Cruise News Update: Itinerary Changes, Princess Cruises Captain, New Ships
It’s time for this week’s exciting news update from Cruise Hive. Coverage highlights in this edition include a dangerous stunt involving a cruise ship’s mooring lines in Sydney, Australia; a ship order to add more World-class vessels to the MSC Cruises’ fleet; and Carnival Cruise Line offering an adult-only cruise.
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More Itinerary Changes Unveiled For Carnival Ships
Carnival Cruise Line has altered the itineraries of six cruises aboard four ships with departure dates in 2025 and 2026.
Impacted vessels are Carnival Freedom, Carnival Sunrise, Carnival Conquest, and Carnival Elation.
On Carnival Freedom’s October 6, 2025 voyage from Port Canaveral, the order of port calls is changing and the time in port at Nassau, Bahamas, was modified. Calls to Celebration Key and RelaxAway Half Moon Cay (formerly called Half Moon Cay) are being reversed.
A Carnival Sunrise itinerary, departing from PortMiami on May 25, 2026, will experience a change in the order of ports visited as well. The port times at RelaxAway Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk were modified.
Carnival Conquest’s cruise from PortMiami, also on May 25, 2026, will visit Princess Cays rather than RelaxAway Half Moon Cay.
And three cruises operated by Carnival Elation were altered. All depart from Jacksonville, Florida, on September 28, 2026, October 12, 2026, and October 26, 2026.
The three itineraries will call at RelaxAway Half Moon Cay and Celebration Key, but the order of the visits is changing, with Celebration Key being the final call rather than the first.
Cruise Ship Mooring Lines Climber Faces Multiple Charges
He’s known as “Spider-Man” on social media and now he’s in trouble with the law. It all started on May 17, 2025, when a man was seen climbing up the mooring lines of Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Adventure as the ship was docked in Sydney.
Stunts like that are not allowed, and soon, New South Wales police were on the scene. They had the ship’s crew lower the lines into a police boat, and that’s where the 29-year-old suspect, whose name was not released, was taken into custody.
Local news reports say the man was charged with multiple violations, including entering a cleared zone without being screened and cleared, entering a land-side restricted zone without authorization, and entering a water-side restricted zone without authorization.
He was released on bail with an order to appear in court on June 11, 2025.
The incident was, of course, captured on video and posted to social media. But far from being just an entertaining daredevil, the suspect put himself in considerable danger. He might have been badly injured or killed if he toppled off the mooring lines.
Diamond Princess Captain Dies Onboard Ship
In a sad turn of events during a Princess Cruises’ voyage, Michele Bartolomei, captain of Diamond Princess, died onboard the ship as the vessel overnighted in Keelung, Taiwan on May 19, 2025.
A medical emergency call was issued at 2:30 a.m., and passengers learned later that morning that Captain Bartolomei had passed away following a sudden medical event.
A letter announcing the death was sent to guests, and an announcement was made over the ship’s public address system.
He was 52 years old and had been with Princess Cruises for nearly 30 years.
The ship, homeported at Yokohama, Japan, left the port on May 16, 2025 and was sailing a 9-night “Southern Islands” cruise.
The ship, now under the leadership of Staff Captain Salvatore Macera, will call at Ishigaki and Naha, Japan, before returning to Yokohama on May 25, 2025.
Captain Macera described Captain Bartolomei as a respected leader whose service exemplified professionalism and dedication. Captain Bartolomei lived in British Columbia, and joined Princess Cruises in 1995.
MSC Cruises Orders Two More World-Class Vessels
Following the big splash MSC Cruises made with the launch of MSC World America just weeks ago, the cruise line made an equally big announcement this week — a ship order for two more World-class vessels.
The order was placed with French shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique, and will bring the total number of vessels in the World Class series to six.
The just-ordered ships are temporarily being referred to as World Class V and World Class VI, with delivery expected in 2029 and 2030, respectively.
Two World-class ships already are operating: MSC World Europa (2022) and MSC World America (2025). Two more are under construction — MSC World Asia, due to launch in 2026, and MSC World Atlantic, set to enter service in 2027.
All ships in the class are powered by liquified natural gas (LNG), and have shore power technology and advanced waste management systems.
Look for MSC Cruises to reveal more details about the new ships in the months ahead, but rest assured they will feature exciting activities found on existing World-class ships, such as the themed neighborhoods Family Aventura, Aqua Deck, MSC Yacht Club, Promenade, Zen Area, and World Galleria.
Cruise Line Cancels 35-Day Transatlantic Voyage
When a getaway cruise, or even a weeklong cruise, gets cancelled, it’s disappointing, but imagine if you had been making arrangements for a 35-day transatlantic voyage and found out it’s been nixed.
That’s what happened to booked guests on P&O Cruises’ 3,500-guest Ventura, which was due to operate the lengthy Caribbean cruise roundtrip from Southampton, UK on January 4, 2027.
To be sure, since the voyage is more than a year-and-a-half away, there is plenty of time to make other arrangements, but still, the disappointment among guests is widespread.
In its notice to guests P&O Cruises said it was sorry for the change, and revealed that it has automatically transferred all bookings to another, similar voyage onboard the 5,200-guest Iona, an Excellence-class ship.
This new 35-night voyage, “Caribbean Winter Warmth,” sails roundtrip from Southampton on January 3, 2027 and features several port calls that Ventura would have visited. Guests can opt out of the sailing if they wish.
While the cancelled cruise on Ventura is frustrating, it’s nothing compared to what happened to guests booked on a sailing of P&O Cruises’ 1,900-guest Aurora.
They received a single day’s notice that their voyage, set for April 21, 2025 from Southampton to Zeebruge, Belgium, was cancelled.
Carnival Cruise Line Unveils Adult-Only Sailing
Carnival Cruise Line has switched one of its Eastern Caribbean cruises to an adults-only voyage — a surprise move that took booked guests by surprise.
Guests planning to sail on Carnival Magic’s November 1, 2025 Caribbean cruise from PortMiami have learned that the voyage will be open only to those age 21 or older.
Families with children under that age already booked on the cruise will have to amend their reservation to exclude the younger family members, or cancel.
The cruise line has not indicated whether there will be any compensation offered, or assistance in rebooking.
It turns out that the 7-night cruise is being re-classed as a “Casino Event” cruise, offered as part of the cruise line’s casino loyalty program called Carnival Players Club.
Apparently, Carnival Magic had been scheduled for dry dock in the fall, but the cruise line postponed the project, leaving some weeks in late 2025 unexpectedly open for booking.
Carnival Cruise Line called the switch an operational change.
Royal Caribbean’s Second Icon-Class Ship Begins Sea Trials
Star of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s second ship in the Icon class, following Icon of the Seas, is undergoing sea trials in the waters off the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland.
The trials began on May 19, 2025 and are among the final steps before the ship’s delivery to the cruise line.
Sea trials test and evaluate key operational systems such as propulsion, navigation, and safety with engineers and crew onboard.
Following the at-sea trials, the 5,600-guest Star of the Seas will return to the shipyard for final outfitting in advance of her launch in August 2025.
After her handover to Royal Caribbean, Star of the Seas will homeport at Port Canaveral. The ship’s inaugural sailing from the Central Florida port is set for August 31, 2025.
But before that notable event, the line will operate three preview sailings, on August 20, 23, and 27, for travel partners, media, and VIPs.
Once launched, Star of the Seas will sail Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises, with all voyages calling at Royal Caribbean’s popular Perfect Day at CocoCay private destination.
More Cruise Headlines
Don’t stop now! Cruise Hive has many more news articles about developments from the past week, including predictions of an above-normal hurricane season in 2025, the UK’s Port of Dover launching its summer cruise season, and a Princess Cruises’ ship deploying to Antarctica in 2026.
Also, Carnival Cruise Line is expecting its busiest summer season ever, and Disney Cruise Line is warning guests of possible embarkation delays.
Cruise News Update: Itinerary Changes, Princess Cruises Captain, New Ships