Seatrade’s most-read cruise stories of 2024Seatrade’s most-read cruise stories of 2024

The year’s 10 most-read stories as reported on Seatrade Cruise News, in order of appearance:

Top execs depart Fours Seasons Yachts 

Marc-Henry Cruise Holdings, joint owner and operator of Four Seasons Yachts, confirmed the departures of President/CEO Larry Pimentel and Co-Founder Philip Levine in February. The company’s first luxury vessel Four Seasons I is under construction at Fincantieri’s Ancona yard and scheduled to begin commercial operations in early 2026 in the Caribbean.

Labadee, Haiti off limits

With the situation in Haiti deteriorating, mid-March saw Royal Caribbean International suspend calls to Labadee, substituting various ports. This continued through to October with Labadee being replaced with alternative ports when possible or, otherwise, a sea day. Among the substitute port calls were Perfect Day at CocoCay, Falmouth (Jamaica), Grand Turk, Bimini and others. Royal ships returned to Labadee in October.

NCLH bumper newbuild order 

April saw Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings place the largest newbuild order in its history — eight ships for three brands — at Fincantieri, and confirm a two-berth pier at Great Stirrup Cay. The order spans new classes of ships for Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, totalling nearly 25,000 additional berths. Deliveries are scheduled over a 10-year period, between 2026 and 2036.

Victory Cruise Lines' revival

In May, we revealed John Waggoner was reviving Victory Cruise Lines, which he once ran as part of American Queen Voyages. He plans to launch Victory I and Victory II in spring 2025 on the Great Lakes with a veteran team of executives. The 190-passenger vessels will cruise the five lakes with sailings between Chicago and Toronto or Montréal, or roundtrip Chicago. Waggoner snapped up the pair of coastals, most recently called Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator, as part of AQV's bankruptcy auction.

Small fire on Icon of the Seas quickly put out 

A small fire aboard Icon of the Seas in June caused a brief power loss while the ship was docked at Costa Maya, Mexico. The fire was isolated to a crew area and quickly extinguished by the onboard team, with no injuries reported. Icon of the Seas' backup generator kicked in and power was restored and the ship departed as planned.

P&O Cruises Australia brand going away

Carnival Corp. & plc revealed in June it will sunset the P&O Cruises Australia brand in March 2025 and fold the Australia operations into Carnival Cruise Line. This will result in the addition of eight new ships to Carnival Cruise Line's fleet since 2021, including the shift of three vessels from sister brand Costa Cruises. In addition, the company placed its first new ship order in half a decade for two Excel-class ships to join the Fun Ship brand in 2027 and 2028.

Cruise operations unaffected by longshoremen strike

Longshoremen on the US East and Gulf coasts went on strike late September but the action did not impact cruise operations. Members of the important International Longshoremen’s Association union, with tens of thousands of workers at some of the country's busiest East Coast ports, began setting up pickets after talks in a wage dispute broke down. But ILA President Harold Daggett promised that military cargo and cruise ships would be unaffected by the action.

Hurricanes cause havoc to ship schedules

Hurricane season brought severe interruptions in September, by Milton, and in October, by Helene, which saw port closures, cruise delays and altered itineraries. Multiple stories were posted about the disruptions.

Royal Caribbean to create Perfect Day Mexico

In October Royal Caribbean Group announced plans to create Perfect Day Mexico by acquiring and transforming Puerto Costa Maya. The cruise giant is buying the port and adjacent land — totaling more than 200 acres — in what Quintana Roo Gov. Mara Lezama identified as a $600m investment. Royal Caribbean aims to transform the port, built by Mexico's ITM Group with its backing in the late 1990s, to present a colorful new look and welcome from the water, a new transportation hub and, for its Perfect Day, an all-new water park and other amenities.

Changes at the top of three Carnival brands

Late November a wave of Carnival Corp. brand leadership changes heralded Gus Antorcha becoming president of Princess Cruises, Beth Bodensteiner of Holland America and Mark Tamis of Seabourn. Holland America president Antorcha took over Princess from John Padgett, SVP/CCO Bodensteiner was promoted to succeed Antorcha at HAL and Tamis returns to the Carnival group to helm Seabourn, replacing Natalya Leahy. Antorcha and Bodensteiner will report to Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corp. & plc, and Tamis to Bodensteiner.