FALL 2009 Millergram (Ocean Liner News)

ADRIATIC CRUISES, a niche cruise company operating the 280-bed DALMATIA in the Adriatic, has slipped into bankruptcy.

CARNIVAL: Like almost all other cruise lines, profits are few and the discounting & incentives high. Meanwhile, some 30 new cruise ships are due in the immediate future including the largest ever, Royal Caribbean’s 225,000-ton, 6,400-berth OASIS OF THE SEAS. She’s due in November and will followed next year by a twin sister, the ALLURE OF THE SEAS.

CRYSTAL has some new stops in its future — including Bandar Abbas in Iran on the 68,000-ton CRYSTAL SERENITY’s 2010 world cruise.

CDF CRUISES, a new French line, is already getting a second ship. In the wake of the very successful BLEU DE FRANCE (the ex-German EUROPA), the PACIFIC DREAM is joining their schedules. She’s the former HORIZON of Celebrity, a 47,000-ton ship dating from 1990.

COSTA: Rumors are about that this Carnival-owned subsidiary might be interested in running cruises out of New York. The COSTA ATLANTICA was in the Big Apple for a special visit in late September. Otherwise, a member of the ever-expanding Costa cruise fleet, the 54,000-ton COSTA EUROPA (the former HOMERIC, built in 1986, and later the WESTERDAM) is going on charter next year. She becomes the THOMSON DREAM for Britain’s Thomson Cruises.

CRUISE & MARITIME VOYAGES is the name of a new British operator. They’ll sail two chartered ships — the MARCO POLO (formerly of the Orient Line) and the OCEAN COUNTESS (the onetime CUNARD COUNTESS).

CRUISE WEST: It might just be the longest cruise ever — the SPIRIT OF OCEANUS will set off from Singapore next March on a 335-day world cruise!

CUNARD: Change in plans! Next year, the mighty QUEEN MARY 2 will be making seven instead of six night eastbound passages; the westbound runs from Southampton to New York remain scheduled at 6 days. It is a fuel-saving method for the 28 1/2-knot Cunard flagship. ... A new Ocean Terminal at Southampton opened last May. It takes the name of a facility opened in 1950 and then, most sadly, demolished in 1983 and well-known from the grand trans-Atlantic days, especially for the arrivals & departures of the original QUEEN MARY & QUEEN ELIZABETH. ... The iconic QE2 remains at Dubai — the earlier scheme to use the 70,000-ton liner at Capetown as a floating hotel for the World Cup 2010 has fallen through. ... Construction has begun at Fincantieri’s Marghera yard near Venice on the 92,000-ton QUEEN ELIZABETH, which is due to enter service next October.

ELEGANT CRUISES: Sad news! The intimate, 2,900-ton ANDREA has been arrested for debt.

HONG KONG: The locally-based casino ship GOLDEN PRINCESS has gone to the scrapheap — just over in China. She is, of course, better known from her earlier days as the PEARL OF SCANDINAVIA, OCEAN PEARL and then COSTA PLAYA. ... The 12,000-tonner had been built originally, as a Finnish ferry, in 1967.

INDIA: Scrappers out in Alang in India are extremely busy these days. Lots of cargo ships are being junked in light of the huge, international economic turndown. But wedged in the lonely fleet of ships facing the torch are the liners MAXIM GORKY (ex-HAMBURG), the REGAL EMPRESS (ex-OLYMPIA, ex-CARIBE I) and the Greek former JASON.

ITALY: Fincantieri, noted for building a near assembly-line of cruise ships, has acknowledged a slump in passenger liner orders. So, the huge shipyard is turning to some military orders, including tankers for the Indian Navy.

LOUIS CRUISE LINES: This Greek cruise line is soon to acquire the NORWEGIAN MAJESTY from Norwegian Cruise Lines. She’ll become the LOUIS MAJESTY. ... Meanwhile, Louis had formed an Indian cruise arm, using the AQUAMARINE (once the NORDIC PRINCE of Royal Caribbean). ... MSC CRUISES: New ventures — MSC MAGNIFICA will run the Company’s first series of cruises from New York in fall 2010.

NEW YORK: The extraordinary French super liner NORMANDIE, which sailed between 1935-39 and had some of the finest Art Deco interiors, will be the subject of an exhibit at the South St Seaport Museum in Lower Manhattan beginning in early February.

PAQUET CRUISES, which once ran ships such as the RENAISSANCE and MERMOZ, is being revived by a French travel with a charter of the COSTA ALLEGRA.

P&O CRUISES: The 1984-built ARTEMIS is moving on — she is being sold to Germany’s Phoenix Reisen and switches over in 2011. She had been the ROYAL PRINCESS in her prior life.

SAN FRANCISCO: One of the great icons of modern cruising, Warren Titus, passed away last July at the age of 94. He had a long industry in the passenger ship business — serving the likes of American President Lines, P&O-Orient Lines, and then helping to form gold-plated Royal Viking Line in 1972 and then Seabourn in 1987.

VOYAGES OF ANTIQUITY is another, new cruise arm from Britain. They will be using the AEGEAN ODYSSEY, formerly the AEGEAN DOLPHIN and later AEGEAN I.