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What's happening in the world of cruise ships? Here's a rundown of this week's top cruise news stories.

We got a preview of some new cruise ships, new deployments were announced, and more ships are returning to service.

There's been plenty of changes and happenings in the cruise industry, so today's post is aimed at helping you quickly get caught up with it all.

Protocol changes, announcements, and even new construction top the cruise news of this week.

Let's dive into what's new and different.

Time to catch up on this week's cruise news with a round-up of the big happenings and changes in the cruise industry.

This week, a new ship is one step closer to sailing, the CDC butted heads with cruise lines, and more cancelled cruises in Asia were announced.

There's been a lot of cruise news to cover from this week, so here's a breakdown of the biggest stories you should know about!

Check out all of the big news from this week!

Lots happening in the cruise world, and today we have some of the biggest cruise news from this week to share.

Things move quickly with announcements, policy changes, and even new ships.

If you want to catch up on some of the most recent happenings, here's what you should know about.

In an industry dominated by men, Captain Kate McCue is making waves as the first American female captain of a mega cruise ship. McCue is a trailblazer and pioneer in the cruise industry - breaking the gender barrier and proving that women can take leadership roles in the same way that men can. 

In 2015, Kate McCue made history when she became captain of the Celebrity Edge at the age of 37 years old. Captain McCue was also the first commanding officer to sail from a U.S. port following the pandemic shutdown, which left the cruise industry crippled for 15 months. 

A new year is approaching and for many cruise fans, that means looking forward to new ships launching! Although the Covid-19 pandemic halted cruises for over a year, that didn’t mean that cruise lines cancelled orders for future cruise ships.

Most of the ships debuting in 2022 are behind their original scheduled launch date due to pandemic-related production issues. Some ships that were set to launch in 2022 have subsequently been pushed back to 2023.

As the cruise industry adjusts to the Omicron variant threat, some Caribbean islands have denied entry to cruise ships that have Covid cases isolated and monitored onboard.

While these ports have told the cruise ships they may not enter, flights from states like Florida have been able to travel despite daily records for new Covid cases.

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas was denied entry into St. Thomas on Sunday, and Carnival Freedom was denied entry into Bonaire and Aruba. Both ships had positive Covid cases onboard.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it will extend the rules and protocols for cruise ships sailing from the United States for an additional two and a half months.

The Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) will be extended as of November 1st, which is the date it was scheduled to expire.

Instead of going away, the CSO will be temporarily extended through January 15, 2022.  At that point, the CDC says the CSO rules will become voluntary for the cruise lines to follow.