Mallorca News

A small number of people were injured on Sunday during a "weather-related incident" involving P&O Cruises Britannia ship moored in the Spanish island of Mallorca, a spokesperson for the company said.Port authorities in the capital Palma said the ship collided with a petrol tanker because of high winds. The BBC said it broken free of its moorings in a storm."P&O Cruises Britannia was involved in a weather-related incident while alongside in Palma de Mallorca. A small number of individuals sustained minor injuries and are being cared for by the onboard medical centre…

Italian cruise line Costa Cruises on Thursday held a christening ceremony for its new flagship, the Costa Toscana, in the port of Barcelona, Spain.The LNG-powered, Italian-flagged ship sailed away from Civitavecchia, Italy on Monday, making a stop in Naples on Thursday, before arriving in Barcelona on Thursday for the christening ceremony. The 337-meter ship is one of the largest ocean liners and can accommodate 6,554 passengers. Chanel, a Cuban-Spanish singer, dancer, and actress…

Celebrity Cruises’ newest cruise ship Celebrity Beyond has departed the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France en route to Southampton, U.K. where the newbuild is slated to commence its maiden voyage later this month.The third in a series of five Edge Series luxury cruise ships ordered by Royal Caribbean's Celebrity Cruises—each reportedly worth $1 billion—the 140,600 GT Celebrity Beyond was delivered on April 6 and departed France on April 15.The 327-meter-long vessel was ordered in 2016…

Spanish police on Monday impounded a superyacht belonging to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg on behalf of U.S. authorities, the first time the United States has seized property belonging to a Russian oligarch since its invasion of Ukraine in February.Valued at more than 90 million euros ($99 million), the 78-metre-long "Tango" (255 ft) was seized in a shipyard on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, the Guardia Civil police and the U.S. Justice Department said in parallel…

Spanish authorities on Wednesday detained a mega-yacht called "Crescent" that is believed to belong to Igor Sechin, the sanctioned chief executive of Russian oil giant Rosneft, a police source told Reuters.The 135-metre-long yacht, described by specialist publications as one of the biggest in the world, sails under a Cayman Islands flag and arrived in Spain from Italy in November 2021, according to monitoring site Marine Traffic.Spain's Transport Ministry, which confirmed the detention but not the ownership, said it docked in the Mediterranean port city of Tarragona on November 2 and had sought permission from the coast guard to depart…

When Chinese billionaire Jack Ma took a trip to Spain's Mallorca island last month, much was made of it being his first foreign foray since a 2020 fallout with regulators had clipped his wings.However, Ma's sunny sojourn on his newly-built 88-metre (289 ft) cruise boat Zen - estimated to be worth $200 million - also put a spotlight on a global trend: the return of the superyacht.As the number of billionaires grows and COVID-19 has added to incentives for avoiding crowds, the multi…

A ferry ran aground off the Spanish island of Ibiza on Saturday night, an incident the emergency services told local media had left 25 people injured, two seriously, including a 10-year-old boy.The San Gwann ferry, operated by German shipping company FRS, runs between Ibiza and Formentera, the smallest of Spain's Balearic islands.It was leaving Ibiza's port at 9.30 p.m. on Saturday night when it ran aground on the islet of Es Malvins, FRS said in a statement.It said the ferry…

A test carried out on Thursday on a passenger from Macau aboard a cruise ship in Italy proved she did not have the new coronavirus, an Italian health ministry spokesman said.The Costa Crociere company’s ship Costa Smeralda docked in Civitavecchia, north of Rome, with about 6,000 people aboard. The mayor of the town had asked authorities to prevent passengers from disembarking until it had been confirmed the virus was not present.The 54-year-old woman, who boarded the ship on January 25 in the port of Savona, had come down with a fever and flu-like symptoms.

Italian cruise line Costa Cruises said that Costa Smeralda is the first ship in the Costa fleet to be fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG). "This is a step change for the cruise industry as a whole, guaranteeing a substantially reduced environmental impact," it said."Costa Smeralda is the first ship in the Costa fleet to be powered both in port and at sea by LNG, meaning improved air quality and protecting the environment with the virtual elimination of sulfur dioxide emissions (zero emissions) and particulate matter (95-100% reduction). The use of LNG will also greatly lessen emissions of nitrogen oxides (85% direct reduction) and CO2 (reduction of up to 20%)…

American/British-owned German cruise line AIDA Cruises announced that model and TV host Franziska Knuppe christened  AIDAmira in Palma de Mallorca.AIDAmira is the fourth ship in the AIDA Selection program, sailing longer itineraries to exotic locales, similar to her function for Costa.After a debut cruise in the Mediterranean until December 4, 2019,  the cruise line will take the new Selection ship to Sète in the south of France, the Catalan metropolis of Barcelona, and back to Palma de Mallorca.From May to September 2020 the AIDAmira will be sailing from Corfu on cruises in the Eastern Mediterranean.The itinerary takes in Athens, Santorini, Crete and Brindisi in Apulia. A separate itinerary calls in Malta, Sicily, Crotone in Calabria, Olympia and Cephalonia.

Costa Smeralda will enter service in October 2019 and will be the first Costa ship fuelled by LNG, the "cleanest" fossil fuel in the world.Featuring over 2,600 staterooms, the upcoming Costa flagship will take its guests on a veritable “tour of Italy,” with lots of areas devoted to fun, flavours and festivity.Costa Cruises, the Italian brand of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world’s largest leisure travel company and cruise operator, will be awaiting the arrival of Costa Smeralda in October 2019…

Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest luxury cruise operator, emitted nearly 10 times more sulphur oxide (SOX) around European coasts than did all  260 million European cars in 2017,  said Transport & Environment.Royal Caribbean Cruises, the world’s second largest, is second, yet four times worse than the European car fleet, revealed a new analysis by sustainable transport group.SOX emissions form sulphate (SO4) aerosols that increase human health risks and contribute to acidification in terrestrial and aquatic environments.In absolute terms, Spain, Italy and Greece, closely followed by France and Norway, are the European countries most exposed to SOX air pollution from cruise vessels while Barcelona…

Spanish emergency services have largely put out a fire aboard a vehicle transport ship off the island of Mallorca after some of the crew were airlifted to safety earlier on Wednesday.The Sea Rescue Society posted a short video on Twitter showing fire ships spraying water over a small section of the covered upper decks of the Italian-flagged "Grande Europa", which had been blackened by the flames, but had no smoke or fire coming out of it.It said 15 out of the 25-strong crew had been taken off the ship by helicopter and were safe, and the fire had been "practically extinguished by three rescue ships and the vessel's own anti-fire systems".The Balearic Islands Emergency Service said the rest of the crew had remained on board helping to combat the fire.

Carnival Corporation’s AIDAnova, operated by its Germany-based AIDA Cruises brand, has become the first LNG fueled cruise to visit Barcelona, Spain - and the first to be fueled with LNG in the Mediterranean.Upon arrival in Europe's biggest cruise port, AIDAnova – the newest vessel from AIDA Cruises, Germany's leader in cruising – was fueled for the first time in the Mediterranean with LNG, the world's cleanest burning fossil fuel.Currently, alongside Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona is the second start-and- end destination for AIDAnova's seven-day cruises in the Mediterranean.With Carnival Corporation's partnership with Shell Western LNG B.V. (Shell), the cruise ship will be regularly supplied with LNG at the Spanish metropolis.Commissioned on Dec.

Costa Smeralda will enter service in October 2019 and will be the first cruise ship for the world market fuelled by LNG, the “cleanest” fossil fuel in the world.Construction of the Costa Smeralda, the new flagship of the Costa Cruises fleet, is inching closer to completion ahead of her October delivery from Meyer Turku in Finland.The characteristic yellow funnel with the blue “C”, which has identified all the Italian company’s ships for the last 70 years, has now been installed.The funnel will not only be a symbol but is directly connected to one of the main technological innovations in the ship. Costa Smeralda will be the first cruise ship for the world market…

Carnival Corporation announced it will launch four new cruise ships in 2019 across three of its leading global brands – Carnival Cruise Line, America's Cruise Line; Costa Cruises, the largest European cruise operator; and Princess Cruises,  international premium cruise line. The world will get a preview of one of these spectacular new vessels when Carnival Cruise Line debuts a floral replica of its new Carnival Panorama sailing down Colorado Boulevard in the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day…

Spanish ferry company Baleària has decided to buy Visemar One, a 2010-built RoRo/passenger ship which has been part of the company’s fleet for seven years."Baleària has just invested close to 55 million euros (USD 62.4 mln) in the acquisition of the vessel Visemar One , which has been sailing for the company for seven years. With this purchase, the fleet of boats owned by Baleària reaches 26 units out of a total of 30," said a press release from the company.The ferry Visemar One was launched by the company in 2011 on the Barcelona-Palma route, and currently operates between València and Palma. This ferry , 186 meters in length, stands out for being a ropax with great capacity of roped load…

Guests on board the luxury ship EUROPA 2 will to be enchanted by a unique performance that blends breakdancing and classical music. The internationally renowned “Flying Steps” dance group will make their EUROPA 2 debut in July, and will perform their dynamic “Flying Bach” show on a cruise that started yesterday in Monte Carlo, cruising the Mediterranean Sea to Palma de Mallorca. Under the artistic direction of Vartan Bassil, this breakdancing group from Berlin’s Kreuzberg district has become a network of over 30 world-class athletes who have danced their way to international success.

More than 400 SUNY Maritime College students and others this summer will spend three days assisting ongoing hurricane recovery efforts in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during the college’s annual summer sea term onboard Training Ship Empire State VI. The ship will leave the college campus, bound for San Juan, on May 7.The voyage to Puerto Rico is the first stop on the college’s annual summer sea term, which gives students the hands-on education and training they need to sail onboard commercial vessels after graduation.

AIDAperla - the youngest member of the AIDA Cruises fleet - reached the port of Barcelona via the western Mediterranean on June 7, 2017, as part of its "Welcome Cruises". During AIDAperla’s maiden season, Barcelona is, alongside Palma de Mallorca, one of the start and end ports for her seven-day cruises in the western Mediterranean. The Rostock cruise company’s latest ship will be christened on June 30, 2017 in Palma de Mallorca by model and presenter, Lena Gercke. The christening ceremony will be streamed live on the Internet, the AIDA social media channels and on board all AIDA ships.

AIDA Cruises has taken delivery of the 12th vessel of its fleet, AIDAperla, from Japanese shipbuilder Mitshubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). The vessel was commissioned April 27 at a ceremony in Nagasaki, Japan in the presence of Michael Thamm, CEO Costa Group; Felix Eichhorn, President AIDA Cruises; Shunichi Miyanaga, President and CEO MHI; and Kazuaki Kimura, President and CEO, Industry & Infrastructure MHI. In the coming days AIDAperla will set sail for the Mediterranean where the vessel will be christened by model and presenter Lena Gercke on June 30, 2017, in Palma de Mallorca.

Lena Gercke will christen AIDAperla, the 12th member of the AIDA fleet, in Palma de Mallorca on June 30, 2017. In Germany, Gercke is among the most famous and successful models and presenters. The skyline of the old city of Palma will form the perfect backdrop when the night sky above AIDAperla is transformed into a sparkling sea of color during a spectacular music and lighting event. “With her natural charm and vitality, Lena Gercke is the ideal godmother of AIDAperla. I’m delighted that she will christen our new vessel.

Container vessel CCNI Arauco has been returned to its owners after a fire broke out in its aft container hold on September 1. Ardent emergency response crews worked with local firefighters to extinguish the fire. Other experts from Ardent contained the situation with local authorities and worked with all parties with follow-on operations. The aft hold was partly flooded to extinguish the fire, subsequently contaminating the water in the hold. Ardent safely discharged the contaminated water which was pumped into tankers to bring it to off-site final disposal facilities.