News

Tampa won't see a mega Carnival or Royal Caribbean ship anytime soon. 

Hopes of the Tampa Bay area welcoming bigger cruise ships seemed possible for a while after one company proposed turning an undeveloped tract of land next to the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge into a terminal. 

An elderly cruise passenger died after sustaining a spinal injury and receiving "suboptimal treatment" aboard a ship in Europe, a report concluded. 

Trevor Gilks, 85, was injured on Saga Cruises' Spirit of Discovery in November 2023 while the vessel was off the coast of Spain. He died four days later from his spinal injury. 

Cruisers sailing out of California are urged to take precautions when stopping in Mexico after U.S. officials issued alerts for parts of the country due to growing violence following the death of an infamous cartel leader. 

Many voyages originating in Long Beach, California, in late February and March include stops in Mexican ports like Mazatlán, Cabo San Lucas, and Puerto Vallarta. 

At least one person died during a sudden cruise ship fire on a vessel en route to Singapore, with another four hospitalized. 

The incident happened at around 4:00 a.m. local time on Friday, February 20, aboard the Liberia-registered World Legacy ship, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). 

Multiple cruise lines have delayed the departures of their ships due to the airspace closure that affected flights to the Caribbean over the weekend. 

On January 3, 2026, the United States carried out a military strike in Venezuela, resulting in the capture of the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. 

Cruise passengers traveling through the Caribbean are facing widespread flight disruptions on January 3, 2026, after the U.S. military carried out a large-scale operation in Venezuela overnight.

Unfortunately, cruisers are now dealing with airspace closures across parts of the region, resulting in cancelled and diverted flights.

The new year began on a sad note for guests aboard Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam after a passenger was reported to have gone overboard. The incident occurred during the early morning hours of January 1, 2026, while the cruise ship was sailing near the coast of Cuba. 

The overboard incident has prompted an ongoing search and rescue operation by the ship’s crew, in coordination with the United States Coast Guard. Passengers aboard Nieuw Statendam reported that the ship abruptly reversed course to begin searching along its earlier route.

A passenger was found dead on a tropical island after being left behind by a luxury cruise ship. 

The Coral Adventurer reported the woman, who was in her 80s, missing on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. when the crew failed to locate her on board after a scheduled visit to Lizard Island.

The ship had departed around sunset but returned a few hours later when the crew realized that the guest was unaccounted for.