Pirates take French yacht crew hostage off Somalia

Pirates boarded a French luxury cruise yacht off the coast of Somalia and took its entire 30-member crew hostage on Friday, the French military and the ship’s owner said.
The 32-cabin, four-deck yacht, the Ponant, “was the victim of an act of piracy early this afternoon as it was sailing between Somalia and Yemen,” armed forces [...]

Sky Wonder 0900hrs GMT 28/3/08 (Kusadasi Web Cam)

Sky Wonder still stuck just outside the Port of Kusadasi

It looks like the tugs are having another go at re floating her. I don’t suppose any other ship will make it into port while the Sky Wonder remains stuck.

Holland America to start visiting Toulon

 An overview of Toulon
Architecture and Provençal Heritage
Toulon’s turbulent history and diverse architectural influences have lent the city centre its multiple faces:
The [...]

The 3 Queens leaving New York

MV Van Gogh rescued world cruise set to start!

 

BBC Cornwall are reporting:
Hundreds of cruise passengers are off on their world trip from Cornwall after fearing it would not go ahead when the operators went into administration.
Travelscope Holiday’s 93-day cruise on the MV Van Gogh had been under threat, but travel organisation Abta has arranged for the ship to sail.
Gloucestershire-based [...]

High tide refloats container ship

The vessel does not appear to have suffered any damage
[...]

Ship runs aground in the Dover Strait

A German container vessel with 27 crew on board has run aground in the Dover Strait off the coast of Kent. The 90,465-tonne LT Cortesia was en route to the Suez Canal when it ran aground on the Varne Bank, nine miles (14km) south of Dover harbour.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said all [...]

Another cruise ship in trouble in the Antarctic

A Norwegian cruise ship with more than 300 people on board struck an iceberg as it drifted in the waters of Antarctica after an engine failure, Argentine officials said today.
The MS Fram carrying 256 passengers and 70 crew members suffered a breakdown in its propulsion system on Friday, said marine police in the port of [...]

There is some hope for 4th January cruisers

From the UK press
Although most of the holidays booked through the company have been cancelled, around 450 passengers booked on to a three-month round-the-world cruise are being told that their trip can go ahead.
Administrators also said that there had been some expressions of interest from potential buyers for Travelscope, but warned that unless a [...]

St Thomas to St. Johns might be a problem!

ST THOMAS, USVI: Two US Virgin Islands ferry companies, Varlack Ventures and Transportation Services, have issued a statement indicating that they plan a major reduction in the number of daily runs between St Thomas and St. John “within days.”
Particularly hard hit would be shift workers who travel back and forth between the two islands, and St John [...]