Due to legislation in place to keep competition fair, Liverpool's new dock has been unable to offer cruise turnarounds, due to being publicly funded, as it would be competing with privately funded ports such as Southampton. The city council have been at loggerheads to gain permission to use the cruise terminal as a departure port and have finally approved plans to pay back some, if not all, the government grant — somewhere between £5 million and £9 million.

Council leader Councillor Joe Anderson said: "I am very excited about what will be a new era for us... I have written to the shipping minister Mike Penning to confirm we will abide by whatever the independent panel rules we should repay... It is my vision to grow the cruise industry for Liverpool to match the halcyon days of the past."

Liverpool does already have an embarkation terminal at the Langdon dock in Bootle, though the facility is run down and suffers from tidal issues, as large ships can't access the port at low tide. The new terminal boasts a better, more accessible location, and more modern facilities. Turning it into a departure point, as opposed to a day visits terminal, would be a big boost to the local economy — estimates are that each ship based in Liverpool's central terminal would be worth around £1.2 million per year to the city.

Fred Olsen has announced that they will be offering 10 cruises onboard Boudicca from Liverpool in 2012, between April and August, offering a variety of destinations that include mini-cruises and sailings to the Canary Islands. Cruise and Maritime have also been linked with the terminal as a departure point, and if the city can get the plans approved, they plan to offer 11 sailings from Liverpool this summer, including cruises to Norway, the Baltic and the Canary Islands.

With Belfast taking on two cruises during 2013, Southampton's prominence and the likes of Harwich, Dover, Portsmouth and Leith all offering cruises during 2012 and 2013, is the cruise industry going down the route of offering local departure points, similar to flights? Let's hope so, the easier it is to get onboard the better!

Written by Stephen Adam
© Iglucruise

Source: Liverpool Daily Post

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Oceania Cruises have announced another delay to the launch of their new ship, Riviera. In August the cruise line announced that the ship would be delayed from the 14th April to the 24th April and now the launch has be put back until May 16th, due to strikes at the shipyard building Riviera.

Talk about striking it unlucky. Affected passengers are being offered the chance to rebook on another cruise, with between $250 and $1,000 of onboard spend added to their account, or the choice of a full refund.

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At the other end of the scale, Crystal Cruises have moved to eradicate pre-cruise queues and delays with a new embarkation process. The new Fast-Track check-in system scans a barcode on cruise tickets so guest can go straight onboard, where they can complete their registration.

Offering smaller, more intimate ships means Crystal can get their guests onboard as soon as possible, get their credit card details registered and a glass of champagne in their hands as soon as possible. It definitely beats waiting around in a cruise terminal, with a lukewarm cup of tea in a plastic cup.

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So, this week is about getting us onboard more efficiently, or not where the Italians are involved, but what excitement could next week possibly have on offer?

Written by Stephen Adam
© Iglucruise

Both cruises on offer will depart in October 2013, with the choice of a two night mini-cruise to Liverpool and a 12 night cruise to the Canaries. Both cruises will be onboard Boudicca, a 28,000 tonne ship that carries up to 900 passengers.

Thanks to bringing Belfast back as a departure port, and also to a series of sailings from Harwich, Fred Olsen claims they can offer a cruise departing within 100 miles of 90% of the UK's population. So wherever you live Fred Olsen can get you onto a ship with relative ease. With local airports becoming an important part of holidays, are local departure ports for cruise lines going to catch on in the same way?

Written by Troy McGuire
© Iglucruise

AWT recently admitted to 'needing help' after being arrested for a series of misdemeanors based around shop lifting from his local Tesco. Reports claim that he would purchase several boxes of champagne, then for whatever reason, try to leave without paying for small, random items, such as a block of cheese.

To ensure guests still can still enjoy a culinary class onboard their cruise, MSC Cruises have replaced AWT with another celebrity chef, the Michelin starred Paul Rankin, who will be joining the ship on Sunday 5th Feb.

Paul Rankin is one of the UK's most popular chefs, having won Northern Ireland's first Michelin Star in 1999. Since then he has appeared on the BBC's Great British Menu and Ready Steady Cook.

Written by Troy McGuire
© Iglucruise

The Costa Concordia ran aground late on Friday, causing a huge gash in the side of the ship and shortly after for the ship to be listing at a 20° angle, while the crew did their utmost to get the passengers safely ashore. By Saturday morning, stories were in the press of the tragic loss of six lives, caused by a ship being off its usual course and hitting a rock. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office moved quickly to release a statement that all British passengers had been accounted for.

Over the past two weeks there have been rescue missions, seeing expert divers searching the ship for any signs of life. The latest stories report that 16 people lost their lives in the tragedy and a similar number of passengers and crew remain missing.

The Costa Concordia remains precariously balanced on rocks off the Tuscan coastline as plans are made to safely remove all the fuel and hazardous waste. Salvage experts have stated that the fuel must be carefully warmed, before being pumped off the ship. Current reports estimate that this could take a further two weeks to complete. The ship is also surrounded by booms to prevent any leaked fuel, of which none has been discovered, is contained to prevent further environmental damage.

Costa Cruises have attributed blame to the ship's Captain, for not following the correct course and not following their safety procedures. Captain Francesco Schettino remains under house arrest in Italy while charges are being built.

Over the past couple of weeks the press have run countless articles as who is to blame, what the captain did wrong and reporting the tragedy of the lost lives. As it stands this tragedy remains in the press while investigators get to the bottom of what happened and how this could have been prevented.

So, how will this affect the cruise industry? Surely more stringent safety measures will come into play, more scrutiny will be placed on Captains and discussions as to how the industry can regain its reputation. There are reports in Italy that salutes — where ships sail close to the coastline — will be outlawed.

Safety records within cruise have showed it to be one of the safest forms of transports and one of the safest ways to holiday, but will this anomaly be treated as such? Will first time cruisers be put off?

Whatever comes from this accident, the cruise industry has to work to make sure something like this never happens again and to ensure crew and passengers are fully prepared for an emergency.

At Iglu, we delayed reporting the story until their was something more conclusive and factual to share. Over the next few weeks we will be looking into the safety aspects of cruising and how the industy might look in the future.

The world of cruising has been rocked by this unexpected and highly unusual accident and our thoughts are with all involved.

Written by Stephen Adam
© Iglucruise