October 2010

Carnival Miracle visited the islands of Aruba and Curacao for the first time last week as part of a new eight-day southern Caribbean cruise schedule from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.  A number of first-call festivities were held at the two destinations to celebrate the arrival of the 2,124-passenger “Fun Ship.”

Ted Fazioli, the winner of the Carnival Magic’s Cucina del Capitano’s Name that Dish Contest, recently took some time to answer some questions about himself and why he decided to participate in the contest.

Earlier this week, 25 members of the “Fun Team,” Carnival Cruise Lines’ employee service group, donated their time by volunteering at Camillus House, a homeless assistance center in downtown Miami.  The group spent several hours at the facility, helping to prepare and serve 500 meals to the center’s residents and participating in clean-up efforts. The visit was part of the “Fun Team’s” ongoing commitment to Camillus House, a non-profit organization that provides humanitarian services to poor and homeless men, women and children in Miami Dade-County.  Camillus House serves more than 1,000 meals a day, providing over 360,000 free, hot meals annually.   The “Fun Team” conducts weekly volunteer activities in partnership with a wide range of charitable organizations and social service agencies…

NEW ‘CANCEL FOR ANY REASON’ COVERAGE ADDED TO CARNIVAL’S CRUISE VACATION PROTECTION PLAN Carnival Cruise Lines is introducing a “cancel for any reason” enhancement to its travel protection program, the Cruise Vacation Protection Plan.  The new feature will be included in all plan purchases for voyages departing on or after January 1, 2011.  With the new enhancement, those who purchase Carnival’s Cruise Vacation Protection Plan will be able to cancel their cruise — regardless of the reason — and receive a future cruise credit equal to 75 percent of cancellation charges, provided they notify Carnival prior to the ship’s departure. Those who cancel for a covered reason will receive 100 percent cash reimbursement.

Carnival Cruise Lines is introducing a “cancel for any reason” enhancement to its travel protection program, the Cruise Vacation Protection Plan.  The new feature will be included in all plan purchases for voyages departing on or after January 1, 2011.  With the new enhancement, those who purchase Carnival’s Cruise Vacation Protection Plan will be able to cancel their cruise — regardless of the reason — and receive a future cruise credit equal to 75 percent of cancellation charges, provided they notify Carnival prior to the ship’s departure. Those who cancel for a covered reason will receive 100 percent cash reimbursement.

It’s not every day that consumers have a chance to name a gargantuan 500-gallon water bucket housed within a sprawling aqua park on a massive cruise ship.  Well, with Carnival Cruise Lines’ “Name the Bucket” contest, participants are provided the unique opportunity to have their name linked with what is sure to be a talked-about feature when the new 130,000-ton Carnival Magic debuts next spring. The way the contest works is simple: contestants submit a creative moniker (less than 50 characters in length) for a 500-gallon water bucket featured within Carnival Magic’s WaterWorks aqua park.   Entries will be accepted via www.carnivalmagic.com/contest through Oct. 29.  Five winners will be selected by a panel of judges and consumer voting for the…

  We have a winner!  Following several days of on-line voting, “Il Bacio del Mare” (Kiss of the Sea), submitted by Ted Fazioli of Salem, N.H., has been chosen as the winner of Carnival Magic’s “Name the Dish” contest.            The contest asked consumers to come up with a creative moniker for a new mouth-watering menu item in Cucina del Capitano, the family-style Italian restaurant featured on the new 3,690-passenger vessel, which is set to debut from Europe May 1, 2011. Facing heated competition from hundreds of contest participants, Ted’s entry was selected as one of five finalists by a panel of judges and then received the most votes by consumers during the at-large voting period on www.carnivalmagic.com. For winning the…

    With less than seven months until its maiden voyage, the new Carnival Magic reached another construction milestone when it was “floated out” earlier this week from her outfitting quay at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy.

  Carnival Cruise Lines welcomed a special visitor when Ken Elston boarded the Carnival Ecstasy for a four-day cruise to Cozumel – and made history as the Port of Galveston’s 4 millionth cruise passenger.  The John’s Creek, Ga., resident was sailing with his wife, Lori, as part of a family reunion group.   It was their first cruise.

 Ben Clement has been named vice president – new builds and Paul Weber vice president – supply chain at Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines.