alaska sailings aboard Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas were informed of some itinerary changes.
Most of the alterations involve a change in the timing of port calls to Ketchikan and could impact shore excursions, however, all affected shore tours booked through the line are being automatically adjusted.
The ship sails 7-night Inside Passage cruises roundtrip from Vancouver, British Columbia. Regarding the ship’s June 22, 2025 departure, the line told guests that a scheduled day of scenic cruising is cancelled.
The itinerary called for scenic cruising during the final two days of the cruise, however, the second day is now nixed and the ship will sail directly to Vancouver. Also, the port call time in Ketchikan was changed from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. to 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on June 27, 2025.
The change means that guests lose a half-hour in port.
No reasons were given for any of the changes, which also affect cruises later in the summer, including departures on August 10 and September 7, 2025. Ketchikan port calls on those departures will now be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Guests who have booked independent shore tours might have to alter their arrangements.
Express Dining Pilot Test Rolls Out on Carnival Ship
Some cruisers like to linger in the dining room, perhaps nibble on a cheese plate and slowly finish their glass of wine — and others don’t.
For the latter, Carnival Cruise Line is testing out a new concept, Express Dining, on Carnival Vista. The plan moves guests into and out of the ship’s main dining room, Horizon, in less than 45 minutes.
Guests using the Your Time Dining plan can ask for the express option when they check in at the dining room entrance. Only certain sections of the dining room will offer the express plan.
Passengers who try out the new service will order from a special menu, but don’t worry — it sounds great. For appetizers, guests can choose roasted duck rolls, shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, or tomato soup.
Main courses feature mouth-watering entrees such as sirloin steak, braised short rib, and Cornish game hen, and for dessert, how about cheesecake or chocolate melting cake?
The cruise line’s brand ambassador, John Heald, posted on his popular Facebook page that he’s already received feedback about the new dining option. Many guests like it, he wrote, and want to know if and when it might roll out on other ships.
That has yet to be decided.
Waiter Prevents Disaster on Royal Caribbean Ship
A freak accident onboard Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas could have had a tragic outcome if not for the quick thinking of a crew member.
It was on June 8, 2025, as the 5,500-guest ship was in the process of docking at Port Canaveral, her first port call on a 7-night cruise from New Jersey, when the incident happened.
Nitin Kumar, a waiter in the ship’s Coastal Kitchen restaurant, noticed cracks in the venue’s glass wall, which looks out onto a pool deck below. Fearing the worst, he made a run for the pool deck and warned the guests sitting under the restaurant window to move — quickly.
They did, and just seconds later, the glass wall came crashing down. No one was injured. For his quick response, Royal Caribbean honored Kumar with the Royal Way Hero award. The framed certificate recognizes crew members who go to great lengths to keep guests and other crew members out of harm’s way.
Why the glass window cracked is unknown, but it was immediately replaced. The impacted pool was temporarily closed, drained, and cleaned, and then ship operations continued normally.
Lido Deck Fight Ends With Cruise Guests Locked Up
It was another case of bad behavior onboard a Carnival Cruise Line ship that ended up getting multiple people added to the line’s banned-from-sailing list during a 3-night getaway cruise from PortMiami.
This time it was a fight on the Lido Deck on June 7, 2025 onboard Carnival Sunrise soon after it left Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. The brawl included the throwing of punches and chairs, and the ship’s security staff had to intervene.
An unknown number of guests were apprehended by security and returned to their cabins, where they were locked in and guarded. It was not known whether anyone was injured.
It’s also unclear whether the perpetrators were debarked at the ship’s final port call, Nassau, the next day, or remained in their staterooms until Carnival Sunrise returned to Miami on June 9, 2025.
What is clear, however, is that they will never sail on a Carnival Cruise Line voyage again. Like other cruise lines, Carnival Cruise Line has a strict Code of Conduct, and violations of that code can cost a guest a fine of $500.
Luxury Line Unveils $25K Per Night Suite on New-Build
Ultra-luxury line Regent Seven Seas Cruises took the wraps off its two-level Skyview Regent Suite, set to debut aboard the new-build Seven Seas Prestige, and (wow!) it’s almost 8,800 square feet.
Of course, that includes a 3,700-square-foot wraparound balcony for those sunny days and starry nights. It all can be yours for a cruise fare starting at $25,000.
The ship, set to launch in late 2026, is under construction at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Marghera, Italy, where no expense is being spared to create the luxurious accommodation.
The cruise line revealed details of the fancy suite at the same time it announced that the 822-guest ship will spend her inaugural winter season sailing the Caribbean from PortMiami and her first summer season in Europe. Bookings will open on June 25, 2025.
Back to the suite: It’s opulent by any standard, with luxury amenities like its own fitness center, sauna and massage room; an in-suite elevator; sleeping accommodations for six guests; its own private dining venue with seating for 12; skylights; and spacious living, dining, and lounge areas.
The line’s all-inclusive cruise fare for the Skyview Regent Suite even extends beyond shipboard services, providing a private car and driver in each port of call.
Carnival Valor Back in Service With New Public Spaces
Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Valor emerged from a dry dock renovation with two new public spaces — the Heroes Tribute Bar & Lounge and the popular WaterWorks aqua park.
The 3,000-guest ship that entered service back in 2004 resumed her sailing schedule on June 11, 2025, embarking guests in Barcelona. The ship had been in dry dock since May 10, 2025 at the Navantia shipyard in Cádiz, Spain.
The Heroes bar has a military focus, and the WaterWorks park is home to thrill rides such as the Twister Waterslide, plus the Speedway Splash and the Power Drencher, a huge bucket that drops water on guests standing underneath.
Other areas of the ship were refreshed, such as the spa facilities, which were rebranded as the Cloud 9 Spa. Designated spaces for kids and teens received more video gaming areas and a karaoke experience.
Carnival Valor’s current cruise is a repositioning voyage to her US homeport at New Orleans. Once she returns to the Big Easy the ship will sail 4- and 5-night Western Caribbean cruises.
Cruiser Asks: How Do We Turn Off the Music?
A public announcement speaker located inside a stateroom aboard Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas seems to be playing music that the guests in the cabin cannot turn off.
The confused guests are currently onboard the ship as she sails a 9-night Portugal and Spain voyage that departed from Southampton, UK, on June 9, 2025. They posted details of their dilemma on Reddit, saying that a “hidden speaker” was entertaining them with unwanted music.
The perplexed guests asked whether any other cruisers had experienced the same problem. Some past Royal Caribbean guests quickly responded, saying that the speaker is in the vanity and has a volume knob nearby.
The affected guests found the knob, but it appears broken. Their cabin steward couldn’t get it to work either, so they are hoping ship maintenance crews can help them out. Fortunately, the music turns off at night.
More Cruise Headlines
Get even more important cruise news at Cruise Hive, where we’ve got coverage about TUI Cruises canceling a voyage in favor of a fitness group charter deal in 2026, the new-build Disney Adventure getting Mickey and Minnie statues installed on her stern, and Carnival Cruise Line revealing its 2025 Halloween voyages.
Also, Bermuda reporting a steep drop in cruise tourism; and a P&O Cruises’ ship making an unplanned call in Scotland to evacuate an ill passenger.
Cruise News Update: Carnival Testing, Hero Crew Member, Guests Banned