Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Returns to Port Due to Engine Issue

Royal Caribbean cruise ship Grandeur of the Seas canceled its cruise due to an engine issue, shortly after the vessel left its home port in Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday. As a result, the ship had to return to the port and cancel the trip, which included a call to Bermuda. Grandeur of the Seas is over 73,800 gross tons and has a guest capacity of 1,900 at double occupancy.

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Tropical Storm Dorian Forces Cruise Lines to Modify Itineraries

Major cruise line operators have changed the itineraries of some cruises to avoid Hurricane Dorian.

Cruise ships sailing from Port Canaveral have changed their itineraries to avoid the tropical storm.

Dorian has forced cruise lines to shift their ships out of the storm path, while at the same time shutting down operations at private islands. In addition to voyages changed into longer trips, Royal Caribbean also closed down CocoCay, the theme-park like island in the Bahamas with a water slide that rises 148.5 feet above the mostly flat island. CocoCay won’t be taking any cruise ships though Tuesday, September 3.

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Disney Cruise Line May Be Testing A Man Overboard System

Recently, a video taken by a passenger aboard the Disney Fantasy cruise ship was posted on Twitter. It shows a test dummy tied to a rope and being dropped over the railing of a passenger balcony at the stern of the Disney Fantasy , violently twisting at the end of the rope, and then being slowly pulled back up to the balcony. The crew apparently dropped and retrieved the dummy several times.

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Allure of the Seas to Get a Huge $165 Million Makeover

Royal Caribbean is planning a two-month, $165 million overhaul of Allure of the Seas in spring 2020. The makeover will give the ship some of the same iconic features as the other three Oasis-class ships.

The overhaul includes the 10-story dry slide The Ultimate Abyss and The Perfect Storm, which is a trio of water slides with see-through panels so you can enjoy the views as you go down. The record-breaking slides already exist on sister ships Harmony of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas, which are both based in the US.

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Trump Admin Bans Cruises from Traveling to Cuba

The U.S. government imposed new restrictions on Americans going to Cuba, banning the most common way Americans travel to the island. The ban was announced Tuesday as a part of a new series of travel-related sanctions.

Beginning on Wednesday, тhe Trump administration will not allow group educational and cultural trips to the island unless they were booked before June 5, the Treasury Department said in an official statement. Nor will it permit cruises, private yachts or fishing vessels to stop in Cuba. Group people-to-people trips have become the most popular form of U.S. leisure travel to the island, bringing more than 142,000 people in the first four months of the year that is more than a 300% increase over the same period last year.

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